Burdened by my stuff

It's been a bit of a tough week, as you may know if you read my previous Extra Post 2. There were times when I was really wondering why on earth I had so much dollshouse stuff and if I even wanted it all. As I unpacked the stash I inherited from my sadly-missed friend, I was wondering if someone would eventually be doing the same with my stash(es).  I think once I have a desk set up I want to go through all my dollshouse projects to see what still needs doing to them and whether I still want to keep each one. Then once all the work is done, I need to go through the remaining stash and see if I can't considerably whittle it down.  I'm looking into joining the nearest dollshouse club, so I may be able to re-home things there once I'm ready.

Sewing

Earlier in the week, in between bursts of unpacking, I finished off the dressmaking mannequin. The measurements are similar to mine, some may be a cm or two out but it's a reasonable representation of me.  The neckline and armholes are finished with bias binding and the bottom of the cover is cinched in with a drawstring.

sooooo flattering.....  :(

As a reward for finishing the mannequin, which I had been procrastinating about for some time, I have cut out a Friendship Braid tablerunner using instructions from the Craftsy video by Debbie Caffrey for easy rotary cutting using a HST ruler and 2.5 inch strips. It's going together fairly quickly and I think I am going to have pieces left over so I may make a smaller one for m-i-l.

Knitting

The Knitmore Girls podcast has a segment called 'When Knitting Attacks' and I've certainly been attacked by mine this week.  I've been knitting on the Rowan Summer Tweed cardigan, and I got as far as casting off for the armholes.  It wasn't until I held it up to check for length that I realised I had completely forgotten to decrease for the front neckline slopes.  So I ripped out half of it and started over.  I soon got myself into a complete muddle trying to translate three sets of flat knitting instructions into one set of knitting-in-the-round instructions, and ended up having to make a spreadsheet showing row-by-row shaping from the waist upwards (not helped by an apparent error in the stitch count for the back).

So I laboriously knit it back up to the armholes and tried it on my mannequin to see how it was looking for length and fit.

Length looks good

But way too much fullness in the back

I know from having used this yarn before that the finished garment will grow even more, so with a certain amount of bitter resignation, I ripped it back to the waist AGAIN and now I'm reknitting and eliminating the back increases.  Grrrr.  Hope the blessed thing fits when it's done.

Other stuff

Otherwise this week I've started the first bobbin lace pricking in Bucks Point lace, and I'm getting on ok apart from the thread is much finer and I've had some trouble seeing what's going on when I've gone wrong.  I've knocked out a few more 10x10 squares of cross stitching and was able to scroll the frame on by an inch or so to progress the pattern - so I can see the halfway point but I'm not there yet.

And today I took a pack of plastic plant labels and a chinagraph pencil out to the garden, and stuck a label into all the perennial plants that came up and surprised me this summer, so that I know where they are once they disappear into the ground again.  We also entertained the neighbours by estimating how high a tree we could plant in the garden without blocking our satellite dish.  This involved DH manoeuvring an 18m construction of bamboo sticks duct-taped together into one long length while I stood on a ladder sighting along the satellite dish arm.  Then I went in the house and called out directions for where he should move the 'tree' to block out the view of the new flats being built at the bottom of the garden.  We will dig up some of our shrubs this autumn and plant the tree, which needs to have a maximum height of 5m so I need to look in my plant books to choose one.  It will only partially help with the privacy issue because the block of flats is so tall.

Blah blah knitting blah blah cross stitch yada yada

Yes, here we are again, another week, another blog post filled with dubious achievements and time fillers, lol.

If you are interested in the dollshouse room saga, then see the previous post entitled Extra Post: unwrapping dollshouses.  I didn't want to inflict it on the general readership so gave it a separate post.


Cross stitch

Yes, cross stitch is a thing again and has taken over my desk area all week.  I did a massive re-organisation of my materials: inserting labels for all the threads into each plastic pocket (they are in two binder pages of plastic pockets), inserting a second taller card with a hole punched out for working threads and a bit of adhesive draft-proofing foam to park a needle in, threading a needle for every colour and parking it ready for use above each pocket, highlighting the grid lines on the charts for easy reference compared to the sewn grid on the canvas, crossing out the grid squares already completed etc.  At last I was ready to stitch (DH accused me of enjoying the organising part so much that I was putting off the stitching).

