And as I lowered the camera, I noticed a suspicious brown stain around the base of the vase. Turns out the vintage vase is not in fact watertight, and had been leaking slowly onto our antique table since Wednesday. The vintage tablecloth had a big stain on it, which I have pre-washed with Vanish stain remover and some detergent. The table top itself had a big damp stain. I did a hasty search online and Good Housekeeping recommended warming the wood with a low iron through a towel. I was skeptical but it seemed a relatively non-invasive solution so I gave it a go. And it works! Who knew.
I left the iron (on low heat) in place for a minute or so at a time, and the water was rising up through the wood like nobody's business. Each time I lifted the towel, the wood surface was slick with moisture that I could wipe away. I alternated towels for about half an hour, until no more moisture seemed to be coming out. I'll let it air dry some more for several days and then reapply some furniture wax. Although antique, the table came to us already battered and a bit warped, so it's not like I've ruined some priceless masterpiece - but I do like it and it looks nice in the hallway.
Work has been hard going this week. My initial feeling of 'well, this isn't so bad' has deteriorated into plodding boredom to the point where I am actually looking forward to the pointless MS Teams team meeting twice a week. It doesn't help that I am working on my own desk, with my personal computer mere inches away tempting me with the distraction of the interwebs. And worst of all, the tedium is sapping my mental energy so that by the time I can clock off and stop pretending to work, I haven't felt very motivated to tackle my own projects. They are moving us on to a different type of work next week, perhaps that will be more engaging.
In the evenings I have finished knitting the Hey Teach cardigan pieces, including the re-knit of the upper back lace panel, and have now blocked them. They're almost dry then I can start seaming ready to add the bands. I'm a bit suspicious that the tops of the sleeves are not entirely identical, one seems narrower then the other, so I may have messed up on the decreases. Luckily no-one can see both my shoulders from the side at the same time so it probably won't be noticeable. :)
I'm almost finished the second Little House on my cross-stitch sampler, just need to do a bit more grass. I'm enjoying these, they're really sweet.
Over the last few weeks I have muddled through a needle-tatted bookmark from a free online pattern. Between getting lost in the pattern and not being able to count, I have really made a mess of it. To the point where I had to cut apart some incorrect joins and sew it back together with a needle to the correct spots. I'm debating whether to try again now that I know how the pattern works, but that's not going to overcome the counting inability.
I've been pushing on with my Bucks Point lace edging, the narrow one on my travelling pillow, because I would like to get it finished and make it into a doiley. This has meant that I'm not working on my butterfly mat at all. I measured around the glass tray on my dressing table that I want the doiley to sit underneath, and I need to do at least another 10 inches or so, so I need to get on with it.
I hadn't done anything on Giggleswick Mill this week but today I laid the broderie perse motifs out on some sheets of Steam ASteam Lite 2 and pressed them (using the paper as a pressing cloth) to adhere the fusible web. So now I just need to sit down in front of some Youtube videos in a good light, with my glasses on, and carefully cut around all the motifs. Then I can peel the second layer of paper off and place the motifs where I want to fuse them. I think I will need more motifs, but this will give me a starting point.
I wanted a short sleeve summer blouse to wear with the sun dress I made a few weeks ago, but couldn't find what I wanted online. So I ordered this long sleeved blouse from Next instead and then altered it this week.
Speaking of the 80s, I have reached the box in the attic paperwork excavation which includes my journals from my first trip to the UK/Europe. They are mostly filled with rapturous descriptions of castles, cathedrals, and ancient buildings because these were so amazing to a Canadian, interspersed with cultural observations of how different daily life was over here. For example, I had never seen a 'toastie' before (a grilled cheese sandwich but cooked in a sandwich press) or been in a pub, I was astonished you could buy liquor in a supermarket, and the 'washing machine' was a baffling do-it-yourself job that you had to pour water into before setting it to spin AND it was located in the kitchen - which was just bizarre. etc. etc. Mildly entertaining to read over now, especially when I've been living here for so long. Also reminds me of how much the UK lifestyle has changed over the years - things were a lot more old-fashioned back then, at least in Yorkshire.
I had a lovely comment from another blog reader, 'Caliquilter' from California - Hi there! - who kindly says I keep her inspired. That's so nice. I'd far rather get comments like that than some of the things other people have said to me (even other crafters) like 'don't you have enough quilts now?', or, 'if you spent more time on [single hobby] then you would get better at it faster' and similar. Crafting makes me happy and keeps me calm (unless it's going terribly) and I like exercising my creativity in several different directions. I would get bored only making lace, or only making quilts. And I like having different projects to turn to depending on how much mental/physical energy I have, how good the daylight is, how much time I have, what the weather's like... I don't embrace the 'one project fits all circumstances' philosophy as you can probably tell. My philosophy is more like: 'start all the projects and then you will always have something you want to do'. Which I have to say has stood me in good stead for being prepared for lockdown.
Speaking of lockdown, we made a conscious effort to break out of our bunker/rut this morning: we got into the car and went for a drive, ending up at a city park in Corby of all places. We got out and walked around the woodland paths for half an hour or so, enjoying the bird song. It was nothing special and yet we both feel more cheerful and energised as a result. Probably we should try to do more of that.
Are you getting out more now? Or are you still happily hunkering down where it's safe?
2 comments:
As Caliquilter commented, I think it's great that you have several hobbies and projects going on simultaneously. It's nice to have a variety of projects to choose from depending on what one's interest is at a given time. I knit, weave and quilt to name a few hobbies. As the saying goes, "Variety is the spice of life!" As for the Covid situation, I live in Illinois and our governor is opening up businesses in phases. Almost everything is open now with modifications. In a few days, restaurants will be allowed to offer dining room seating with increased table spacing and fewer customers than normal. Personally, I plan to continue limiting my ventures out in public to necessities, such as grocery shopping, until there is more of a consistent decline in new cases. Kind regards from the US!
I love that you kept your journal - that's brilliant to look back on!
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