Anne Quinn
Parchment and Calligraphy Tutor

June 2010

Had another day workshop in Bottesford, near Grantham for the local U3A group there who do card making and other craft classes every fortnight. We were introduced to this group through Miranda who we met on a cruise two years ago, and have become firm friends with her and her husband Doug! Had a great three hour session doing peel-offs and stencils on parchment, which the ladies seem to enjoy very much. This is the second time we have been down to Bottesford. We are shortly going on holiday to Cornwall with Miranda and looking forward to a chill-out week in a log cabin somewhere in the wilds of Cornwall!!

May 2010

The Parchment Exhibition in Harrogate. My husband Paddy sprained his ankle two nights before the exhibition, so my very helpful daughter Catherine came to the rescue and took me up the night before to set up the stand. Then on the morning of the exhibition, I was a bit under the weather with a bug, and really struggled to be there on the stand that day! I tried to chat with everyone and it was very tiring but I managed to stay there almost all day, before coming home to three days recuperating! Anyway, Catherine held the fort and demonstrated in the afternoon for me and Paddy hobbled around collecting the sales money. The exhibition was a success though, with lots of interest in the gridwork easel cards on my table, and hopefully quite a few people enjoyed meeting me and having a quick chat. The easel cards are now included in a pattern pack on the website for sale.

April 2010

Here beginneth my 19 days in Ireland - it gets longer every year now! Paddy and I took the ferry across the Irish Sea (thankfully the volcanic ask from Iceland didn’t affect the ferries!) and stayed overnight in Dublin with friends.
For our first day we set off to Waterford, to do a 2 day course for the ladies from Waterford ICA, near Dungarvan on the south coast of Ireland. We visited Dungarvan a few years ago, and it is still as lovely, with a beautiful harbour and quayside, with plenty of good eating places, notably the Sea Palace Chinese restaurant which we frequented one night and Merry’s up in the town! They were both excellent! Had two great days over the weekend with the ladies, and they want us back next year!

Left on the Monday morning and went straight up to the ICA College of An Grianan, north east of Drogheda for the first of two weeks teaching. Had 13 ladies the first week, had a great time as usual. Only having one beginner made it great fun, with having 12 ladies who had been before! They settled straight in and we had a great week. (Too much food at the college - need I say more!?). Left Thursday night and onto Rush near Skerries on the coast for another teaching day the their group on the Friday. The Rush ladies have had me for about 6 years now, so its all good friends there! Stayed overnight with Rosemary and Greer and had a great time. That night, set off down the coast, staying again with Mary and Bill in Sutton, our friendly B and B for three years now (great prices too!).

Taught for the Portmarnock ICA ladies the following day with 11 ladies. Just had four beginners there, with 7 from the last two years there. The day flew by but another good day was had by all.

The next day was MY FIRST DAY OFF in a week! We took Bill and Mary out for a leisurely carvery lunch at the Grand Hotel in Malahide, one of our favourite places. Mary wouldn’t let me do anything that day, but by the evening I was bored, wanting to do some parchment! Instead, we played Rummikub in the evening - guess what - Paddy won!

Back to the college the following morning, after meeting Paddy’s cousin from Dublin over lunch, and set up the class again. Had 10 ladies the second week, with four beginners and 6 from last year. Even Bridget from Waterford group last weekend came too. A glutton for punishment! She was there with her ICA the second week and thought she couldn’t get in, but with a cancellation came her place for another three days in class!

Anyway, apart from the emergency with a burst water main in Drogheda on the second morning; we had no mains water for two and a half days - we coped very well! Its good job we all knew each other, we couldn’t have showers, wash, or flush the toilets for about 24 hours. Paddy helped Noel the handyman at the college to carry buckets from the college well (that was lucky!) for flushing of the said toilets! We all pulled together with the “blitz spirit” as they say, and I finally had a shower again on the Thursday night. Thank goodness for baby wipes and deodorants! One of life’s crises….. as they say! Another good week anyway.

Finally after leaving college on the Friday morning, I had taught for 11 days and four evenings in the last 14 days, I was fairly shattipated! Then had two great days at Jackie’s White Cottages overlooking the bay in Skerries, (heaven) and one night at The Grand Hotel In Malahide (even more heaven - with a beautiful room overlooking the Marina and the estuary!) on the last day before returning to Mary’s for our final night before the 7am ferry home the next morning. Thankfully, after weighing in at Slimming World the morning after we got home, I had only put on one and a half pounds over the 19 days which was pretty good, with having three course lunches and 2 course teas at the college, plus three 2 course meals out the last four days too! And those wonderful scones at the college…….. mmmmmmm ………..all that food!

