Nec Festival of Quilts

Gradually catching up with my blog! Sunday 17th August saw me catching a coach with the ladies from Ferrers Quilters to go to Birmingham. An early start but that was OK. Gave us plenty of time for a really good look round. Lots of wonderful work,too much to list here. Trends seemed to be many more art quilts also lots of painting,bleaching /discharge etc. The Kemshalls have been real trend setters there.It was interesting to watch them working using various different methods to transfer portraits on to fabric in a quilt they are making featuring the women in their family.
My favourite pieces were in the 3D and wearable section with some interesting use of computer parts, just quirky enough to appeal to me
I was most interested in watching people working with new techniques. Committed to Cloth is always worth watching as was Kim Thittichai and Maggie Grey. A few new ideas I might even get round to trying.
All in all a good day with only one downside. The button up quilts that had been made by so many groups in the UK and abroad were poorly displayed. Ferrers Quilters entry had very little showing but the one I was, in a very small way, involved with from Springfield Quilters was almost completely invisible. In fact most of Region 8 and 9 were very restricted

Etsy Retreat

Can't believe it's been a week and a half since I set of to York and the Uk etsy retreat. Overcoming my fear/dislike of travelling was the first hurdle so I was much relieved to find my way to Kings X and met up with reform aka Tricia, charlottenarunsky aka Charlotte and Dichotomy aka Bronwyn . Collected Gillian on the way somehow. Collected at York station by the wonderful Debbie
who was responsible for us all being there.There ensued a wonderful weekend of crafting ,chat,laughing etc. The facilities at the school were superb.Lucky girls that go there! I really hope it happens next year as now I know what is there I have ideas of what I would like to do. Tried a few new things although my screen printing on Sunday morning was hampered by me feeing decidedly unwell.

Getting Ready

On Friday I am off to the etsy retreat in York. Really excited about this but don't really know what I am going to do. I am not in the slightest worried about being with so many strangers for the weekend because they are not , strangers that is. I have met a few of them, the rest I feel I already know and I am certain that we will all get on fine. I haven't done much to prepare for this trip but I have bought my first 2 bars of Green and Black's chocolate which I understand is an essential ingredient for this weekend.
I have also signed up for flickr's 888 event so I will have to take my picture and post it before I leave for the train on Friday morning.

New Week New Start

Haven't blogged for a while(again) no excuse really but have been feeling a bit low.
Went to a retirement do at the school I used to work at and it was nice to see lots of people I used to work with from years back.No job yet but a few interesting possibilities. Have also been neglecting my day2day so I will just briefly tell you about the last series I did,
They were all flowers from a local butterfly house. We have lived here 3 years now and only recently visited Tropical Wings down at South Woodham Ferrers. It's not huge but has a good variety of animals to see including otters which I love. Haven' t yet managed to catch sight of the Red Squirrels that they have there.

Friday 4th July

Happy Independance Day to all our US friends.
day2day this week I have bored everyone with pictures of our bike. Ducati 996. Red,Italian,fast and loud. I know I am obsessed with bikes which for a 5o year old woman is a bit sad. In my defence (not that I really think I need to defend myself) bikes have always been a part of my life.
My late father used to race bikes and had bikes on the road.Mum and him went on their honeymoon on a bike. It wasn't planned that way ,Dad had hired/borrowed a car from a mate but on the morning of the wedding he was pulling out of Mum's road and someone ploughed into him and although he was fine the car was totalled. So plans for the Isle of Wight were cancelled and they went down to his sister's farm in Devon on the only transport available to them which was Dad's motorbike. Now this in itself would not have been so bad but it was not even a proper road bike but a Dot 3 speed scrambler. Then they hit a swarm of something on the way down(greenfly or something) It was nearly a very short marriage! They continued to have road bikes until I was on the way.If we still had all of my Dad's old bikes we would be very rich!!
I met my husband because of a motorbike. At the time he was working with my Dad and had bought a racing sidecar outfit. He didn't have anywhere to work on it so Dad offered him our garage, bought him home to show him where it was and the rest is history.
Hubby used to work with bikes and race them before I met him. Although we never got to race that outfit we had road bikes and he briefly raced a Bantam. Mortgage and kids put paid to our biking for nearly 25 years but then the yearning returned. So we bought a classic racer a Tony Dunnell Triton beautiful machine.He paraded it for a couple of years but then moving and Mums illness halted this temporarily. To get more miles in he decided to get another road bike. First we had a 600 Hornet then came the Ducati. I have always wanted one it is my dream bike.
We are never going to do loads of miles on it touring and such so it suits us.
Gosh sorry about that didn't realise this day2day business was going to make me all nostalgic.

Monday June 30th

June nearly over and done with.
Have joined a new flickr group called day2day Take Five Ordinary Beauty
Take a 5 pictures of ordinary things.Try to see beauty everywhere and improve your photography skills.My first series of photos(Only 4 of them) is of clocks.
The cat clock was our Christmas present to each other.Hubby spotted it and took me to see it thinking that I would not like it but I did so we bought it.Hopeless for telling the time but a bit of fun nevertheless. The old clock was my Greatgrandmother's and family legend says that her first husband bought it for her out of his wages on his first harvest.My family were all either farm labourers or in service.All really poor.Great Gran was born in Maldon workhouse as her mother was not married.She did manage to keep the baby. However when Great Gran found out she was illegitimate she tore up her birth certificate so we never knew who her mother was. My cousin has been researching the family tree and after much searching ,tearing of hair and knashing of teeth has tracked her down.There were other children also born 'out of wedlock'
She was a great character my Great Gran and lived to 98. I often ponder on the tremendous changes she saw in her lifetime coming from an age where the poor did not have electricity or running water,no cars or free health care.We live in a very priviledged age

Saturday 28th June

Allthosethrees,myaphrodite,artyallsorts and Charlottenarunsky
Yumtatious,abibansaldesign,charlotte and arty
Abi,myaphrodite,pinkangel and allthosethrees
Clothcat and Angharad

Again a big gap in my blogging.Smacked wrist for me.So whats been going on.Much research into washing machines and tumble dryers as we need to buy them for the utility room. This research now includes dish washers as ours decide to break.
Went to the Wemake craft fair in London,with Artyallsorts. So wonderful to see so many etsians together. Some I had met before, Clothcat,Angharad,Daintyprettythings, and Lovealittle. But also so many that I had not met like Greygoat,Madebycara,Momentsbymartha,Stitchywoowoo,millimoomi (and baby)Lazygiraffe,Thebirch tree, and Creamrose to name some(but not all) also loads of non stall holders that came to support including abibansaldesign who should have had a prize for travelling the furtherest as she had come up from Devon for the day. Much chat and laughing! Decmamped to a pub in Covent Garden for Pimms and more chat with arty,Allthosethrees,myaphrdite,yumtatious,kankalin,and pinkangel.Got home in one piece though!