Saturday, 11 January 2025

Letting go

 This week I have started downsizing in my dollshouse room.  It has been feeling like an overstuffed disaster area for some time now, even before I had to squash things up to make room for the Mckinley build.  And it was definitely an area on my radar for decluttering in preparation for our eventual house move in 6 or 7 years time.  When I was younger, I had vast ambitions to build all the things, and maybe even build dollshouses to sell. In preparation I collected and hoarded all kinds of furniture, accessories and dollshouse kits. (are we recognising a theme here from my other hobbies?).  It never crossed my mind that in my 60s I would no longer have the physical or mental energy, or even the motivation, to not carry out my grand plan. 


 I watched a decluttering video on Youtube a while ago that talked about the 'seasons' of our life, and how these change, and how something that was a great fit for an earlier season may no longer be who you are in your current season.  I've also been inspired by the ongoing Declutter Challenge by Just Get It Done Quilts on Youtube - which is about sewing but also applicable to other hobbies.


So I've started this week having a look at my dollshouse room and what is taking up space there.  

1) First to go was a room box I made on a workshop about 15 years ago - I did a great job and had put some quality furniture in it - but no sentimental attachment remained.  So I  took out the furniture and sold the roombox on Facebook. 

2) I had an enormous room box inherited from an elderly friend who passed some years ago. She had embarked on a 1:12 model of her father's hair salon where she worked as a young woman.  But she hadn't done very much, and her skill level was low in her older age.  I was going to finish it in her memory and I did some work to decorate the outside and front of the box, and had purchased some hair-related accessories.  But it has sat in the corner of my room for years and in the meantime the little work she had done in terms of internal cubicle divisions had mostly fallen apart.  I realised that I just had no investment in the project, it wasn't my past, it was hers.  And I remember my friend in so many other ways, I don't need to continue to give house room to this large relic.  So that has gone.  It wasn't saleable so I retrieved items that can be reused or given to charity, and the carcass is going to the dump.

3) I had another room box that I made on 'the world's largest mini workshop' at the New Orleans miniatures show in 2003 with Braxton Payne.  The workshop was tremendous fun. The theme that year was 'kitchen' so all participants contributed kitchen related accessory makes which were divided up into gift bags that we all then received back.  The roombox was, of course, a kitchen and we finished it by installing all the freebies we had received.  It was a great memory for a long time.  But now it's over 20 years ago, I only remember highlights of the event, and to be honest most of the freebies were just paper makes or fairly amateur makes, while the fittings were mostly cardboard.  So I emptied that box out (mostly into the rubbish) and will keep it as the box is fairly good and might be useful for something else in future.

4) A long time ago I belonged to an excellent dollshouse club in Shepperton, which included some really talented people and which used to run a great group workshop programme.  I still have some of the club projects that we made for group displays.  One of them was an 'attic' inside a roombox, full of discarded and even broken items.  I did a good job and it looked good, I have enjoyed having it for the last 25 years or so.  But again, the memories are old now, the box is no longer 'me'.  So today I took it to a local charity shop and had a conversation with the manager to doublecheck it was something they could sell.  She was thrilled to have it and said it was going in the window and she was sure someone would buy it quickly. In fact she was tempted to buy it herself.  I'm now going to have a hard look at some of the other club projects as well.

5) I was approached by a woman on Facebook who lives about 40 minutes from me, asking if I had any furniture to downsize.  I have so much furniture that I will probably never use, most of it not great quality as I picked it up on a budget in past years.  She only wanted a modern style of item, which I had little of.  But we did a deal on a few pieces and one of her family members picked those up yesterday.  She also gave me some advice about listing items on ebay, so I should probably get on to that.


So it's a start.


I actually spent about three days in my sewing room this week, despite the cold floor. It felt good to do some sewing. I mentioned last week that I had started on a small Japanese bag using the American Country panel that I bought in Tokyo at Crib Quilts.  I finished that off this week, it's turned out really cute.





Together with some previous American Country panel makes

The rest of my sewing time was on another block for my Double Wedding Ring quilt and pulling together a self-designed stitching organiser which isn't ready yet.

I have continued to plod along on the cross stitch christmas ornament, really disliking it now that there is only sky left, but I'm determined to finish it.  I also have given the frame quilting a rest this week and instead returned my attention to my needletatting beginners books.  I re-learned the basic stitches then picked up a drawstring tatted bag kit that I bought in Tokyo at the Aphyu tatting shop.  I bought two kits there, but this one is the simplest, just rings and thread spaces, so it is a good beginner's project.


