I have just moved house. More than that, I have relocated from a village just outside Durham City in the North-East of England to a town in the South-East of England. Everything has changed. This was my house for twelve years and now it belongs to someone else.
When we first lived there, I worked on the landing (a mezzanine above the main living space).
A video introduction to my work was shot there.
Later, I rented a studio in the beautiful historic building of Ushaw.
In the studio, I taught my ‘Quilt in a Day’ class.
I designed and made quilts. There was room for my quilting frame and all my fabrics, some of which you can see on the shelves in the photo below.
This is our new house (which is in fact quite an old house!). It’s a two-bedroom end-terrace cottage in Kent.
I don’t yet have a studio and in a week’s time the furniture van will arrive with all my fabrics, sewing machines and other equipment. This is exciting and daunting in equal measure. At the moment, we are ‘camping out’ in our new house and using the opportunity to paint the walls. After having had white walls (albeit with colourful pictures and furnishings) in our previous house, this one will be full of coloured walls.
It has taken a long time to make this move. The process began in October 2019, so we are grateful to be here, though very sad indeed to leave dear friends in the North-East. Selling and buying houses during a pandemic has turned out to be fraught with difficulty, but we have arrived safely at the other end, with just(!) the unpacking to go.
We have family here in Kent and also in Sussex, who we will now be able to visit easily and we will also be looking after our grand-daughter once a week, which will be a joy.
It will take a little while before I am back to designing and making new quilts and quilt patterns (although the ‘Summer Bouquets’ Quiltalong will continue right through this year – see more about this here). However, my teaching role will continue.
I’m teaching an online workshop: ‘Introduction to Hand-Quilting’ inspired by the Cosin’s Library, Durham on 5th June (details here) repeated on 19th June 2021 (details here)
As mentioned in last week’s blog, I will be teaching two Textiles workshops in June at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham DL12 8NP. The museum re-opens on May 17th, with a wonderful exhibition of Quilts entitled: North Country Quilts: in celebration of new acquisitions. You can see the details of the workshops here and here
My own ‘Quilt in a Day’ class will begin again in August. Go to the CLASSES section of the website here and you will be able to click through to the Craft Courses website to see all the available dates for this course.
All the other classes listed on the CLASSES page are now bookable securely through Craft Courses UK.
Good to know you’ve safely moved. Hope all’s progressing well.
I sympathize as we too moved from north (Yorkshire) to south (Essex) during the pandemic. It was a lot more work than usual and involved sellin my childhood home. Mercifully I’m not attached to bricks and mortar, but it’s strange knowing I can’t go there anymore!
Ah yes, I did that in my late twenties. Very strange to know you can’t return there. Hope you are settled now.
Amanda
Your new pad looks lovely Amanda, good luck with the decorating and stitching!
Pat xx
Thank you! We’ve been busy painting, but I’m really looking forward to getting back to stitching again! Amanda
Dear Amanda
Well done to have moved and to have surfaced. I am sure it is the time to do it.
Thank you for all the lovely images and messages. Good luck and we will keep in touch virtually till you give us an address.
Love from Sara
Thank you! Amanda