Customer Quilt

This is a quilt I finished a while ago, but that I really want to share. I had just watched Myrna Fickens DVD Just do it - Freehand Design. I had also spent a play day with a fellow longarm quilter. So my head was full of new ideas. I'd had this quilt a while waiting for it's backing to come in, and I had completely forgotten what the quilt looked like, so it was a surprise when I got it out.

Somehow I had been expecting a much simpler pattern so now I had to come up with something that would fit this quilt. It's a scrappy quilt and that inspired me, scrappy quilting. I know Myrna did say not to put all the patterns on one quilt, but why not on a scrap quilt. So that's what I did. If you clock on the pictures you will get bugger images and can see some of the patterns I used.

The thread is a bright variegated so it blends in and pops up quite randomly. All the stars are unquilted so they pop up from the background. I've used a continuous line pattern. I like this as it gives a similar feel to stitch in the ditch, but with a bit more interest. It is also a lot quicker to do so I can charge a lot less for it. It is especially good for stars as it somehow seems more starry to me.

In the background I think there is some of everything. The concentric circles was a new one for me. I've tried several of these echo type patterns and I don't like any of them. This one was unintentional and I love it. It's already appeared on a couple more quilts! Funny how these things happen isn't it.

The leaves with curly bits are very much from Myrna's DVD. I've looked at the little curls other quilters do and I hadn't thought that I was accurate enough to make them delicate. However with the confidence from Myrna I gave them a go. I was pleasantly surprised. I can do it. Also if I use my normal curls in with leaves they look good too.

Something else I tried for the first time here was a rolled fern. I've done quite a few curled feathers, but not any of my spiky ones. perhaps starting with one 2" in diameter is a bit odd, but it worked. It does show how well many quilting designs scale. I could imagine this one curl on a kingsize, it would look great.

So I hope you've enjoyed taking a close look at this quilt. I hope I will be able to take some full pictures of it once the binding is on. It will also be coming up as a class at Patchwork Corner, so if you fancy making your own keep and eye on their site.

The wanderers return

Nude with rope and guide me finally escaped US customs and made it home. They have obviously been well cared for on their tour of America. With them came Guide Me's new ribbon. It's very robust, well planned for a show with international entries. It's great to have them home and to be able to take them out to talks again. It also means I can retire the duplicate to my bed, well as soon as I bind it anyway.

Tax returns are like quilting

I teach quite a lot of machine quilting classes and it's become very clear that the biggest problem people have with quilting is other people. They've heard that quilting (the actual stitching three layers together bit) is hard, and boring. The tedious bit you have to do but wish you didn't. So my main job is to change that bit of programming in their head. I do tell students that getting started in quilting is a slight of mind trick. It's usually pretty successful. Most students leave vowing to quilt at least some of their quilts. OK they may all have different abilities and styles but they leave understanding that quilting isn't a big fearsome beast. Hopefully they will pass the message on and over time this glitch will be removed from quilters worldwide. I can dream right.

Anyway what does this have to do with tax? Quite a lot really. Every year I put off doing my tax return. In fairness it does come up in the middle of show season so time is tight, but I could do it in September easily enough. Yet I don't. Maybe that doesn't sound odd, after all we all know it's a real pain to do a tax return, or do we? Is it really that bad? Is it really bad at all? If I am honest I quite like doing it. OK the problems I had yesterday with their website weren't much fun. Being on hold for so long to report the fault wasn't the most exciting way to spend time either, but that was largely my fault (and that of many others I suspect) for leaving it till the last minute. The actual accounting and numbers though I really enjoy. I like having it done so I can review how my business is doing and knowing what I owe the tax man is good too. I don't have to worry about it once I know where I stand. So why don't I do it? I think it's because I know it is difficult. Yes I know it isn't, but everyone else knows it is and I seem to have bought the message. How embarrassing, caught by a dodgy message when I really should know better. I know there is a Heinlein quote along the lines of anything every one knows ain't so, I've read it several times and yet I still fall for it. Doh!

Beware the things we think we know.

An eventful day

I've managed to get my pattern for my new wholecloth together over the weekend and I am so desperate to get started on it. Sadly my machine has other ideas. It's having a strop. Quite an unusual one. It will sew perfectly with metallic thread but won't sew at all with masterpiece. I've had plans for a while to replace the hook assembly and this seemed as good a reason as any. A couple of hours later and a screwdriver to the face job done. Timed and new needle in place, it's exactly the same. Does this count as a good job? Well I replaced a major part with out doing any harm, and the old assembly does look like it has seen better days, but I had rather hoped this would have solved the masterpiece problem. I know I like machines with character, but I also like ones that do what I tell them when I tell them. I may just stick to customer quilts for a couple of weeks until it changes it's mind on thread again. I know it will, it always does. I did really want to get on with this quilt though....

Goodworth Clatford

As you can imagine my talks take me all over the place. Mostly to the back of beyond, just past the last habitation and often in the evening. This can make finding dinner tricky. So after a couple of talks where there was no chance to get a mean I thought I would leave extra early for last nights talk and stop on the motorway. Better an early dinner than no dinner. The plan might even have worked had not a chap in an Escort decided I would not be changing lanes and going into the services. No I don't know what he had against me, maybe he just doesn't like Capris.

Still that may have been for the best as there was a significant accident on the M3 and I spent well over and hour in mostly stationary traffic. Having left very early I arrived in Goodworth Clatford an hour before my talk so could go hunting a pub. Strangely for a quilting venue there was a sign indicating not one, but two pubs serving food. The first unfortunately was closed. This got me thinking, as it is a small village will the other pub either be closed or not serving food? Well the Clatford arms was open, but the kitchen didn't open until 6.30 too late for me. Still the chef wasn't going to have a stranger turn up at her door and go away hungry, so she got the kitchen up and running immediately for me. The stew she provided was stunning, and plentiful. The pub was also very friendly. Small village pubs can be a little uncomfortable as everyone in there knows each other, but not the Clatford Arms, I felt like I had been there for years by the time I left. More than I could have wished for, and it put me in exactly the right frame of mind for giving a talk.

Spratt and Winkle quilters were also very welcoming. Most quilt groups it has to be said are very friendly, but just sometimes you get a gem that really stands out. It's partly I think due to my quirks, I love being given a mug of coffee rather than a cup and saucer for example. I tend to loose the saucers and the cups seem terribly fragile. I arrived and although I was early I was met almost at once by the program secretary, who got the kettle on ASAP, fantastic. The hall was set up for me in very short order, and as each member arrived they offered to help. It's always appreciated even if I don't accept all the offers. My only concern was my introduction, it gave me a heck of a lot to live up to. Still the group seemed happy and there were some not only willing but fantastically directable helpers to pack away at the end. Again I think here I am looking for a group that fits my quirks. I often find English failing me when I try to give instructions so I need people who understand random words and waved hands. Whatever it is, Spratt and Winkle quilters have it. Of course this may just be a nice way of saying the are as barking as I am, but whatever, I had a great evening and I am looking forward to teaching them a workshop.

I have been meaning to post some pictures of what I have been working on. Unfortunately as it isn't essential to business or home life it isn't quite happening. I haven't forgotten though and will do my best to find some time to take pictures for this blog.

Ta da

Finally I can say what I am spending most of my time working on. I mentioned I am planning for a gallery show in 2009. Well it isn't just any show. It is for a gallery at the Festival of Quilts. I am hoping I can find other venues for it afterwards, but right now that will have to wait, I need to make quilts.

