This is not keeping me calm

As I discussed last week, crafting is important to me for various reasons, one of which is keeping me calm and balanced - it can even be meditative.  This Chinese dollshouse in a globe is the work of the devil and has made me anything but calm this week.  I've done my best, it looks pretty rubbish and will self destruct if anyone so much as sneezes in the vicinity.  One day the batteries will die, and we will disappear the project and Never Speak of It Again.

One of the intriguing aspects of the box picture was that the house seemed to be floating in a cloud of snow with no visible means of support, like a ship in a bottle.  It turns out that this ship is floating on a flimsy disk of card which first of all has to be bent to be inserted into the globe then never wants to flatten again.  Secondly the card disk does not want to float level but instead at some weird Dorothy in a Kansas tornado angle.  The battery pack and wires fought me every inch of the way as I attempted to fold them through the hole in the disk to hide in the snow beneath. Therefore the house wouldn't sit flat on the 'ground' because the ground was bent and the wires were bulging up. And to get the house through the aperture, you have to rotate it in such a way that the wires and battery pack are pulled back out of their hidey hole again. And all the time you are fighting with the above, the 'snow' is spilling out the front and getting inside the house; and the impact-activated  lights are flicking on and off like a horror movie.  When we finally landed at something vaguely resembling the box picture, there were a lot of spots bare of snow so then I had to try to reach in past the house with little spoonsfuls of snow, which is why the snow looks so mounded in places.  I got it to the point where I took these pictures, but the slightest knock (is going to turn the lights on) is going to disarrange the snow and possibly even the horizon line. What a contrast to those scenes in a tin that I made a few years ago which were such fun and good quality.

Moving on to something less rage-inducing, I arranged my motifs on the Giggleswick Mill Quilt centre this week and fused them down.  Then I started stitching around each motif with a narrow zigzag in invisible thread to hold them down.  It's a lot of stitching because there are so many little details to stitch around.  I've done the border motifs and am currently working on the centre bouquet. That's why it looks a bit crumpled in the picture as I am constantly bunching up the fabric in my hands to manipulate it under the needle.  Invisible thread is not an heirloom technique but will help keep the edges adhered.  It's not truly invisible because up close you can see the plastic thread glinting in the light, but from any distance you can't see it.  I'm using a very fine needle (70) to avoid obviously punctured holes in the fusible.  Once I get all the edges finished, then I will be able to trim the centre to size and start adding the borders. The somewhat ovoid centre circle bugs me a bit but otherwise I'm pretty pleased with it.

I've been stitching together the Hey Teach cardigan after knitting the bands onto it. It's not completely assembled and I haven't pressed the seams yet.  I gave it an early try on and it seems a bit broad in the shoulders but otherwise the fit isn't bad. I'll have to look out four buttons in my stash, hopefully I've got something suitable.  I didn't put any button holes in the 'skirt' portion, I think it will look nicer hanging free.

Work has been better this week.  We've been moved onto a different type of casework that I find more engaging and less like drudgery.  But we've received a cautionary memo from the head of operations who says that although almost the entire office is now working from home, our productivity is only 50% of what it used to be.  I guess I'm not the only one getting distracted by home fun things. We used to grumble about being constantly supervised like children when we were in the office but it shows there is something to be said for keeping people focused on what they are meant to be doing.  We're supposed to discuss in our individual team meetings how we can be more productive going forward.  Oh yay, can't wait.

We were amused this week watching a juvenile blackbird out of our kitchen window, who was trying to make friends with our stone statue bird that we have fastened on top of the feeder/swing beam.  He kept looking at it and even gave it a few pecks like "Why won't you play with me?"

