What do I do in Dubai

Finding something to do here during the day is rather difficult if you are not into sports or sailing. There is an arts centre and swimming pools, classes on self protection in all languages, you can go on photography courses, and learn to dive.
Now normally these things would appeal if I was younger for some, if I had not done others at different stages of my life, my digital camera really....do I need a lesson? Now diving appeals so may be look at that one at a later stage.

So, what do I do?

well!! I spend most of my time thinking to myself " no don't do that ironing the maid will do it when she comes"... all the rest of the time I do the normal living and keeping body and soul together, thinking about what we will eat each day.

In between these times

I sew. Embroidery or Quilting.......here in the Indian quarter of Satwa they have the most fabulous fabric shops, where you can buy Quilting fabric a yard for $2 NZ or 75p UK, there are notion shops or haberdashers where you can buy anything you could ever want from beads to bra inserts, braids to bobbins, bet you couldn't name anything you couldn't get there.

So far I have made a few things ... Quilting. I have made the sample Quilt for the Block of the Month( explanation later) a couple of bags to carry stuff around in, Finished a couple of pieces of embroidery and made a few pincushions and needle cases these have gone around the world as gifts or with folks who have left as a memento or Christmas swaps.
 

I have joined the Dubai Quilters Guild an amazing group of about 60 ladies of numerous nationalities who Quilt, many of whom did not quilt before they came to Dubai, a lot who have been quilting all their life. We have a joint meeting once a month and in the meantime there are Bee's... small groups who meet weekly or fortnightly.

Well ! as per normal I ended up on the committee in June and a spare space was BOM co-ordinator, so in I jump 2 feet first with my mouth open wide...."I will do that I say" when no one else opened their mouth.

BOM......now anyone who quilts knows about BOM's..... block of the month. It is dealt with in different ways in different places. It can be a kit that you purchase from a shop which you receive every month containing everything you need to make that months block. Or it can be just the pattern you are giving each month and you supply your own fabrics.
 

So I had to come up with a pattern and organise 24 kits of the fabrics. All By September meeting.

So off we go I have a pattern and my  sample of the quilt is as we speak being quilted..not by me...I have given it to the lady with a long armed quilting machine, yes! people have jumped on to the band wagon here and started doing professional quilting, how fore sighted and astute can you get to see the need, why am I always one step behind.

I searched all the fabric shops for just the right fabrics and disaster they could not supply 45 yrds of a particular one, or 20 yds of another so the fabrics had to be ordered via USA, this was done and I was waiting on tender hooks for their delivery which finally happened on 4th August talk about cutting it fine...
But yesterday the packs were finally bagged up and the patterns are all printed, I am having panic attacks at night dreaming I have forgotten to tell them something vital in the instructions...but on checking all is well.........

So September 30th is BOM day, when all these good folks hand over their hard earned cash for a kit ... hopefully!! how awful if no one wants to buy it, they at this present moment in time have no idea what the BOM is or what colour the kits are all will be revealed on the 30th, by the way there are 4 colour ways...hows that for ambitious.

So keep your fingers crossed for me.......  So have not been wasting my time in Dubai......