Carting another old friend off the charity shop

 I'm a bit sad because today we have downsized an old pine mirror/dresser combination that was my first ever antique furniture purchase - way back c. 1986 in Canada.  I loved it dearly for many years, and it was my only full length mirror through a few apartments before being shipped to the UK to use in our first (and subsequent) houses.

I sometimes listen to decluttering videos while sewing, and one presenter struck a chord with me recently - she said that an item might have been important or precious to us in a previous season of our life, but in our current season it may no longer be required.  I do tend to hang onto things for a very long time, past their sell-by date so to speak - like the machine knitting magazines that hardly anyone wanted - just because at one point I cherished them. (I learned a lesson from that experience actually - I took several years of Designer Knitting magazine along to my recent sewing retreat and unloaded them to good homes on the donation table). To get back to the mirror/dresser, it had no place in our current house and for 8 years has been sitting up on the attic landing collecting dust and just being a place where we piled stuff.  So I decided to donate it to the charity furniture shop. And to be honest, when we took it apart to get it into the car, it was clear that it wasn't in great shape, it needs some repairs.  The charity shop took it but were a bit dubious - I hope it can find a loving new owner who will fix it up and enjoy it, I hope if they can't sell things that they at least give them to someone else and not throw them out. But I'm glad it's out of the house - if nothing else, we had a lot of trouble getting all the heavy pieces down all the stairs and into the car so better to do it now than in 10 years when we are even more feeble.

We went to check on the caravan in the storage yard today, and then DH took me to Bramble Patch in Weedon, probably one of the UK's larger quilt stores although modest by American standards.  I was looking for a replacement fabric for my Australian BOM kit  quilt border.  I looked carefully at all the offerings and mentally shortlisted about six of them.  I was just starting my second pass around when one of the staff started following me and trying to 'help' by asking lots of questions and pulling out unsuitable bolts of fabric. It was very distracting and she really wasn't taking the hint that I didn't want the help.  So I settled on the safest choice instead of taking a chance on something a bit more interesting, but I still hope the ecru floral I have chosen (on the right in the pic) is more interesting than the bland background fabric (on the left) that came in the kit.  The pink floral protruding from the bit of pieced quilt is what the scalloped border will be made out of, which is appliqued on top of the border fabric. I would have loved to get something more romantic, like a faded pink chintz, or barely-there stripe, but they didn't have anything like that.

I put away the re-homed red fabrics and the pile of FQs this week and have realised that my fabric collection now exceeds my available shelf space.  I think the last few years I have been taking in more fabric than I have been using up, partly because a lot of my stash is so old now that it never seems to go with anything.  I should probably pull out a lot of old stuff and donate it to Project Linus.  But energised by the mini-clearout, I actually got out a couple of the quilts I quilted on the frame, pressed and trimmed them, and sewed their binding onto one side by machine.  I finished the smallest one completely as it is only a tabletopper panel I added some borders to, but it looks cute in the hall.

I tried out an online cross stitching Zoom call this week.  I was stitching on the first of a 16-part Stitch-Along being published in CrossStitcher Magazine.  As you may have gathered, I have a weakness for houses in all forms, and this is a sampler of 16 typical British architectural buildings.  So instead of sensibly finishing the Little House Sampler that has been on the backburner for a couple of years while I did the Australian BOM, I have started a new project. As you do.  I don't need a second house sampler so I am going to turn this one into a little book instead.

