Exciting News and an Update on The Schoolhouse!

Time to catch up with my Schoolhouse AND some exciting news I have to share about a new addition to my Sewing Room!

First of all I need to fess-up about something and I’m just going to apologise right at the start as some of my dear readers are going to feel very disappointed with this update.

Back at the start of this year, when the world was a very different place, I announced big news about selling myBearpaw store and studio and launching a teaching studio at the new Stitch Gathering Schoolhouse that my hubby, Tiny House Scotland, had built for me at Shangri la Farm.  You can refresh your memory here.

But then this crazy year properly began and all plans had to be changed.  After a shaky start I did manage to sell myBearpaw in the summer and have learnt to adapt from real life teaching and physical retreats to doing everything virtually and online.

Meanwhile, as there was no possiblity of teaching in the Schoolhouse for the foreseeable future (as a Tiny House was never going to work with social distancing!) I have been moving my sewing room there and setting up a packing area for new website ventures such as the Folk Dance Quilt Kit.

I just love working in this gorgeous environment! I have a lovely hand sewing area on the blue sofa and I’ve even been known to nod off there as the Schoolhouse is so warm and cosy 😉

It is still a work in progress as I am waiting for shelves and peg rails from Jonathan and an office chair and trolley from Ikea (I will update again when it is completely finished), but basically I have decided to be very selfish and keep it JUST FOR ME!

Because there was no way to set it up for both real students and doing online classes/virtual workshops we abandoned the plans I’d had to make it a proper classroom, and the more I thought about it the more I realised that I had changed my mind about what I wanted to do. After 9 years of teaching pretty much full time I have been really enjoying a break and I am not sure I want to go back to it, at least not for a while.

I do think that the pandemic has made us all reavaluate our lives and maybe change direction.  But I am sorry for all my students who were looking forward to coming here one day for a class.

But now onto my really exciting news!

This change of plan got me thinking about other changes I wanted to make. I have always been happy to quilt on my domestic Janome 9400 sewing machine and most of you will know that I’ve been able to achieve great FMQ results this way. Of course I have thought about a long arm quilting machine in the past but I didn’t have the spare room or the spare money to properly consider it.

But now I have an empty sewing room in my house and even more importantly Handi Quilter have just launched the Moxie!

This NEW machine is the latest longarm in the Handi Quilter family and is perfect for quilters wanting to move to the next step in their Quilting journey.  With a 15″ freearm, choice of frame that fits you best, bobbinwinder and accessories, and all for under £5000!  That may seem a lot to those of you not familiar with the cost of these machines, but it’s around half the price of existing models. And guess what – with one of these you will never have to baste a quilt again!!

I had been given a heads-up about this forthcoming machine by the wonderful people at Pinhole Quilting, who are the distributors for Handi Quilter in UK and Europe.  It sounded exactly what I was looking for so I have pre-ordered one already! And what’s more I am going to be working with them as a Moxie Mentor.

As a Moxie Mentor I will be able to pass on all my quilting knowledge to anyone who buys this machine.  I am planning inspirational projects and tutorials, plus I will be available to offer specific advice on the Moxie should you need it. I love the idea of guiding a whole team of Quilters to get the most from their Moxie!

This new machine launched today (it’s so exciting!) and I’m expecting delivery late November/December (what a fabulous Christmas present!).  If you want to know more about it then head over to my very own special page on the  Pinhole Quilting website, they have a great pre-order special offer of 50% off accessories if you order before 31st December.

While you are their why not sign up for their newsletter for more info on the Moxie as it becomes available.  You will see a box on the sign-up form asking for a Moxie Mentor Referral Code.  If you enter my code JA102 you will get a big pack of thread and accessories worth over £100 if you go ahead and order a Moxie!

Check out this YouTube video that launches the new machine

And I want you to all to know from the start that I have no plans to set myself up as a professional long-arm quilter, I won’t be quilting for anyone but myself!  I really am being selfish these days!

My plan is to make a lot more quilts, I have a huge stack of orphan blocks and class samples and WIP and I want to make a stack of quilts for charity and to sell.  And then I am going to start to really explore creatively with more art quilts.  Such exciting times ahead!

And I do hope you will all forgive me for this change in plans. Please feel free to vent your feelings below, I can take it!