Wow - racing

Any day that starts in a warm bed listening to race cars warming up can't be all bad. Follow that with breakfast still listening to the cars with sun pouring in through the window even better. Having spent the whole of yesterday siting in the van in the rain, the wind at the top of the grandstand didn't seem so bad. That being said I am glad to be back in the van with a cup of coffe and my slanket.

We've had pretty good racing today, though not as much as they had hoped. Unusually it was the promods causing trouble. The car in the picture behaved fine, after it things got intersting. One managed to not only crash into the christmas tree (the stand of coloured lights that start the races) but also ripped out it's stand, wiring and the timing reflector in front of it. It was folowed by a spate of near misses. People not quite running into each other and the walls. The timing reflectors down the track weren't so lucky and several didn't survive the day.

The van has proved a success. We did discover the leisure battery isn't charging but it's not been a huge problem. We needed two reading lights in the over cab area, which is fine as I happen to have bought two, and we found the coocker not only works but works well. I think we will need to get the bathroom sorted for longer stays and I may add a hand cranked sewing machine to the onboard kit. I also tested my zippo handwarmer. It's amazing. If you do suffer from cold hands (or want a traveling hot water bottle) consider getting one. They will stay hot for up to 12 hours and are rather beautiful as well.

My coffee is almost gone. Tet is winding up the vans legs. I guess it's time to head home and back to work. It's great to have found a simple way to have a break from work.

Who would have thought it?

It's a bank holiday weekend. One of the biggest UK drag racing meetings is on and it's raining. It's been raining all day, so no racing so far. However we did manage to insure the van so we have somewhere dry to sit, eat and sleep. It's a lot more civilized than sitting in the car.
It also means I have room to sew. This is my first van project. Royal Treasure is another Starr Designs project that I bought at the festival last year. It was simple to pack so it's what I am doing. As you can see I have all the pieces cut ready to start sewing, which means I need to brave the mud and rain to get the generator running. Wish me luck and hopefully Murphys law will mean racing starts just as I get it set up.

Insurance

I just want my vehicles to be legal. Is that such a big thing to ask? I try very hard to be totally honest with my insurance company. I explain exactly what I need and I try to ask every question I can think of to cover things they may not be thinking about. I run a business so I have to have business cover. I don't mind paying for this but when I have I want to know it's all legal and correct. In the process of trying to insure the van, I've been tolds twice that the cover I think I have for my car is, impossible, invalid or not what I thought was sold to me. So I now have to track down the policy documents, go through them again (I do it when they arrive so I am surprised with the claims the broker is making) and find out if I haven't actually been covered the last 3 years. How am I meant to do this? I am quite sure I told them what I needed and what I was going to do. I tried to spot potential problems and I am still possibly not covered. If we had takend the van policy we were offered 2 days ago that would now not be covered either. Despite us giving all the correct information. How many people are being caught out. Oh and I now get to phone two friends to suggest they check their policy too as thier brokers claim to have never offered the insurance they think they have either. Great. I love days that start like this really I do.

Yay, it seems I have managed to be insured. Not as well as I thought, but I've hit the legal minimum. Stressed, OH YES!

Busy and grumpy

I have been meaning to write an update for just under a week now, but somehow it hasn't happened. Last week was mad busy, but also very enjoyable. After my two regular classes on Wednesday I legged it over to Southend for a talk. I made it with time to spare, much to everyones surprise. Of course that was just Murphys law, I had been offered dinner before my talk and if I had agreed to it you can bet I would have been late. Still we got a very warm welcome and lots of good advice on places to eat after the talk. I was really appreciated and very nice to drive home full and relaxed. Thanks guys.

The weekend was just too hot for me to do anything sensible, and trying to quilt half a cow of black leather isn't sensible. I gave up part way through Saturday as I was far to ohot to concentrate and it is n't the place to make a mistake. So instead I got to spend time looking after the vehicles (new plugs for the car and a clean fridge for the van) and playing Rockband. I have discovered drumming is very relaxing whcih is just as well.

Monday I quilting my half a cow and a non challenging customer quilt. I now have a slightly more challenging one loaded. It's not going to be hard to quilt but the quilt won't tell me what it wants. It's quite frustrating. If all else fails I will just start and see where we go. This customer is also a friend and will like pretty much anything I am happy with which makse things a lot easier. The customer quilt I really want to get to work on I am waiting on a backing for, but I think waiting will just make it all the better when I finally get to do it.

On the grumpy front I have been trying to deal with banks and insurance companies. It's not big it's not clever and it certainly isn't as much fun as quilting. I think I might finally be making some headway, but it's really been a lot more work that it needed to be. I just hope it sorts out soon and I can forget about it for a year. Well until the next vehicle needs renewing at least.

Now though I need to go and start preparing for tomorrows talk. I am heading back to Essex again, but this time it's to South Woodham Ferrers, and at a somewhat more leisurely pace. It's all go here, but then you probably guessed that by the peace and quiet here :)

Malvern - computers can do a great job

You may be aware I have some computer issues. I tend to feel that computer patterns are unsympathetic to hand made quilts. No matter how good the piecer is, the straight lines aren't. Fabric is a very badly behaved material, it wriggles. Unfortunately computers do straight lines and it can really show up the less than straight piecing.

This quilt caught my eye at the show. It's a lovely small quilt, but really it was the quilting that struck me. The quilting just works so well on this piece. I love that it really plays to the strengths of the computerised system. The circles in the quilt would be a pain to do hand, and franky circles do look much better perfect. I would not have attempted this design, I know it would have been very difficult for me to do and I could not have got it looking this good.

This quilt was made by Sue Watters and quilted by Rosemary Archer of Frome Valley Quilting. Thank you to Rosemary for giving me permission to show off her lovely work.

Quilts UK 2010 - Malvern

This is the first of our quilts at Malvern this year. I say our as this one isn't mine, it's Tet's. This is his first quilt which was made to test my book. He had promised to edit the book for me, and boy did it need it. Ever seen the unedited writings of a dyslexic? He has. After reading and correcting a large section of the book he realised he what he was doing wasn't really going to check the book. He needed to follow the instructions too. Of course if you follow the instructions in a quilting book you should end up with a quilt, and as you can see, he did.

Next we have Leather Star. I nearly didn't enter this and even after doing the forms I very nearly forgot to send it. I had the boxes sealed before I realised I was missing a quilt. I'm very glad I spotted the error, as it came third in it's class. It also collected a judges choice from Susan Briscoe.

I was amused to find that she had checked it was really a quilt when judging it. It is. It has one layer of 80/20 wadding in it and a batik backing. I am very keen for all my quilts to be true quilts, as traditional as I can get them whilst pushing the boundries.

I was also pleased to see she really gets leather. Her comments are in the image below. I think the risk is part of what I really enjoy about working on leather. It is scary. Really really scary, but very wonderful too. I know one day I will have a piece go wrong, and I will have to throw it away, but it's a risk I am happy to take. I love working on leather and I can't wait to get to the 4 half hides I have just waiting for projects for the NEC.

Remember you can click on any of these images to see a bigger version. You should be able to see the detail of the stitching and read Susan's comments if you do.

