Wow, how many distractions can one day bring?
May 22, 2007I had a plan for today, I’ve got a to do list and everything. I knew it would be a slow start as I needed to go and retrieve my big industrial machine from FB-FX where I was working last week, but I cleverly took some hand sewing with me in case I needed to wait for someone to help me. I did wait and I did get quite a bit of sewing done, yay for me. Hauling the machine back to my storage unit gave me a chance to chat to my boss at FB-FX which was nice, I like the chance to get to know the people I work for. It is also interesting to have the chance to pick the brains of someone else who has not only set up their own business, but quite a strange business. The machine mission went well and I picked up not only my payment but contact details of several other peoople there, so far pretty good.
Home for lunch, and sending out lots of emails. I don’t think I will ever get used to the amount of communication a business requires. I never understood why it takes people time to reply to email, I do now. It only takes a second for one, but when you need to send 10+ it really adds up and you have to start actually scheduling it. Still I cleared most of my backlog and called DHL to arrange the correct pre-alert for my MQS quilts. I have to email two separate people every time to make sure I don’t get customs charges on my temporary exports. Still at least I know and I remembered to do it.
While I had been networking earlier in the day I had noticed I was out of business cards with me. The box at home turned out to be almost empty too, so back to the storage unit again. It isn’t the closest or the cheapest unit but they are so good to deal with. They remember me and are friendly, it’s worth a lot. So as I was buying yet more boxes (I am going to have to make a custom box for the rolled quilts going to MQS) I thought I would give him a couple of my pencils, which I collected at the same time as the card. He was pleased but said a gift deserves a gift and gave me two pens in exchange. See why I like them, real people.
Then back home for the world to go crazy. I just wanted to choose my new quilting threads, not too much to ask is it? The gas meter reader appeared, which requires me to clear my under stairs cupboard. Then the phone rang, before I could deal with that the door went again, my next set of Makower fabrics, I almost got the door shut before the phone went. Boy this is not the way to have a productive day. Still somehow it worked. The two phone calls meant I needed to go an check on a friend and I would have company to do it. The friend has managed to trip and do something nasty to his back so couldn’t get to his phone or his computer and had been unable to contact anyone for over a week. So after checking he was OK, taking the mickey out of him and then buying him dinner I have finally made it back to my desk. I think I will leave quilting until tomorrow.
On the subject of quilting threads, I have been using a lot of Madeira Tanne 50 when I want matching thread for things like my nudes. They work beautifully, and I love the colours, but they only seem to come on small cops, about 1100m. I am dangerously close to running out of the dark blue I am using on the background of ‘Nude with Rope’. I am pleased to find I can still get the threads though in this country at a reasonable price. However I have wholesale accounts for buying my business thread (which this is) and they don’t offer this particular thread. If I swapped to using Superior Masterpiece it would work out a lot cheaper and I would have it in big cones, so less risk of running out, but I would need to buy the whole range of colours again. So to the question, do any of you use a 50 weight cotton thread for your quilting, in a large range of colours? If so which ones and where do you get it? Does anyone know if Madeira have a web site? I can’t find one. I will check the next magazine that comes in as I am sure they advertise in all the American ones. I am so torn between sticking with the Tanne or moving over to the Masterpiece entirely. I do like Masterpiece very much and I often use it in my quilting now. I just don’t keep the huge range of colours I need for the more arty work. I suppose having the big cones in lots of colours would make finding the perfect bobbin thread for customer quilts a lot easier too. Oh this is too complicated to decide at this time of night. I’ll think about it tomorrow.
What’s on the frame?
May 21, 2007
For once I am sewing something I am allowed to show you all, so I will. It seems to have been forever since I was last able to do this. Those of you who have been reading a while will probably recognise this. It is ‘Nude with a Rope’, although I have come very close to renaming it ‘Rope with Nude’ given that seems to be what people see as more important. It has been up on my wall waiting for me to get back to it for some time now, and the wall is looking very bare without it. I think I may make a design/blocking board to cover the wall as I would only need to move one sofa to get access to most of the wall and I would be able to block pretty big quilts. We shall see.