As you might expect, when offered large expanses of wall, I have big ideas. Who knows if I will be able to make them all, but I will have a darn good go. The dragster (yes it is a car, yes I did forget to post it) is hopefully going to be joined by a few more in the same vein. They are (for me) fairly small so I like the idea of having a few of them together. I have a few new ladies I would like to get done, the first of which is almost ready to become fabric. I am also working on the illustration form Cancertown, it's big, really big!

Now I am also looking for suggestions. Which quilts would you really like to see on display again? I am expecting to have room to hang some of my older work, and I would love to hang those that people really want to see. I do have some ideas as to which might be appreciated but you're the ones who know what you like.

I hope that this will be an amazing opportunity to display a large collection of my work, and to meet a lot of quilters. OK I know I will forget everyone's name (probably even my own) but it would be good to even briefly put faces to names. Also with the dollar so strong against the pound this might be a great time for some of you American quilters to come and sample the biggest quilt show in Europe.

The only downside is I may need to scale back on my quilting for customers. So if you do have work you would like me to do, please talk to me well before any deadlines you have. I will do my best to fit everything in but it will take planning and if I have a big art quilt on the frame I have to finish before I can remove it. So long as I know what is needed when I hope to be able to plan around this.

Festival of Quilts - Viewers Choice

In Patchwork and Quilting Magazine this month there is the announcement that Ted Storm has won the viewers choice and the Festival of quilts. I can honestly say I am thrilled. Whilst I was really hoping Herd Mentality might have a chance, I did feel Ted had been short changed. So the viewers stepping in and putting it right is wonderful. Of all the quilts at the show Ted's was the one I most wish I had made and would most like to have taken home. If you didn't see 'Spring of Desire' you really missed a treat. It is a fantastic quilt which would only be possible with a lot of highly skilled hand work. The pictures really do not do it justice. Ted has a website, full of information about her quilts, the link will take you right to 'Spring of Desire". Well done Ted, it's an amazing quilt. Oh and it's not just that it's black that I love it so.

Paperwork

As I mentioned a couple of days ago I've been trying to add a diary to my web site. It's brought home to me how much paperwork I now have, and how valuable it is to me. Bookings have just moved into their own file having grown rather thick (I now print out directions and notes when I get the booking form). What really struck me is how much I enjoy those groups who send me several communications over a period of time. I guess the best way to describe it is to say it feels safer. I take enough calls that I haven't got a hope of remembering who where or when, so having something repeated to me a few times really helps. As does the call a week before a booking. So if you are a booking secretary for a group, cursing the workload ( I can imagine how much work it is and I don't envy it) please pat yourself on the back and know your effort is appreciated.

This exercise has also taught me that I need to fill in a booking form of my own during the initial call, as otherwise I can't follow up when a booking for doesn't arrive. Doh! Why does hindsight have to be so good?

Perception of beauty

I was directed to this article from a mail lies I am on. It's long, very long, but well worth a read. It is about a rather unusual busker in a station. It says a lot about how we now live and what people value. Take time, smell the flowers and listen to the busker, you never know, they might be good. I can't say much more without spoiling it so, you'll just have to read it for yourself.

Where, when and what.

I've started putting a listing of where I am teaching or speaking onto my web site. I am hoping it will be useful to my students and help with publicity for the groups who book me. So far January and February are up, but the rest is on it's way. Please do check your event is listed and if you would like me to include contact details for your group email me what you would like adding.

I also have a couple of free spaces on my weekly classes at Patchwork Corner. So if you would be able to come over to Hemel Hempstead once a week to join in the fun give the shop a call on (01442) 259000. We would love to meet you.

Special Bonus

I didn't notice last night (I think I was too excited) but another friend is in this month Popular Patchwork. Linzi a longarm quilter from Scotland has her quilt Botanica Kentickii on page 21. This is also part of the report on the Scottish Quilt Championship. How cool is that? Now was this just a cunning plan to make me phone people? Isn't that a bit drastic :) Yes I am still over the moon, but I have work to do, so back to the frame.

Oooh oooh ooooh

I am so thrilled. I made it onto a cover of a magazine. Well the title of the item about me did, and well, it's the first time I've made a cover at all so it's pretty thrilling. The February edition of Popular Patchwork has an article written by Tricia Revest. I am so chuffed with it. I still don't like this being photographed business, and I find being interviewed very stressful, but I think Tricia has done a very good job.

Oh and to top it off Sally managed to get her quilt in, not once, but twice. Well done Sally! It is her wholecloth 'Flying High', which was at the Scottish Quilt Championships. If I am reading it correctly it won the wholecloth award at the show. All in all a very good magazine to come home to.

Temporary email address

I now have a new temporary email address. It is ferretfabrications@googlemail.com. I suspect that after posting it here it will get clogged with spam pretty quickly, but I am working on a more permanent solution. Hopefully this will mean that you will all be able to get in touch with me while we get email in house and remove our reliance on an ISP.

&*&$%#$#$# technology

I have had it with trying to communicate with people who aren't in the same room as me. I've known that my ISP has been a bit casual about email the last couple of weeks. It's a problem we are working on resolving. I didn't know know until tonight that it has been going on at least 3 months, and my email in both directions has been distinctly erratic. It would be a lot easier if it was all failing, because that is obvious, but when half arrives you assume it all has. Assume and you make and ass out of you and me, I know. So if you have emailed me and I haven't replied, either I have and it hasn't got back to you, or I haven't got your email. I will be sorting out a temporary email address and if you are feeling ignored (I am so sorry) please email that address and I will get back to you.

Having partly broken email is pretty bad, but I've found out today that Royal Mail have been letting me down too. I've been trying to do more by post as I thought it would be more reliable, ha ha ha. Post I sent in November is missing presumed gone. I am sure I have been putting it in post boxes not rubbish bins. Red with a slot and collection times is a post box still isn't it? So if you are expecting a letter from me and you aren't Judy (I have yours here) please let me know. If nothing else comments on here do get to me.

It seems the general rule is, if you haven't actually spoken to me either in person or on the phone assume I have no idea you've been trying too. Oh and if my number comes up as unknown please try again. BT don't seem to like me much either.

Frustrated, me? Yes! Anyone want to spend their time visiting everyone I need to communicate with? Poor pay but varied locations :)

PS. I had a lovely day playing with a friends longarm. I really have got stronger, I can now quilt one handed on other machines than mine. It may not sound like a big deal but I am thrilled. We each found some new patterns to do and I think she has actually managed to teach me how to do stars. I've had a real mental block with them but fingers crossed I have a way to do them now.

Happy new year.

It's tradition now. I blog at new year. This year though is a lot more sedate and no fire. Hope you are all doing something you enjoy. Have a great new year.

Free quilt patterns

Being on several mail lists I get a lot of messages suggesting sites and blogs I might be interested in. I look at a lot, but few really grab me. This one however I think is great. Cindy has several quilt patterns available for free, in a nice range of complexity. Take a look, you might fins something will tickle your fancy too. Quilt patterns from Seattle, by Cindy Carter.

Can you guess what it is yet?

What on Earth would induce someone to stand outside in their pajamas in the middle of winter? Spray baste! It was a piece too big to do in the house so I do them on the hedge outside. All my neighbours already know I am nuts so I don't have to worry about what they think.

So any ideas what my latest piece is going to be?

Two Christmas Quilts

I am sure you remember me saying I had two Christmas quilts on the frame. Well I have finally had time to upload my photographs so I can share them just in time for Christmas.