I suppose this is a good point to comment on judging. I used to think that maybe judges really didn't know who's work they were looking at, but as I've gone to more shows I know I can recognise a lot of peoples work. I also know I am terrible at remembering names, so if I can do it other people can. I have only judged one quilt show. It was a fantastic experience and very enlightening. You really can judge impartially if you want to. A good judging form helps too, as it gives you a list of technical items you can consider and give marks too. It can mean that a quilt you really don't like gets an award based on technique. I'm not going to tell you it's perfect or always fair, but it's possible.

I have now had the chance to talk to several judges, and that seems to be about what they say as well. Some say it is harder to be impartial about techniques they really dislike, but they try. Do they know who made the quilts they are judging? Yes, often they do recognise the style. However sometimes they can be mistaken and yes, sometimes they haven't read the book a given quilt has been taken from and not credited too. Does this mean I agree with all the judging decisions? Nope, and I doubt I ever will. Especially where the judging sheet is used (yes I did just say they are a good idea). A quilt may score well on the items on the sheet, but not push my buttons an overall winning quilt. There is still luck here. I've heard more than one judge say how thrilled/disapointed they were by which quilts came out on top in a category they had judged. The judge doesn't always know how the results will pan out. I have a suspicion it also depends on how much they need food drink and a loo break as well but I can't get anyone to confirm or deny that. It also has a lot to do with why I place a very high importance on a judges choice award. It is the one award they realy do have absolute control over.

I did notice this year a lot more people were giving full credit to the books, patterns and kits that inspired their quilts. I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me. It's lovely to see so many quilters sharing the glory with everyone involved it the quilt. I hope it will continue, and that it might inspire visitors to the shows to try similar patterns.

Here is my quilt based on a kit by the Starr fabric company. They call their version Starrfire, and as I made mine for a holiday after the Festival of Quilts last year mine is Holiday Starrfire. I had been looking at the kit for a while but talked myself out of buying it because it was too small. It was only supposed to be a twin. I have a kingsize bed and I wanted a quilt I could use. Eventually it got too much for me. I had to have the quilt. I bought the kit and worked on ways to extend it.

Everywhere I have black fabric there was supposed to be a raspberry fabric. I only had the correct amout of that so I couldn't use it (it is in the binding of the quilt). I thought balck would make the colours really pop and I had a lovely batik that would suit the hand dyed fabrics. The internal sashing bars are about twice as wide as they should have been, as is the narrow black border. The quilt should have ended there. Fortunately there were enough scraps of the bright fabrics to make another narrow border, then I was able to add another wide black one. I think the coloured strip stops the quilt looking too much like it has been extended. Without it the outer border would have been huge.

I had intended this quilt to go straight on the bed. Tet felt it aught to see the sights before it settled down, so if you missed it at Malvern keep an eye open for it at Sandown next year.

I don't know if you remember, but earlier this year, this quilt was penalised for bad applique technique. I think I am supposed to satin stitch over the edges or something, which would ruin the effect, so it isn't going to happen. Anyway, that trophy and the pink ribbon are the award for machine applique! Yay! At least some judges get it. I suspect you can guess how pleased I am. The red ribbon was a complete surprise. It's a judges merit award. I had no idea I had won that and actually thought it was a ribbon for the judges choice and had been put on the wrong quilt. Not so. It really was a bonus extra.

Finally Greek Fossils. As you can see from the picture, this quilt was well recieved. The trophy is the Fran Jones award for stand up quilting. It's a very special award to me. Fran went out of her way to get me started in longarm quilting when she was really ill. I hope she would approve of the quilt. I know she used to check every quilt the judges chose for her award. One of the red white and blue awards goes with it. The other ribbon is for coming 2nd in the large wall hanging category. However below the ribbons is the other (to me) really important award. It's Judges choice from Sandy Lush. I am so flattered when hand quilters appreicate my work, especially wholecloth quilts. I think the more traditional hand quilters get wholecloth quilting in a way that misses most others. For her to say it's good means a lot to me.

This post has got rather long, and I've now finished lunch so the frame is calling. I am so desperate to get the quilt on the frame finished. I want to start working on my leather that I bought last week, but I can't until I clear some more customer quilts. ARGH! It's good to be busy, it's great to be able to pay the bills, but I want to play now.

The Quilt Show

The Quilt Show, as in Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, is offering discounted memberships at the moment. It's 20% off and they are just launching classes with Jan Krentz and Patsy Thompson as well. It seemed like the sort of thing I should share. So if you feel like giving it a try the offer is here.

Family, well kinda :)

I was asked by some quilters for a picture of my car so here he is. he's a Ford Capri 2.8i, V6. I've always driven Capris, initially because it was what[ was available for the right price, but later becuase I love them. They are a lot of fun to drive, and you can fit an amazing amount in them.

I thought while I was at it I would share the newest member of the family. A Bedfors motorhome. It's not the newest or most spacious vehicle, but it should do what we need. It will make my longer tours a lot easier to arrange and work, and even long drives home after talks will be easier. I might even be able to give up motorway service food. When I do a lot of bookings I do get really sick of the good you can get late at night. I suppose I could even eat before the talks. That would be amazing. I suspect as we get time the van will get renovated and repainted, but for now it will do.

I haven't had much time to blog recently given a very full teaching schedule. I am managing it now as I am on the tube delivering quilts to a customer. I've been at Patchwork Corner the last 3 days and tomorrow I will be teaching at Connecting threads. Sunday we will be heading up to quilts UK at Malvern. Tet entered his first quilt there and there are also 4 of mine to be collected. Despite me saying I never win there, I have! I need to be at th prize giving on Sundsy for Greek Fossils (Longarm quilting award) and Mother (Machine Applique award). The award for Mother is especially welcome, as it was judged in a recent show to have very bad machine applique. It just goes to show, judging is not a science. It is very subjective and therefore somewhat relient on luck. You have to get the right judge on the right day for the right quilt. Of course, if you don't enter that won't happen. So give it a go. You never know your quilt could just be what the judges are looking for.

If you see me at Malvern do come up and say hello. I don't bite often honest. Also if there are things you want to order from my website I am more than happy to bring them to the show with me. Just let me know today or tomorrow.

Subtle quilt

This is the customer quilt I am currently working on. It's a very subtle sampler quilt in shades of cream. I like working on samplers as I use a lot of different techniques on them and they really make me think. This one more than most. I can't change the colour, I have to work entirely by texture and try to make the design of the blocks really pop. I think it's coming along really well. I just hope the customer agrees with me.

I am currently on myway home from the last part of my Ferreting Around class at the Wandering Line in Purley. We have come so far from the first class. Ithas been wonderful watching the quilts and the students grow. I'm going to miss them. Hopefully we will be able to reunite for another course soon. I hope they will all send me pictures of their quilts when they are done.

My trip down this morning was by train. I blew a radiator hose yesterday and I didn't have time to fix it. My journey home though is in our new toy. It's a small, elderly motorhome. I haven't had a look round yet but it seems to meet my requirements. It's basic but has a bed over the cab and will save me needing hotels. It is very loud. Probably due to the short exhaust pipe. I am looking forward to making textiles for it as soon as I have time.

Partly Rhapsodic

This is my class project. One of my regular classes felt I sat around too much and that I should be sewing. This is what we came up with as a project for me. It is something I've been wanting to do for a while so I don't mind. I did get a little delayed whne my fabrics were held up by the ash, but everyone agrees they were well worth waiting for.