Hi to Linda in Illinois who commented last week. I agree with you about restricting outings to a minimum. We did go to our little local shopping mall yesterday now that it's re-opened, just to go to Wilko to pick up a bunch of useful-but-not-entirely-essential items like lined pads, lining paper (I use to draft patterns), clothes hangers, toilet cleaner etc. that we had run out of during lockdown.  To get there we had to navigate a confusing one-way system laid out on the mall floor in yellow tape, made even more confusing by the minority of people who were ignoring it and wandering around where they liked. I also snagged some bottles of hand sanitiser which is once again available in the chemist.  Despite the strange aspects of the situation, it did feel oddly comforting to be doing a 'normal' activity even if I had to stay alert to the movements of other people.

Stay safe.

So I was ironing the antique table (as you do)...

I snapped a picture of some sunflowers in a vintage vase in our hallway, because they were making me happy.

And as I lowered the camera, I noticed a suspicious brown stain around the base of the vase.  Turns out the vintage vase is not in fact watertight, and had been leaking slowly onto our antique table since Wednesday.  The vintage tablecloth had a big stain on it, which I have pre-washed with Vanish stain remover and some detergent.  The table top itself had a big damp stain.  I did a hasty search online and Good Housekeeping recommended warming the wood with a low iron through a towel.  I was skeptical but it seemed a relatively non-invasive solution so I gave it a go.  And it works!  Who knew. 

I left the iron (on low heat) in place for a minute or so at a time, and the water was rising up through the wood like nobody's business.  Each time I lifted the towel, the wood surface was slick with moisture that I could wipe away.  I alternated towels for about half an hour, until no more moisture seemed to be coming out.  I'll let it air dry some more for several days and then reapply some furniture wax. Although antique, the table came to us already battered and a bit warped, so it's not like I've ruined some priceless masterpiece - but I do like it and it looks nice in the hallway.

Work has been hard going this week.  My initial feeling of 'well, this isn't so bad' has deteriorated into plodding boredom to the point where I am actually looking forward to the pointless MS Teams team meeting twice a week.  It doesn't help that I am working on my own desk, with my personal computer mere inches away tempting me with the distraction of the interwebs. And worst of all, the tedium is sapping my mental energy so that by the time I can clock off and stop pretending to work, I haven't felt very motivated to tackle my own projects. They are moving us on to a different type of work next week, perhaps that will be more engaging.

In the evenings I have finished knitting the Hey Teach cardigan  pieces, including the re-knit of the upper back lace panel, and have now blocked them.  They're almost dry then I can start seaming ready to add the bands.  I'm a bit suspicious that the tops of the sleeves are not entirely identical, one seems narrower then the other, so I may have messed up on the decreases.  Luckily no-one can see both my shoulders from the side at the same time so it probably won't be noticeable. :)

I'm almost finished the second Little House on my cross-stitch sampler, just need to do a bit more grass. I'm enjoying these, they're really sweet.

Over the last few weeks I have muddled through a needle-tatted bookmark from a free online pattern. Between getting lost in the pattern and not being able to count, I have really made a mess of it.  To the point where I had to cut apart some incorrect joins and sew it back together with a needle to the correct spots.  I'm debating whether to try again now that I know how the pattern works, but that's not going to overcome the counting inability.

I've been pushing on with my Bucks Point lace edging, the narrow one on my travelling pillow, because I would like to get it finished and make it into a doiley.  This has meant that I'm not working on my butterfly mat at all.  I measured around the glass tray on my dressing table that I want the doiley to sit underneath, and I need to do at least another 10 inches or so, so I need to get on with it.

I hadn't done anything on Giggleswick Mill  this week but today I laid the broderie perse motifs out on some sheets of Steam ASteam Lite 2 and pressed them (using the paper as a pressing cloth) to adhere the fusible web.  So now I just need to sit down in front of some Youtube videos in a good light, with my glasses on, and carefully cut around all the motifs.  Then I can peel the second layer of paper off and place the motifs where I want to fuse them.  I think I will need more motifs, but this will give me a starting point.