The first one I felt was the easier one. If nothing else it told me what it wanted, but it also has larger pieces which I often find easier to quilt. The star blocks are all quilted with a continuous curve. I kept all the stitching on the background of the star so they pop up. I wanted the stars themselves to come forward as much as I could.

The Santas are all quilted in the same way, but not the same. Each is outlined and then the back ground filled in with feathers and pebbles. The pebbles take a while to do, but I like the effect that the figures have something to stand on. The background of the figures are pieced, in a churn dash pattern. This gave me a good starting point, and I only quilted some parts of the block, hopefully making the block clearer.

The second of the Christmas quilts was O'Tanenbaum. I've been looking at this quilt hanging on the wall at the shop for a while and I've often wondered how you would quilt it. Well it finally became more than an academic question. This quilt has come closer to stumping me than any I've had before. I was torn between doing some sort of all over and not doing anything that would take away from the huge amount of work that went into piecing it.

Working with the piecing won out. OK no surprise there. The problem was then trying to do it quickly. I didn't want this to take too long and get too expensive. I decided that the houses needed a lot of attention, mostly because I couldn't think of a quick and sympathetic way to quilt the half timbered house. Each house I quilted in a way that added detail to the building, so roofs got tiles and walls got bricks. To make the applique flowers and tree pop up I needed some pretty dense quilting. As I don't often stipple I went for that in those areas. It is a good pattern for holding down an area.

The stars have the same continuous lines that I used on the first quilt. It works, and I guess I had it on the brain at the time. This just left the log cabins. I would normally like to quilt along the logs, but in this quilt they are only 1/2" wide. I also wanted to add some more flow to the quilt, to draw you around the big star. To do that I've put feathers into each of the triangles in log cabins. As the thread is quite a close match to the fabric it doesn't fight with the piecing, but when light falls across the quilt the texture does flow.

So there you go, two quilts just for Christmas.

Why do longarm quilters want so much backing?

Ever wondered? Well there are several very good reasons. Longarm University has a great video that talks you through some of the issues. If you would like to have a look it is the first video on this page. It is intended to explain to new quilters why they might want to have more backing, but I think it will make sense to everyone who has had (or is thinking of having) a quilt longarm quilted.

Do I get my domestic goddess badge yet?

Over the weekend it struck us that it was time to get a tree, but it's really hard to buy a proper tree now. What do I mean by proper? Well a tree that smells like a tree, and ideally looks like one. Not a short fat tree a proper triangular tree. Apparently these requirements mean we need either a Norway Spruce or a Norway Fir. OK, so now we know what we want all we have to do is buy one right? Wrong, everyone (who are these mythic every ones?) now wants a tree that will not drop it's needles smell and shape aren't important. We looked at a huge number of trees on Sunday but none would do for us.

We did however find two silicone cake pans. I'd been after them for a while, but when Tet put in a request for a Christmas cake it seemed a good time to get them. So two pans and a lot of hard stirring later, we have two cakes, (one with peel cherries and ginger) iced and ready to go. There are some advantages to not liking alcohol on your Christmas cakes, I don't need to feed the cake so I can get it done over a shorter time. Also the paler cakes I make don't need to mature in the same way as the darker ones.

In between baking I continued the search for a tree. I eventually found a garden center who did understand the difference and had a whole range of trees. I don't have as tall a tree as I would like, but it smell great. I also managed to pick up some plain silver tinsel to go with the black ornaments I picked up at Ikea a while ago.

So, I've finished the two Christmas quilts, baked and iced two cakes, caught and decorated a tree and made a batch of biscuits. I think that's pretty good going really.

For a while I've been feeling a need to play with my longarm. Just spend some time messing about and trying out new things. In between batches of biscuits I finally managed it. I've had some new rulers I wanted to have a go with for a while and boy they are good. I am going to have to design a quilt that needs lots of little circles. They are fun and much quicker than I had expected. I am also quite taken with the chain of hears ruler. It's great and again much quicker than I had feared. While I've got the big test panel on I am also making up some samples for the shop, illustrating quilting patterns. I'd like to do a sample of my new wholecloth class too. When I get a chance I will take some pictures and post them. I don't have space at home to hang the Christmas quilts so I have to wait until I return them to the shop.

Feeling Festive

The Santa quilt is now finished, but as it is sharing a back with another quilt it is still on the frame. I can't wait to see it hung up so I can see all of it. I really enjoyed it and I think it's come out pretty well. The other quilt it is paired with is another Christmas quilt. This one is even trickier from the quilting front. It has an amazing amount of intricate piecing and plenty of applique. I don't like doing anything that takes away from the top when I quilt, so it is taking a lot of work to quilt it. I think it is coming up OK, but even with sitting down to quilt I can only work for about an hour at a time. I will try and remember to post pictures when I get these two finished.

finally, a quilt I can share

This is the quilt I have on the frame today. I was a little daunted by it. It had 6 applique Santas on it. Now I've started I am really enjoying it. It is a shop sample for Patchwork Corner that has been waiting for quilting for a while. I just hope Jenny likes it as much as I do.

Frustrated

I've been quite recently for a couple of reasons. I've not been well, it seems that once I get a bug I keep getting new ones. I know it makes sense and working with people it's an occupational hazard, but it really does slow me up and I get so bored when I can't quilt. Still I seem to finally be on the mend so keep your finger crossed for that.

Other than that I seem to be working on an increasing number of projects I can't talk about. I know that at some point I will be able to post about them, but right now I just have to work away and not say anything. It wouldn't be so bad if I had time to do things I can share as well, but I don't. So much pouting is in order. Rest assured as soon as I can share, I will.

Herd home safe and sound

I got a very exciting package this morning long and skinny. I guess being excited by your own quilt is a little odd, but I was guessing it would have it's ribbon with it. As you can see it did. Very well wrapped too, my cats are thrilled with the bit pf tissue it was wrapped in. Yesterday evening I came home to find their cheque had arrived as well, so all present and correct. I was a little disapointed that there weren't more picutres in the show guide, but I am so thrilled they sent me one with my quilt.

The judges comments were also in with it, and they pretty much agree with each other which is unusual. One even complemented me on my binding. Maybe not thrilling to anyone else but having and the reverse comment for the other quilts I have sent to America I was very pleased with that. All commented that they would have liked to cows rro be clearer and more distinct, which is fair comment, but I like them as they are. I see coments about colour coming up again for me :)

For the next week they will be hanging at Patchwork Corner if you are near Hemel Hempstead and would like to see them. It's the only wall I have access to that they fit on.

Bryan Talbot talk

I'm guessing most of my readers won't have come across Bryan Talbot. It's a shame he is a fantastic writer and artist, but as he writes (and illustrates) graphic novels he hasn't reached as many people as I feel he deserves. As part of the year of reading, libraries have been organizing events to encourage reading. Last night Cheshunt library played host to Bryan, who was largely talking about 'The tale of one bad rat'. This graphic novel was very unusual when he wrote it, as it was intended for a mainstream audience not a comics audience. It was fascinating to learn how many comic book tools he chose not to use to make this book as easy to read as possible. It worked too, I had tried several comic books before this one and found the impossible to read, this was the first that really grabbed me. It is a rather unusual subject for a comic book too, the psychological after effects of child sexual abuse. No it's not a laugh a minute, and he worked very hard to avoid anything cartoon like in the book, but it isn't grim either. It's a good, fairly serious read.