Of course being me I read the 'rules' and immediately decided to break some of them. I also managed to not read one of them (I suspcet I read it but forgot it actually) so my quilt is a bit more challenging than most. What's new? I wonder can anyone spot the deliberate and accidental changes?

Following my example two (probably three soon) students are having a go as well. They have both gone smaller than me. I am planning a 100" finished quilt, they are working on 40" and 38". This will use less fabric, although so far mine is using a lot less than I expected, but I don't know it will be easier. I think I have more room to fudge things. We shall see.

Customer quilts

Well as it turns out customer quilt. Unless you were very quick. It turns out the pictures of the other one weren't very good. About typical I guess.

At least this is the quilt I liked better. I returned several quilts over the last couple of days. It's been good to be back quilting properly after such a long break. I am now desperate to get my customers quilts done ASAP. This particular quilt is a sample for Patchwork Corner, and I suspect will be on disply at Quilts UK Malvern in just over a week.  I really loved working on this quilt, although I wasn't sure what Jenny was going to think of it. It is very different to most of the quilts I have done for her, much more me. I was very relieved to find she did indeed like it and has laready started putting the binding on.

The other quilt I tried to post a picture of wasn't quite so sucessful. Jenny wasn't sure about it. She doesn't dislike it but it wasn't really working either. It turns out to be the colour of the thread I used. She had wondered if it was the design (a new all over I was working on) but having seen it on another quilt I returned today realised she does like the pattern. It's very hard to get the thread right every time. I am not too concerned, it's a sample and she isn't that unhappy with it, but it does hilight the need talk over every detail of important quilts with your longarmer. In particular I like to know about dislikes. If there are things I have to avoid it helps to know. For example I know Jenny likes the quilting thread to blend with the quilt, and if in doubt head for grey or brown. I have other customers who like loud thread so they can see what they have paid for :) If I don't know which sort of person I am dealing with there is a lot of scope for error.

Fortunately today I had plenty of happy people and I managed to make a start on my Rhapsody quilt. I've finished the quilt on the frame and now it's time for Rockband. Yes I'm sad. So sue me.

Sushi Jo

How else would I celebrate anything? Jo has been helpping me celebrate for years. My first ever quilt ribbon was toasted at his little sushi barin Oriental City. Over the years we have both grown and he now has a lovely restaurant in Chalk Farm. I've been meaning to go to celebrate the launch of my book, and today was the first chance we've had. So a double celebration. As you can see the food was beautiful. It tasted pretty darn good too ;)

After my last post I got a package. The ash cloud that stopped flights held up a lot of post as well as people. I was waiting on my fabric for my rhapsody quilt. Starr fabrics had sent it just before the volcano, it arrived today. It's lovely and I will be able to start it nect Wednesday before my student's get too far ahead. After deciding it was too hard and they would just watch me make one, they decided it looked fun. So now there are a group of us working on them. I am really looking forward to it. Of course. Being me, I have broken or adjusted all the rules, but I think it will still work. It will be a bit harder than Ricky intended though.

Today didn't pan out quite the way I expected but it's been fun, and that's what counts right?

Happy Birthday to me

So I can finally reveal the great little video/slideshow that Mary at the quilt show put together for me. I am absolutely thrilled with it, and especially as it came up today. What a birthday present. If you would llike to have a look at it, you can find it here. She did a good job didn't she, and all without actually meeting me. I think their team is getting very good a t connecting with quilters all over the world making full use of the internet and post.

I had been planning on going out today to make sure I didn't end up working. I know if I hang around the house that tends to happen as I get bored when I'm not quilting, but with the tube network largely shut and the weather not looking great we weren't coming up with anything fantastic to do. It turns out my presents held a solution though, I'm going to play Rockband today. We go and visit friends pretty often to play and I love it, but I've been wanting to learn the drums for a while. You can't really do that with the ocassional sessions, but now I have my own set at home I can now learn. It is going to be a tight fit as they need to be in the room my longarm lives in, so we may have to get some shelving in which will make my working life easier too.

However, I've just decided that breakfast might be a good idea, so we will head off to the Ace cafe and make them feed us. I've just been advised on Facebook I should do thinks I shouldn't because I can and well, a large fried breakfast seems like a good starting point.

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.

Hello from Hobby Holidays

I had intended to blog when I got here last night, but as you can see I didn't manage it. By the time we had set the world to rights and eaten a very fine dinner it really was time for shower and bed. Besides I had forgotten to take any pictures so I figured I would wait.

I only just remembered today. The pictures are of the main house where we stay and eat, and the coachhouse which holds the workroom. We are working on wholecloth quilts this weekend. Despite the students having quite a range of experience they are all progressing well and keeping me busy. Their questions have even led me to find some new quilting designs. I did bring two quilts with me that need some finishing but I've been too busy to need them.

As with the other multi day classes I've taught I am getting a huge thrill from seeing how much more people can achieve over the longer time. I am lucky to have had several students send me pictures of finished pieces from class, but actually seeing the work is something else, especially seeing the students reaction to their achievments.

As with my last trip here the atmosphere is great. I think the relaxed environment helps a lot with machine quilting and being pampered doesn't exactly hurt. I should really get some sleep now. I have high hopes that the students will work me just as hard tomorrow as they did today. I know I've worn them out so it's only fair isn't it?

Classes classes everywhere.

Yesterday was one of those slightly scary days. A new regular class. For a workshop it isn't too critical if the group don't gell it's only for one day. It's a lot more problematic if a regular group doesn't. It was also the middle of a very long week which is quite daunting. I got lucky though, although not all the students made it to the lesson the group works well together. There is a nice mix of ablilities and everyone so far wants to make the same project, that is just a joy for me to work with. I should also say there is still a place (maybe 2) left on the class, so if you would like to join us from 1.30pm to 4.30pm on a Thursday afternoon get in touch with Patchwork Corner.

Between classes I have a couple of hours to work on my own projects in a nice big space. I thought I would take advantage of this and put the binding on Holiday Starrfire.  It's a huge and quite weighty quilt and after doing two sides I had definately had enough. So I just had to sit and relax for half an hour, it was a terrible task but I managed it :)

My evening class was a lot of fun too. Just as well I needed to be kept awake. Two students indulged in bribary and corruption of their tutor. Not only did I get a bag of Scampi flavour fries (the smell terrible but taste so good) but I was also given a very special hand carved walking stick. One of my students husbands carves these sticks and she had brought in one with a ferret on to show me. It was all the cute and practicle too. I fell in love. She managed to extract his stick to take home but only with difficulty. He has now made me my own! It's amazing and just the perfect height for me to lean my chin on. Not bad given he has never met me. It also came with a card telling me about the stick and indeed ferrets. Apparently the ferrets latin name means thieving, smelly mouse killer. That's fine, but my boss feels it suits me! I do make sure to always bath before coming to teach honest :) I will post a picture of the head of the stick later, I haven't got a camera with me right this second.

