Out and about over the past few weeks – classes at The Bramble Patch in Northampton and Cupcake Cottons in Burford as well as the ChrisandBarbara local evening and Saturday classes, a side trip to north Wales, and a great weekend at the Threads & Patches annual retreat in Milton Keynes. So there has been plenty of opportunity to indulge in fabric retail therapy as well as lots of new people to meet and some easy driving (with the music turned up unnecessarily loud – wonder if this is second adolescence?).
The Threads & Patches retreat at the beginning of March was great fun – my input was a mystery quilt top on the Saturday and hand stitching on the Sunday based on cording and stuffing, the irrepressible human dynamo Sally took care of everything else, including 2 early morning sessions. Whatever she is taking, we all need some of it!
According to my diary I’m due to teach at the shop on June 6th so perhaps some of the finished mystery quilt tops might show up -?
I’d been looking forward to visiting Jacky & Steph at Cupcake Cottons for some time and was not disappointed – the shop and studio space is lovely with easy parking (and easy to find – always a bonus!) and I was able to acquire a covetable box of fabrics as well as some desperately needed yardage to finish a couple of quilts.
It was “full house” for the class and I’m told my next class there ( September 16th) is also full, with a waiting list, so we are now making plans for two or three dates next year. And there was another of those happy “from blogland” meetings – Amanda from View from our Hill had travelled up for the day, so it was a real treat to have a chat in person rather than across the ether. So busy chatting that I forgot to record the event properly but here are a few glimpses of the day –
Thanks for a lovely day Jacky & Steph, see you in September!
It was as busy as ever at The Bramble Patch – the shop seems to be permanently humming with activity, not to mention those lovely Gammill longarm machines singing in the background. The class was full and I got so involved that I quite forgot to take pictures as we went along – most embarrassing! Must do better for the next class I teach there on 7th October …
Alongside the travelling and teaching I’ve been doing my best to master various bits of technology, not always with instant success. For the past two years I’ve been toying with using video in my quilting demo’s and I really should work on that. Then there’s the iPod touch I felt I just had to have after surviving the Great Laptop meltdown – hmm! so now there’s iTunes to work with and around, not to mention the highly addictive YouTube, and the whole app thing… I’ve got as far as installing WordPress and a few other vital programs but already I can see that it may get more complex quite quickly. And I haven’t even started on the camera issue …. sigh. Where are the hours in the day I wonder?
Time to get the car packed ready for tonight’s class and then I’m planning on spending an hour catching up on blog reading to see what everyone else has been up to.
Barbara Chainey quilts 
Barbara you are a human dynamo – may need to have cruise control fitted very soon! V x
Whatever Sally of the Threads and Patches retreat is taking, some of it is already rubbing off on you Barbara – I think you’re definitely heading towards human dynamo status yourself! Wish I had some of your energy …
I’m getting sidetracked by other life matters at the moment, and recent spring warmth has been calling me into the garden, so the sewing machine is silent and the latest project lies unfinished … perhaps I need a class to energise me again? Keep up the good work!
Alison
Wow, you do get about a bit (as they say!!) Smashing day at Cupcake in Burford – see you in the Autumn, unless you are at Malvern at all – we’ll be there! x
Can you hear me Barbara?!! Ah, that’s better now you’ve turned the volume down. There looks to be some lovely stitching going on at these classes. All that music must be keeping you calm and relaxed. Glad you are using the thimble keeper. That box of fabric looks very scrummy.
Love Our Kid.x
You are definitely in overdrive at the moment. Lovely stitching going on.
Catching up, catching up!! Too much sniffing of the bees wax. It was a great day and a well earned G&T at the end of a long trip home. Thank you!!
Wow…busy busy…your days sound wonderfully filled …wish I was as up to speed computer wise as you are…
Warm greetings from south africa