In his talk he explained a lot about the things going on in the background of his work to set scenes and get you to feel what he is telling you. It is amazing how many very subtle things he does to change the feel of the story. Things you would never notice but do respond to. Having been working for many years he had a huge catalogue of work to draw on to explain how he makes a story work. One thing that really struck me about the talk is he delivered it as a story. He spent a long time filling in back story and giving us all the clues to understand what he had really come to say, and yet I didn't see him do it until afterwards. That's one heck of a skill to have.

The biggest surprise for me is how much I learned that applies to my textile art. One piece I have been planning will now be redrawn. What I had done was OK, in fact I was pretty happy with it, but now I know how I can make it better. Somehow in all my reading about composition and drawing the eye I hadn't got it, it took a story to show me how different lines and directions work. I went to be entertained, and a learned a huge amount. If I get another chance to see this talk I will be going again, I know I missed more than I got, and it will take another couple of tries before I come close to getting as much as I can from it. If you get a chance to hear him, do take it. You may not get all his comic book references but he explains things so well you don't need to, and who knows, you might find a whole new literary genre opening up to you.

Some Quilts!!

There are some quilts that I put on the frame, quilt and take off. I like these, and I do get a fair number of them. Then there are the others. They fight every step of the way. They don't want to load properly, they could fit the backing either way around, almost. They wriggle, they move and generally cause trouble. The worst bit is I don't seem to be able to spot these trouble makers in advance. It's nothing to do with the quality of the top, or indeed any of the materials used, there are just some that will not co-operate. As you can guess I have one of these on the frame right now. It should have been a really fun quilt to work on, but it is doing everything in it's power (and a lot I would have said that wasn't) to make things difficult. The latest (and by far the most annoying) is taking up wadding far faster than it should. I measured before loading and I had loads of wadding, now it looks like being a couple of inches short. I have spare and can join it, so it isn't a disaster, but it shouldn't have happened. I can't even say I've learned from this and won't do it again as I did check everything before I started and I don't really want to ask for any more spare on the wadding it's getting daft. Rant over, I had better go and convince this quilt to behave, and people wonder why there are longarm quilters? Who would want to deal with these monsters if they didn't have to :)

New quilt to share

I've been dying to share this quilt on here, but I wanted to wait until the model had seen it. I had been asked to take a photograph for his web site, but this one struck me as too good not to use as a quilt. Fortunately he is quite obliging and gave me permission to use it, but I did feel that gave him the right to see it first. He only ran screaming as much as you would expect anyone suddenly meeting a large portrait of themselves so I figure I've done OK.

It isn't quilted yet, and that will be a challenge, I find faces very hard to quilt, but I guess I had to tackle that problem sooner or later, and as this is part of a triptych I should get a fair amount of practice. The tattoo will also be a challenge. I normally like to quilt in the contour lines of the body, and I like to match the thread to the fabric, so I guess there will be a lot of starts and stops there. Well it will be fun I am sure.

Yesterday I got to help a friend make her first quilt. An advent calender. I would like to point out we even made it in time. That's pretty impressive given the idea was only formed at the NEC this year and we a are both stupidly busy. She would like to add more quilting (it already has more than most get) but will probably leave that to be done in time for next year. I wonder if you would have one which you added to every year so it would be both an old friend and something new each time. I guess that will be one of those ideas I have to kick about for a while as I think it would be quite a nice thing to do. Now I need to go and work on a customer quilt and a clever idea I had an started yesterday. People really should start saving me from myself. I have far too many ideas.

Oh Wow!

I've just had it confirmed that 'Herd Mentality' won the viewers choice award at the Houston Festival. I am so thrilled, thank you very much to every one who voted for me. It's an award that means a lot to me as this is the opinion of quilters, with no agenda and who mostly have no idea who I am. I feel pretty happy that this was won by the quilt on it's own, and to me that is the best sort of award I could ever hope for. I am celebrating with a new heat pack for me neck. It's from John Lewis and is so good it works without me actually heating it :) I promise I will stop grinning at some point, honest. If you would like to see a picture of the quilt with it's ribbon take a look here. I haven't got hold of the owner of the picture yet so I can't put it on my blog. If I do get permission I will later. Thanks again to all those who voted for it.

Fabric boxes

On another blog I read regularly I found a post about making fabric containers, and how time consuming it is. I have a different method which I found a lot quicker so I will try to share it with you. Having had a go at doing this in just words, I've taken time to make a sample so I could photograph it. It is easy, but quite hard to describe.

As I hadn't planned on making boxes I have had to improvise. The thickest stabiliser I had was thinner than I would like so I have used two layers. You need to cut pieces for the base and the four sides. I used 6" squares in this sample, but you can make any size you like. I find larger is easier, but see what you can come up with. Also there is no reason for the boxes to be cubes. You can use rectangles, just make sure that sides that join to each other are the same length.


Roughly zigzag the sides to the base. You can see in the picture that I am treating the two layers are one. Had I been being careful with this I would have spray basted the two layers together, but I don't worry for a test piece.

When you have made a cross use it to cut two layers of fabric that are the size of the outer edges of the cross. I actually layered it up and then felt for the edges of the cross to position the ruler. Again if I had been trying to make a great box I would have spray basted the layers together, but pins will do the job.

Now you start to form the box. Pinch two sides together at a corner. You will have a big ear of floppy fabric, this is good, it will strengthen the corner later. You now need to sew down the corner to hold the sides together. Use a straight stitch and a thread that matches the outer fabric. You will find that you have to bend the box quite a lot as you sew the seam but it will bounce back when you have finished.

Sew all four corners then fold the ears flat around the corners. The point of the ear ends up exactly in the corner. If you have an overlocker this is the time to dig it out. It will trim the top and overlock it at the same time. If you don't have an overlocker go around the top with a zigzag, then trim the top flat. Stitch around the top again with the zigzag stitch to make a really firm edge. There you go one box. My sample took me about 30 minutes and I was taking pictures as I went which does slow you down, so hopefully you should find this pretty quick too. I think with a bit pf playing you will be able to come up with lots of interesting shape boxes with this technique.

Quilt mountain depleated

Well after quilting every hour I could fro weeks I've got the mountain down to two quilts. It has meant that some have gone back so fast I haven't had time to photograph them but I am feeling much better with a smaller pile to work on. So if you have quilts that have been waiting for me (and thanks to hanging on to them for a while) now is the time to pounce.

The charity quilt for Macmillan Nurses went back to the group that made it yesterday. Once they have the binding on it will be displayed at Patchwork Corner for about a month. I will get a picture of it while it is there. If you get a chance please do go and look at it, you might even like it enough to buy a raffle ticket for it.

ARGH!

I can't believe it. I missed the deadline for Road to California. I know I have had a lot going on, but this show is important to me and I really wanted to enter again this year. How could I miss something like that? Still nothing I can do about it now, so I will spend some time checking all the other shows I might want to enter and making sure I don't miss them. I think I either need an assistant or some software to warn me of impending deadlines.

I've had an enjoyable but very tiring weekend manning the Patchwork Corner stand at the Wye Valley Quilters show. Sadly you will have to wait 5 years for their next exhibition, it was a good event, well attended by a very friendly bunch.

Quilt japan

Magazine out now with my work in.

Whups, I had intended to send that to myself. Oh well. now I've said it, I've heard that Herd Mentality and my large whole cloth are in it. I don't know how to get a copy though. I guess this is proof I can't multi-task. Well not to the extent of sending an email and serving a customer at the same time. No I wasn't actually supposed to be working I was just trying to be helpful.

Silly things to get excited about.

OK, I'm sad. Very sad, but a friend's book is out to pre-order on Amazon, and I am really thrilled. They haven't got the image up yet, but I am sure it won't be long.

