Long awaited, and very belated!

Such a long awaited post I know. I have been working away like a Hobbit in his Garden (not too sure where that analogy came from, I must need a holiday!) So what has this busy bee been up to? Well the Festival of Quilts at the NEC was a fab few hectic days, the Creative Quilting stand was heaving and lovely people and beautiful fabrics were in abundance. I even had a bit of time to run around and buy the fabrics I needed to start my log cabin quilt (and managed to get them in under budget!) The first few blocks have been worked but when I have a few more I'll take a photo for you to see - but be warned, its no traditional peaceful log cabin with a red centre.

The Festival of Quilts had an overwhelming exhibition of Quilts of all styles, with far to many to mention. I took far too many photos and will get around to uploading them to Flikr but have posted here some of my favorites for you all to see. 

 

So, after breakdown on Sunday night, I was straight back to stitching and preparations for Stirling. A stitch, stitch and a stitch later, the sample was mounted and framed (beautifully by my lovely framer) instructions were written, kits were made, threads were measured out and suitcase's were packed and I was whisked off to the airport. (all in a bit of a whirlwind)

The Stirling Summer School was so well run I really didn't have to worry about a thing. Picked up from the airport, I was driven to the beautiful Stirling University. A huge campus based university with its own cinema and theatre, and Loch (it was all rather Hogwarts esque) the scenery was gorgeous, the students were welcoming and so hard working, and the days were fantastic (even with a nasty cold and a strange 'fire' alarm incident.)

I don't think I have ever taught such a hard working group, working from 9 in the morning and not finishing until 9 in the evening (obviously with breaks) on fine whitework with thread counting, straight grains and net darning - they were champions! It truly was a wonderful first summer school experiance so thank you Scottish Embroiderer's Guild!

Here's my motley crew:

I had a rather long journey home, being at the airport 4 hours early, and with a flight delayed I had a lot of time to waste. So I happily sat my self down in the airport lounge and knitted, and actually managed to knit about 2 feet of the giant scarf - its almost finished and i'll post a pic when its off the needles.

So, NEC Birmingham, then Stirling Scotland, and finally home and back to my duvet. Back to normal life and a bit of a paperwork catch up (boring but had to be done) But then last week I was off to my next wonderful location - Luton Hoo hotel and spa. A fantastic group of Australians were over on a needlework tour with the lovely Maureen of Australian Needlework Tours:
http://www.needleworktours.com.au/about-us.htm
They were over to stitch and visit stately homes and historic landmarks, and I was able to spend the day teaching them in the beautiful surroundings of Luton Hoo. Such a fun group of embroiderer's, who were amongst the best 'chat and stitchers' I'd ever met - thank you for an entertaining day working! (Maybe one day I'll go back there and spend time in the spa!)

 

So one more task for September - the ICHF creative stitches show in Exeter. A fab four day show where I am currently demonstrating and teaching one hour hand embroidery classes.I have lots of photos for you and lots of lovely info but I may leave that for tomorrow (or the next day, depending on when I can get an internet signal again in the beautiful Devon countryside.)

Phew, that was mammoth, thanks for sticking with it. Here's a glimpse of what I have been working on for the last two days: