Heat wave but compared to St Kitts...

 The UK is joining Europe for the latest heat wave, although it's not as bad here.  Up to 29C yesterday, then mid next week it's going up to 33C.  I really don't like it but I'll tell you what, 29C with low humidity is hugely more bearable than the high humidity levels and 31C we had in St Kitts.  I still spent most of yesterday afternoon in my basement sewing room which stays cool.  I was working on my Carabelle batik scraps quilt.  I chose a design I came across on the internet and made up my own measurements to suit the average size of the scraps.  Luckily I had a bit of batik background fabric leftover from another project.  I've got enough for 21 rows so it will be a  lap quilt size.  On several scraps I had enough leeway to do some fussy cutting which was fun.

I also sewed the binding onto the Tilda 'Chic Escape' Fat Cat Dresden quilt so that's done as well.  Won't be using it until next winter now.  It was interesting to make as the fabric layer cakes were lovely, but overall I feel it's a bit bland.

I've still been pottering away occasionally at the papercrafting and journal making, I just don't blog it much.  I made a little booklet from a Treasure Books video, using up some 12x12" scrapbook cardstock.  It has various pockets and some fold-out elements.  Fun to do.

I finished off the 1:24 scale retro caravan scene, a kitbash of a kit that my friend Anita gave me.  Most of the elements and accessories are 3D printed, it was a great project for learning how to use the 3D printer.  I've purposely left most things in their original plastic colours, because when you're camping, a lot of stuff is plastic anyway.  It's a very cosy looking caravan, probably at the bottom of someone's garden since it wouldn't work very well for towing with all the windowboxes etc.

I had a look in my cupboard of dollshouse kits and have pulled out a Jane Harrop kit for two Mission-style chairs.  I bought the kit thinking of my Mckinley house but now I'm not sure I actually have room for them after printing all the 3D furniture.  I'll put the chairs together anyway and see how they look.

I pulled out a tatting kit for a coin purse, that I bought at the Tokyo tatting store a few years ago. You tat two identical circular sides then join them with a top edge into a purse shape, then sew a fabric lining.  I am trying to re-learn needletatting but having my usual difficulties with actually counting accurately.  I've made a start on one side.

I've been refining my itinerary for Norway in August and working out daily plans, and getting tickets pre-booked for tours and venues.  It's a lot of work, but I prefer to do it in the comfort of my home than arrive somewhere and have to be peering at my phone trying to figure out opening hours or bus routes or what to see.  I'm definitely not a 'show up and wing it' traveller.

We got the caravan sink repaired today, so that's good and it's ready for our summer holidays now.  DH is still working so we have to fit in with his annual leave availability.

Hope you're staying cool.

I am weak to jet lag

 I'd kind of forgotten how badly jet lag hits me when I fly west to east (never as bad in the other direction for some reason) because I always shift my schedule towards the destination zone before I go to Japan etc.  But coming back from St Kitts, it took a good three days before I felt normal again (as opposed to hungover, exhausted and flu-ish).  Recovered in the end.  Meanwhile did tons of laundry, loads of weeding and hacking in the garden, and got caught up on paperwork and whittling down my photos of St Kitts.  Here are a few:

Fairview - a reconstructed sugar plantation house

Green vervet monkey behind my hotel - there are twice

as many monkeys as people and they are a real pest for crops

Nevis botanical gardens

My version of the quilt tour project - designs were supplied for

the St Nevis flag, brown pelican (national bird), hibiscus (national flower)

monkeys and turtle, then I made a sixth block of palm trees based on an image from 

Freepik.com.  It's mostly fused raw edge applique but I needle-turned the

turtle and some of the backgrounds.  The stars are EPP.

batiks drying outside at Carabelle Batik Factory

inside the shop

Batik factory - melting the wax off dyed cloths

beach at Frigate Bay near the hotel

View from my balcony

I soaked my purchased batik scraps in Retayne to help fix the dye, and I've been looking up some ideas for what to make with them.  Their palette is fairly dark and acidic, which is not my usual colour preference, but I want to use them for something.

I also finished sewing the binding on to my Double Wedding Ring quilt.  I did not do a great job on this quilt - accurate repetitive sewing is definitely not my strong point.  There are some terrible bumps of seam allowances as well.  But it was on my bucket list and I've done it, it's finished, and it lies flat which is something.  At the moment I am seeing all the flaws but I still like the colourway (inspired by Sharlene Jorgensen of Quilting from the Heartland) and I glad I finished it.

I did some more work on the 1:24th scale caravan kit bash, it's almost finished now, just need to add some more accessories like pot plants, seat cushions, drinks, an outdoor rug, and work out the external furniture placement etc.  It has been so much fun to have a project to create 3D printed minis for - most of the details and accessories are 3D printed.

