What have I been up to? Everything!

Or maybe it just feels that way.Who knows? I came back from Rugby tired but happy, and felt I needed to take it easy for a day or two (especially knowing what was coming up). I have a lot of quilting to do but a slow day seemed possible. Monday started with the phone ringing, and between that and emails it was suddenly 3.30pm and I was hungry and more tired. I figured I would get out of the house for a bit, when the phone rang again. By the time I had dealt with that it was time to head out to a fitting for some bridal alterations. Yes I will do that too, but not often. In this case it is for some neighbours and I feel it is part f my contribution to the community, besides they seem to be a very nice family.

Tuesday I was much more determined. I dropped Tet off at the station and headed off. If I am not in the house no one can call me or email me right? I had decided to head for Buckingham, as I wanted wool for another crochet project and I really fancied giving the car a run. Oh boy was it good to drive the car again. I love th van, but it isn't fun to drive. It's slow and handles like something big heavy and wobbly. Unfortunately the car had been parked under a tree and was covered in bird droppings. Still that wasn't going to stop me. Do you have any idea how good it feels to drive without a deadline? I can't remember the last time I did it. The drive is a nice on and I got great weather for it, so by the time I arrived at the Nimble Thimble I was relaxed and felt like I was on holiday. It turned out I had picked a good day to visit, they got their first delivery of broomsticks for crochet and giant knitting needles. Both are being made by a local craftman for them and are lovely. For the ladies from Rugby, I am going to be teaching Art Quilts by Numbers here as well as at Patchwork Corner so you have a choice of dates and both shops are pretty easy for you guys to get to.

Wednesday is two regular classes at Patchwork Corner. Last week I had told my students about a pattern I was thinking of knitting. One of them being a keen knitter wanted to see it, so I took it in. She thought it looked hard, I wasn't comvinced. It looks time consuming, but pretty straightforward. If you know me, you know that telling me something looks tricky is a red rag to a bull. I have already knitted a decent chunk of it, but it is hard to pick up and put down. I am using it as something to keep my busy when waiting for things, so I do need to put it down quite frequently. I now understand why my friend who worked in a costuming department was quite happy for people to sew but never allowed knitting on set. It can be a complete pain.

Thursday I had the first lesson of term for my Thursday classes. The quilt at the top of this post was from Thursday afternoon. This is a students first quilt. It is a Ferret size quilt. 108" x 96". That is the nice thing about making quilts 'quilt as you go'. People are much braver about large quilts when they don't have to quilt the whole thing. I am thrilled she has finished it and so quickly too. She is now moving on to my next sampler quilt book and it looks like that will get brought up to a proper size too.

Saturday brought a different outing. A games convention. I've been avoiding them for a while but this one sounded fun. Tring con. Held in a little hall in Tring with food included. It was great fun and I enjoyed most of the games I played. It was rather like a quilting retreat (right down to the type of hall) but with less quilting and more gaming. I plan on going again. I also got a lot of crochet done, although people there mostly thought it was knitting :) Crochet is far easier to pick up and put down and apparently is very soothing to watch.

Since then my nose had been firmly to the grindstone. I have a lot of customer work to get through with quilts for the Patchwork Corner stand at the knitting and stitching show and for Susan Briscoe's new book, needing urgent attention.  I hope I will have time to write again while I am away as I have 3 days in Norfolk and 2 in the New Forest coming up. In the mean time here are some links you might like,

• Review of Rugby talk 1
• Review of Rugby talk 2
• Innovations winners list
• Close up of Greek Fossils from Innovations