When I'm not quilting....

 

I've just been to my very first music festival!

This weekend extravaganza is in it's fourth year and was packed with comedy and music talent, both international and local, and they all did the town of Stockton-On-Tees proud.

My weekend in the glorious sunshine, yes, even up north (!) started with Hyde and Beast, a band I wasn't familiar with, but I loved their soulful sounds with a 70s vibe. Next up was probably my favourite of the weekend, Motown icon Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - she was absolutely amazing, and worked the crowd like a true professional. You can't get much better than dancing to a legend, beer in hand in the heat of the afternoon sun!

 

Tracy Hyman Photgraphy

Saturday night's headliners were The Happy Mondays, who were as mad as ever, and as Jus dances like Bez on a normal day, he was in his element.

Our second day started off with Smoove and Turrell, a funk and soul duo from Newcastle, again, not a band I'd heard of, but will definitely be looking out for their album. The next legend up was former New Order and Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, who along with his band, that included his son, performed some old favourites. Now, I have to admit, this wasn't really my cup of tea. To me, he sounded like an angry old man... But I am reliably informed he fell out with his old band, so maybe he has reason to be so angsty! And he'd cut his finger... He son was also amazing on the bass guitar.

Another band I will be adding to my 'to buy' list is Reverand and the Makers, they were amazing, I loved their energy and the constant shout outs to Stockton and Teesside, awesome. The crowd's bouncing to Heavyweight Champion of the World must have been felt in the Boro!

 

Tracy Hyman Photography

 

And for the finale, and what absolutely made Jus's weekend, the one and only Public Enemy. Again, I wouldn't say hip hop is my favourite genre, even though Justin has tried to educate me over the years, but I have to say, I was well and truly impressed. Along with the multi-talented hype man of the band Flavor Flav, frontman Chuck D, DJ Lord, and the S1Ws were also joined by Khari Wynn, a truly awesome guitarist from Memphis. We were treated to lots of old tunes such as Don't Believe the Hype, Fight the Power and Bring the Noise, which they certainly did - the whole place was bouncing!

Tracy Hyman Photography

 

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Life has become very busy!

There are many reasons why I haven't blogged in a while, honest! Having recovered from our 'camping expedition' and a lovely sunny weekend in Amsterdam, we are now back in the north-east staying with family while we look for our own place. Meanwhile, as I have my sewing machine, I have been sew happy, pun intended!

I made this reindeer cushion for a dear (sorry) friend's birthday, I obviously couldn't share it until I have given it to her, but she was very pleased with it. Inspired by my Icelandic adventures, I chain stitched these two reindeer onto a linen base, then used one of my treasured 1930s prints for the border, which I quilted. I also used the same fabric on the back with ties - quite pleased with these as this was my first attempt.

I've also been spending more time watching my backlog of Craftsy classes. As I've said before, I cannot recommend this site enough, the classes are so comprehensive, yet easy to follow, and the tutors are inspirational and a joy to listen to. This mini quilt starts with Carol Doak's 'Mastering Foundation Paper Piecing' - I was over the moon when I finally cracked this technique and look forward to creating my own designs.

Then I moved on Leah Day's 'Free Motion Quilting a Sampler' - Leah's class is amazing, full of so many quilting designs, and she encourages you to just have a go, practice, and enjoy! My most recent class has been Jacquie Gering's 'Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot'. Again, another inspirational class, Jacquie was one of the speakers on the series of lectures from the last Quilt Con in America - free to watch on Craftsy - and she was so emotional, she really touched my heart with her passion for modern quilting. These two classes helped me plot and quilt my first mini quilt.

My most recent quilt is this novelty nine-patch cot quilt. When I worked at Doughty's I developed a couple of fabric packs, including this charm pack from Nancy Halvorsen's Mischief and Curiosity's ranges and I've designed this quilt for the Festival of Quilts in August. The instructions will be available on my website soon.

 

This is such a quick peicing method, you start with nine-patches, which you then cut into four, and re-arrange. Magic! The quilting is my first attempt at Jaquie Gering's pencil quilting, the lines are half an inch apart, and are really affective.

Our European Vacation

Not quite the Griswolds thankfully, but not far off it at times!

So we started off with a week with our dear friends in Hamburg, they were moving into their new house, which is gorgeous - huge rooms, floor to ceiling windows, beautiful modern kitchen, and balcony on the top floor, everything you come to expect in a German home. So the week included the necessary trip to IKEA, and hemming curtains, with lots of love, fine food and drink thrown in.

Hamburg is a beautiful city, even though it has one of the busiest docks in the world. On one day we went to one of their city beaches, having driven past numerous huge merchant houses on the way, you get the idea that Hamburg is quite wealthy city. The manmade beach was a favourite with the locals, as was the bar on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The views across the water sum up what Hamburg is all about.

 

 

Recently we have been thinking of purchasing a campervan or caravan, having hired campers in New Zealand and Australia and enjoyed them, but they were in warmer climes than here, where you can sit outside and relax, not be cooped up inside out of the torrential rain! So before taking the plunge we thought we would try out the tent we bought years ago and where better than our favourite country of the Netherlands. We drove from Hamburg west to Groningen in the north of the Netherlands where we pitched tent for the first time, and managed not to look like complete amateurs.

 

 

How cosy does this look, complete with quilt?

 

 

On our second day, I managed to get talked into hiring a bike and cycling into Groningen. I was totally up for it until I sat on the rock hard saddle and tried to set off. Dutch bikes do not have handbrakes, but instead have pedal back brakes, which means the pedals don't move round freely for you to get ready to move off. With bad balance to start with, this caused me all manner of problems. I suppose the good thing to come out of it is that my bike at home should be easier than ever to get the hand of. I would just like to add, this was only my second time on a bike in 30 years!

 

 

 

Groningen is a student town, which made cycling all the more chaotic! The town itself is lovely, like a mini Amsterdam with its cobbles streets, tall terraced houses lining the canals, and the town square with a great food market selling local produce.

 

 

 

 

Yesterday we packed up the tent in the rain, both looking forward to a proper bed in warm dry hotel room! I don't think camping is for us! We are now in Amsterdam, we love Amsterdam and feel like it's our second home. We are also hear to meet another dear friend, who amazingly has cycled from London to Amsterdam for charity, and we wanted to be there at the finish line...

 

 

We are so proud of him and the rest of the gang, we left them to have a much deserved drink, and rest and went for a Argentinian steak, a must in Amsterdam. Today we plan to enjoy the sights of this stunning town, and we have sunshine at last!!

 

 

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