The trouble with having responsibility for a blog is that if you don’t write anything for over a fortnight people start wondering what you’ve been up to. Of course if they knew that you’d had parents and then grandchildren staying for that time they would know the answer! So here’s a little photographic montage to explain the absence:

First the teenager-in-residence took me to the markets for Mother’s Day – a very pleasant way to spend the day, then the children arrived and we enjoyed baby ‘chino’s, pony rides and the baby animal farm as well as a trip to the City.

The youngest female in the family has been groomed to continue the quilting tradition. She attended classes while she was visiting and was very interested in the whole process. During one class she took some photos with my phone. The pictures she took show a interesting perspective on the class don’t you think!

It’s been an interesting time at Apatchy with classes as well as visitors. Last year we started the ‘Campfire Sessions’ where one of you clever ladies show the rest of us a glimpse into your expertise. A couple of weeks ago the talented Lynette showed some of the group how to go about free motion quilting. Her patience and simple explanations made it fun and there were at least two new converts by the end of the class. Here she is showing Margaret a thing or two while Sharyn gets going on her piece.

We also had two VIP visitors this week. Nicola brought her mother in law (who is visiting from Scotland) to see us and of course the lovely Isla, now 12 weeks old.

And so to this weekend – I had a look around the Mad Quilters’s Gathering. It is always fun to attend a quilt show and see all the lovely fabrics out there. Everyone seems to have slightly different ranges. I said hello to Nikki Tervo and she promised she will come to visit us again soon to show us all her lovely buttons and stitcheries in person so stay tuned!

Also chatted with Tamara from Twilight Retreats. She mentioned that she’d already spoken with some of you about our upcoming retreat so you probably know all the details already. For those who don’t we are looking at the weekend of the 16th August. Those of you who won’t be in class this week please contact me.

Finally today was spent re-arranging and sorting things out after the melee of the past month. The office mess was starting to take over and I was in danger of being buried by paperwork. Don’t you hate having to do all the tidying and so on before you actually get a chance to do some sewing (have I mentioned this before). Usually it’s just annoying but today was quite satisfying. After I’d juggled some papers I used some styrofoam I purloined from a shop to make a sort of design wall and pinned all the blocks we’ve received so far for Trudy’s memorial quilt – the one we’re donating to the Blue Nurses. All blocks have to be by the end of May so not long to go but still time. Not being a very patient person I didn’t want to wait until then plus you have been asking me what the blocks look like so here they are – not trimmed to size (obviously) and just randomly put on the wall (well as random as I can be). Don’t they look lovely? Wouldn’t Trudy be pleased – I think it’s a very happy quilt. What do you think?

Oh and last weekend, when I was in the city, we stopped in at Tiffany’s (live in hope). The release of ‘The Great Gatsby’ movie has obviously been an inspiration for their visual merchandising as you can see here

Have you ever been inspired to make a quilt by a movie? Where does your inspiration come from then?