Good Stuff and Bad Stuff

The good stuff - have had a good few weeks promoting some of the great new products I found in Salt Lake City. One of the best things has been ' Skillbuilder'. This is one of those things that when you come across it you think - why didn't I think of that! It is a self education tool, designed to tkae you through all the techniques of machine quilting. It comprises fabric panels preprinted with a massive variety of quilting designs that you can work your way through. Currently there are 2 panels one which covers everything from straight stitch to stippling, the second which concentrates on feathers - those lovely curvey quilting designs. There is a companion book also, Margy our machine quilting teacher was flicking through it and excalimed - 'Oh! i didn't know that! Which proves it must be good 'coz i thought Margy knew everything about machine quilting!

The Bad Stuff - constant frustration with my bank the Abbey. I pay a lot of my bills on line - so do many people, so listen to this salutory tale and beware! I set up a standing order to one of my suppliers, they never got the money. I had apparently made a typing error in the sort code (I still dispute this - but any way) so the money went to the correct account no. but wrong branch and into someone elses account, even though the account name was wrong. It has taken me months of endless telephone calls and letters to the Abbey for them to finally agree to put in writing what has happened! So now, 4 months on, I can approach the recipients bank with my letter from the Abbey (assuming it actually arrives - Jason in 'Complaints' agreed to send it today!) and ask for my money. Apparently, as this was my error I have no right to demand the money, I can only ask, and if the recipient doesn't want to give it back, I cannot make them! The amount in question is £500. If it had been 500,000 I am told I would still be in the same position!

So beware of typing errors they can be very expensive.