The cold snap continues - it's been minus 4C during the day the last few days, we wake up to a heavy frost which just stays there all day.  But lovely and sunny, so not all bad.  I've been wearing my Christmas Kep hat every time I go out, it is keeping my head lovely and warm.


Sunday, 5 January 2025

Oh fleece lined leggings, where have you been all my life?

 We're having a cold snap where it's been sitting at 0C or -1C during the day, and dropping colder at night. And this morning we actually woke up to an unusual sprinkling of snow (maybe 1/2" deep) which is actually sitting instead of disappearing.  So it feels christmassy.  However the gas fired central heating in our house has always fought an unequal battle against the icy draughts from our many large poorly glazed 1970s windows, and from the chimney flues in almost every room, and coming up through the many gapes between floorboards.  My sewing room in the basement for example has a wood-planked floor directly over an earthen void.  While this saved the room when we had the flood (because the water streamed down into the void), it means I am standing directly on poorly insulated planks over a -1C void at this time of year.  It's worst when it's windy outside and all the draughts come licking into the house.  So my discovery this year of the wonderful delights of fleece lined leggings has been a revelation.  I bought my first pair in November, then promptly bought two more pairs, and have been more or less living in them ever since.  Comfy and warm, warm enough for the void, even warm enough to wear outside with additional legwarmers (yes, I am a fashion plate, can't you tell?).  No more bundling up in bulky trackpants double layered with thin leggings underneath - where have these been all my life?    


Anyway, enough about my fashion choices.   I finished the Christmas Kep knit a few days ago, and have worn it outside twice.  It's lovely and warm with the deep double brim covering the sides of my head, and looks very seasonal.  It feels slightly odd not to have a ribbing band gripping the sides of my head, but because the stockinette band is doublesided, it just sits lightly and securely over the ears. This is knit in Jamieson's Spindrift wool, partly from stash and partly a few new balls I had to buy to get the colour gradiation correct.




I finished up the design wall creation of the New Zealand Kiwiana scrappy quilt using the Turning Twenty Around the Block pattern.  Then I sewed it together, which was quite straightforward because it's all straight seams and almost no seam matching.  My son helped me pick out the inner border colour before we took him home last weekend, he seemed to enjoy critiquing the various choices I was bringing out from my fabric stash - to the point where he put a bid in to own the quilt.  But this is my NZ souvenir, hands off lol.  Then I added the borders during a zoom call with the Chookshed in Australia.  For the backing, I spent a few more days piecing together all the larger remnants of the 25 Kiwiana fabrics because I can't see using them for anything else. And now it is upstairs in the 'to be quilted' queue by the long arm. It is an extremely busy quilt but I think it has come together surprisingly well to become a 'green quilt', considering I was just buying the fabrics I came across with no real plan on how they were going to go together.

design wall

completed top

I finished longarm quilting the Embroidered Blocks quilt and it's off the frame.  Since taking this picture, I have washed and dried it and it's now waiting to be bound.  This was another learning quilt where I was trying new things - most of them worked, some of them didn't.  I didn't get the quilting density very even so it's never going to hang completely flat.  It's the first time I've tried quilting around embroidered blocks so that was a learning curve.  I tried out some new free motion filling patterns and some of those are a bit messy.  I'm getting better at stitching in the ditch. This is the kit that I bought in Paducah in 2022, then I took the blocks with me to Japan in 2023 to embroider during my 7-week trip.  I modified the design to combat the asymetry by adding the nine blocks on the right, it's still a bit weird looking but I like the folksy Americana 30s  vibe.  I also tried out a cool new ruler I ordered from QuiltOff in America, which allowed me to stitch a very even 'ribbon candy' design in the inner vertical background space - not something I can manage freehand.



I am still plugging away on the Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament, adrift in the random pixellation of the sky area which is so far beyond my limited counting ability that I am at best producing an approximation of the actual chart.  I even drew a grid and have tried so hard but keep going wrong so I've kind of given up and am just going with it now, and just filling in gaps with whatever.  I just need to finish filling in the sky then I can get to the back stitching which is the good stuff that brings the design to life.  There are also some beads and sequins to be sewn on.