I'm pleased to find that it has all paid off.  The gridding took some time but it is SO much easier to stitch now for my counting-challenged brain. I can do it more visually which is what suits me, and it is quite satisfying to cross off a completed 10x10 grid square on the chart.  The needles are already threaded ready to grab the next colour, and I bought a 'fineliner' pencil-type highlighter which is much easier for colouring in the chart squares as I complete them. After a while, my back started to hurt and I was thinking "I need a stand". Then I was thinking: "Didn't I used to have a stand??" So I went down and had a dig around in my 'non-quilting materials' cupboard in the sewing room and sure enough found several bits of wood with screw holes and wing nuts attached to them.  After a bit of experimentation, I was able to put together a stand which holds my cross stitch frame hands-free so I can stitch with the two handed method, much faster and easier on my back. So I've put in a few hours of stitching this week - which is depressingly so little of the chart. This is going to be a long haul.

Bobbin lace

I have a finish!!!  I finally finished the Torchon Lace Mat and I'm really pleased with it. There are numerous issues that an expert could point out but none of them are structural. Mainly inconsistencies where I forgot to twist threads, or where my tension wasn't consistent. But considering I am mostly self-taught and only started earlier this year, I feel proud of it. It's about 6.5"/16cm square.

There was a bit of a heartstopping moment near the very end when I was doing the sewings that connect the fourth triangle to the beginning triangle.  I tugged on a knot to make sure it was firm, and the thread snapped in my hand. Only it didn't snap off AT the knot, it snapped BEFORE the knot. So now I had a 1/8th end waving free in the air and no way to splice it or do things over as I had already sewn in all the threads around it.

Luckily I had DH's magnification visor and some pointy tweezers, and I was able to pull the end out to about 1/4" long. I looked at it for a while, it was on the side of the fan at the outer corner of the mat. In the end what I did was to pull  some spare thread through the stitch at the side of the fan using the same fine crochet hook I was using to do the sewings, and then tie a reef knot on both sides of the lace stitch to hold the threads fast including the loose waving thread.  Then I took across those two ends, and the original third end, and did a replacement sewing with them on the other side.  It seems to have worked and I don't think that area is any more fragile than the other sewings.   I just hope I never need to wash the mat because I don't think I trust any of the sewings that far.

I'm now going to move on to learning Bucks Point lace, which is a finer and more complicated lace.  I've scanned some prickings out of the Pamela Nottingham book ready to make a start tomorrow at Bobbin Lace group.



Knitting

As mentioned last week, I was reaching the end of the yarn on my Gradient Shawl so I stopped knitting edging rows and started casting off.  About halfway along this lengthy crescent shape I realised my yarn was getting low. After a lengthy game of yarn chicken, I lost with only a few inches of stitches left to cast off.

I searched out some navy sock yarn from stash which is a fair match and  cast off the remaining stitches in that.  Then I blocked it.  It was all looking very lopsided and I eventually realised that my top edging on the right side was much less stretchy than my top edging on the left side. I'm not really sure why, unless it is the cumulative effect of slipping the first stitch in the row and knitting the last stitch. I mean that the left side was stretching about another 15cm. So I had to scootch it up to try to balance the design while it was blocking. It's still not very even but I don't think it will be as obvious when I'm wearing it.

The other thing we did this week was to drive up to Spalding on Saturday to collect a £50 eBay bargain: this garden arbour which normally sells for £146. It was in good condition too, DH gave it a coat of the same brown wood preservative we used on the other two arches, and we put it back together today. It looks good and fits in with the circular theme I've got going on in the garden.

No sewing this week, but I did get DH to drive me to Poppy Patch quilting shop in Great Doddington for their Christmas in August evening.  If you signed up for a course in November or December on the night, you got £10 off. So I've signed up for a one-day class to sew a Christmas wallhanging. I can't even remember the last time I went on a quilting class - it may very well have been as far back as 2007, the last time I went over to a US quilting show.