I wanted a short sleeve summer blouse to wear with the sun dress I made a few weeks ago, but couldn't find what I wanted online.  So I ordered this long sleeved blouse from Next instead and then altered it this week.

The fit wasn't great so I moved the shoulder points in by an inch on both sides, lengthened the bust darts and then shortened the sleeves. I used fabric harvested from the cut off sleeves to make new cuffs, and then sewed some trim on the collar and added a false placket. It reminds me of the Laura Ashley aesthetic from the 80s. I'm wearing it right now as I type this, it's pretty comfortable.

Speaking of the 80s, I have reached the box in the attic paperwork excavation which includes my journals from my first trip to the UK/Europe.  They are mostly filled with rapturous descriptions of castles, cathedrals, and ancient buildings because these were so amazing to a Canadian, interspersed with cultural observations of how different daily life was over here. For example, I had never seen a 'toastie' before (a grilled cheese sandwich but cooked in a sandwich press) or been in a pub, I was astonished you could buy liquor in a supermarket, and the 'washing machine' was a baffling do-it-yourself job that you had to pour water into before setting it to spin AND it was located in the kitchen  - which was just bizarre.  etc. etc.  Mildly entertaining to read over now, especially when I've been living here for so long.  Also reminds me of how much the UK lifestyle has changed over the years - things were a lot more old-fashioned back then, at least in Yorkshire.

I had a lovely comment from another blog reader, 'Caliquilter' from California - Hi there! - who kindly says I keep her inspired. That's so nice. I'd far rather get comments like that than some of the things other people have said to me (even other crafters) like 'don't you have enough quilts now?', or, 'if you spent more time on [single hobby] then you would get better at it faster' and similar. Crafting makes me happy and keeps me calm (unless it's going terribly) and I like exercising my creativity in several different directions.  I would get bored only making lace, or only making quilts. And I like having different projects to turn to depending on how much mental/physical energy I have, how good the daylight is, how much time I have, what the weather's like...  I don't embrace the 'one project fits all circumstances' philosophy as you can probably tell.  My philosophy is more like: 'start all the projects and then you will always have something you want to do'. Which I have to say has stood me in good stead for being prepared for lockdown.

Speaking of lockdown, we made a conscious effort to break out of our bunker/rut this morning:  we got into the car and went for a drive, ending up at a city park in Corby of all places.  We got out and walked around the woodland paths for half an hour or so, enjoying the bird song.  It was nothing special and yet we both feel more cheerful and energised as a result. Probably we should try to do more of that.

Are you getting out more now? Or are you still happily hunkering down where it's safe?

The conversation is drying up

I've been meeting in two regular online groups, one for lace and one for sewing, and it is noticeable that there is less chitchat every week.  Because nobody has any news.  Nobody is doing anything, we've already covered endless grounds of whether or not masks do any good, our various approaches to decontaminating goods entering the house, how elderly relatives are coping, the latest out of date food find at the back of the cupboard... and nobody is going anywhere, or meeting anyone -  so there really isn't much to say anymore other than 'keeping well?'.  The shops re-open tomorrow, so I suppose there might be more to talk about next weekend although most of the lace group have to remain isolated due to their age/medical conditions. I understand that as a nation we have to make some attempt to get back in business before the economy collapses but it sure doesn't feel safe to go out willy-nilly shopping for trivial items.

Speaking of which, I went out to a local medium-sized DIY shop to get a replacement door latch for our dining room door which has been driving us crazy by refusing to stay shut.  I felt reasonably safe because I knew they were only letting in a few people at a time, had a partial one-way system, and plexiglass around the till operator.  But while I was looking at the latches in one aisle, this older couple wandered down my aisle right behind me.  I had nowhere to go, I pressed up against the display and desperately said "Please can you stay six feet away?" because they were making no attempt to even keep to the other side.  And the old woman told me to 'shut up'!  And her husband asked her what she'd said, she told him 'I told her to shut up'.  Honestly, some people are just asking to get infected, and at their age they are in the vulnerable category .  I had to retreat to the end of the aisle and wait for them to finish their perusal of spray paint before they wandered on.  Her strong perfume lingered behind her, perhaps it's antibacterial.