Still back to this naked lady. I am quilting her with contour lines in about 6 shades of blue thread. I am mostly matching the thread to the fabric, but there are a couple of areas I felt needed fine tuning where I have used the thread to subtly shift the shade of the fabric. The background is getting very small Decandant Swirls in a slightly brighter thread than the background fabric. It is just lifting the fabric a little and hopefully taking the slightly drab edge off it. I haven’t seen the back properly yet but I am hoping it will have a fairly clear image on it as I am matching the bobbin to the top thread.I’ll let you know on that one.
I have realised that I need more bobbins urgently. My machine only really likes the aluminium ones and they seem to be quite hard to get. Hopefully APQS will give me a call back soon and be able to help. I just hope they don’t send me another 50 steel ones, which is what has happened with each of my previous orders. I do use steel in the PQ1500 machines, but the Discovery really doesn’t sew as well with them. I can use them if desperate but I would rather wind the thread off aluminum onto steel to free up an aluminium one to use. We shall see. I guess I should figure out what else I might want given there is a $5 handling charge for placing an order.
8 Random Things About Me
No me ego hasn’t suddenly gone mad, I got sort of tagged by Penny, and it seemed to fit my last post pretty well. So here we go,
- I am having cheese on toast for lunch, while watching the news and typing this with one hand. Yes I am always multi-tasking, I get bored if I don’t.
- I always get dressed before I start work but you might not be able to tell. I have quilting pajamas that I like to wear when working. These are not things I would wear to bed.
OH my……the Cutty Sark has been on fire. The report isn’t working so I can’t tell you the details. It looks horrible. What a great shame.
- I may be IT literate but I find GUI’s very hard to work. In this case I can’t figure out how to change the numbers easily so just add 2 from here on.
- My car has just been delivered to the ‘vets’. Our cars are part of the family so they have Doctor Bob and the vets, Tickover. I am looking forward to having her back. I will have to think about getting some vinyl logos for her.
- I am planning quilts to be made this time next year already.
- I really like cows, and moo to any we drive past. However bulls do need treating with a little more respect.
- I live in a small terraced house, don’t let the longarm fool you. It is a very tight fit in the house but it does fit. So anyone who tells you you need a big house is wrong. I would have to say a bigger house would help a lot.
- I like blue food and drink. I know it is supposed to be a colour that isn’t appealing in food but not to me. If there is blue on offer I will probably go for it, unless it is bubblegum, I don’t like any gum at all.
For those who don’t know the Cutty Sark is a famous ship and a landmark in London. Have a look here. It sounds like they think they can save what is left and possibly rebuild her, but it will take some doing.
As Penny said I don’t really like tagging people, but would someone like to step up and take a go, Dormouse, Kate, anyone fancy a go?
Meet the Ferret
OK, so having come back from a show I have decided it really is time to bite the bullet and show you what I look like. I would like to start by saying I really don’t like having my picture taken, I never have, but Digital Eye did a great job so I have a few pictures I like. It’s kinda odd actually, even though I like the pictures showing them to others is still at least as scary as public speaking. Still I do that so here goes.
So there you are. These are multi purpose pictures, the photographer needed them for part of her photography course and I have been meaning to put up a picture on here for a while. I have also been told that people prefer to see the artist before they buy art, so I aught to have a picture on my main web site as well. Maybe it will mean a sudden rush of quilt sales. As soon as I get this post up I will try and add a picture to my profile. Wish me luck.
OK, so I won’t be adding the picture to my profile until I add it to my main site as the profile requires a URL for the picture not an upload. Sorry folks but I will get there eventually honest. Probably just before I move my blog if I know anything about how these things work out.
