Has anyone seen my equilibrium?

I have found it surprisingly difficult to get back on an even keel after the stress of last weekend.  Perhaps in my later middle age I have simply lost my emotional resilience.  Perhaps it is because feeling under siege in your own home is the antithesis of the peaceful sanctuary home should offer.  The gang has not been back in force but there have been a few members hanging out from time to time nearby.  Police advice was to dial 999 if they come back specifically to our house and we feel threatened, and not to confront them again.  But I find myself constantly on the alert for any noises from the front of the house, and feeling like I have to look out the window just in case.  So my day off was not a relaxing day as I happened to be on my own and I felt vulnerable and anxious.  The insurance will cover the broken window but the deductible is almost as much as the quote to replace the window so not worth claiming.  The glaziers are coming in a few days to replace the window.  M-i-l's birthday card turned up a week late but actually had the gift card in it, which is something.  Don't know where it went for several days when it had a first class stamp on it, perhaps via Scotland or something...

Yesterday I attended the Oakley Lace and Needlecraft Day, down near Bedford, and took along my Bucks Point hexagonal bobbin lace edging to work on. I sat with some friendly ladies I've met at past lace days, and it felt good to be doing something normal after all the stress.  This was the first outing for my bodged-up pillow stand and it worked brilliantly.  My back wasn't sore at all because I could sit up straight all day.  You can see in the pic below how much higher up the pillow is from table level, so I'm not having to stoop over it.  It was also the first outing for my tool bag that I sewed a few weeks ago, which also worked brilliantly keeping everything to hand and easy to get at. I got a fair bit of lace done and worked all the way down to the point of the next corner, ready to turn the pillow to work in the next direction.  I think I'm about 5/6th of the way around now so the end is in sight even though still lots to do.

This week on the Japanese dollshouse, I've been preparing the many pieces for the next balcony/porch/opening door for the right hand bedroom.  This is the third door/porch I've done.  The first one was a nightmare because a lot of pieces didn't fit together and you are just juggling too many pieces at once, wet glue getting everywhere, the assembly twisting out of true, I had to hammer some of the pieces to force them together, it was like wrestling a wet gluey octopus.  The second one went better because I did a dry test fit first and corrected all the problems ahead of time, plus did some pre-assembly.  This third one for some reason didn't want to go together very well: there were a number of small discrepancies like pieces a little too short, or a little too thick, and a slot not routed deeply enough.  This part-work must have gone on for a long time with 120 weeks, that's over two years, so perhaps the quality control started to slip in the later stages?  I managed in the end with the help of a lot of clamps, although one window opening is a bit crooked and there are some odd gaps that I had to fill retrospectively. I'm also working on another 50s-style television although I haven't done the aerial for it yet.

I haven't done any sewing this week although I selected some fabrics for the next block in the 30s Sampler quilt.  I've started trying to mark quilting lines on my applique quilt, 3/4s of an inch apart but it is taking forever and it seems impossible to get them parallel.  I should have marked the top before I sandwiched it, but I sandwiched it on the quilting frame almost a year ago before I took the frame down.  And at that point I didn't know how I wanted to quilt this top.  I want the lines to be parallel to the diagonal running through each block, but because the blocks are no longer square now that they are sandwiched, it just won't work and I'm having to bodge and erase a lot. The tentative plan is to machine quilt along the lines in white thread, and to free motion around the applique with invisible thread.  I'm a much better appliquer than I am a machine quilter, so it seems a shame to do poor quilting on a not-bad applique top, but on the other hand it will be more of a shame if it never gets quilted or used. I'll do my best.

I went out and did some gardening this morning but things are only just starting to die back, even things that should be long over like begonias are still going strong.  I cut back a few things but most of the things I would normally be cutting back are still green and some even still flowering.  I'll wait a few more weeks.

I ran out of yarn as expected on my Batik Swirl Itineris Shawl, quite near the top of the extension strip.  For the last little corner I have pulled two sock yarns from my stash which are similar to the colours in the shawl, and I'm holding them together to knit the final triangle.  Hopefully it will look alright, and holding two yarns together mimics the heather effect of the yarn.  The shawl is too big to be a good commuter project any longer so I need to find something else to work on when I'm out.  I'm thinking perhaps some socks using the Christmas sock yarn I bought last year.