It's not about me, it's about You :-)

 Reflecting on our trip down to Kent and Sussex last week, it struck me how much we learn from our customers. We just have to take time to listen. Time is a resource we don't always have a lot of. We're planning on making a few changes to make improvements in that respect. 

We were delighted to see Jo Avery using her Moxie to quilt this lovely quilt this week on her email Newsletter. Jo said "Meanwhile I have been busy quilting my Free Bird BOM quilt using my Moxie Long Arm machine.  I'm absolutely delighted with how this 'Random Plaid' quilting is working out. It's something I have done previously on mini quilts but would never have dared try it on a large quilt on my domestic machine. The Moxie really has changed my life this year!" 

We loved having Jo on our stand at the Festival of Quilts this year. It was interesting to have someone on the stand that understood what it felt like to not know all the terminology we take for granted. Read more about Jo Avery and her Moxie on her Blog.

There have been so more opportunities to listen recently because we're meeting customers again. For months we were away from everyone and now we have dialogue. This is a refreshing change. We also had time for a day off and I picked up 4 books at the B&B in Brighton. Before I knew it I was ordering books online. I rediscovered my love of physical books on this trip - why I love turning pages rather than reading electronically.

Having mentioned "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" on a previous Facebook Live I decided to revisit it. It's an attitude to process of fault determination that is particularly good for our Pro-Stitcher customers....it may be well out of date but for those who read it in the 1970s and 1980s you might find it interesting to refresh your memory. I had forgotten the ending...

There was time to visit Brighton itself which Pete had never been to before. We had lovely weather - we were so lucky as otherwise the days were grey.

So, in the spirit of this vibe, this blog is all about YOU. We think you're pretty amazing!

"The Teacher can but point the way; the means to reach the goal must vary with the pilgrim."

 Tibetan elegant saying Narajuna.

We met with old friends and made new. Here are some of the images from the past week...not just from our trip, together with some quotes and thoughts along the way. 

We enjoyed visiting Lee Brown down in Kent. Visit Lee's website

We were visiting to service Lee's Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen. It hadn't been the best of years for Lee. A perfect storm of covid, stroke and the loss of her husband who doubled as business partner (as someone who has one of those I can imagine how diffficult it would be to cope with that). Both Pete and I loved the conversation and the inspiring work adorning her workroom. Inspiration everywhere. It was phrases like "when we were trucking through Europe"...that caught my attention (they both got their HGV licences and used to take goods throughout mainland Europe, as you do). 

A particularly beautiful quilt was from hand-dyed fabrics and based sketches she made from a disused chapel in Belgium. The far light is a collapsed window. Beautiful. Visit her gallery on her website. 

Lee judges at the Sandown Quilt Show.

Quilt tiles in plan on the design wall...

Her Doberman was beautiful, a rescue and slightly crazy.

Our Brighton installation was the main focus of our South-East sojourn. Andrea was upgrading from an Avante with Pro-Stitcher to an Amara with Pro-Stitcher. It was going to fit in beautifully into a spare room downstairs. 

We spent all day setting up the frame and then going through the Amara. The Pro-Stitcher training was more advanced than usual as Andrea's experience was definitely not beginner level. It wasn't quite the weather forecast expected but it was still nice enough to sit outside. I had a lovely chat with Andrea over lunch about every subject except quilting finding that as we often do lots of common interests.

So, here are some images from the day and a little video of the Pro-Stitcher stitching out!

Loading up the backing ready for training

Andrea with her new Handi Quilter Amara with Pro-Stitcher

Here's a video I took of the Pro-Stitcher stitching out the first edge to edge we set up. 

On the way back up from Sussex we stopped off to do more servicing, fitting in some Sweet Sixteens along the way. This was Vera's Sweet Sixteen. 

Vera's being doing some beautiful quilting on her Sweet Sixteen for quite some time but was really pleased with this quilt - this is the back (I didn't get a picture of the front!!) 

I was also pleased to hear that since her yoga teacher hadn't been able to carry on with the local yoga classes that Vera had been able to carry on with her yoga through Kassandra who I had recommended on Facebook Live! While I was doing the service I was entertained by Vera's organ practice. We discussed the difficulties of performance anxiety when it comes to playing in public which I also suffer from. Vera had managed to conquer hers through just doing it in stages and being cajoled and encouraged. I supposed it's like anything you just have to get used to it. I think I need to practice more...

Vera has done some beautiful improvisational quilting on this, showing that being playful and having fun with your quilting is a really important part of the process.

Vera's Sweet Sixteen

On a previous trip I went over to the Lincolnshire Fens (miles away!) to visit Jill. 

Jill is a character. I don't think any of our other customers have appeared on Truckers Monthly or whatever trucking magazine it was..but Jill collects trucks. She also has other strings to her bow which if you ever meet her I'll let her tell you about. 

While I was there I saw more dragonflies than I've seen in my entire life. There were hundreds. Oh and Jill keeps a European Owl (a rescue) in a cage in the garden. Gave me the fright of my life when I arrived.  

Jill has an Amara with Pro-Stitcher. She makes beautiful quilts and this one is for a friend of hers who is into music, although he's actually a sign writer (as in he writes on trucks). All the fabric has musical symbols on it. 

Back at Pinhole HQ

Pete has been busy palletising new machines for sending out to customers...

We hope that whatever you're doing with your quilting you've been having a fun time. 

If you're looking for a longarm contact us to arrange a demonstration at our Pershore Showroom. We recommend allowing a couple of hours for a full demonstration.

quilt@pinholequilting.co.uk or 01905 942972