This past weekend we were away for our test camp, we do one every year to check everything in the caravan is working and stocked up etc.  Good thing we did - we found out the bathroom sink waste has disconnected when suddenly we had water all over the floor. And particularly annoying as we literally just had the van serviced, this was its first outing.  So it's going back to the dealer for the sink repair, apparently this is a fairly quick repair and we can just wait while they do it. I'd rather find out now that when we are away on a more distant trip.  This site was down in Worcestershire, so I was able to drop my longarm into the Handiquilter dealership for a long overdue service (although they said it was in fact remarkably clean inside) - the first since I had bought it secondhand and their records show the previous owner hadn't done it recently before selling.  Since I was in the area, I also attended their arranged talk by quilting celebrity Stuart Hillard the next day, who was very nice and gave an entertaining talk while showing a bunch of his quilts.  I got a few ideas for possible block layouts for my batik scraps and for my Tilda Something Blue range.

It's a very pretty area, on the edge of the Cotswolds.  We walked into nearby Broadway, and also did a walk between the villages of Laverton and Buckland.  It is definitely chocolate box country, loads of thatched cottages and picturesque golden stone houses.  We liked the campsite as well so may go back again some day.  We had dinner Saturday night in a very picturesque 15C half-timbered inn, sitting in the oldest room which had a huge inglenook fireplace (not lit this time of year).

Back in the UK

 Arrived back this weekend from St Kitts, still recovering as my internal clock is five hours behind (sleep until noon, bedtime at 3am) and still doing laundry etc. I haven't downloaded my photos yet.  Overall the tour turned out to be a great first-time visit to the Caribbean, with tours around both islands and the opportunity to meet the locals.  For me personally, it was far too hot: 31C and very muggy almost all the time, perhaps dropping a few degrees before sunrise or after sunset, and the odd day where it was a little less muggy.  Muggy like the bathroom after you've had a long hot shower, from first thing in the morning until last thing at night.It meant that I couldn't get out and walk around to explore during the middle of the day as I normally would like to, because the heat and humidity just wiped me out - instead after lunch I sheltered in my air-conditioned hotel room with a lovely sea view, read, took naps etc. for a few hours.  And I struggled with the daytime activities that took us out in the heat, I have to stay out of the sun so was bathing in factor 50 suncream and hugging the shady spots. As a result of minimal exercise (apart from sea bathing which was lovely, like bathwater temperatures) and too many frozen sugary smoothies (trying to stay cool), I have put on five pounds which isn't good, lol.  Apparently in high season (December, January time) it is a more reasonable 24-25C but the sea is still warm enough to swim in, so that would be better but of course more crowded/expensive than visiting at the end of the season as we were doing. It was a shock to arrive at my home train station and actually feel cold for the first time in two weeks. There were some beautiful spots on St Kitts but in the main it was an arid, somewhat unkempt landscape.  I preferred Nevis which was more green and lush, and the villages we drove through seemed better kept, perhaps it has a higher standard of living, I don't know. I enjoyed some lovely seafood: big juicy shrimps, mahi mahi fish steaks, huge slabs of grilled salmon, and some nice sushi. The wildlife was amazing and everywhere: white egrets, brown pelicans, green vervet monkeys all over, little ferret-like brown mongooses scurrying around, some sort of heron bird, the big frigate birds up in the sky, buterflies.  And the tropical flowers were so beautiful: hibiscus, alamanders, bougainvillea, loads of others I don't know the names of, the Flamboyant trees with their crowns of fiery blossoms, an orchid tree where the blossoms all look like orchids.  We went to the botanical gardens on Nevis which were so colourful and exotic.  Lots of words that I know from the supermarket but had no idea how or where they actually grew: mango trees, almond trees, tamarind trees, cashew trees, frangipani, breadfruit, pineapples etc.  Coconut palms I actually knew about, and we tried coconut water fresh from the nut plus the inner soft white flesh that the locals called 'jelly' - presumably it goes hard later on in the lifecycle. I had brought some swim goggles so could look under the waves at the beach to see colourful aquarium-like fish just swimming around.

I didn't buy a lot because the shops I had access to were mainly either supermarkets or tourist tat.  I brought home a couple of t-shirts as gifts, some mini-pots of island jams ditto, and a couple of bags of assorted batik scraps from the island's Carabelle Batik factory.  Not sure what I'll make with them but they look pretty in the bag.  We were able to view some of Carabelle's primitive opensided workspaces where they boil batiks and dye pots in iron cauldrons over fires, I wondered if they have additional workshops elsewhere on the premises or if they outsource the manufacturing of their colourful bags, clothing items, accessories and of course yardage. The aesthetic is vibrant Caribbean colourways with large-scale wax stamps of flowers, birds, marine motifs, foliage etc.  Yardage was around USD$28 per yard.  I found a couple of hand-painted fridge magnets fashioned from palm tree bark for my fridge magnet collection.

It's so nice to be home again, out of the heat (the UK hot spell that I left in has gone away again), in my own bed in a strangely silent bedroom with no aircon running, and the garden rampant with roses blooming.  Also an unfortunate amount of weeds and deadheading waiting to be dealt with.

I had some happy mail: my pre-order of the beautiful Tilda Somethng Blue fabrics was waiting when I got back.  I will need to find a good project to show off the lovely soft blues

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