Another work week - I am coping by taking long lunches which breaks up the day.  The weather has turned summery again so we've been able to eat out in the garden.  Craft time this week has been mostly about the cartonnage project which has been going fine but is incredibly time-consuming - and meanwhile I can't start any new sewing project because the cartonnage is taking up all my cutting area.  But finally it's almost finished.  I just need to glue it onto its little plinth, and glue felt on the bottom surfaces of the plinth and the little lid box.  I'm quite pleased with it.  There are many less-than-perfect spots where I was learning how to fold the fabric over curved edges neatly etc, but for a first attempt I think it's not too bad.  This is classed as an intermediate project on their website I discovered.  I should be able to completely finish it today.

Once the mess is cleared away, I am back to working on the central square of my Giggleswick Mill Quilt.  I finished appliqueing the little pentagon rosettes, although I now realise that mine are placed closer to the corners than the quilt in the book.  I'm cutting out motifs that will be trimmed and fused to create the border.  The small amount of fabric I had left looks like swiss cheese with all the holes cut out.  I have another fabric from a different designer which is quite similar so I might take some floral motifs from that as well. Each one of the motifs needs to go on to Steam-a-seam Light fusible web and then have the red background trimmed away.

I've plugged on with the Chinese house-in-a-globe kit. I'm not thrilled with it, it's all a bit crude and out of scale, and doesn't fit together very well.  But it is starting to look a bit cute nonetheless.  The house is largely finished now, I just need to wire up the lights and then start constructing the snowy exterior scene inside the globe.

On the Hey Teach cardigan knitting project, I've finished both fronts and two sleeves, so I've returned to the back and unravelled it to the armhole to have another go at the lace shaping on the back.  I knit about two inches and then realised I hadn't started in the right place so the lace pattern was mucked up, so I've had to pull it back again.  I'm certainly getting my knitting time in with this yarn.  I don't mind, it's nice to knit with and there's no rush. Once the back is fixed then I can knit the bands.

DH and I were talking about the relaxation of lockdown and whether we would be doing anything differently.  There isn't anything either of us have been missing particularly, apart from just being able to go out to somewhere different and relax with a bit of antiquing or a cup of tea in a cafe.  We've been lucky to have DS with us this whole time, and we don't normally see the in-laws that often anyway.  Thanks to our habitual hobby stashing, we all have plenty of occupations to be getting on with.  I have always tended to stash other things as well such as toiletries so we are only just starting to run out of things.  We're all fairly introverted so don't tend to go out much.  I guess I do miss going to craft shows and I'm sad my two craft holidays to the French quilt show and the Estonia lace week got cancelled.  We tried to get ourselves interested in maybe driving out somewhere for a change, but when you get there there will still be many shut shops, and even just getting lunch could expose you to the virus. It doesn't seem worth it.  I think we are pretty entrenched in our bunker/rut still.

I had a lovely note this week from a Canadian reader who sounds a lot like me in sharing a lot of the same interests.  She told me about her various hobbies and finished with "This rather long note is to say, thank you for blogging! Your weekly update is something I look forward too after moving and losing touch with former quilting buddies."  Which made me really happy.  I'm always a bit amazed that anyone reads this weekly text-heavy multi-hobby update apart from a few real-life friends who use it to keep in touch with what I'm up to.   She also has a 24-inch 8 harness loom which I'm a bit jealous of.  I have flirted with looms at the Fibre East show and watched some Youtube videos and a Craftsy class about weaving with yarn.  I love the mechanics of craft equipment designed to do a specific thing really well. But I don't think I would use a loom enough to justify having one, it would end up like my neglected knitting machines. Anyway, Hi from the UK!

Stay safe and carry on crafting.

