And it's STILL windy

Being battered by wind and rain seems to be the new norm over here. Ever since Storm Denis, the winds have stayed strong and there's been a lot of rain.  It's annoying at work because our old office windows let in a lot of drafts, resulting in a situation where I am actually too hot (because it's always too hot there) but feeling cold from the drafts at the same time. It's the same situation in a few of the rooms of our own house.  We did nip out yesterday and today into the garden during some sunny (but still windy) spells to spread compost around the beds before everything starts growing.  Several pretty groups of crocuses were opening in the sun, and we've got snowdrops, hellebores, cyclamen, bergenia and pulmonarias blooming here and there as well. Hopefully the compost mulch will help keep the weeds down and pep up the beds a bit as well.

I've soldiered on with quilting the Let's Bake quilt, although it's feeling a bit tedious now.  Still more details to be quilted.  I hang it up from time to time on the design wall to identify areas that are still looking oddly puffy now that background quilting has flattened down the fabric around them, but I don't want to flatten the appliques completely.

I finished the little Japanese flower basket zip pouch which is so 'kawaii' (cute). Mostly sewn by hand apart from stitching on one side of the binding by machine. The zip with decorated pull and all the fabrics came with the kit.

I trimmed down the shoulders of the Sublime Eden machine knit waistcoat  and sewed on the button closure.  I wore it to work one day.  The shoulder seam still looks pretty rubbish but overall it looks alright now to a non-knitter. Nobody at work said anything about it, and if it had looked really home-made then I think they might have.

My new project this week has been sorting out my tangled mess of ribbons, lace and cords, after procrastinating about putting away the ric-rac I bought for the Let's Bake Quilt for weeks because my 'system' was such a nightmare.  When I set up my sewing room about five years ago, I attempted to order the ribbons by winding them around bits of foam pipe lagging. It didn't work and almost immediately descended into chaos which has made it difficult to find anything every since.

Looking on Youtube for ideas, the preferred system appears to be cardboard 'filing cards' and as it happens I have loads of white cardboard left over from the backings of 120 dollshouse kits.  So I cut a bunch up into 4.5 x 4 inch cards and started winding ribbon, lace and cord onto the cards in the evenings watching TV.  I'm trying to group like with like.  Already it seems so much easier to spot things.  DH was a bit taken aback at how many different bits I have, but most of them came to me free  or very cheaply (inherited, or cut off things being thrown out, or hanger ribbons cut off garments, picked up on secondhand stalls etc.) Some of them are pretty ancient now but you never know when you might need a little bit of something.

Another thing I've finally stopped procrastinating about is cleaning up the 1:24 dollshouse I want to sell. I've emptied out the contents (the house was never finished but I had collected things for it), have given it a good clean and now I'm touching up the paintwork here and there.  I've also replaced the chimneypot that went missing and will paint it once it's dried. I came across an auction house that specialises in toys so I might approach them to see if they would sell it for me.  The problem with eBay and Facebook is, apart from the risk of the buyer being fraudulent, is having to ship the house - which would be expensive and difficult to do while avoiding damage. I'll take some photos and send them once I've finished the clean up, and see what the auctioneers say.