Finally one of the Thursday night students has started a blog. Even better she has already put up some sneaky pictures of a quilt I recently quilted for her. I really enjoyed working on this particular quilt even though it was a bit of a pain. It has 5 different colours of thread across it. Which meand extra work when you are quilting, and if it worked out the result would be my quilting was almost hiddent on the quilt. It did work out and I was very pleased with the result. I am looking forward to a picture of it finished. If you would like to see the previews they are on this post. This was alos the quilt that made me realise how much I learn about my students when I quilt their quilts. Quilting isn't like looking at a quilt, for me it is very different, I really see a quilt when I work with it. I had realised in class that this students work was coming on well, but not the way I did when I got the chance to quilt three of her tops in quick succession. It was clear which was the first. Which had been completed in a hurry, and which was the latest and greatest. It's really a very valuable tool for me as a teacher. Apparently it's pretty satisfying from the students perspective too.

Well I guess I should stop playing with the computer and go and start sorting out the car. I am off up to Hobby Holidays today to teach for the weekend. Its a lovely venue with fantastic hospitality. If you are looking for a quilting weekend away you really could do a lot worse. I know it will be a lot of work, but a huge amount of fun too. I can't wait to see what my students come up with this time. We are going to be working on wholecloth quilts again, and after what my students achieved on Tuesday I am really very excited by the idea of two whole days to play. More later.

The South can do hospitality just as well as the North

I think spring might have finally sprung. It's been a glorious day and not just weather wise. Having travelled to a lot of groups I have noticed that in general the north is far better at hospitality than the south. Sorry, I'm a southerner myself but that's how I've found it. Today I was in Fleet, and I can only assume they are the exception that proves the rule. We've been spoilt rotten all day, by a lovely group of quilters. I feel it has to be the joint best faith lunch I've been too. I don't know how quilt groups manage to get such a great variety of food. I would like to give a special thank you to whoever made the lemon sandwich cake, oh boy was that good. The whole event felt very well thought out, from the choice of venue to the signage, to the helpers, everything seemed to run very smoothly and there was a great atmophere.

I arrived at lunchtime (as requested, not just for food :) and as the speaker was on and I didn't want to interupt I went to see what the young quilters were up to. They were making very good progress on journal covers. They seemed to have really taken to the project and were progressing really fast. As with a lot of adult quilters they obvioulsy prefer the sewing to the pressing, but being young quilters were managing to get assistance with that bit. I guess there is an advantage to being young a cute :) By the time I started my talk they had very nearly finished their covers. That's is very good going. I teach a very similar class and they had got further than a lot of my students do. I also really liked their choices of fabrics, which I guess impies that the group are good at donating nice fabris for them to use. I hope the young quilters were as impressed with their work as I was.

The lady who had been working with them asked a ery interesting question. How many groups have a young quilters section? The answer I think was one of them. Now that is better than I thought, but it is a shame. Oddly it isn't something I had thought of. I am really keen on finding ways to help younger people learn about quilting, but the law makes it very difficult for shops to do. If groups could manage to put on a few events for their associated children it might go a very long way to filling this gap. I suspect for some quilters it might negate part of the reason for going to a group if it was too often, but even a couple of times a year would be a huge improvement on what is currently available. Also younger quilters have much less idea of what is possible and a whole load of imagination, which they are more than happy to share if given the chance. I am sure we can all learn a lot from the new generation of stitchers, we just have to let them in.

Despite having had a very fine lunch just before my talk it was a very interactive audience. It is a risk that on a warm afternoon with a full belly everyone will fall asleep but the ladies here are up to the challenge and at the end of the talk came up with lots of interesting questions. They also approved of the binding I've put n Greek Fossils which is a relief. I've been debating what to do for a while as the quilt wasn't planned as a finished piece. I was somewhat limited in my options but I thought the result was good, but a lot of people have had very strong views on this particular quilt so I was worried how others may see it. I'm less concerened now. 

There were also a high number of really interesting questions today. I like that as it means I have to actually think about things rather than just repeat the same answers, and having net several of tomorrow's class I think it's going to be fun. It sounds like I will have several people who are already thinking what they can use the techniques for even before they've leanred it and that makes for a very lively class. I don't think most of you have any idea how much I needed today. It was wonderful, thank you all so much.

A word about wadding

I get asked quite often which waddings (battings) I prefer. Having just had a reordering frenzy, I thought it might be a good time to share my thougts on the subject.

For me there is a clear winner, and were money no object most if not all of my quilts would contain the same wadding. Wool. I was about to say I'm not that picky about which brand, and that is almost true. I do like the big name washed and preshrunk ones. I've used plain carded batts and will do again, but they are not machine washable, by any stretch of the imagination. Trust me. I tried the samples and it wasn't good. Why do I like wool so much? There are several things going for it. I would say everything actually

• it's wonderful to quilt through and compresses well to fit under the machine.
• it has amazing loft and quilts down to nothing without getting stiff
• on the bed it has great thermal properties, it keeps you warm but not sweaty
• it tends to hold creases less than other waddings
• offcuts shred to make fantastic trapunto filling
• it's surprisingly light for it's loft and warmth

The only downside is cost. It has been about 50% more expensive than cotton and up to twice the price of a poly cotton blend. However that seems to be changing. Matilda's Own, which is what I am currently using is now only a couple of pounds more per metre than my preferred blend. Hobbs, is still rather more, but I suspect once the price shifts on one the others will probably move too. I can supply wool wadding to customers for their quilts if they wish.

The wadding I use most of these days is Warm Bond. This is not a fusible wadding, but a blend of 80% cotton and 20% polyester. I've tried quite a few blends, and to be honest they all work. I've stuck with this brand because it's been the most consistant. I like my cutomers to feel they are always getting the same grade of wadding, and I really don't like dealing with complaints (who does). It is the most expensive of the 80/20 waddings (as far as I know please do tell me if I'm wrong) but it's great to work with, has a lovely loft, washes well and as I said is consistant. Obviously, quilting for others I get ti use quite a range of waddings. I really like some of the cheaper blends on the market. They feel good and quilt up well. I have some concerns with the number of inclusions in some of them, and I've noticed they mostly suggest pre washing the wadding now. Personally that isn't a job I would want to do, so I advise looking  carefully at the wadding before buying it. If it has large (think peppercorn size) pieces in it I'd steer clear, if nothing else they are hard and can break needles. Half that size and I would worry about using itwith light colours, but a delicate dusting of specks all over hasn't caused me any troubles. Again if you know differnt pleas let me know.

I do get quite a few quilts where the quilter wants a pure cotton wadding. I have mixed feelings abotu working with the pure cotton waddings. I find that some of them are very fragile. The thinest don't seem to support my quilting terribly well or indeed their own weight. They can be very prone to stretching and tearing. I tend to stick to Hobbs 100% organic cotton and Warm and Natural. The Hobbs is the lighter of the two and most people prefer it. being me I like the Warm and Natural better. It is quite firm which makes it easy to work with, and it has a higher loft which makes the quilting stand out better. I find that once it's been used and washed it softens up nicely as well without going completely limp. Of course if you are looking for the delicate very thin traditional look, this won't be your wadding of choice.  Another cotton wadding which I am a huge fan of is Quilters Dream Supreme. I was lucky enough to get a sapmle pack of all their waddings and when I first saw this I knew it was a marmite moment. This was going to be love or hate. You will never call another wadding board like after feeling this one. It's really thick. Even I wasn't sure how it was going to work. Well it works amazingly. I don't know how it would respond to use on a bed, but for art quilts it is fantastic. It holds quilting really well and stays flat. It really does support art beautifully. I suspect it would also hold creases like nothing else, but I've avoided testing that theory. It's not cheap, it's not easy to get, but if you like making art quilts you might want to give it a go.