And speaking of quilting shows, I'm starting to look into travelling to Japan in 2016 for the Yokohama Quilt Week. It's not until November so I'm hoping we will have more money by then, although it will depend what happens with my job relocation. Japan has been on my bucket list for a long time, and I'm not getting any younger, so I'm gathering information and researching what I want to see.  DH however isn't sure he wants to come, so this may be a solo trip.  There are several organised quilting holidays to Japan but most of them go to the bigger Tokyo festival in January. Also they are very expensive. I think I can duplicate a lot of their itineraries for much less, apart from a few that arrange bespoke classes for participants.  If you've been to Japan, I'd love to hear your tips!

Extra post: Unwrapping dollshouses

If you aren't interested in dollshouses, you may want to skip this post and read the next one which is a normal crafts report.

This week I have been working on the dollshouse room.  Using my rough and ready carpentry skills, I boxed in the ugly pipes in the corner.  This was quite challenging as neither wall is flat or vertical, plus I can't drill into the wall because it's been drylined to keep the damp out (waterproof membrane that can't be punctured).  I got there in the end and as long as nobody ever (ever) touches it, it will be fine.

By the time I finished painting the box, and applying narrow strips of wood along the backs of the worktops to block the varying gap with the not-flat wall, I had realised that the rest of the room was looking really grotty.  Cobwebs, dirt marks, random holes, stained concrete steps, peeling paint - it looked like a basement.

So I spent more time filling holes and sanding flat, painting the walls, and painting the concrete steps with floor paint.  It looks a lot better.

The kitchen fitter still needs to come back and re-do the plinth, but I decided it was time to start unpacking some houses.

The first one I did was the Fairfield 1/24th house, which has its own blog.

Then I moved on to the next box, which turned out to be my Rik Pierce Gamekeeper's cottage.  I'm unpacking on a little table, surrounded by a sheet, and I am carefully inspecting all wrapping to make sure nothing tiny is sticking to it.

Contents revealed - the house is buffered by two TV quilts and a sheep skin.

Out of the box - you can see all the bubble wrap padding the chimney.

Bubble wrap removed, but chimney still padded.  Cling film is holding in the tissue paper padding the rooms.

Oops, we have some breakage: the decorative twirl on the roof cap has snapped off.

The inside was a bit tumbled around but nothing broken.  This house is still a work in progress 

Safe in the new display area with its dust cover over it.

Next up was the Canadian house.  This is the first house I ever built, back in 1980. It's a bit basic in construction, and looking a bit battered now.

Padded with bubblewrap inside its box.

Bubblewrap cut away. This house used to have a nice porch, but I had to cut it off because it made the back-opening house very hard to turn around for viewing.

Lots of tissue paper stuffed gently in the rooms to hold contents in place.

Bit of an earthquake in the attic, and some of this stuff doesn't belong in here so I've taken it out now.

This house is very much my teenage dream house. In contrast to my parents' house, which was very functional and decorated in 1970s orange and brown, my dollshouse was full of pastels and florals and quilts and antiques.  Since then, I've continued to add to it over the years, choosing things I like.

My idea of a luxury bathroom in 1980 - still looks pretty good to me!

The crowded living room, with dolls representing me and my husband, and lots of evidence of my hobbies - plus my teapot collection.

Nice Canadian style kitchen, this is an old Reallife Miniatures kit I think.

Next up was the French Gatehouse.

It had a big 'bumper' of cushions inside carrier bags, taped together into a sort of life vest.

Unfortunately this had both squashed the geraniums in the window box...

and smashed the stair railing.  Some repairs needed here.

Also the rooftop finial had snapped off, but I can reglue.

Tissue paper revealed.

The bedroom has survived well, just had to rearrange some of the accessories.

The main living room is fine, just had to put back the lamp and some cushions and a stray bit of cheese.

The gate area was a bit topsy turvy, but easy to sort out.

Placed on the display area, waiting for repairs.