After finishing up the Kiwiana top, I have rewarded myself with a completely frivolous fabric folly.  I dug out the American Country panels by Masako Wakayama that I bought at her shop Crib Quilts in Tokyo in 2023.  I had already made up the projects from American Country 21 previously, so I was interested to see what 22 and 23 would offer.  The instructions for 22 (translated using my smartphone with Google Translate) were for very similar little projects to 21: little boxes, an oval zipped box, a tote bag etc.).  23 takes a different approach, you can choose to either use the bulk of the panel as a wall quilt, or, cut it up to again make similar little projects such as tote bags.  I decided to make the wall quilt from 23 so that has gone up to the 'to be quilted' queue.  But for 22, I decided to use the panel for a different bag shape from the Masako Wakayama book that I own.  This is like a little lunch pail with internal pockets and a central zip pocket.  It's been fun choosing which parts of the panel to cut up, plus I appliqued a few motifs onto the side gussets for decoration. I've interfaced the pieces with Vilene G700 woven interfacing, and a bit of light Decovil in the base, to give a bit of structure in addition to the wadding layer. I'm using the Japanese construction method where each piece is individually finished, then handstitched together to construct the bag.


I've taken down all the Christmas decorations and they are put away, leaving the house looking a little boring.  The tree is out in the front yard, awaiting collection by a charity that takes trees away in return for a donation.

I mentioned last week that I have been feeling tempted for quite a while by the idea of a weaving loom.  Reading the weaving magazine I got in my stocking led to watching various Youtube and Craftsy videos about rigid heddle looms and how to choose a first loom. But what tipped the balance was coming across a reference to a Japanese Clover loom for Sakiori weaving - which is weaving with strips of old fabrics - which can also be used as a rigid heddle loom for normal weaving.  I was intrigued and looked into it, and it sounds a lot easier to set up than a normal rigid heddle loom because the warp threads just sit in grooves rather than having to be individually pulled through slots in a heddle.

They are also quite reasonably priced - in Japan.  Shipping them to the UK adds on over 50%, bringing them in at a similar cost to a rigid heddle loom except that I was also able to include accessories such as a second heddle bar for sock yarn weight, additional shuttles and a few other things.  So I spent my Christmas money (and some more) on that and it should arrive over the next couple of weeks from Amazon Japan.  I am rationalising this by the idea of using up some of my knitting stash on the loom, and maybe even some of my quilting stash if the fabric strip weaving is feasible.  What is retirement for if not a time when you can try out something new?

Happy new year everyone!  And may 2025 bring you lots of crafting joy and success.

Saturday, 28 December 2024

Post Christmas torpor

We are currently in the no-man's land of post-Christmas, not yet time to go back to work, finishing off leftovers, eating all the sweets, watching all the recorded Christmas TV and sleeping in increasingly late because why not.  Christmas Day was very pleasant, just the three of us enjoying a quiet day.  It was warm enough that we actually went out and did some gardening which isn't something I think I've done on Christmas Day before.  The 'Christmas dinner in a box' made the whole cooking experience easy and low stress once again, wish I'd had the option years ago.  On Boxing Day we went down to the in-laws for a nice lunch, enlivened by my sister-in-law's poorly trained spaniel jumping up constantly and generally charging around like a hyperactive toddler the whole time.  I'm not really a dog person, particularly when that sort of shenanigans are going on. Telling it 'no' had no effect, I don't think it was familiar with the word.

Due to my advanced age, I mainly receive cash or vouchers these days but I did get a very nice kit for a Moroccan table to go in my dollshouse from my friend Anita; a Petite Properties 1:48 carriage kit from another friend (not sure I'll be able to use it); and an excellent Tamiya razor saw from DH because I've been borrowing his for some time now to cut moulding for the current dollshouse build.  They are really sharp and so much easier to cut with than the X-acto razor saw I've been using for decades.  I also had a copy of 'Easy Weaving with Little Looms', an American magazine that I saw and DH bought it for me for my stocking.  I do not in any way need another hobby but I've always found looms appealing (I like gadgets) and the idea of using up some of my knitting wool stash is appealing.  I might keep my eye out for a bargain on a secondhand rigid heddle loom.


I've almost finished the Mckinley dollshouse build now, just a few bits of trim to add and then it's done as far as the main construction.  Furnishing and accessorising is a whole 'nother story, one that I generally struggle with.  It has turned out fairly well, considering the quality of the kit I was starting with, although there are lots of elements which aren't really in scale and are more 'play like' which is the nature of the kit.


As a treat this week, I started a new quilt using the New Zealand Kiwiana fabrics that I bought in Auckland this spring.  I have the quilt laid out on my design wall and have started to sew the blocks together.  The fern fabric on the right will be the border.  It's going to be very busy but hopefully the border will pull it all together. It's pretty easy to sew together so a nice contrast to the Double Wedding Ring project.


During the Christmas week I've continued to stitch on my Christmas cross stitch ornament (still not finished), my Christmas Kep stranded knitting project, and long arm quilting my embroidered blocks quilt (almost finished, I've just turned the quilt on the frame and quilted the other two borders so I just have two embroidered blocks remaining to quilt).

