And then it was spring

 I've just been out in the garden doing a bit of tidying up and it was lovely to see all the snowdrops blooming away, crocuses poking up green sprouts, daffodils ditto, buds on the magnolia and cherry trees...and of course lots of weeds getting in on the action and the slugs are doing their annual decimation of the primroses. We've made it to February, so time to stop comfort eating and try to look forward to spring and eventually an end to lockdown.  The government is now optimistically saying that all over-50s may be vaccinated by the end of May, I 'll believe that when it happens.

I finished the thumb on my Steeked Jamieson Spindrift mitts and decided I didn't like it at all, so pulled it out.  These will remain as wristwarmers with a thumb hole.  I've still got a fair bit of yarn left from the hat kit but I'll just add that to the general Jamieson stash baskets.

I spent most of the week working on the appliqued binder cover.  I gave up on the instructions, because anyway my binder was a different size, and so I just kind of winged it from the kit photo.  Embroidery is not my thing so that's a bit crude, but overall it is cute.  You want a binder cover to be snug so it doesn't wrinkle but this is probably a bit too snug.  I'm happy with it though and it makes something functional into something nice to look at. The scissor and ruler charms came with the kit.

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While sewing, I am listening to or watching things on my 'new' laptop (previously DS's).  I got fed up with the weak wifi signal in the sewing room so spent an hour or so running a long ethernet cable from the socket I installed in the dollhouse room when we moved in six years ago, along the basement and piercing through the basement stairs from which it emerges to just reach into the sewing room at the other side of the house. The socket didn't actually work back when I first wired it in, thanks to my ineffectual join in the outside cable, and I had done a repair on a ladder six years ago then never actually got round to testing the socket again.  Luckily it does in fact work and I am connected to the router upstairs. The only issue now is the huge amount of room being taken up by the large old laptop and all its peripherals on my not-very-big cutting table.  I've scootched it all over to one side near the wall.

Another thing I sewed this week was an organiser pouch from a pattern called Viewables by Liz Schaffner of 'Moments by Liz', which FB pimped me a discount for.  This is a very useful little pattern for seven sizes of accordion-sided zip pouches.  I made mine from some Aldi fabric and some upcycled vinyl from packaging that a duvet came in, but now that I understand the pattern, I might make some more. They would make great gifts too.

The pouch was to contain my new assortment of Wonderfil 'Invisifil' 100-wt invisible thread, which I used for the first time on the binder cover.  I think this thread has been around for a while, it is marketed as a 'cottonised' alternative to the usual shiny plastic fishing-line type of invisible thread, and it comes in loads of colours.  I saw the full-page ad in the AQS magazine and decided to try it because I have another applique quilt pattern I mean to get to one day. I bought two assortment packs that were on sale.  My review would be:  Pros - the thin thread does almost vanish into the fabric when I buttonholed around my fusible applique, giving a superior result with none of the shine I've seen even on so-called matte invisible thread in the past. There are loads of colours, so it was easy to find something to tone in with most fabric colours.  Cons - my (high quality and fairly new) machine really struggled with this thread, shredding it constantly at the needle and breaking the thread.  I started with a 70 size quilting needle, which should be making a hole plenty big enough for this thread because you don't want to punch huge holes into fusible applique, switched to a fresh 70 size quilting needle, then tried a 75 embroidery needle, and ended up using a 75 Metafil needle intended for metallic thread.  The last needle was the best but still not great.  I loosened the top tension to avoid the bobbin thread peeking through.  Another thing I noticed which is sort of a 'con' is that the thread is so invisible that you do not get any definition around the fusible applique, the way you would if you buttonhole stitched with a normal thread. Stitching with a normal thread would also give a sort of 'edge' to the applique helping to conceal the threads of the raw edge, and this thread is too thin to do that. So I feel that some of my applique pieces just kind of disappear into the background due to insufficient contrast in fabric colours and the raw edge of the appliques can appear more visible.  Still, it was interesting to try the thread and I will likely use it again.

I worked some more on the Japanese dollshouse garden this week, and I think I am just about come to the end of what I can do with it.

I started out making a 'bamboo' fence out of kebab sticks, based on one I had taken a photo of in a park in Japan.

Kebab sticks

paint effects

Ties made from black thread, and installation

Dressed with some shrubberies for privacy.  The fence conceals the 

path leading to the service quarters.

I had noticed in previous terrain videos that gamers pre-make tussocks and bushes by adding scatter to little piles of glue on a non-porous surface, and I wondered if I could do the same at my scale.  So I tried it out on an old tupperware lid, making little piles of tacky glue and poking chopped up artificial foliage into the glue.  It actually worked surprisingly well. The glue dries translucent then you can peel it off the tupperware with the help of a knife and turn the bush over to finish drying on the underside.  Any protruding translucent flaps can be snipped off with scissors.  I dropped some green scatter on top of the fresh glue of the 'ferns' to conceal the butts of the plastic pieces.  The flat bottom gives a good gluing surface when it comes time to install the bushes.

I glued the viewing pavilion into place then added the roof.  The roof needed some kind of ridge pole to finish it off so I concocted something. I'm not entirely pleased with it but I think it looks generic enough that it doesn't stand out.  I had ordered a small pot of Vallejo Still Water to fill my stone basin with, and on the same website spotted some realistic looking taller shrubbery which came yesterday.  So I spent some time adding my ferns and bushes and the tall shrubbery around the garden as finishing touches. The Still Water has to be added in 3mm layers so in the picture it is only the first layer and I have since filled the basin up to the top.  I'll make a little ladle to go across the basin.

Apart from tidying up some stray flock spills, there isn't much more I can do to the garden so I think it's just about finished.  I need to stipple the service path on the lift-away portion of the garden to match the path on the house base, and I could put something in the pavilion like cushions or a tea set.  It's come out better than I expected but not as good as I had hoped, if that makes any sense.  It certainly sets the house off very nicely.  

Now - do I carry on working on this house and start trying to accessorise the interiors?