Poop watch

Remember when we were little, and fed up with being put upon by grown ups, and thinking that once we were a grown up then life would be wonderful and we could do whatever we wanted?

Well, I don't remember thinking "Oooo, when I'm a grown up I can spend the entire day from 7am to 5pm waiting for my cat to poop so I can take a sample to the vet!! Yippee!!" And then she doesn't, the vet is closed, and the cat wins.

So yes, that's what I've been doing today.  Isn't being a grown up fun? For the record, she finally pooped around 8pm.  Grrrrr.  Poop watch again tomorrow - yay!!


Fatter but not heavier - how does that work?

So I was working this week on my dressmaker's dummy that I got for Christmas - stitching a body double cover as per the instructions in the Craftsy video by Judy Jackson "Customise your dressmaking form".  I had started this back in the spring but then procrastinated when it got to second fitting the cover to my body.

So this week I got as far as finishing the cover seams and padding out the dressform to my sadly matronly figure shape.

The basted cover on the unpadded form

The form padded out with quilt wadding, covered in a 

drycleaning bag to make it easier to try the cover on and off

The final stage is to measure the dressmakers dummy to check it matches your measurements.  I was very disappointed to find the dummy shape was considerably bigger around the bust, waist and hips than my own measurements - especially the waist.  I was surprised because I had fit the cover very tightly to my own body and it was fitting snugly but not bursting at the seams on the mannequin.

Then the penny dropped and I measured my actual body again. In comparison to the original measurements I took back in the spring, I have gained a couple of inches on my waist, and about an inch on my bust and hips.  :(

But I've been weighing myself almost every weekend and have consistently been between 11 stone and 11 stone 3 pounds (154 - 157 pounds) so had been feeling rather smug that although no longer dieting, I didn't appear to be gaining weight.

So it seems that I have in fact been getting fatter, so must be losing weight somehow in compensation.  Is it muscle mass disappearing? Bones getting thinner?  Brain fat evaporating?  Probably all three with the brain part accounting for why I sometimes feel a lot stupider than when I was younger, lol.  Obviously time to stop eating Krispy Kreme donuts and biscuits (cookies) at work on Fridays, and also try to cut down on snacking at home. Difficult to do with DS at home as he likes having biscuits, sweets, crisps etc. in the house.

Cross stitch returns from the dead

I was having a 'watch the PC screen' evening: knitting while I caught up on Craftsy videos, YouTube videos etc. when it suddenly popped into my head (don't know why) that as well as quilting, knitting and lace videos, there were likely cross stitching videos as well.  Can of worms or what.

Emerging from the rabbit hole about two hours later, it turns out that the world of cross stitch has considerably evolved since my crude efforts pre-internet 20 years ago.  Loads of new techniques, new ways of organising, tips for better and quicker stitching, use of tablets for reading charts etc. etc.  I've always like the look of cross stitch and have hopefully purchased several kits in the past, but I've always been pretty useless at doing it.  For one thing, I can't count at all accurately - bit of a problem with counted cross stitch, lol.  But it turns out the modern world has a solution for that called Gridding, which you can now do with pull-out nylon thread that won't get caught in your stitches.  I've also found loads of tips to solve most of the problems I had with cross stitching: untidy stitches, messy back, losing my place, knots, losing my needle, losing my marbles etc. What ever did we do before the internet?

So I've ordered some Gridding thread and compiled a list of useful sites with tips on stitching, and I'm planning to pull out one of my ancient kits.  I know I am partway through an Americana-type sewing and quilting scene which I probably started around 2001 and I would love to finish it.  It would be great if I could get better at stitching, because I've got kits for some big Venetian house scenes, a couple of dollshouse pictures and several others that it would be good to get off my 'guilt' list and onto the wall.

This is so old - 2001 - and I'm not even halfway yet. There's

an incredible amount of backstitching on this.

Retrospective gridding on the canvas which should speed up future work

Crafts

In addition to the dressmakers dummy, I sewed on the fourth block of the Cozy Afternoon Free BOM.  There is one more block to come and then probably finishing instructions to make up the quilt top.

