Where did the week go?

Only a few photos this week, sorry, because I just seem to be running to stay in place lately.  My 'days off' are spent mostly at my desk catching up on paperwork, finances, christmas online gift ordering, Japanese studies and conversation practice (using Skype), or catching up on household chores. On top of that the cat needed to go to the vet for the fourth time for her sensitive stomach (they are now wondering if she has IBS - oh yay); I discovered the study wallpaper that fell down during the leak couldn't be reglued so I had to be replace it (the previously damp paper had dried all out of shape like warped leather) in the area of the leak damage, etc etc.  And we put up some christmas lights outside today.

I did get a few sessions in on handquilting the 25 block applique quilt which will have to be moved out the living room pretty soon to make way for Christmas. I also did an hour or so on my bobbin lace butterfly mat yesterday, making a right old bodge of the transition between the first and next segments unfortunately.

And this week I finally ventured back into the cave of chaos that is the dollshouse room, frozen in time since the end of the 18 month build on the Japanese house.  I hadn't really been in there since.  Eighteen months of construction had left every available surface littered with bits for the Japanese house, bits for other houses that I couldn't put away because I couldn't get into the cupboards or said houses, much construction debris, tools and clamps, assorted useful containers for glue/stain etc. and of course there is a fine dusting of sawdust and dust-dust over everything in sight.  It was so depressing that I would just stand in the doorway frozen in indecision as to where to even start.  So I applied the 'I'll just do 20 minutes and then stop' methodology, and gradually things started to clear up. I've decided to keep the little table I was using for the build, so I moved a couple of the open-backed dollshouses onto that so that you can see both the front and the inside view. That opened up a gap on the central counter that I could move the Japanese house into, and so on, until eventually I had retrieved most of the room boxes that have spent the last year and a half piled out of sight on windowsills and behind other houses. 

The problem with keeping the table was that it was in the place that my big four-storey house used to sit on its stand.  I couldn't work out anywhere else to put the big house until I realised that if the filing cabinet by the door was moved out of the room, the house could squeeze in there.  It's not ideal because there is a railing that stops the side door of the house from opening fully, and I'm a bit worried about spiders getting into the house since it's now near the back door where they like to come in, but there really isn't anywhere else.  The house is too tall to fit on the main counter.  So we had to move the filing cabinet up three flights of stairs to the attic which took multiple trips, most of them done by DH as a sort of stairmaster workout.  When I eventually retire I really will need to go through all the paper I am hoarding and try to cut down.

As I am tidying up, I keep finding old projects and kits and thinking 'oooo' but then thinking 'no! you have to finish the Japanese house first!'.

I did get a few hours sewing on the Let's Bake quilt.  I made some oven gloves, three spatulas and a red cookie sheet which is waiting for 16 round yellow cookies to be appliqued on to it.  On a recommendation on Facebook, I've sent off for some Karen Buckley Perfect Circles which are basically circular templates that you gather your fabric around. So I'm waiting for those to arrive before I tackle the cookies.

In the evenings I've been stitching the cross-stitched cake recipe block, which looks ok from a distance but up close has terribly wobbly cross stitches because I find it difficult to consistently split each gingham square into four equal parts. Perhaps it will add to the homemade charm...  I wonder if anyone has actually tried baking this recipe?  I don't think it would work here in the UK because our baking powder is different and you wouldn't put two teaspoons of our stuff in with that amount of ingredients, I think it might taste bad.

I've finally worked through all the books and magazines I bought at the quilt show last month. It was very enjoyable to have so many craft books and magazines to read through, I found lots of nice things in them.  Today I took the 'giveaway' pile to a local charity shop, after taking a few previous giveaways to a lace day.  A few magazines went in the recycling because I had ripped too much out of them for them to be saleable.  So for the price of a couple of cinema tickets, I had hours and hours of entertainment and now some other people are going to enjoy some of them as well as some money going to charity.

Hope you've had more time for crafts than I have had this week!