I don't think the other Zoom participants are my tribe though, they were like English Channel swimmers compared to me paddling in the shallows with a bucket and spade.  Several of them were working on enormous projects fully three feet wide, they track their number of stitches on iPads that tell them what percent they are done and their estimated finish date, they have huge collections of patterns and projects, they were sitting in front of complicated needlework frames with specialist lights.  And here's me just holding my little bit of canvas in my hand.  And I was going backwards for part of it after realising that I had been using the wrong colour for a while. Just a dabbler, that's me :)

As it has warmed up a bit outside, my dollshouse room is no long so uninvitingly chilly, so I went down to work on the porch lights a bit.  I've decided to keep it simple, and found a bit of old handrail which has a channel along the bottom to hide the wires of the bulbs.  So I drilled a hole through and glued the bulbs and wires in, and drilled out the bases of three of the Christmas light fixtures.  Since taking these photos, I have painted the handrail part black, and glued on the Christmas fixture with silicon glue (so that I can remove the top part if I ever need to get at the bulb.  Then I will feed the wires through pre-drilled holes in the wall and glue the other end of the handrail bit to the wall.  The wires will be extended either with copper tape or more wire, and connected to the transformer to light the bulbs.

I also finished the Tilda Club tool belt this week. I was a bit skeptical about this when I first opened the packet, but actually I think it might be pretty useful.  It's quite comfortable to wear, and the elastic loops are loose enough that it's easy to get the tools in and out.  I have quite a limited cutting space and I am constantly losing my rotary cutter, pencil, scissors etc. because I have put fabric down on top of them. This way everything will stay to hand. As well as being stiffened with wadding and woven interfacing, there is a piece of Bosal foam in the back section to keep it all fairly rigid. The belt is adjustable to you can wear it higher or lower depending on what's comfortable.

A bit of acquisition this week: some matching sewing tools I stumbled across on Amazon after seeing the scissor holder in a magazine.  The scissors aren't very sharp so I substituted a pair of my own snips after taking this picture. It's handy that the sheath and scissors are connected - a bit like a scissors fob but actually being useful.

Now that the calendar has changed to February, it feels more than ever that Japan is looming on the horizon.  Yesterday I was feeling a bit panicky and anxious about it - which I know must seem ridiculous since it is something I am choosing to do, but I tend to be quite a worrier about details: what to take, what not to take, what are the rules, what is the etiquette, what if I am taking too many bags etc. etc.  I am slowly working through my To-Do list, like buying some bits of clothing, a Japanese SIM card, hiring a pocket wifi etc.  I think what triggered the worry session was trying to choose craft projects to take with me, and completely dithering about how many to take, how much things weigh, will I have time at the language school or be too tired in the evenings, will the light be too bad, what if I don't take enough things to do....  so far I have packed a little cross stitch kit which I am still second-guessing myself on as the chart is fairly complicated and maybe the little scissors I have packed will get confiscated even though they comply with the TSA and international guidelines of having short blades. I have also ordered some embroidery floss and prepped some of the quasi-redwork panels that came in the vintage-style wallhanging kit I bought in Paducah, because that is mostly backstitch and would be easy to do in poor light or hanging out in the living room of the shared house.  So I just need to choose a knitting project now - usually I take socks or gloves travelling because they are small and simpler, but for longer trips like this one I usually take a shawl because you get more knitting time out of one ball of lace yarn.  Thing is, I already have about 20 shawls and don't really need any more.  Sweaters are out because they require too much yarn (bulk and weight).  Maybe a lacy pair of socks?

As a palate cleanser, I sewed up a quick little trinket tray from this tutorial, using some Japanese fabric.  It folds flat and will be useful for corraling small items in my hotel and shared house rooms.

I've also started trying to come up with some gifts to take with me but I'm not there yet.  I've watched several Youtube videos on the giftgiving culture in Japan, which has a lot of rules.  The main advice is something consumable from your country, and that the packaging is much more important than the actual contents.  I ordered some individual Yorkshire tea packets, some cellophane bags and some UK stickers to see what they would look like combined into a little gift.  I think I need a taller bag so there is more of a 'top' to it, and a more impressive ribbon - I put two packets in but maybe I should put three.  These will be goodwill gifts to give to neighbours, teachers, maybe fellow students, but I don't think they look sufficiently attractive yet.

All of a sudden, the days are staying lighter for longer, and we have a nice show of snowdrops out in the garden. Meanwhile the daffodils have started to push up long green leaves, and the magnolia tree has some growing buds. It is starting to feel like spring is just around the corner.