I've been having a weird day all in all. I got up to find my necklace had broken again, so a trip into town was required to get it fixed. With a whole stack of work to do that wasn't ideal, but I figured I could at least make it to the bank as well so it wasn't entirely wasted time. So as I was heading out of the door the post came. Including a cheque I didn't expect. Well that makes the trip into town more worthwhile. So I go to the bank, put my necklace in the the jewellers and have lunch while I wait to get it back. Even though the weather has been getting colder I am still living in my Crocs. A lady came up to me and asked me if they are as comfortable as people say. Strange, but not a problem and we get talking. It turns out that she would like to get into quilting. Her mother was really good at it and now she wants to try it. How strange is that, well it gets stranger. She was most concerned about getting the layers together. Her relatives had told her about people in other countries that will do quilting for others, but had no leads on anyone in this country. Now what are the odds of us just happening to run into each other? It was a very cool lunch and I think she left inspired to start working on a quilt. I can't believe a day that started to poorly could work out so well and it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't broken my necklace in my sleep.

Quilting

Just for the record I have been quilting. Unfortunately it has not only been customer work, but it's been going back so fast I haven't had time to photograph a lot of it. I will try to do better.

I am also working on a new pattern. A couple of weeks ago Jenny at Patchwork Corner challenged me to come up with a pattern for some black and white and red and white prints. Fortunately this really appealed to me and an idea came very quickly. I hope I will be able to share it here sooner rather than later. I've only been able to work on piecing this new quilt in down time before classes at the shop, so it hasn't gone as fast as I would like, but hopefully today I can finish it.

Once I have this top made I want to do a second from the same pattern as I think it will look great n a very different colourway, and I can't wait to see it. So expect this project to be taking up my 'spare time' for a while.

One of the customer quilts I have waiting, that I will definitely get a picture of when it is done is a fund raising quilt. It is a fairly traditional bed quilt that I will be adding feathers to, which will be raffled to raise money for Macmillan Nurses.

I am also making good progress with my second book. Apparently my students are enjoying it so they are working faster than I expected, which means I have to as well. Unfortunately this is stopping me finishing my quilts from the first book. How embarrassing is it when your students are finishing your quilt before you do. Oh well at least one has been kind enough to lend me her quilt for talks, so if you do come to one you will see at least one finished example. It also looks like I finally have a title for it. I want to try it out on a class or two before I share it here, so watch this space.

Something to see in London

If you are in London before the 19th, try and find time to get to
Gallery Forty-Seven. It is 47 Great Russell Street, and is currently
home to "Dreams and Visions". This is an exhibition of work by six
artists, Marlene Cohen, Claire Crocker, Margaret Jarvie, Alicia Merrett,
Christine Restall and Stefanie Rickard. These ladies work together under
the name Colour FX Textile art and have a web site www.colourfx.org. I was
lucky enough to be invited to the private viewing on Tuesday byt Stefanie,
who won the guest book prize from my show.

I managed to get there, in the middle of a very full day and I was
thrilled I had. I have to admit that I like that area of London anyway
but I don't often go there, so that in itself was a treat. The first
thing that struck me was the windows. How dumb does that sound. I don't
think I have ever seen textile art displayed in a window like that, and
well, it's something else. It made me look at it in a different way, and
was attracting the attention of passers by. Not bad going on a wet
evening. Inside the gallery has three separate areas. I like not being
able to see everything at once. I'm not sure for me it is so much a
journey as having to hunt for things to look at.

As I am terrible at names (and faces) I went without any idea what I
would see. I was very happy to discover some quilts I had seen before
and enjoyed. Had I the money I think 'Rainbow Fizz' would have had a new
home. I loved this quilt when I saw it at the FOQ, but hadn't got
arround to looking up who had made it. It turns out to be one of
Alicia's. I was also really taken with Solaris 2. It just is. To me it
has everything a sun should. Heat, light, dark and flares. The funny
thing is I don't really know how it had flares, but I could see them,
and I liked them.

I can't do these quilts justice here, so if you are arround London in
the next few days, do try to get to see them. If you can't make London
then they will also be on display at the Cowslip Workshops, Launceston
August 2009. I suspect details will be the Colour FX web site.

Blah blah blah

Another weekend another talk. Today's was near Wantage, and I was paired with Kim Shaw. I don't envy people the job of booking speakers. Not only do you need to find people who won't bore or offend your audience but you also need to consider how well they will fit together. I felt Kim worked stunningly well with me. We both have something of a slack attitude. Perfection is for other people and quilts are to be handled. Yet we also come from very different angles, she does a lot of hand quilting and I claim hand is a four letter work (well it is). I think people had a good time, I hope so, I certainly did.

Long time no time.

I haven't forgotten you all, but I don't seem to have time to think at the moment. Since I last had time to blog I've been out and about again, it seems mostly collecting colds. Last Saturday I spoke at the Quilters Guild Region 7 regional day. It was a lively meeting. I was amazed to find the hall fairly full when I arrived well before opening time, and it just got busier. I really could get used to this being treated like a celebrity, but maybe that wouldn't be too healthy. At least one of the audience did leave feeling inspired, which is my goal, this is her blog, Master of Patience.

I wish I could have stayed for the afternoon talk, the quilts I saw looked amazing, but I had to run off to the Birmingham Comics Convention. We made it to the convention center before it shut, although we weren't helped by Birmingham's one way system and the lack of hotel car parking, and arrived just in time to find our friends had completed their goals for the day and had time to show us around. It's interesting seeing the different comics shows. Much like quilting shows they each have their own feel. This one was very smart and professional, but not quite as friendly and lively as Bristol. I would put it as my next show of choice though. I like slightly quieter, especially when I am trying to have a look around. Over the weekend I managed to meet a quilter, and buy fabric markers, thus proving that I can work anywhere. We did also buy a few graphic novels. I was particularly taken by some adaptations of classics. I went for Macbeth, Christmas Carol and Frankenstein. They have lovely black on black covers and from a quick flick through they seem very well thought out. They are apparently being bought by schools to encourage reading so I am hoping they are well done. We did go for those with the original text which I think will help for me, but they do produce versions with different simplified text for children. If you would like to read more about the convention, Cy has put a few posts on his blog.

Monday and Tuesday were dedicated to quilting. The quilt you see here is the first I have done with this sort of edge. It is more effort, as I had to mark the curves before I could start, but I do love the effect. I really hope someone will need it again. I am also thrilled with how well the triangular feathers came out. I've been doing quite a few of them recently and it looks like the practice payed off. If you would like to see this quilt in the flesh, it will be at Alexandra Palace for the next four days. It will be hanging on the Patchwork Corner stand, which is the only reason it got done this week. I don't like doing customer work when I am under the weather, but I think I got away with it this time. I am still very busy with customer quilts but rest assured, I am working my way through them as fast as I can.

I am also making faster than expected progress with my second book. I can't claim this is down to me however. My students seem to be enjoying it (either that or they hate it and are trying to get it finished and out of the way) and are working through it far faster than I expected. This means I have to write faster to keep ahead of them. I have so much more respect for authors who can make them selves to write regularly without this kind of motivation. I know I wouldn't have the discipline to do it. Heck there are days when I would love to bunk off even now. Still I am pleased to say I have managed to write three chapters this week and hopefully that will keep me ahead for a little while.