Knitting had been pretty much the same as last week:  Commuter knitting on daisies, TV knitting on the Gradient Shawl or the Rowan Summer Tweed Cardigan.

I'm working the edging on the gradient shawl and close to running out of yarn

so will cast off soon.

And I'm on the final leg of the Bobbin Lace Torchon Mat and have started to do the 'sewings' that attach the final triangle to the first triangle.  I've got several bobbin lace books and finishing off rarely gets much of a mention beyond 'tie a reef knot and trim the ends close'.  I'm doing the variation of tying a reef knot and then half of another knot, and I'm letting the threads set in that shape before I trim the ends off.  In some laces you can darn the ends in but this mat pattern doesn't lend itself to that.

I received a lovely gift from one of the bobbin lace ladies. I had admired a needle organiser she had made for herself, so she made one for me.  I have far too many needles and the majority of them were kicking around loose in a cigar box.  The book has fabric pages: each doublespread has a pocket on the left to hold the needle package, and felt on the right for loose needles.  You write on the pages with Sharpie to say what size. Going through my various boxes and pouches I discovered six packets of No 10 quilting needles and I haven't hand quilted for many years, plus more packets in other sizes.  I was able to organise most of my loose needles by type, and the packeted ones by size. It will be much easier to find needles now.

Other stuff

Swooze asked for a picture of the completed bed valance I blogged about last week when I was too lazy to tidy my room up for a photo.  So I did that today.

The kitchen fitter showed up only 30 minutes late with his mate and they spent the day today installing the cabinets and worktop for my dollshouse room. However there are still some issues to sort out before I can start unpacking.

For one thing, you will notice the huge gap above the plinth.  They had to raise the cabinets high enough so that the worktop could go above the radiator, which means the plinth isn't tall enough. He has suggested I buy a decor panel and he could cut that down to the right width to fill the gap.  I wish he had suggested that before he cut up all the narrow plinth so now I can't take it back to the store. I'm also annoyed because I made an unwitting mistake buying the cabinets. My filing cabinet was supposed to fit at the end of the run, but because the corner cabinet had to come forward to sync with the adjoining 'L' cabinet, now there isn't room for the filing cabinet. Instead I have this awkward space by the door. I guess I can put a bookcase there for my dollshouse books but I don't know where the cabinet is going to go.  Grrrr.  Still, it's progress. We need to box in the pipes in the corner you can't see in the photo, we'll go get wood for that tomorrow.

Productivity is up

I seem to have fought off most of the cold that was dragging me down last week, helped by having an extra day off in lieu so I only had to work two days this week. My first day was Thursday, which happened to be the day of the Tube strike in London.  Unlike previous strikes, no tubes were running whatsoever.  I managed to squeeze onto a bus going south, and changed at Trafalgar Square to get nearer to Victoria where I work, but it took 75 minutes to travel 3.2 miles as the traffic was horrendous.  So into work late, and my boss kindly sent me home at 4pm in the vain hope that I would make my normal train, which made it a short day.  I should have walked: it took 90 minutes getting back to St Pancras station. Luckily I could read to pass the time, and knit daisies once I got a seat.

Friday was also a short day because we had a trip out to Canary Wharf (east London) to see our new office building where we will be moving in November or early December.  The longer commute is going to suck but the actual building is a huge improvement over our current decrepit 1970s eyesore with flooding toilets and malfunctioning air conditioning.  Light and bright and great views over the canals and across the Thames to the O2 centre, and lots of shops around. And more importantly, lots of places to sit outside and knit on my lunch hour, something sorely lacking in the Victoria area.

So I've got a bit more done this week

First up was a finish on the quilted knitting bag which is my own design and started several years ago as part of a group project in my former quilting group. My theme was knitting so I included a self-portrait of me knitting with our former cat 'helping', sheep, and knitting-related items like tools, a sofa, teacup and teapot etc.  Most of the blocks were foundation-pieced, the sofa and self-portrait and the words 'knitting' are fusible applique. The blue faux-knitting fabric on the sides was a great find, and the bag is given its structure by a snap metal frame like a doctor's bag.  It's a fairly large bag, about 16" long by 8" wide, so will be good for holding larger projects. Inside is a zipped notions pocket topped by a measuring-tape ribbon. I'm fairly pleased with it although it hasn't come out as perfectly as I would have wished. I seem unable to shake from the back of my mind the conviction that the Craft Police will one day swoop down and inspect my output with a magnifying glass, naming and shaming every flaw. Ridiculous I know.

