Merlin Retires

Merlin Retires.

Jim’s old car whom I called Merlin was once again packed to the rafters with my bags, ufo quilts, two dogs, Zola the sewing machine not forgetting the hippies me and Jim.

We were heading back to Sheffield when on the motorway about twenty miles before getting there, Merlin decided to cough, splutter make quite a bang before dying out his engine to a dead-loss onto the outside lane.

We had to wait in the cold, in the dark for the rescue AA (car repairs and haulage people) to come out. A really nice
Gentleman came out looked at the car from the AA and towed us all back to Leicester.
There is never a dull moment in Nutbud-quilter’s life.

I was thankful for the angels
Looking after us including the girls (my-dogs) as it was very late, dark and wow really cold temperatures. While waiting on the side of the motorway in my head I was planning out quilts what I had to do, little bits on UFO corners needing to be done.
We all got back safe which is a good thing. Merlin will be going to the scrap heap
And a new wizard of a car will have to be found.
I have been hand painting a Christmas card and decided to share this with you.
As my sister loves anything to do with witches I painted a picture of her in a witch cloak, her dog Harley and partner Michael, I hope they will like this card.
Meanwhile it is time to get out Zola the sewing machine and do some more sewing on the quilt backing.

I'm pleased to say since I started writing this blog that I have actually started hand quilting the lap-quilt and it's such a lovely feeling to be hand quilting again after spending so long doing other things that needed to be done in the quilting world. Getting the three layers together was quite tough going, first I laid the layers down on the floor in the music studio with the help of Isis the cat. My heard started to get naughty and hurt, so transferred the quilt to the king-sized bed to baste together with the basting gun. next I transferred the whole lap quilt down to the work table and placed in a quilting frame to quilt and start work straight away.........such a great feeling, you cannot beat these special moments. I managed to talk to my sister and niece on the phone as they are all staying with grandma and grandad (my-parents). I got some hints about what sort of quilt they would like in the future. Katy my niece is into browns and creams and my sister hinted that when she gets married again she would like a stars and moon quilt. All great ideas for the sketch books and planning in the head days in quiet moments. I would imagine there will be more babies in the family in the future as my niece said she would like to have babies, already her brother has a little girl who will be one soon and another on the way in January.

I will be needing to eat spinach like Popeye to keep my quilting energy and inspiration going.
Take care all of you and Happy Quilting.