Pah

We had a great weekend off. The weather looked poor with thick fog as we drove up to Santa Pod, but as we arrived it cleared and we got two lovely sunny days. Not too hot just right. OK the evening did get cold but that is to be expected. Unfortunately I seem to have picked up a cold somewhere. It's slowing me down which is frustrating, but things are getting done. After last weeks mass quilting I was feeling pretty smug, and we know what happens when we feel smug, someone brings us back to Earth. Well in this case several someones. I think I now have more to do than I did last week. I wonder if it is related to the very bad weather this summer. I think we had about 2 sunny days, so people have stayed in and sewn. Now everything needs quilting. No I am not complaining. Actually I am rather enjoying having so much variety to work on, but I has slowed my turn around down. Rest assured, that if I have one of your quilts (or more in some cases) I will be getting to it just as fast as I can.

Of course doing this much quilting is cutting into my time to play with the computer, so this site and my main website may not get updated as often. Sorry, but getting quilts back to my customers has to take priority. Although right now I think I am going to have an early night and try to see off this cold.

Quilting like a mad thing

Wow, it's been a mad few days. I've discovered that having too many quilts waiting (more than 10) is bad. It makes me very uncomfortable. For some reason that is the point where things feel out of control to me. So since my last post I have quilted 6 customer quilts. I feel much better now, if utterly exhausted. It's a little concerning that I still have as many to do (to say nothing of three of my own) but it feels manageable now.

To give me a bit of a break from the longarm I've been putting together a sample quilt. I managed to cut it out in about half an hour while I was waiting for a class at the shop on Thursday, and it is now ready for quilting. It's made from the "Turning Twenty - Just got better" book, and it is even quicker than the "Turning Twenty Again" which I love. Tet, who has been helping sell patterns at my talks, felt it was time for me to get samples from the other books. I have to admit he is right, but somehow it hadn't seemed urgent until someone else pointed it out. Strange how these things work isn't it. So here is the first of my samples from the other books. I am really pleased with it. The fabrics for the center of the quilt were pretty much the first 20 fat quarters I pulled from the batik display that the shop. I say pretty much as I did put one back, but other than that I just grabbed the 10 darkest and 10 of the lightest. It's a good illustration of how forgiving this pattern is. I don't think you could quite walk into the shop blindfolded, pick fabric and be guaranteed a good quilt, but I suspect even that would work out fairly often.

Also I can finally show you my Hever challenge quilt. I wasn't overly inspired by the fabrics but after they had sat on my desk for a few months I realised they reminded me of one of my screen savers. So that is what I did with them. I would like to try a similar design with circles instead of rectangles, but that is going to be such a pain to stitch, I keep putting it off.

Where do I start?

Well I've had a few very hectic days and boy has a lot happened. On our last night in Scotland (Monday) we were taken on a tour of Aberdeen. I don't know about you but I do find it frustrating when you fly into a place but never see it. I seem to spend a lot of time saying, well I've been to X but I didn't actually get to look around, we just flew into the airport. I am so glad I did get to see Aberdeen. They aren't kidding about the amount of granite used, and personally I think it looks great. I can see that some might find it a bit grey and drab, but not me. I really liked how you find a whole row of very plain functional buildings followed by one that has every architectural feature they could think of. Ornate granite buildings are just amazing.

As our guide works in the oil industry he also showed us the harbour and the rig anchors. I am sure I can get a quilt from the docks, possibly several. I loved all the metalwork there. Especially at night when the lighting is really interesting. Obviously the light is intended to help the workers but some heads upwards illuminating cranes and storage tanks, and it is just so inspiring.

The flight home was largely uneventful, although I did enjoy seeing the South as we flew into Heathrow. There are some amazing buildings on they way in. I would have loved to take some pictures but sometimes other passengers get really concerned about someone with a camera, so I tend not to bother. It's a shame as you see some wonderful sights, but most of the time I can't be bothered to deal with people worrying about it.

As I mentioned we have been having a lot of computer troubles. So when Twisted Threads sent me the pictures from the awards I couldn't get at them. It's been very frustrating as I really did want to share. However, when you come how exhausted, what better time to sit at the computer and get photos sorted. Thanks tot Tet I can now share these with you. Now rather frustratingly the winners list, which I have to hand, doesn't tell you who the sponsors are, so I can't tell you. I will have to have a look for the show guide and see it that does. I can tell you that the lady with the black and white skirt is Beryl Cadman, who is the Gammill longarm sewing machine dealer. She sponsors the long arm quilting award. The other lady is the sponsor of the pictorial award and I believe it the editor of Quilt Mania. She is fascinating to talk to and introduced me to the European Art Quilt Foundation. Then I have to look very embarrassed, I can not think who sponsors the contemporary quilt award. Please do comment if you know as I can't find my show guide to look it up.

Yesterday I taught my first class of the new term. Well actually my first two classes of the new term. I now have groups Wednesday morning and afternoon. It went pretty well, although I will need to fine tune the change over. I had planned to start on sampler quilt book 2 with Wednesday morning, but they had things they wanted to finish, which was a blessing. Wednesday afternoon though, boy was that manic. They are so quick and lively, they are really going to keep me on my toes. Most of them have chosen to work on my round robin sampler, and in the first lesson they finished the first chapter. They are all ready to move on straight away next week. I am very glad I have this all ready to go, or I would be in trouble. I might see if they will let me take some pictures next week as their quilts all look very different to mine already. I find it fascinating how classes get their own style a well as the styles of the individuals.

Today I am pretty certain I will be starting the new book with my evening class. I've had several requests for requirements so I know they are keen. Hopefully they will like what I have planned for them. Tonight we will be starting with a Carpenters Wheel. It's a block I have been wanting to do for a very long time, so I have used it as the center piece of this quilt. I like to try and get one of my loves into each design they ask for, and so far it seems to have gone down well. I'll let you know later if it has worked out this time too.

Finally, I have to brag. I found out last night that I have won best machine workmanship in the traditional category of the world quilt show. I cannot begin to say how utterly thrilled I am. It is another award for Guide Me, which I still think is one of the best quilts I have ever made. I've been so disappointed by the response to it in this country, so it's successes in the US are even more important to me. The full list of winners is here.

Manic day part 2

So I had to leave off quite abruptly this morning as I needed to get out to my next engagement, teaching 'Art quts by numbers'. The hall this time was very close to where we have been staying, which really does make things easier. From the outside Crathes Hall is very functional looking. I can't claim it was the most attrctive building from the outside but inside is a great village hall. The 16 tables fitted nicely, neither cramped nor rattling around. There are a reasonable number of sockets and heating that works. We arrived about 9.30, the hall was cold. By just after 10 we were able to turn the heating down, then by luchtime off. If you've ever had to teach in a chilly hall you will appreciate not only how impressive this is, but also how rare.

I had a great group today they were very keen and worked amazingly quickly, with good results. I did get the impression I wore them out though as they drifted off quite early. Still they seemed to have a good time and really did achieve more than a lot of classes I've done. Perhaps the Scots are just a lot more efficient with their time. I am really hoping some of them will send me pictures of their finished work, as a lot of them managed to put a lot of personallity into their work. Bear in mind they were working with my designs and in many cases my kits, so managing to make a unique and characterful piece is quite an achievement.

As we got away earlier than expected we had a shopping oportunity. Milton Studio is a lovely quirky little shop. Actually thinking about it, I am not so sure about little, maybe compartmentalised would be more acurate. If you would like to take a look they do have a web site, www.miltonstudio.co.uk. Parts of the shop were originally used for storing two carts and as a hay loft, and the shop in split into different stock in these different areas. Next to the cart garage you have a selection of quilting fabrics and thread. Coming into the garage there is the till and lots of goodies, from chocolate and ice-cream to art and crafts made locally. Heading up the stairs there is a small gallery with more from local artists (they are good and the prices are very reasonable) then you head on up to the hayloft. I would know more about the history of the building but I got distracted at this point. The hayloft is full of knitting yarns, beads, embelishments, books and well generic goodies. I think it would have been a very expensive accident if I hadn't had to get all my purchases on a plane.

