Short week

Well my lurgy lasted and lasted, so I missed Monday to Wednesday at work. By Thursday I was feeling better in myself but the cold has gone into my sinuses where it still sits, making sleeping difficult and mornings disgusting.  I went into work Thursday afternoon for a half day then did a full day on Friday which was exhausting after being home for so long.  I don't know if it is middle age but I don't seem to be able to shrug colds off the way I used to.  I can't believe I'm saying this but it was actually nice to be back at work and out of the house, and doing something different. Much as I like doing my crafts, after several days without anything else to do, they don't seem quite as fun.

I finished quilting the Snowman quilt, bound it, and hung it up in the hall for a few days to enjoy it, even though it is really too big for the hanging space. This is an adaptation of a pattern I bought in Sisters, Oregon, ten years ago after seeing a version at the show. I also bought some of the fabrics there.  But I didn't actually start the quilt until winter 2015, it was a project in a sack for a long time. It was fun choosing additional scrappy fabrics and it's quite a cheerful quilt.

Now I've started grid quilting the Indigo Bear's Paw quilt with my walking foot on the sit down machine, sooooo tedious but it's got to be done.  I've started out with 1.5" intervals to match pieces in the block but I'm wondering if it looks too wide and I should cut that in half.

I've been hand appliqueing some flowers on my Hawaiian applique quilt but they are quite fiddly to do and there are so many of them, so this continues to be a long term project.

I also started a new knitting project from The Vintage Shetland Project, a weighty tome by Susan Crawford which turned up recently a couple of years after I contributed to its crowdfunding start up.  Susan and her family have made heroic efforts to document stitch by stitch a number of vintage Shetland garments.  The book contains 27 patterns recreating these vintage treasures, and contains a number of interesting essays about her research into the original knitters and the fashion history driving the Shetland knitting trends.  It's an enjoyable read, tempered by some non-ergonomic choices in the book design and some idiosyncratic writing habits such as frequent and apparently random italicisation of words. The book is quite heavy, has very small type, the captions for the photos are at the ends of each essay in microscopic type rather than located near the photos, and it is frustrating that she describes photos and garments in the essays which aren't always shown. There is a gallery of small photos of the vintage garments at the end of the essay section but you can't make out a lot of detail. Due to the faithful duplication of the vintage garments, a number of the garments might look a bit odd at the office unless you were known for your passion for vintage - ie very high necklines, oddly puffed sleeves, 1940s shoulder lines etc..  (There is a woman who gets off my train regularly who is dressed head to toe in 1940s style, very intriguing). But it's full of gorgeous fair isle motifs and colours, and some lovely lace patterns,  with large clear charts so it is a treasure trove of inspiration and stitch patterns.  And the photography is gorgeous, with plentiful pictures of each garment. I'm knitting the Harriet Mittens because I had some Jamieson 2 ply jumperweight in my stash, only I'm turning them into fingerless mitts because I prefer those for commuting.

On the Japanese dollshouse, I made some furniture pieces for the two extensions then moved on to the first floor section.  This week I have built one of the guest bedrooms and am currently working on the Tokonoma or decorative alcove for the back of the room.  I'm trying to use a real twig for the central post, which will look better but requires that the surrounding panels be carved to fit round its bulges which is challenging. The floor area will hold six tatami mats but I'm not putting them in until I'm done constructing the Tokonoma in case of accidents with glue or paint.

And that's about it this week.  Not much excitement apart from our pea-brained cat managing to get herself locked into the garden shed during the 20 minutes I ventured out to prune a rose on Wednesday.  We didn't realise until it was dark and she hadn't shown up for dinner, and of course when we tried to let her out, the key broke off in the padlock.  So there we are shining a torch on the padlock trying to worry out the broken key, with the cat piteously crying inside (serves her right, but it was upsetting DS).  We couldn't get the broken bit out so ended up getting a sledgehammer and bashing the heck out of the hasp until it bent enough that we could wedge the bottom of the door open sufficiently that she could come out.  I got the key out the next day in the daylight but the hasp needs replacing now and the door needs repainting.  Stupid cat.