A new wadding that I am rapidly falling in love with is bamboo. There are several brands and blends out there. So far all the ones I've tried have been fantastic. They are especially good for quilt as you go projects, being thin, grippy and happy with the iron. They do feel a bit squeaky when layers of wadding rub on each other, but I can live with that. I haven't found it to shrink much with washing and I love it on the bed. In many ways it's similar to wool, but without the loft. I do have some reservations about how it will fare over time. Bamboo is processed quite heavily to get to a useable state and is essentially a rayon (which is made from wood). Rayon is fairly well known for not being durable. Sadly the only way to be sure how it is going to work out is to use it. So that's what I am doing. I'll report back if I notice any deterioration. I'm pretty hard on my quilts so hopefully if it can stand up to me it will be fine for other people.

There are many other specialist waddings available. I have several that I want to try out. I love the idea of an all silk quilt for example, though with 6 cats it's low on my list of things to do. I'm largely driven by the feel of a wadding. If it feels nice I'll buy some and play with it, if not I'll avoid it. Fair? Probably not, but it works for me. One specialist wadding I did try and like was the alpaca blends. However I found they performed in much the same way as the 80/20, so much so I can't tell them apart. At that point they just aren't worth the premium to me. Maybe people more sensitive than me will feel a difference. If I am quilting for you and you would like to try a different wadding, just ask. I usually have several on hand, although I may not have used them much yet.

You may notice one rather large family of wadding is missing. Polyester. In general I don't like it, and I don't use it. I can't deny it is cheap and has great loft, but having made a couple of quilts with it in I can't live with it, I find it gets very hot ans sticky, yet somehow doesn't stay as warm. I do use it when I need heavy faux trapunto on something that won't be on my bed. It can be a real life saver if you have some less than flat blocks. Of course your blocks are always great, but I've had my share of DD, the really curvey ones. Tehy really look great with a thick wadding under them and heavy quilting in some areas. In fact I think sometimes they come out better for having gone wrong.

If you would like to explore some of these waddings and your local quilt shop doesn't stock them there is an online source in the UK. ASDING have bailed me out of more than one tight spot (usually related to black wadding) and are great to do business with. They also offer sample packs so you can give lots of waddings a through stroking before comitting.

Birthday unsurprise

I know you are supposed to be surprised on your birthday, but this year I am quite excited about a non surprise. It's still not certain but a well know web site might be giving me a lovely present. Of course something urgent could come up between now and then, but keep you fingers crossed it won't.

Whups, just to clear up any confusion, it's not my birthday yet. I just relaly hope this cool thing will happen on schedule. I'll point you in the right direction whenever it happens, but I am really hoping it will all come together.

What have I been up to?

Mostly I've been sleeping. It's what happens when I get ill. I sleep, a lot. Fortunately I seem to be getting better and have been able to spend some time quilting today. The down side is, I am now starting to worry about all the deadlines that are looming. This time of year is always quite manic. It seems that every show comes up at once and there are no end of entry forms to deal with. Just to bring this home to me, the form for the World Quilt Show arrived this morning. This is a show I particularly like. Mostly because they make it so easy to enter.  The quiltsd from each country go to one collection center in the country and are then sent en mass to America. This makes it much cheaper to enter than most international shows and ensures the quilts are insured in transit. Another bonus is that the show is in several venues, so the quilts get seen by a huge audience. The down side is it clashes with Houston and Festival of Quilts. So I need to do some careful planning before I decide what is going where.

I don't feel like there has been much of a holiday. I guess that's what happens when you sleep through it. Still the new term starts on Thursday and I am looking forward to it. There are still a few places on my new Thursday afternoon class, so if you would like to join it get in touch with Patchwork Corner as soon as possible. The wholecloth class on the 20th is now full. Sorry to all those who missed out this time.

All the packages

Yesterdays class certainly lived up to my expectations. My students were keen, worked hard and had lots of good ideas and questions. I will be interested to see where they take the techniques I showed them. I stayed for dinner and chatting and well you know how it is when quilters get talking, it was late when I left and even later when I got home. So by the time I got home my main thought was bed. Then I found a stack of interesting post on my desk. Cool! Lots of things I had been waiting for had arrived. I had a quick look before giving in to the bed idea.

No sooner that I got there, Tet mentioned that Phoenix was back. OK I had to go and check on it. It's arrived home in great condition. Thanks to the guys at the Lancaster quilt show. However I also found I had more post. He had said I had got all the post but still. I now have a whole raft of new toys to play with for my garments at the Festival of Quilts. Obviously being me I am not going to do anything simple of traditional am I? So I needed a whole load card for prototyping and some fastenrs to go with it. There was me thinking paper fasteners no longer exisited.  I also have several new materials to test. I've got some ideas for things that might be possible in quilts but haven't been done yet. If I want to do them I think I will need to spend some time in the lab (quilting studio come engineering department). Don't worry I am keeping notes so I can share the process after I unveil the pieces :)

I even managed to get some quilting done today. I've had a week when I really haven't been up to it, and it has felt sogood to be back at the machine. The machine is sounding completely different after it's service. It really have appreciated the new gear grease and I think with the new brushes it is running faster. Taht could just be me being slow though so I am not certain yet.

How long?

I can't believe how long making up kits takes. OK I do like to do a whole batch at once (because it takes so long) but still. I've spent over 4 hours today putting together kits for my art quilt classes and I didn't actually finish very many. Partly because they also get through a lot of wadding. I see urgent reordering in my future. At least I have plenty for the class tomorrow and all the extras we might need. I'm quite looking forward to tomorrowa class. They are a friendly and laid back bunch, who are generally very quick on the uptake, a teachers dream class. I might even get a little writing done too. I know that would please at least one of the students as it is the art quilts book I am working on. However I now need a bath and a reasonably early night. I won't be enjoying the early morning or playing with the M25. I guess you can't have everything can you?

Two things that might make you smile

Firstly alternative jobs for me if I ever want to stop quilting,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7541455/Ferrets-key-to-bridging-the-digital-divide-between-cities-and-rural-areas.html

and then Uncle Bud teaches dogs to read,

http://amisimms.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/teach-your-dog-to-read/

What can I say, I have to fill my time with something.

I'm weird

I suspect that isn't news to regular readers but I thought I would share it anyway. It seems last weekend really took it out of me. Today I feel very ill and somewhat frustrated. I have so many things I want to be working on. I haven't ben on the longarm for days and I am really missing it. The quilt currently on the frame belongs to one of my students and is from my next sampler quilt book. It is designed to be quilt as you go but she decided she would rather I quilted it. It will take quite a lot of work but I know I will enjoy it.

I also have a book on making armour I would like to be playing with. I know card won't work quite like metal, but I think I should be able to adapt the techniques. I also have several clothing patterns awaiting my attention, but it won't be today.