From here we went to meet up with Mo. She was our tour guide on Friday, and is very passionate about the area. She took us for a walk along the the river Dee. It is a very beautiful river. Stupidly I didn't take my phone with me, so I can't share a picture. Think a wide fast flowing river, occasional rocks, pines and bends. If you've seen a picture of a Scottish river, it's probably very similar. I realy have been spoilt for inspiration the last few days. I've been spoilt food wise too. My goodness do they do hospitality up here. Last night we were at a very fancy private club, with stunning and reasonably priced food, tonight Mo made us a traditional roast dinner. Traditional here (with chicken at least) is an oatmeal and onion dish, which hopefully someone will remind me of the name of. It was a big hit with Tet, so much so I suspect I will be finding out how to make it. I think I would like i but I need to find a sauce it will work with as I don't eat gravy and I think it wants something moist with it. It was good to have a chance to try something so obviously part of life here, yet new and exciting to us. Round off the meal with an apple and bramble crumble (with ice cream) and I am in heaven. Honest solid food, perfect.

Tomorrow is my last booking here, at Touched by Scotland. It will be intersting to see a different area as this gallery is a little further afield and in a direction we haven't been yet. Who knows what we will see tomorrow, or who we will meet? Whatever happens I am sure it will be fun and probably give me yet more inspiration for quilts.

Manic, but fun

It wwas a packed day yesterday hance no blogging. We had an early start to get to the enue andd set up. You would be surprised how long it takes to decoate a venue, st up stands and put up signs. Still by the time the visitors were arriving everything was ready. Boy are people keen up here. It was an earlier start than I am used to, 9.30, but the crows was there on time keen to get at the traders. Frankly once the visitors got in there was no chance for me to get near the ales stands, I suspect the traders had a vry good day. Fortunately a very kind lady told Linzi and I we had to buy a copy of Quilt Mania and founr them for us. Both of us have had a quilt featured fron the Festival of Quilts. How cool is that?

The morning speaker was Barbara Weeks. She gave a very interesting presentation on what show categories a given quilt could fit into. The talk was illustrated with many well known pieces and was very infomative. I hadn't actually thought about the lack of entry forms for the Festival next year. Apparently this is because they are looking at making some changes, and I will be interested to see what they are when they send the forms out. She is a very interesting lady to talk to if you ever get the chance.

After a fabulous lunch (even Costso in Scotland have the idea of proper hospitality, I had thought th sandwichs for my opening were generous) we got ready for my talk. It was the most imposing venue I have spoken in. Good, but imposing. There is something about tiered seating that makes a place look more official. The talk seemed to go OK, but the audience was very quiet. It was a little unnerving until I was told this is normal for here. It was interesting to see how peoples reaction to me changed after the talk. Before hand most people had no idea who I was, and I think were a little confused by me lurking. Afterwards they could not have been more warm and welcoming. I only wish I could have brought them more quilts, as they so obviously enjoyed playing with them.

A very fast clear up was followed by a good amount of driving arround. First we delivered some ladies to the train station, then off to hunt highland cattle. We were successful. I think I have arround 100 photos, so hopefully I will have at least one I can quilt from.

Cowie and bathrooms.

First thing in the morning I find toilets have a storng pull, however not strong enough to distract me from the amazing view here. How mean is it distracting someone like that. OK not very mean, just rather wonderful.

After breakfast we were collected by Mo and delivered to Cowie. This is a small fishing village next to Stonehaven. We headed up the cliff with instructions to turn arround at the graveyard. After days of rain an gloom we were treated to a warm sunny morning, the best way to see the sea in my opinion. The Kirk is a ruin but very beautiful, perched on the top of the cliff. Hopefully I will have some good photos from it. Apparently the cliff is very fossil rich, but I didn't find any, we did find an amazingly black slug and some very pretty snails.

Now we are sitting in a very nice little cafe bar on the seafront.

Oooohh, ahhhh, wow!

Is it a good thing or bad thing when you are coming in to land and ealise you aren't going to be somewhere long enough? I suspect it is a good but frustrating thing. This area has great bones, the land undulates beautifully and is punctuated by hills and rivers I can see why so many artists are inspired to create here.

The people are pretty amazing too, boy do they do hospitality. I couldn't have asked for more. Met as soon as we got off the plane, navigated arround the airport then deliverd to a lovely house. The longarm workshop and yurt didn't hurt any either. We got to meet some more natives over tea who have offered to take care of us tomnorrow. How cool is that? It's looking like a full day of castles, landscapes and extra shagy cows. Yes I am hunting more subject matter for quilts, who wouldn't in such a fabulous place.

Don't you just love it when a plan doesn't come together?

Yes I said doesn't, and yes I did mean it. I had a plan. It seemed like a very good plan, I did a test and everything. I wanted to have the first of the outer borders onto my quilt before it went to Scotland and I am going to use my new technique for doing it. However when I pinned it on (or tried to) it was too short. I was very upset but headed to the bath to console myself. As ever, my best ideas are had in the bath. Had it been the right length, the way I have quilted it would mean I couldn't get the last two borders on. It would have been a real disaster. As it is it will work perfectly. How weird is that? So I will very proudly show my latest quilt, very unfinished and in two pieces as the talk on Saturday. At least it gives me something else to talk about. For those of you who can't make the talk (and why not Scotland is lovely and it really isn't that far) I will post some pictures either while I am there or when I get back. I am hoping to find lots of inspiration while I am there, I think if I am very lucky I might get to two castles which would be great. I am told the landscape in that area (Crathes) is good too, so who knows what I might find. I wonder if there are any local shaggy cattle. I would love to do a quilt of them.

Quilts on display in America

I finally got access to some of my email, although outgoing is still a problem, and I was amazed to find people have seen my quilts. I knew I had quilts in America (you do tend to notice) but I had not expected these two to be on display for a couple more weeks. Apparently "Node with Rope" (they renamed it for me :) and "Guide Me" were on display at Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza in Harrisburg. It is the first stop of the World Quilt Sow this year. How cool is that? On the other hand neither of them were wearing ribbons, so it could have been cooler. Still I have a picture of my nude at the show and "Guide Me" was too popular for them to be able to get a picture. That's a fantastic thing to be told. At least as good as it's got a ribbon. So thank you to the ladies who sent me the reports, if you would like to send me your postal addresses I would like to send you a little something each.

Ooooooooh

I've finished one of the outer borders for the quilt I showed you, and I am thrilled with it. OK I couldn't go far wrong in my eyes given I am using silver bias tape on black background to make knots, but still, I am very pleased with it. I also found time to make a test piece (yes really) for the quilt as you go technique I have thought up. It worked exactly as I expected and I like it. I think it could be very versatile, and I have to admit I am going to use it got the outer border of this quilt, even thought it won't appear until my next book. The technique I had been going to use would work fine, but I need the very fine strip anyway so I might as well do it this way. I can't see me getting all four outer borders on before I go, each knot takes nearly 2 hours and I will need 12 of the on the long sides plus 4 corner knots (these should be a lot quicker). Still I should have one on with will be enough to give people the idea. I have decided that I will take this quilt with me for my talk at the regional day. I am not going to be able to take as many quilts as usual so I want try and take some special things to make up for it. Besides they really need to be pieces I can talk about for a while, or I will run out of things to say.