Woo Hoo
May 15, 2007I’ve just come back from giving a talk to Mead Quilters in Wheathampstead. I think I am finally getting into the sawing of this, or maybe being tired after doing a days work else where sops me getting so stressed. Either way I am told it went down well, for some reason I never seem to hear applause, don’t know why. Still Robin is more on the ball and he was helping out again tonight.
I had to pack very quickly tonight, as I didn’t have long between jobs. When I arrived at the hall and started sorting the quilts I was amazed how many I had. When they are all here I really do have a huge collection. It does mean that I am guaranteed to have plenty to talk about, even if I forget myself and talk too quickly. I suppose it is good I have at last found a job where speaking loudly is an advantage. The end of the talk is still quite scary, you answer questions then invite people up to see the quilts. Then wonder if they will, then panic as you are mobbed. It is amazing how fast quilters can move when they want to. I am sure they were all walking slower when they arrived.
Anyway I have another long day ahead and I really want to be on site a little early tomorrow so I had better go to bed. Tired but happy. Oh yes, I have placed an order for more Turning Twenty and Turning Twenty Again patterns. I think they should be here in a couple of weeks. If you want to order now would be a good time, I don’t seem to have them in stock very long.
Argh!
May 14, 2007The sooner we get telepathy the better. I need to be able to see what is in other peoples minds when they want me to make things for them. It would also be handy to show them what I can see in my mind as problems with their ideas. I found out this morning that all the work I did last week is no good. Everything needs redrafting and re-making. Oh and of course they would like it done yesterday. Ho hum. I am going to be very busy this week.
I have managed to finish my sample though. I just hope I have time to photograph it at some point. I know I should do it now but I am too tired. I need a bath then I can go to bed. Looking forward to my talk tomorrow evening though. Hope I can find the Mead hall again.
digital photo printing.
May 13, 2007How hard can it be? All I wanted was to print some pictures, OK quite a few pictures but still it shouldn't be too hard should it. I tried online, it was tight but I could get it done in the time scale I needed. Then you have to sign various agreements. I don't want to give away my copyright. Nor will I accept that however bad the print I can't return it. How about we might ship in 2 days or not but we won't even discuss it until 30 days after you place the order when we might print or give you a refund, our choice which. I did find two river where the contract wasn't too bad so I tried to upload my pictures. One told me I didn't have their prefered browser so I would be restricted in how speed and quantity. OK a bit harsh but I was getting desperate, I tried to upload. After three attempts I accepted this wasn't going to work. So try the other site with a decent contract. Same problem I can't upload my pictures.
Well I have used Jessops instant printing before and it was good if expensive I thought I would try one of their more cost effective options. Fist problem they can charge me for 1 hour service but it will be 4 hours to do. Ok not great but I can live with it we can watch the grand prix then collect them. We turn up and being a careful sort I check my pictures. They have all been cropped and are useless. We complain and are told we should have known that would happen it's our fault. He can prove we should have known and shows up on the upload machine that if we had pushed 2 apparently irrelevent buttons it would have shown the cropped image. We pointed out we don't normally push random buttons and suggested there should be some sort of note to tell people. This has been suggested before but apparently everyone knows already so there is no need. After much arguing we persuaded the manager to reprint if we set the images up the way he wanted so I set to work. After 15 minutes the manager informed up there was no guarantee what he would print the second time be there would be no refund on them. Oh and they wouldn't be printed for 24 hours and we would have to still pay for one hour service. I don't think so. Instead I am sitting here waiting for the instant booth to do it's thing. It is slow and costs more but it is reliable, except for the pictures it has lost. Nearly time to get them to open the machine for us. Only took another 2 hours. Who would have thought it could be so tricky?
Another New Experience
May 12, 2007So that was scary. If we have offended anyone please don’t hunt us down, we didn’t mean it. Today Robin and I judged our first quilt show. Boy was it nerver wracking. I think if we get asked again I will insist they have a lower standard. It is far too hard when the quilts are all good. It was made even harder by being told we could only pick one quilt in each category, though we did persade them to let us pick two in the end.