Fortunately I recently bought a new laptop to improve things in my art quilts by numbers class. The old machine was free and rather old. Not a problem in itself but the screen was getting very hard to see. That meant I could only have two people at a time working on the machine, hopeless for big classes. The new macjine has a much larger, clearer screen. It's also relieving the boredom for me today, I may not be able to quilt but I can watch quilting DVD's. Sad isn't it. Ill in need ot time off and yes I chose to watch quilting. Told you, I'm weird.

Home at last

This is going to be a very quick post. I am exhausted and I need to get some sleep before teaching tomorow. The class today was a hoot, thanks guys, you were great. The Prince of Wales, Southport, is not a hotel I will ever stay in again. If you want to know why google for reviews, they are all pretty acurate. Premier Inn however was lovely. Now to try and make up for missing a nights sleep.

Southport and stuff

We made it. There were indeed a lot of roadworks but mostly the traffic was moving. The weather even held for us, only raining when we were in the car and stopping each time we needed to get out.

The venue is quite easy to find and despite looking very modern on the outside the interior is full of fantastic period architecture. I didn't think to take a picture on my phone so you will just have to believe me. We unloaded and scoped out the theater. We also had time for a coffee in the dinner room. It has the strangest acoustics. Everything echos. You need to talk quietly and down to nothave an echo. Apparently it goes away when the room is full. Very odd. The photograph is of the lake behind the conference center. The whole of Southport is full of lovely buildings. It must have been staggeringly beautiful in it's heyday. I've been told that the town is now working hard to restore the buildings. I hope they do, this is a lovely town that deserves to be looked after.

I've not heard anything from Lancaster so I guess Phoenix didn't place in the competition. I would love to have a picture of it while it is there though, so if you are at the show, please could you take one for me.

I am also waiting to hear about another American event. It's always worth lookin at www.thequiltshow.com, and indeed subscribing to the shows, but perhaps there is more to come?

Southport here we come

The car is packed I think we have everything, well I have left the kitchen sink and the first aid kit, but I think I have everything else. Now it's about time we headed north. Apparently the M^ is all roadworks but even with that we should be there by mid afternoon. See you all at the Quilters Guild AGM.

New workshop - machine crazy

I've been working on my sample for a new workshop. It is a quilt as you go crazy quilt made entirely by machine. I've done 6 blocks now but I haven't had time to put them together yet. It's difficult fitting everything in and this isn't something I can take with me to work on. My version is made entirely from silk fabrics. Of course you could make it with any fabric you like, but I've wanted to do a silk quilt for a while. It is a good pattern for using difficult fabrics so it seemed the ideal time to use the silk.

The workshop will be running for the first time in May at Patchwork Corner. It's selling out fast so if this is a project you fancy book sooner rather than later. My wholecloth class is now full but hopefully we will be able to run it again soon.
I have almost finished the sample for Speed Quilt 4 as well. This year it is Amish inspired. I've enjoyed putting it together and I hope my students will too. It is a little smaller this year, although you can easily extend it with extra borders.

V&A quilt exhibition

I think I mentioned that I was planning on going to see the Quilt exhibition at the V&A in London. I was invited to the press preview along with many other bloggers, but I was working so I had to pass on that invitation. Fortunately I have  client who was prepared to take me along on her membership. Having seen the coverage in the press I wasn't expecting much from it. I felt that the coverage implied quilting was a dead skill that needed to be recreated. It just isn't true, we could do with more quilters especially more who want to find new ways of using it, but there have always been quilters in the UK. 

There was also a lot of press coverage for modern quilts in the show. Sadly not quilts from quilters. I was aware there would be at least two modern quilts that I would like but for a large high profile exhibition I was hoping for more. There are so many very talented quiltmakers here and I would love their work to be brought to a wider audience. Maybe that has made me less accepting of this show. There are so few chances for the general public to see quilts I desperately wanted this exhibition to show everyone how amazing quilting is. Unrealistic? Certainly.

Although we got to the show quite early in the morning it was already very busy. The first few exhibits were very crowded, fortunately the busiest didn't really grab me. I did love the patchwork bed hangings, which were right by the entrance but attracting a lot less  attraction than the very early cot quilt. The wall hanging was the start of a theme for me. These hangings were made entirely of scallop shapes. This is a shape I love but I know I won't be using it in a quilt. To use well it is a very time consuming shape. Of course a lot of the people who were making quilts had time, and lots of it. The soldiers were often doing while in hospital, and weathier ladies would have been almost trapped in their homes. They may not have had a lot of materials wot work with but they made up for it in time and imaginnation.

I did very much enjoy the older exhibits. I love the irregularity of a lot of them. I think it enhances the patterns. I did come away with a lot of ideas from these quilts. Again I saw a lot of quilting patterns that I use being stitched by hand on these older quilts. We even found a great patern for using up the very small pieces that Lisa has.

Of the new quilts I was really looking forward to Sara Impey's new piece. It delivered exactly as I was hoping. I was also looking forward to the quilt from Fine Cell Work, a prison craft group. My goodness do they live up to their name. The workmanship is fantastic. I really admire what they achieve. Like the older quilts I see the application of time. Much like the wealthy ladies, they have time to fill. I would rather see them achieving something than wasting the time. I hope the prisoners involved also find it helpful, if only to give them a skill they can succeed at.

The photographs are from the cafe. The building is amazing, although when you walk in to the cafe you would never guess these rooms were hiding just around the corner. I had only taken my phone so the pictures aren't great, but they give you some idea of the beauty of the room. I will try and get back and take some good pictures at some point.

Overall I found the exhibition to be a lot better than I had feared. I still feel the exhibition in Bath was more to my taste, but there were a good number of interesting historical quilts at the V&A. I was quite disapointed with the book of the exhibition though. Several of the quilts I really wanted pictures of are only shown in the book as a close up. I would rather have a full picture of every quilt with close ups of some of them. They did have a lovely book of the quilts from the Beamish collection so I did manage to get some retail therapy. I guess I now need to go and visit them next.

Classes, classes and yet more classes

I've been meaning to post about classes for a while, and well there seem to be rather a lot I need to tell you now. Firstly I had a great time teaching at Country Threads in Bath. It's a very friendly shop in the center of Bath. It's tucked just down a back street very near the Abbey. I didn't get much chance to look at the Abbey, but it looks very spiky and I suspect well worth a vist. Anyway, the shop doesn't look entirely patchworky when you first see it. The first section has some fabrics but a lot of notions, ribbons, acessories and books. However, if you follow the very cooly curved corridor, you find a whole room of patchworking fabrics hidden away there. I am only sad that I had neither the time nor the space for shopping. I am hoping I will get to go back and spend some time in Bath and the shop. Downstairs is a dedicated workshop with a small kitchen and bathroom.  I love having access to a kettle when I teach, it means the divas among us can bring our berverage of choice and make as much or as little as we like. Although tea drinkers would have been well catered for with the group I had on Friday, I think there was a pot of tea constantly ready to drink. Those students really were tea fueled. I can't recommend driving in Bath at rush hour on a Friday though. I think next time I will try for lesurely shopping, followed by coffee and maybe an early dinner then try leaving. I thought London traffic was bad, Bath has to be a close second.