I managed to work my way through to a finish on the second knitted rabbit. I had to adapt the female bunny pattern as it had 'tights' knitted in a smaller gauge yarn so the boy bunny had to have a new tummy shaped from worsted-weight.  He also had to have feet in a different colour as I ran out of  grey yarn, and I had to design my own feet and legs as the girl bunny again had shoes and tights in a different gauge. Then I had to come up with a design for a raglan sweater for him, which came out fairly well, knit in Rowan 4-ply cotton stripes. So it all took a bit longer than knitting the girl bunny but I'm fairly pleased with how he's turned out. In retrospect I would use thinner yarn for his nose but I'm not so bothered by it that I would rip it out now.

After finishing the quilted bag, I thought I would reward myself by sewing a Minion pincushion.  This is from a free pattern by Lady Joyceley, which I think came through to my email from Pinterest or Hobbycraft, can't remember. The pattern is in two sizes, big and mini.  I decided to try the mini size, thinking it might make a nice pincushion for my second lace cushion.  I don't know if I printed it wrong but mine has come out VERY mini!  It is quite cute, very fiddly to make, and not much use as a pincushion, so it will now live in front of my PC monitor.

I finally broke down and ordered a yarn swift, after years of getting by with husband help, or the back of a chair.  I wanted to wind off six skeins of sock yarn to knit the Now in a Minute shawl by Brenda Dayne, which has six triangles of colour for knitting in a gradient yarn.  I have so much sock yarn that I was able to pull six skeins which I think will look nice together.  Ignoring the voice shouting in the back of my head ("BUT IF YOU USE PART OF EACH SKEIN, YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE ENOUGH FOR SOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!") as I am not running a sock yarn museum, I easily wound off six cones using my new swift which worked really well (and unlike DH did not make any comments or get tired arms, although he is very patient - except for that time I wound a huge skein of lace yarn).

Today I am feeling very virtuous because I finally sat down in good light and with DH's magnification visor to secure all the broken sections of the Victorian beaded runner that I bought some months ago.  It took me three hours as the rows of beads had come loose in 30 or 40 places - mainly due to one type of bead (the ones nearest the pin head) which must have been metal as it is all corroded and rusty and had rotted the thread in many places.  I used a fine needle and silk applique thread to catch down a few beads in each loose place, so that there are no longer ominous rattlings from detaching beads when you handle the piece.  I was trying to think where to put it that it could be seen, and for now have hung it from the picture rail like a giant bell pull.  It could do with a clean really, but I don't dare get it wet with all the issues it has. It looks quite striking.

I also stopped procrastinating about sewing a valance for my bed - I had been putting it off for ages because it required shifting my very heavy mattress and enough time to get finished so I would have somewhere to sleep that night.  Several weeks ago I had adapted two former vintage crochet tablecloth edgings (which came to me sans cloth) by cutting out the corners and seaming them into two long straight bits.  I had a commercial valance which needed shortening all around by 1.5", then I seamed on the two strips of crochet on the left and right sides as trim.  At the foot of the bed, I sewed on a long wide strip of vintage crochet which was perhaps originally intended to be a curtain header or a mantle scarf but had been abandoned at about six feet long.  The overall effect is quite smart, a bit like a hotel, and certainly much better looking than seeing plastic storage boxes peeping out from underneath my Victorian metal bed.

TV knitting this week once I finished the second bunny was still the Gradient shawl, commuter knitting has been knitting the second set of 22 daisies (I think I've done about a dozen), and I've turned the final corner on my Torchon lace mat and am part way down the fourth side of the square. I also altered a pair of trousers to fit my slimmer self.

So it's been quite a crafty week really - the best kind of week to have, don't you think?