Anyway, bye for now……. until next year. Slain agus go raibh maith agaibh! (Goodbye and thank you)………

November 2009

Taught a day workshop for Chris Watson’s little group of 14 ladies and 2 gentlemen in the John Innes centre in Norwich. Had a great day, did a bit of whitework and pencil work, and some general cards with them.
Had about 15 students and they all seemed to enjoy it. Gave them lots of patterns to keep them going!
Thanks Chris.

October 2009

Had a quick week across in Southern Ireland, a place we love, having been asked to teach my group of parchment crafters from Rush, north of Dublin for three days in October. Paddy and I (well Paddy!) drove across to Holyhead and thankfully the Irish Sea was calm for the end of October…….

Taught for three days in Rush to my group of 13 ladies run by Rosemary, whom I have been teaching for about 6-7 years, and then moved south for the fourth day to teach the Ladies from Portmarnock organised by Brigid, where I have been three times now. It was lovely to see them all again. My one day off in the week was the day after the four days teaching, and guess what, it rained all day!! We spent a happy couple of hours reading the paper and doing the crosswords in the Grand Hotel In Malahide, as you do, watching the rotten weather outside!

Paddy managed to visit the family in Dublin on his five days off (lucky him!) and we had a great week staying with Mary and Bill again, (thank you both!) in Sutton.

Came home the following day, with glorious weather across the sea; the sun shines on the righteous they say (the following day was gales and rain here, so we were pleased we were not crossing the sea that day!).

Its only about 22 weeks to go, to cross the Irish Sea again teaching at the college in April. Time flies when you are having fun, so they say! When we win the lottery, our first spend will be on the house in Malahide or perhaps our five girlies (4 daughters and 1 grand-daughter) will think they should come first - and then the cottage………………!

The picture on the left is the Ladies from Rush with Marie and her huge cake in the centre (calorie free of course)!
The right hand side photo shows the Ladies in Portmarnock.

August 2009

Our13 day cruise to the Baltic……. great!
Setting off from Dover on the Fred Olsen Cruise Lines “Balmoral”, the new ship in their fleet as from last year. 11 decks, the biggest ship to date that we have done a cruise on! Two of our friends Mandy and Doug whom we met on a cruise last year, decided to come on the same cruise this year, which made it extra special for us.

Gorgeous day when we went on the ship, and found our way around before the passengers got on. We found out that we only had three sessions on this cruise, as there were about 70 children on board, plus a whole Welsh Male Voice choir! Dash it! However, we managed to squeeze in an extra class, plus a demonstration of stencils and peel-offs on parchment on the last day before arriving back in Dover. The classes were a bit quieter than normal, with having the choir and the children on this one, as there were so many activities that you could do, lots of things clashed. However, the ladies who came (and one man!) seemed to enjoy the sessions, and came to most of them throughout the two weeks. Again, we met some lovely ladies, as usual, and we managed to pass on the basics of parchment craft to them, spreading the word yet again! Sally, Michelle, Jean and Jean, Mary and Petra to name a few people that I got to know the names of! Sally (and hubby John), believe it or not, lives about 10 miles from us at home, and I had taught her calligraphy about 20 years ago! I saw her pass me one day, and thought
“I know that face”! We put the world to rights and had a long catch-up chat later on that day!

After the last session, when I sold a few bits of the tools that we had been using on board, Michelle said it was either “a manicure or the set of tools” - of course the parchment pack won! No contest really!

Anyway, back to the cruise, we firstly had a gorgeous day in Copenhagen (yes of course, we went to see the Little Mermaid - again!), then onto our five-consecutive-days-in-port and on to Stockholm, which was wonderful. We had a week in Stockholm area with friends three years ago, and loved it then, still the same! Then on down toTallinn in Estonia which was wonderful again, really hot and sunny. Next, onto St Petersburg for two days, where we had a good nights sleep with the ship being docked overnight, and again the weather was great. We have done St Petersburg twice before so stayed on the ship for two days and really chilled out. The fifth day was back over to Helsinki in Finland, again, a fabulous day. Just ended up walking round the huge harbour and picking out a fabulous yacht to take home with us!

Then, for a change, a day at sea, and the last port day to Travemunde in Germany, just before we travelled through the Kiel canal. Travemunde was a fantastic place, we got the shuttle bus onto the harbourside, which had a longgggggggg street full of little shops and cafes. Being another really hot day, everyone was outside! Then down to the end to the marina area, which was super, kept on walking another mile and came across this beautiful huge beach. This was definitely a place to look out for a holiday week. You wouldn’t need to leave the town at all……….. it was fabulous.

Leaving Travemunde, we started on the way home - sadly! We actually went through the Kiel Canal from midnight to 8am, so missed most of it, apart from Sally who sat up all night to watch it apparently! A final day at sea with the last class and the demonstration in the afternoon, and then the packing to do, ughhhhh! Arrived in Dover after a slightly rocky sea for just a few hours overnight on the North Sea, to sunny Dover. Another great cruise, lots of happy memories.

Some of the ladies from the classes are pictured below!