The next class I need to mention is Art Quilts by Numbers at the Nimble Thimble. There are still some places left on this class on Monday 29th March. This is a fairly new shop in Buckingham, which as well as patchwork and quilting supplies stocks a wide range of knitting and crochet items. There is parking available at the venue and a great fish and chip shop across the road. Of course you can bring sanwiches if you would prefer, but I strongly suspect I will be going to the chippy. If you would like to see the project we will be working on it is here, and the shop can be contacted on 01280 822236.

I would also like to announce an extra regular class at Patchwork Corner. As there is so much demand for weekly classes I will be taking another one on Thursday afternoons. It will run from 1.30pm till 4.30pm. If you are interested in signing up for this class please contact the shop on 01442 259000. I suspect this class will fill quickly so if you are interested leaving a message on the answering machine might not be a bad idea.

Finally, for now, I am looking at the possibility of running some regular classes in Harrow. I have a couple of venues I am investigating and assuming all goes well I will be aiming ot start in September. The class will most likely be help on a Monday evening. If this is something that you would be interested in please do get in touch with your details.

Bussmans holiday - part 2

Wow! Oh wow. Everyone who said I had to come to the American museum was right. It's great. I was very lucky. A new exhibition opened last week, showing a lot of quilts that are not normally on display, this is where I started. Actually that isn't quite right the visit starts before you actually get into the car park. You buy your admission ticket before entering the car park. I found it a bit odd but it makes sense. The grounds are lovely and I am sure the car park would be full if you didn't have to pay up front. I got chatting to the chap in the booth, well what do you expect when you arrive somewhere with a car loaded to the roof. He asked if I was aware of the exhibition at the V&A. When I said I was but expressed concerns about it, he asked me to stop on the way out and let him know how I found this one. Intersting, staff who really care about the museum.Turns out he isn't the exception. That's just the attitude of all the staff. The only other museum that was this friendly and helpful was the agricuture museum in Prague.

To get to the new quilt exhibition you have to first brave the shop. I managed that rather too well, I could see quilts. I then had to go back and buy the book of the exhibition. I wanted to save myself having to draw everything and the book certainly did that. It's nicely produced with lots of closeups. I am very pleased that one of the staff suggested it as it did save me a lot of work. I may try to descripe the quilts later, right now I am still somewhat overwhelmed.

Having to walk through the shop on the way out was a little unfortunate. They had several books I haven't seen before and well they just fell into my hands honest. This meant I had to walk back to the car to drop my bags off before looking around the main house. Turns out that was exactly the right thing to do, I bumped into the gate attendant. I hope I managed to reassure him that I loved the museum. Although I hadn't seen half of it by then.

The main building is a proper museum. You start on the lower floor with a quick overview of American history. There is a farm house that converted to a tavern, complete with sofa bed (well settle with pull out). Just goes to show nothing it new. From there you head up to the top floor. Again you take a walk through time, this time via rooms of houses. Many of these rooms have textile links. There are the tools for preparing and spinning linen in the first room, quilts in most of the otheres. The audio guide was a little slow pased for me, but it was quite good on some of the sewing. The best bit was I could pause it to sketch quilting designs. I was struck both in the main house and in the extra exhibition but how similar my quilting is to traditional patterns. Things I thought I had made up were being used in the 1800's. There really is nothing new.

Eventually you reach the textiles room. People had described thi s to me, but it hadn't really sunk in. There are lots of quilts mounted in frames like you got in postr shops. That I had mostly grasped, but I hadn't realised how close this brings you to the quilts. The quilts are behind a sheet of plastic, but you can still feel the thickness of the binding or the applique. I loved this. There are a wide range of quilts on display in this room and so much to learn from them. They also have their stories where known. One, Fanny' Fan, was silks on black satin in fan shapes with decorative stitching. It's not really my thing but I do like the satin and was surprised how well it had survived. It was made by a Quaker, who wanted to marry someone of another religion. As this wasn't allowed she never married and the quilts stayed in her hope chest. Then it really hit me. I was standing in the midst of all these peoples lives. These quilts must all have stories just as interesting and maybe more so. How fantastic to be so up close and personal with them. There were also some rooms where you were walking on historic rugs again covered with plastic. It adds a lot to the feeling of immersion the museum has worked so hard for.

Anyway, I've finished my cookie (baked on site and very nice) and my drink and the staff are trying to clear up. I should make a move and maybe get to look at the grounds.

Bussmans holiday

Once people find out I am a quilter their first question is often "Have you been tp the museum at Bath?". It has happened so often that I am quite sure I need to and have been getting increasingly embarassed that I haven't. As I am giving a talk in Bath tonight I though I should get here early and see the museums. I say museums plural, as I also wanted to see the fashion museum. I love costume and the older the better.

The drive into Bath is worth doing in it's own right. Winding roads and undulating countryside are my sort of landscape. It was helped that the weather now seems to be moving into spring so everywhere was beautifully lit. The buildinmgs in Bath are also right up my street, solid older buildings made of stone. Perfect. I even got lucky with the parking, just outside the building. The Museum of Fashion is housed in the assembly rooms in Bath. It's a proper venue for a museum, an old building with impressive architecture and when there aren't functions on you can explore the building too.

The fashion exhibits were smaller than I had expected but wonderful none the less. You start at the exibit of clothes of the year. I have to say most of them did nothing for me. The exception being an outfit designed by Jeam Muir. It was one of the oldest in the section, which probably helped. The shape and tailoring were just lovely.

Moving on you get into an exhibit of underwear. They have some fantastic corsets on display, but sadly no postcards of them. From here you head into a history of dresses. From sack back dresses, through very wide skirts, via pelisse and into my favourite Victorian outfits. There were several garment on display here that I really love. One of Queen Victoria's dresses is on display. I was aware that she was short and stout, but it is quite different to actually see her dress. What really struck me though were the pockets. The dress had huge (yes even by my standards) and very prominent patch pockets. I could comfortably fitted everything in my pockets into them, and added everything I would have liked to have had with me. What was stranger, they looked stretched as though they had been used to carry large amounts. I can't see a current monach carrying that much let alone in patch pockets on her skirt. I'd love to know what she did use them for.

I also found several dresses that are in a similar style to one I have planned for the fashion show. I have meen very careful so say mine is 'victorian stlye' or inspired by victorian ouitfits, but actually it is going to be a lot more authentic than I thought. I had no idea they had decorated their skirt quite like that. I also realised that I am far too conservative to be victorian. Their fabrics and decoration were far more elaborate than most things I do. I was admiring the museums decision to show these gowns in quite low light levels. As well as protecting the cloth I would have thought the very orange lighting would have given a reasonable idea of what these dressed would have looked like in a room with fire based lighting. I was very disapointed when I found the sign apologising for the poor lighting, a fault they were trying to correct!

All in a a small but perfectly formed museum. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. For more information go to, www.museumofcostume.co.uk

In car organization

Here is a picture of my drawer unit in situ. The tray on top is the one from the really useful box company. It is held in place with heavy duty stick on velcro. The top drawer is all paperwork and art supplies, the second drawer has munchies and drinks and then the bottom drawer is all the boring stuff I need. Cables and tissues, hairbrush that sort of thing. As you can see it keeps everything contained and tidy. I am really pleased with it.