Doan wanna

Remember when we we little and we thought adults got to do whatever they wanted?  Hah! 

I survived my first week back at work.  The first few days were really difficult but by Friday it was feeling increasingly familiar although I haven't tried all our systems yet.  I was also cheered by several other colleagues admitting to various homeworking difficulties during a virtual team meeting on Friday,  The days seem really long without any colleagues to talk/moan to though.  I've actually resorted to playing a Youtube video of ambient office noise in the background on a few days which helps me concentrate.  Some colleagues said they played music but I think that would be too distracting for me.  If I have to work then it is nice not to have three hours of commute every day, but I still feel the huge loss of free time to do my own things. Luckily I'm really old and will get to retire in a few more years :)

I've continued to work on the centre of the Giggleswick Mill quilt:  I completed stitching down the hexagon ring, then soaked the piece to remove the glue, slashed the back of each hexagon and remove the cardboard.  After it had dried and been pressed, I spent some time fussy cutting the motifs for the central bouquet and fusing them down.  There is only half a close-up in the book of how Di Ford did hers, I had to resort to using my magnifying optivisor to study the main (small) picture of the whole quilt.  It's come out alright I think, although my 'circle' has not stayed entirely circular thanks to the malleability of fabric.  I'm going to finish all the fused motifs before stitching them down.

The next step was to trace, fussy cut and glue 48 little pentagons - I did some of this during the team meeting I mentioned above with my camera turned off. Then I stitched groups of six into little flowers which I am now appliqueing down around the central circle.  Once they are all stitched down, I will repeat the soak/slash/remove card process.

For something new this week I started one of the cartonnage kits I bought at the French quilt show in St Marie aux Mines a few years ago.  It makes a little organiser with a central covered box which lifts off.

The instructions are in French which right away necessitated looking up several unfamiliar words, and there are no diagrams or pictures other than the cover photo.  I have an English book on cartonnage so I referred to that.  Both sources specify bristol board, which doesn't seem to be something you can buy online easily.  Several art suppliers have books of bristol but it sounds like that's for painting watercolour on so I wasn't sure it was actually the stiff card I require.  So I rummaged in my stash and came up with some old bookcovers and notepad backs and cut my pieces out of that.  As some of the pieces are shaped, it was really difficult to cut the bookcovers - I ended up using my scroll saw to cut the curves.  There are about 60 pieces so it took ages to cut them all. 

Then I started assembly.  Tacky glue works well to glue the main boxes and I had some kraft tape for strengthening the joins, but normal PVA glue didn't work well at all for glueing the fabric onto the liners. The mess is also taking up most of my sewing area now.

Giving up on the PVA glue, I looked online to see what glue was recommended for cartonnage. Despite this being a popular hobby on the continent, I couldn't find anything on UK websites.  I looked at several French YouTube videos, pausing them to see what glue they were using, then looking those up online.  I couldn't get those glues over here but I did discover one brand which was related to publishing and book construction in the UK, which led me to the discovery that the glue I need is called 'bookbinding glue' here in the UK.  Then I could order a pot of Pinflair bookbinding glue from Amazon which arrived yesterday and I am back in business.  The new glue is perfect:  it grabs easily, remains moveable for an amount of time, doesn't stain the fabric, and dries quickly. I'm enjoying the construction but it's quite fiddly and there is a lot of start/stop as you wait for glue to dry.

Other than that, I have continued knitting Hey Teach, working on the Little houses cross stitch, and have done a bit more on the Chinese dollshouse in a globe kit which I still don't really rate.  The weather turned cold and rainy on the exact day I turned the heat off for the summer and has remained blustery, we even had thunder and lightning yesterday afternoon.  We're still not going out, although on my walks I have seen shops re-opening and lots of people out and about.  I think we are siding with the opinion expressed by one sewing Youtuber I watch, who said: "yes, the curve has flattened, which only means there is more room in the ICU for you".