Saturday, 21 December 2024

Merry Christmas

 It's the final countdown to Christmas.  We picked up DS today and he is back in his old room until New Year's which is nice.  I'm enjoying seeing all my homemade christmas decorations around the house from across the years, including this quilt from a few years ago, and a light-up wallhanging panel on the door from several years ago.  The patchwork tree shaped decoration on the wainscoting was made by my m-i-l many years ago.


I've made a few more blocks for the Double Wedding Ring quilt so I'm up to seven blocks now.  Almost halfway for the 16-block quilt.  This is the full width of the quilt now (4 x 16" blocks)


I finished up the little Kimono walhanging from the kit that I bought at Festival of Quilts a few years ago.  I used Thermore wadding which is so soft and drapey that the little quilt is hanging really well.  In fact, it is hanging so well that I haven't actually added any further quilting to it.  It is fairly narrow and I think has sufficient structural integrity just from its own seams.


Today I started cutting out the New Zealand Kiwiana fabrics that I bought in Auckland this spring.  I'm going to make a 'Turning Twenties Around the Block'  design from the booklet by Tricia Cribbs.   I have about 25 different fabrics so it is going to be a pretty crazy quilt which I think I will have to fully design on the design wall to make sure the directional fabrics are pointing the right way up and that the fabrics are as balanced as they can be.  It's nice to see all the NZ motifs and to remember my trip around the North and South islands.


I'm still stitching on the cross stitch christmas ornament although I doubt I am going to actually finish by the 25th.  I continue to quilt the Embroidered Blocks Quilt on the frame, I've quilted all the pieced blocks and am now tackling the embroidered blocks which are demanding a lot more decisions.  My dollshouse build is approaching its conclusion, at least of the main build - there will still be all the furnishing and accessorising part which is not my favourite.  


My Christmas Kep knitted hat is progressing well: I joined the folded brim into the main hat the same way you that do a three needle bind-off, then discovered that the needle size changes I had made on the inside brim while I was struggling to get the right tension, had resulted in an inner brim which was a bit shorter than the outer brim.  So I cut the yarn and wet blocked the incomplete hat right away, to see if the inner brim was going to stretch and flatten out sufficiently.  Which it did luckily. So I've started on the second repeat of the main hat now.


Wishing you all a very happy Christmas, and with best wishes for the new year and lots of quality crafting time!

Sunday, 15 December 2024

Winter go slow

 I'm hitting that time of year now where winter hibernation is setting in. It's getting harder to make myself go outside for some exercise because it's cold and rainy. I'm not going down into the basement as much (dollshouse and sewing) because it's cold down there too. I seem to be spending a lot of time wrapped up in front of the TV. Nevertheless, I have got a few things done.


The Japanese tea cup wallhanging is finished now, with the embroidered rims and all bound.  I like it even though some of the embroidery is a bit wobbly.  And I love the blues.


I also got the binding sewn onto the Envelopes quilt which is now ready to donate - Project Linus are picking it up in a few days and I hope someone might enjoy getting it for Christmas.  I like the 'train track' effect of the binding and border strip in the same colour.


The Christmas tree is now up and decorated.  We have always had a live tree, because that's what I grew up with.  But I was surprised to find a (very expensive) artificial tree in B&Q that looks real until you get up close.  We are actually contemplating buying it if it's in the sales.  It feels like selling out but would make life a lot easier and we're not getting any younger.  I used to feel that I wanted the real one because of the lovely smell of a real tree, but for several years now it seems our trees don't smell of anything unless you stick your head right into the branches.  Maybe it's been bred out of them?

I'm getting on well with the Christmas Kep hat.  This has a deep double brim, you can see the purl row which will be the fold line, so everything beneath the fold line will be tucked up inside. It's a very Christmassy knit.


This week I finally got around to this year's free Cartonnage project from Colorway Arts, which is a box with a hinged lid closed with a magnetic catch.  If desired, you could cut an opening in the top to make it a tissue box, but I didn't.  Boxmaking is such a great way to use up feature fabrics such as this charming English countryside print.



My Christmas shopping is done, I don't have a very big list so it's not a huge job.  DS is coming home for Christmas next weekend.  I hope all your preparations are in hand for the seasonal break.


Saturday, 7 December 2024

Christmas cheer

 This week seems to have gone by in a flash, I feel like last weekend's blog post was about two days ago. Christmas cheer has arrived. As well as bringing down the decorations from the attic (much slimmed down after my big clear out last year, I am now feeling sad about a few of the things I gave away) and starting to put them up, we had DH's model club christmas do and awards night at a pub.  Nice food and DH came home with four first place awards (in the boxes) as well as some 2nd and 3rd place medals.  These are his award winning models which he builds from kits and paints from scratch.  Well done DH!