Order and chaos

In the winter I spend more time than most in my car traveling to teach. The rest of the year I practically live in my car. I don't mind that but it has given me some intersting problems to solve. The simplest was the issue of finding small village halls down unlit roads in the middle of nowhere. I had already worked out ways of keeping maps and directions where I could see them, but without light that doesn't really help much. No problem, a sat nav can usually get me that last few miles and provides light when it gets it wrong.

Slightly harder was finging a way to keep frequently needed things to hand in a full car. The really useful box company helped me with that one. i have one of their deep organiser trays which works great and fits on the passenger seat.

Thee biggest problem though has been the general clutter that was collecting in the car and particularly all the things that can roll around. Cans of drink are the worst. I hate paying motorway prices but even more than that i dislike the cans developing holes and spraying their content everywhere. I've been looking at official car tidies for a while but none of them will work for my situation. Most are designed to either fit on the back or a seat or in the boot. Both areas that are full when I go to a talk. I really wanted something for the front passenger seat thjat could live on the back seat the rest of the time. The few things that fitted the bill were very expensive. I was finally inspired by a steamer trunk. Yes one of the huge traveling wardrome and drawer things. Obviously they are too big but a smaller set of drawers would be perfect. Twenty pounds later I have a perfectly sized three drawer unit. The best bit is there is room to have a drawer for my traveling design tools. When I am waiting to do a talk I like to use the time productively and as I design on paper it is the perfect take anywhere job. It's also rather nice having a tidy car again.

Too funny

Tet lost his camera easlier this week. We were pretty sure he must have lost it at a concert but we still had a good look for it. It was odd because he is pretty reliable about where he puts his camera (unlike me) and we both searech his desk as that is where it lives. We had given up hope of finding it and started looking for insurance details.

This evening when we got home the camera was visible on the desk! Strange huh. I guess we both failed to look properly. I joked that the cats must have stolen it to take pictures of each other. They have been caught stealing other things, making phone calls and bidding on ebay so it wasn't that unfair. Tet replies that we would have the evidence were that the case. I felt sure that cats would have uploaded and then deleted the images from the camera, but no I was wrong.Last few photos on the camera were all of my cats in daft poses. Well who would have thought it? Next time it goes missing I will ask the cats first.

Busy quilters and stitchers

I found out where I was speaking, Bedfordshire. The group was 'Busy quilters and stitchers' who meet in a school with a good size hall. Before the talk I not only had to get the quilts from the storage unit but also spent an hour pushing cars. One was leaving home after several years to start a new life. Oddly, for me, it felt really good seeing it loaded onto a trailer and driven away. However to get to that point there was a lot of shuffling to do. Pushing cars on mud and wet grass isn't much fun at the best of times but when their brakes have siezed it's really nasty, especially at 7am. Still we got it done and made it to the talk. Having, pushed, loaded, unloaded and reloaded I am now exhausted with very sore wrists. At least I can have a break in the car while Tet drives us home.

Edit - turns out that we need to make a long journey tomorrow so rather than leaving everything in the car ready for Thursday we had the chance to unload the car again. Woop :( It also means we get to reload it soon too. This quilting lark involves an awful lot of lifting and carrying.

I have been quilting honest!

I suspect most regular readers have worked out that when i am quiet here it doesn't mean nothing is happening. On the contary it usually means I am insanely busy. This is the third quilt I've had on the frame this week. A friend designed and made the top and I am quilting it as a group entry to the Festival of quilts. It's been waiting quite a while because I didn't know what to quilt on it. This design came to me one night driving home from a talk. I am pleased with it but it is taking longer than I might have hoped. I guess the combination of a new pattern and a dense pattern will have an effect.

Tomorrow is another talk. I can't for the life of me remember where right now and as I am in the car I can't check. If you are interested in this one or just where I will be in general there is a calander on my main web site www.ferfab.co.uk.

Ice for sale

I don't know how many of you read Popular Patchwork, but the December issue had a journal quilt project in it that I wrote. Rather than have a couple of small quilts hanging around I thought it would be nice if they went out into the world to help people. Fire has already been auctioned by Ami Simms to raise money for alzheimer's research. Ice is now up for sale. If  you would like to buy a little quilt and help a great cause here's you chance.

Any drycleaners?

Does anyone in or near London know a really good dry cleaner? I went out to dinner last nght and the waiter managed to spill white chocolate sauce on my leather jacket. I got some off but the rest is going to need proffessional attention.

Learning from experience

Over time I've learned that some quilts are trouble, and I can usually spot them when I meet with the cutomer. However some of them I take on anyway. It might seem like this would mean I wouldn't take them on, but actually I often do them. I do charge more for quilts I know are going to be difficult to cover the extra time and hassle, but quite often there is a good reason I am being asked to do them. I do now tell the customer when I taake the quilt in how much trouble I think the project will cause and why this might produce a result less good than I would like. It may not be what the customer wants to hear but I would rather they know in advance what to expect.

The quilt on the frame at the moment is one of these projects. I wouldn't have worked with the front, back or wadding from choice, but it's needed so I am giving it a go. It isn't sewing up too badly either. It is causing way more trouble that I expected. It seems like my machine just doesn't want to do this one. Actually that isn't fair, it't the frame that is having a bad day. It just doesn't want to keep tension on this quilt. I could live with that, I was living with it, then the frame had a big strop. Nuts bollts and craching are not good. I caught everything, which was good, for everything except my muscles. I've been out and bought more nuts and now have everything back together and ready to go.  Why is it that these things are much more likely to happen on quilts that are already trouble? I don't get it. I have quilts that I just know will work, and they do. I am starting to wonder if it is partly my mental state. When I know I have a difficult day ahead do I do something that makes the frame shed it's nuts, the machine chew needles and the thread become fragile? Also if it is me, how do I turn it off?

As you may have gathered from the lack of posting. I've been working pretty much flat out the last few days. I've had another great machine quilting class, which I love teaching. Lots of customer quilts have been heading home, and I've been tidying up a few future bookings. I am thrilled to say some bookings are leaving more information. I've had emails and phone messages recently which I could reply to without having to first try and work out which booking I am talking about. You can't know how much I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

How long does it take to drive 30 miles?

That would depend on which 30 miles wouldn't it. In the case of trying to drive from Harrow to Beckenham diagonally across London it's about 3 hours. That's with leaving early enough to miss rush hour and the schoolrun at my end. Fortunately I know London and had allowed more than that, so tonights talk will be on time.

I am getting an urge to start on another heavily quilted piece. I think that is partly because I have just filled in the forms for Malvern and the wholecloth 'Greek Fossils' is going there. Of course I really need to get the Malvern quilts bound before I start thinking of starting new ones.

Speaking of shows, 'Phoenix Rising' has headed back to America today. I managed to get the worst of the creases out of it, largely by rolling it badly and taking it out in my car. My car tends to be very humid (OK wet) and the combination of that and rolling about seems to have helped a lot. Not a traditional solution I admit, but if it works who cares. Sadly the show who put the creases there doesn't seem to care at all. I can't see me sending any more quilts to Road 2 California. It's bad enough having to ship uninsured quilts but not being able to rely on the venue to look after the quilts is just too much. Hopefully the Lancaster show will be better. Fingers crossed that the quilt arrives safely.