What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Well, Festival of Quilts 2023 has already been and gone! I arrived at lunchtime on Wednesday for set-up after an overnight stop in Glasgow. It takes quite a team effort to set up a longarm stand where we had 2 Bernina Q-Series frame machines and 6 sit-down machines. Things can be a bit fraught until everything is all sorted out. When you finally get dinner and a long awaited beverage you wonder if you will be able to get up bright and early the next day. Of course, you always do;)

Imagine my surprise the next day when people said ...

This week I got down to putting together some class specs and requirements. It has been a while since I came up with “lesson plans” so I struggled with the discipline. I usually aim to plan more than is required which is what most primary school teachers do to keep the fast workers occupied. I will be teaching my Northern Lights improv curves class in Glasgow next month but I decided to add another element which is improv bridges. I am experimenting with machine appliqué methods. The original class was just free-cut strips but I decided to give the pupils ...

Wildlife has been visiting frequently this past week. This deer was behind the house on the hillside, almost concealed by the very tall vegetation back there. She can eat as much of that as she wants. Actually, I would like her to eat it all, LOL!!

Wilson, our resident woodchuck, stopped by to slurp up some seeds that fell to the ground below the feeder.

Two female turkeys have made regular appearances, pecking at the ground. They may have had a tiff between them as there are a bunch of feathers in the yard.

I was the program speaker this ...

I have to admit that I was both excited but also dreading the Scottish Quilting Show at the SEC in Glasgow. It is a long time since I have had to set up a booth and do a talk. I had my checklist of things to take and felt very well prepared yet I managed to leave behind 2 big quilts! Luckily, I had spares so there were no gaps on the wall. I was glad that I had decided to take the old Mac computer with a rolling slideshow to let people see some of my other quilts and ...

I bought a cheap, short step-ladder which was white. It was important to me that it should co-ordinate with my newly painted trolley so I painted it matt black to match – 3 coats so far. The trolley will be on show at the exhibition (Scottish Quilt Show) whereas the ladder does not need to be. It will enable me to hang the quilts, after which I could put it in my car or I could use it as a chair. I think I have assembled everything that I need now and I have made prompt cards for my talk on ...

One of the reasons that I like Amazon so much is that it is possible to order something, try it out then return it easily if it is not suitable. It is also a very good place to go and look at reviews for stuff. Youtube is also helpful – to a point. I find that there is so much information that after a while there are too many conflicting opinions. For some time I have been hankering after a better monitor for my Mac Mini desktop computer. I had a small, basic Dell but I needed to use external speakers ...

There goes another week! Admittedly, most days are the same these days. The unseasonably warm autumn weather seems to be finished – there was a bit of a storm midweek which blew off the last of the leaves off the cherry trees which are now bare for winter. I was trying to make a video but the rain was hammering loudly on my workshop’s tin roof.

I did a couple of customer quilts, using a favourite pattern, “Stacked Snails” which looks like a modern Baptist Fan.

I came up with another project on the L890 overlocker / coverstitch machine. I fed ...

Considering that I own a plethora of cameras, I should be ashamed at the lack of photos documenting my week! I spent all day Sunday filming how to place and stitch a whole cloth quilt using Qmatic. It took me all of Monday to edit my feature-length movie into 2 halves, each approximately one hour long. My computer suddenly decided that its memory was full and could not cope with saving all that work so we had “words”, deleted some junk, reduced the quality and eventually stored the files. I decided to invest in another external hard drive so I ...

The quilt above was pieced from scraps sent to me after the colorful fabriholic finished her kaleidoscope quilt. I have made good use of them, and their colors are perfect for this time of year. Now I let these scraps sit waiting for this time of year, because I like to work in colors of a season.

Like many quilters, I am acutely aware that I accumulate far too much stuff that I don’t use so I sold my Bernette Funlock (coverstitch machine) on Ebay and sent it off to its new owner with a courier. The new owner tried it out but the handwheel was jammed. Since it worked perfectly before dispatch, I think it got dropped in transit. Now I have to waste time and do battle with the courier to get compensation. 

I was encouraged to purchase a gimbal for my camera by some enthusiastic YouTube videographers. I followed the tricky procedure to ...

I’m moving homes in just under a month, and I’ve been going through my vintage sewing machine collection attempting to decide what machines I should sell and which I should keep. This one, the PFAFF 1027 Tipmatic sewing machine, is one that I’m wanting to keep! Let me know in the comments below if you agree or disagree with this choice.

I bought this machine second hand from Value Village for $19.99 in 2020, right before my province shut down all retail stores due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I’m not sure the exact age of ...

I have been busy figuring out how things work. I felt that the time was right to go back to posting my silly short daily news videos and I have been attempting to film demos on the Bernina L890 that are aimed at quilters rather than garment makers. Because I have not used all of this techie stuff for a while, I am a bit rusty and had forgotten that I could use a wireless mic with my phone. My Gopro was annoying me because it seemed to drain the battery in just a few minutes. Hopefully I will see ...

 I love it (NOT!) when the connection isn't good on a call -- "Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?" Well, that has happened mostly on Zoom calls. Now, however, it's happening on my cell phone. In the last several days, whenever I'm on a call IN THE HOUSE, I cut out, and I go outside to take the call. Not always practical. What is causing this issue? No idea, and it's going to be something challenging to diagnose. 

I would love to walk into the cell phone store and tell them my problem, and ...

Don’t tell Nicola but we paid Freya a quick mid-week visit in Glasgow… Nella’s doctor said it was a good idea since she had never seen where Freya moved to last September. We were very careful to avoid busy areas. Nella and I have both had two doses of Covid vaccine and we always wear face-masks. The studenty flat is great, although on the top floor, up 77 steps and counting when you have to take a Scottie dog out for a wee. It is in the West End and even has a Waitrose about 2 minutes walk ...

 We went out of town for the weekend.  We went to a friends birthday party. 

Our friend and his dad cooked a 180 pound pig in their rotisserie cooker.  They have to wrap the pig in chicken wire so that it doesn't fall apart while cooking.

180 lb pig

It took 4 men about 1 1/2 hours to cut all the meat off the pig.

slicing up the pork

This party would be the first time I would be off my diet since I started it, back the end of January.  I was worried that I wouldn't ...

Another week has gone by and I wonder what I did to faff my way through it! There was one big, colourful customer quilt. I tried to quilt rainbows onto it but the pattern kept crashing the system so I used a substitute pattern called “Dizzy Izzy”.

Nessie tried out her new, fleece rain suit. She was not altogether pleased at putting it on and taking it off but once it was on she did not mind at all and it kept her clean on a muddy walk.

Freya and I both made new sourdough starters for bread making.  I ...

A coworker asked for a recommendation on a sewing machine. I said I could give him a sewing machine. All I had to do was dig around and find one.