I'm finding I am more nervous about doing talks and teaching so far from home, than I have been about closer ones. I should say that close is a relative term but somehow this feels further. I guess it is to do with having to fly to get there. The daft thing is I am not sure why this should be any different to working closer to home. I will have to be a lot more selective about what I take with me, but I really aught to be able to do that. I don't know where I could puck up emergency supplies if I do forget something, but as I will be staying with a quilter, I can't imagine what I might need that I can't borrow. I can only assume this is one of those things where the human mind is not entirely helpful. Maybe this nagging (but irrational) doubt is why a lot of people don't like working further afield. I suspect that once I have done it and proved the voice wrong it will give up. I will let you know.

I guess I aught to get some sleep. Tomorrow I have to try and figure out how to write lesson plans without proper computers. I am sure I will figure out something, but it may not be elegant.

Server still down

Our server has eaten it's power supply and our spare. I will be fetching it another one today but I will not be back up and running until at least tonight. This assumes that the mother board is OK, which we won't know until we can get a power supply to work. You can contact me by phone.

Shopping should not be exciting

At least not just going to the supermarket. However when your car won't start and you have under an hour to move it before collecting a 50 pound fine it does get more thrilling, and no not in a good way. I decided that I could push it out of the car park on my own, however I couldn't then stop it rolling down a steep hill onto the main road. Fortunately a local friend was home and able to come and give me a hand. Of course I managed to get the car started once help was on it's way. These things certainly have an interesting sense of humor.

This delay, and chatting to the very helpful friend kept me busy a lot longer than I had planned, so I haven't got all the borders on the quilt yet. However I have now got the last pieced border on which is all stars. I really like where this quilt is going. I am trying to decide the best way to transition from the patterned black area to plain black. I need the outermost border to be plain as I am going to put more applique on it and I want my work to be visible. I just think than going from one to the other might feel a bit jarring. On the other hand it worked well enough in the center. Sorry the picture isn't as clear as usual. I was working on my phone and I guess I was shaking more than I thought (and I suspect the background fabric is quite tricky to photograph as well). It looked OK on my phone, but not so great here. Still I am sure I will have my computer back soon and then I can put up a better picture. As yet if you need to get in touch please do phone me.

I had been going to reply to a couple of my Scottish students. Yes I do have kits and will be bringing them with me. if you search here for swan and rose (separately) you should come up with some pictures of the samples. Tropical Punch is one of the samples for the Touched By Scotland class.

Sneak preview

Well I think I've been hiding this for quite long enough. I have been working on this quilt (on and off) all year and so far it's been hiding. Now it is almost done I've just got to show someone. This is the sample I made for my book. Most of my students have stopped at this stage, but I want this one to be bed sized so I am adding another couple of borders before the final one. It does mean I am going to have a lot more work in my outer border but I think it will be worth it. Hopefully I can get at least the next border on tomorrow, maybe I can get all of them on if not finished.

I really should be working on samples for next terms lessons. I think I have come up with two new to me techniques which, if they work out, I will be able to share. Obviously I need to take time to play with them before I teach them. So many ideas, so little time.

The trip to Ikea turned out to have a quilty flavour. I managed to find a frame big enough for one of my prints (without needing a mortgage) and it turns out to be accomodating enough to take actual quilts. Large deep frames are generally too expensive for me to play with so I am very happy with this find. Also they have plastic containers with a hook designered to hang in the kitchen. They are 49p each and are very handy for scissors in my fabric room, and pens at the drawing board. They may also find a place at my new cutting table when I get that far.

The place to be in London on a Saturday night

I'll admit I'm weird. Sometimes I get a craving for Swedish meatballs and their sauce. I live reasonably close to Ikea so it's something I can at least fix without flying to Sweden. Usually the food shop can supply me but it's been out of stock recently. I thought about coming for lunch today, then sanity kicked in. You don't go to Ikea in the middle of a rainy Saturday, that would be very silly. However my need for meatballs hasn't gone so I figured by dinner time the store wouldn't be too bad. After all anyone less sad than me would have a life and many better things to do on a Saturday evening than have dinner at Ikea right? Wrong, very very wrong. I have never seen it so busy. Apparently this is where you take your loved ones for dinner now. Still I suppose it will mean my dinner hasn't been sitting keeping warm for hours, if and when I eventually get it.

Dead computers everywhere

Just in case anyone is trying to get in touch, I have a very sick network. We think one of our servers isn't talking but it isn't a simple fix. So I am largely out of touch until at least late tomorrow. If you need to get in touch more urgently please phone me. My number is on my website there is a link to the right.

I guess without the computer to distract me, or indeed let me do any more paperwork, I can get on with sewing. I spent a lot of yesterday working on finishing the sample from my book. Maybe today I will get it done. At least I managed to check my quilts had arrived before it all went wrong.

Herd Mentality

Yay, it's arrived. Well at least Fedex are showing it as delivered in Houston. So until and unless I hear otherwise I am going to assume it is reasonably safe for the moment. Now I've just got to keep my fingers crossed for a few weeks. Also I think the world quilt show starts soon, so I need to cross another set of fingers for that.

All quilts shipped

Well they've all gone. On time too, just. Yesterday the two for Edinburgh left and Herd Mentality headed for Houston. Today my entry went off the Hever. Sadly I think I will miss the show at Hever. I think I will be in Scotland, so I will be looking forward to a picture of the other challenge quilt. This is a very small challenge that was set to me last year. A grand total of two of us entered. I hope mine will look OK. It;'s somehow a lot more scary with with only two of us in the class. As far as I know it isn't judged, but I am very curious as to the other entry. So please do feel free to send me pictures from the show. I will confess that mine would have had more hand sewing if I could have managed it, but I am very slow by hand, even slower than I had thought, so it has gone as is.

I also delivered the last of the wedding quilts today. Another happy customer and hopefully another happy couple.

One more quilt done

You've got to love piped bindings. They may not be the solution to every problem but for some quilts (especially those you need yesterday) it's great. If you haven't tried it you might like to get yourself a copy of Grand Finale a DVD by Ricky Tims. I was going to point you at his online shop but apparently he is filming at the moment so his shop is shut. Anyway it's a great technique which allows you to complete the binding by machine. Even better the piping looks like a much harder and more time consuming binding even though it is quicker and easier. Neat huh. Now I need to get back to quilting my Hever entry. I would like to have the binding on that today as there is some hand stitching I want to do before it goes. Yes you did hear that right. I want to hand sew!

International Shipping

Argh. Maybe I should just give up on entering quilt shows. I can't believe how complex it is to ship a quilt through customs and back. OK it is being made harder by me wanting in insure it for more than $45 and the show wanting me to use that as it's value. I've talked to so many people about how to do this, and frankly I am none the wiser. I could spend about 1000 pounds to get it a passport. I may then be required to pay the full value of the quilt to US customs to get it into their country, although I might get it back when it comes home. I can't afford that. I could send it out on a temporary export, exactly like I have done every other time, but then I would need to give a sensible value on the customs form to insure it. The show doesn't think that is a good idea. I could ship it with no insurance and hope. Oh and I've been warned that when you tell US customs something is of no commercial value they like to cut the corner off just to be sure. Guess what I am supposed to put on the form. So send it uninsured with an invitation to cut it up. It's not sounding like something I want to do. Of course I don't have anything better to be doing, I love trying to figure out a way to get around three different sets of rules at the same time. No really I do.