Hal

This is the stick I blogges about on Friday. Isn't it cute. I'm told it is a ferret called Hal, and as well as being cute it's a lovely height to lean on and very comfortable. It is even a good fit in the car.

Yesterday was another good quilting day. My students worked really hard and are well on their way to producing some stunning quilts. I didm't get any pictures I can share yet, but hopefully I will hear from them when they finish. One lady did bring in a piece she had started in another class which was great. I really love seeing how people carry on with techniques after class. This lady had completed the the autumn leaves project right down to the unusual binding. I suspect the next time I see her there will be a wholecloth to admire.

One of the things I really enjoy about retreats is I can take my latest projects with me. Last time I was at Hobby Holidays I was working on my quits for my NEC gallery. Specifically, Mother. This time I was able to take it back and show them the finished project, which will always be partly theirs because they saw it being built. Of course it also means they get to learn about whichever technique I am working on.

This time they found out why my bindings and sleeves take me so long. I like all my hand work to be invisible, yes even on my hanging sleeves. I guess this might be why I don't do a lot of hand work. I want everything to be perfect so I spend a lot of time on it. I don't always achieve it though. So doubly it's not satisfying to me. It means that I have really taken to the all machine bindings, as taught by Ricky Tims on his Grande Finale DVD. I got to show my students how it works yesterday, which is unusual. Normally in class I don't have time to do this so this was a nice bonus, and it got Holiday Starrfire finished too.

Then I got home. Well things hadn't gone so well here. The main computer wasn't working right so Tet bought it a new hard drive. During the process his bike packed up. Quickly followed by the mouse on his computer. The post that was expected didn't arrive, and the reconditioned computer we bought doesn't look like it was. When I got home I took us out for dinner, and everything he tried to order ran out. His sewing machine was also having issues, at least I could deal with that. Finally this morning, the server that started all the trouble died totally. So for today I won't have net access. I know there are several of you waiting for replies to email and there are more that I didn't even read last night. I'm sorry I won't be able to do anything about it today. If you need to contact me urgently please phone.