I’ve read my judging sheets and I have studied guides on how to judge but it doesn’t prepare you for the reality of having to do the job. I felt that it was important I could justify my choices, I know it always says the judges decision is final and implies it is untouchable but I wanted to feel I could defend it. We were asked to start with teh challenge category, this was actually the easiest, there were only 17 entries (pretty impressive for the size of group) and you could see all of them at the same time. It makes it a lot easier to compare and contrast. Narrowing the field to 6 wasn’t too bad, then it got hard. I don’t like the idea that judges are nit-picking but what do you do when they ar all of approximately the same level? Well you start looking at the small details, tails (front and back), fullness of bindings, corners of binding and the absolute detail of the challenge. It was very hard but we found a winner, and I realised that in some ways I am an ideal quilt judge, I don’t remember names. So I have no idea who any of the quilts belong to, I don’t even notice when I see the same name several times. I can at least be impartial from that point of view.
Next we tried the wallhanging category, that was far harder. There are entries all arround the hall, and you can’t see many at any one time, so lots of walking about to compare and re-compare. Luckily it turned out our top two could both be seen at the same time, but it didn’t help. They were so close, yet so different. Even more funny, we each changed our mind at the same time so we were consistantly backing opposite quilts. I can’t even remember what finally decided us, just believe me it wasn’t a walkover.
Finally the bed quilts, I knew these would be hard, but it was even worse than I had expected. Again it was hard to see many at any one time. By this time we had walked arround the whole show several times so we were in a better position to start making an informed choice on the next lap. Each quilt was a case of is it better than the last or the best we have seen so far. It worked, well it got us to half a dozen quilts again. In all we spent just over 2 hours judging this show of about 100 quilts. From talking to people there, some agreed some didn’t, those who didn;t seemed to follow the logic we had used to make our decision, which I found very encouraging. I wish I could be there tomorrow when the viewers choice is announced. I would love to know what others liked most.
If I do any more judging I will take some little slips of paper with me. I would love to have been able to leave comments for a lot of the entries. The standard was very good, and there were a lot of wonderful little details that I think people might think we missed. We did look at the backs and yes we did appreciate the hidden details we found. I’ve heard it is difficult to say something positive about every quilt, but I can’t say I found that to be the case at this show, maybe we just got very lucky. I would have loved to have been able to talk to the makers, the few we did meet were so friendly and understanding whether they won or not, I do like quilters.
We were treated to tea and cakes with Edith, as ever the cakes were great (quilters can and do bake). She was a fun and interesting lady to talk to. We then had time to mingle and look at the traders, I was very good and only bought a wooden iron, which is something I have wanted for a while. The we were escorted up to lunch. Oh my, I don';t think I will ever get used to being the guest of a quilting group, it is a wonderful experience but I do always feel like I am on the wrong side of it. I feel I should be doing the setting up and carrying things. Still it wasn’t allowed, we sat down and waited for things to happen around us. What happened was a fantastic lunch, cold poached salmon and salad, wonderful. As you might expect if you’ve read anything else I’ve written about quilters, there was mountains of food, far more than we could possibly eat. There was even a desert to follow, cheesecake and pineapple. Very tasty. To round it off we were presented with thank you gifts, I have a basket of plants. I will be taking pictures of them and keeping them as potential inspiration for quilts.
To round off a very quilty day, we went to Patchwork Corner for my birthday shopping spree. As if I hadn’t had to make enough difficult decisions today. I had to choose fabrics for my personal collection. It is a lot harder than it might sound. I don’t often buy fabrics for personal use now so it is a big deal. I am far more likely to buy fabrics for a whole quilt now rather than buying on spec to add to the stash, it’s strange how I have changed. Today’s purchases will translate into two quilt tops, one in shades of blue batiks and one in Loni Rossi’s new collection. I think I will add some of her past fabrics to it as well, and it will be a black red and gold quilt again. Of course I have no idea when I will get time to actually make either of them. I hope that I may make a pattern from the design I have for the blue one, so that might get done sooner rather than later.