I also had my bobbin lace friends around for our annual present exchange - this year I sewed pen holders on elastic that they can use on notebooks, address books etc.  I warmed up the first mince pies of the season: gluten free but still pretty good.

For the rest of my crafting this week, it has been continuing the same projects I have been working on:  the dollshouse, longarm quilting the embroidered blocks quilt, cross stitch on the christmas ornament, sewing binding on the Japanese tea cup wallhanging, knitting on the Christmas kep hat, and I finished sewing embellishments on the Australian BOM quilt.

 The latter is now completely done - I signed up to the BOM with the Australian shop 'Faeries in my Garden' in March 2021 when we were still locked down for COVID here in the UK. It wasn't cheap, but the packets arriving every month were such a treat and kept me very occupied for months during lockdown learning how to embroider and then crafting the intricate applique blocks. So altogether the quilt took three years and nine months.  It may be one of the best things I've ever made. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to do with it now.  It's too fragile and precious to be used as a bed quilt, but being bedquilt size, it is too big to hang on the wall in this house.  Our last house had a great stairwell where I could hang pretty large quilts, but this house only has a large-wallhanging-sized gap between door openings in the hallway.


We are currently being battered by Storm Darragh - it's not too bad where we live, just strong gusts of wind roaring around the house and lots of leaves and small twigs down in the garden, and a fair bit of rain.  It sounds like many people are having a terrible time though, especially in Wales and along that western coastline.


Sunday, 1 December 2024

Suddenly December

 The first of December today, and suddenly Christmas is looming.  We put up some outdoor lights on our porch yesterday, I've hung up my Petite Properties Advent Calendar (of 25 x 1:48 scale lasercut dollhouse furniture kits), got out my Christmas quilt for my bed and hung the first Christmas wall quilt.  The rest of the decorations will probably wait until next weekend.


I thought I would be finished my dollshouse build by now but no, the displaced dollshouses are still in the dining room.  DS is coming home forChristmas so I think I will probably move the houses back downstairs to the dollshouse room and perch them on the end of my building table so they are out of the way.  The house is in the final stages but still lots of finishing touches  I don't need as much room now that the wallpapering is done and all the house assembled.


Speaking of finishing touches, I sewed the binding on my Australian BOM quilt so now I can start sewing on the hard embellishments to finish off several blocks.  I left them off knowing that I would be quilting the quilt on my frame, and I didn't want to crush the embellishments or have them make the quilt roll unbalanced.  Things like a scissors charm, buttons etc.  I sewed the scissors on with invisible thread and found I am officially too old for the invisible thread because it is now completely invisible.  I had to get out the super reader glasses to even thread the needle.  Then when I briefly set down the threaded needle to get the charm ready, it just completely vanished into thin air.  I had to get a torch to shine light onto the shiny thread before I could finally spot the threaded needle on the ironing board.  Yeesh.  These are the first three blocks, there are several more that have additional embellishments to be sewn on.





The American concept of Black Friday sales, previously unknown in the UK, has now become quite a big thing here.  Did you succumb to anything? I ended up ordering several things that I wanted to get anyway, and a few other items that came up in videos - including a cheap set of Forstner drill bits which I hope to use to create a stronger hanging system for my current dollshouse build which is supposed to hang on the wall.  Forstner bits drill holes in wood but the holes have a flat bottom - without the central hole that results from using a spade bit.  I also came across a FB post flagging these hemming clips. It's hard to photograph them but each clip is marked with quarter inch marks to help you turn up an even hem on larger items like a skirt. They looked like they would be useful.


I've made a good start on this year's Christmas cross stitch project which is a free kit to make a hanging bauble that came with CrossStitcher magazine.  I've had to grid the aida because there are so many colours in the design, far too many for my limited counting ability.  This way I only have to stitch a 10x10 grid at a time.


I gave up on the video game my son recommended: Baldur's Gate 3.  It's based on the Dungeons and Dragons methodology and was far too complicated for me.  I just want to run around and explore and bash things with a single button - not have to worry about D20 rolls and skill tables etc.  I've started playing another older game that I bought several years ago, Fable Anniversary, which is able to be played on a much simpler level, more my speed.  I am having one big problem which is that the button used to bash opponents in all the games I've played for the last several years, in this game it unsheathes your weapon or stows the weapon away.  So I spend the first few seconds of each combat sequence taking my weapon out and putting it away while I run around shrieking like a little girl, taking heavy damage as I frantically mash buttons.  Old dog, new tricks.