Review of Trentham Gardens Quilt Show
May 11, 2007This months British Patchwork and Quilting has a review of the Trentham Garden show, Quilts in the Garden. I was thrilled to see there is a picture of ‘Nudes Triptych’ and they got my name right. OK it isn’t a huge picture but I still get a kick out of seeing my work in a magazine. The review was nicely written too, I enjoy reading about where my quilts have been.
The best news in the article was the winner of the viewers choice, ‘Wreck’ by Diana Brockway. It was hung above mine at the NEC last year, and I loved it. I felt it should have won the pictorial category then, so this seems a well earned award. I guess I wasn’t the only one who felt it deserved recognition. I would love to know why the judges disagree with us. I am also amused that I was competing with it again.
On the subject of judging, I will be at the Amwell Quilter Exhibition tomorrow to judge there. It’s quite scary really, I mean what a responsibility. I will do my best, but I am quite sure people will disagree with my decisions. If you aren’t busy tomorrow or Sunday do come along and have a look, I believe there will be in the region of 100 quilts on display. The show is at The Drill Hall, Amwell End, Ware. I don’t have a postcode for it, sorry.
Home at last, but still working
May 10, 2007So what can I tell you. The weekend was a race meeting at Shakespeare County Raceway, it wasn’t our most successful event. The car wasn’t really up for playing and just as we got it working the rain started. When we gave up on the racing I drove to a friends house for the night, managing to get sunburn. Go figure it was raining just before we left the track and the journey only took 40 minutes. The rain and the early mornings did give me time to do some hand sewing. I took 5 quilts with me and finished 3 of them. I was pretty pleased with that. I also managed to knit most of a sock.
The following day (Tuesday) I was in a studio having my picture taken. Those who have known me a while will understand what a big deal that is. I don’t like cameras being pointed at me. I never have, I think it is mostly a confidence issue. I have been told several times recently that I really need to get a picture of me for my web site, so it is something I have been thinking about. Then my friend was given the task of photographing someone who might become famous. Well that’s easy to find isn’t it. After she had spent a while trying to find someone I offered, I figure I might get to be well known among quilters so I sort of count, and I did need to get some pictures taken. It was a surprisingly good experience. Maybe the photographer knowing how much you hate the idea of having your picture taken helps, or maybe them knowing you well in general is the key. Either way I would actually consider doing it again now so that is progress. I’ve seen a few of the pictures and I even like some of them. It’s very odd.
Wednesday was another early start and off to a customers site. I wish I could tell you what I have been sewing. I am thrilled to be working on it, but it has to remain a secret for now. Believe me it is harder for me that for you. I think I will be there for most of next week baring other off site bookings. It does mean I am unlikely to make it to the post office soon. Sorry folks. I am working very hard at home to make up time as I hadn’t planned to have this large job. There is no way I am going to miss working on it though, so somehow I will get everything done.
I was thrilled to get home and find I had post yesterday. Beverly it is beautiful. I don;t think mine stands up too well in comparison, but I do hope you won’t be disappointed. I will put up a picture of her postcard (yes quilted) as soon as I have time to photograph it. Oh yes I will say that the reason I need to get to the post office is mine are a bit bigger than cards. You know me, when I work small it doesn’t fit a bed.
So now I am back to working on the sample of my latest pattern. I came home to a message telling me my next project will be with me soon too. It’s great knowing that there are more things coming up, but boy it is getting tricky to schedule the show quilts in too.
Argh I know there are lots more things I want to say but I can’t remember and I really must get back to work. I’ll try and get another update on tomorrow.