Well, I'm not doing that again

 I had my first craft group day out since the pandemic today, and found that actually it just feels far too soon.  It was the first Saturday meeting of the lace group I used to go to, although they have already held a couple of meetings on workdays.  Attendance was low  and people trickled in gradually  due to confusion over whether it started at 1:30, 1:45 or 2pm, but it was the almost total lack of COVID precautions that really got to me.  I was the only one of the first four arrivals to be wearing a mask, and there was no social distancing in place.  I asked on entering what the COVID policies were and received a baffled look, and the reply that it was up to me, I could do whatever I felt comfortable with, if I wanted my own table or to wear a mask then feel free.  There were lots of management signs around the hall with instructions about sanitising hands etc which were ignored, and people were mingling freely.  I took a table by myself but both of my mask-free neighbours on adjoining tables had coughing fits during the afternoon off and on so it just all felt really dodgy, plus one of them announced she had only received her second COVID jab a couple of days ago (!) so it wouldn't even have given full protection yet.  I had brought my own hand sanitiser so was able to sanitise after using the common pen to sign the attendance book etc. but didn't see anyone else bothering.  It's funny because DH and I  have been out and about several times in the summer and I thought I was okay about being out in public, but I guess the difference is that normally I am in control of my own movements and of the distance I am maintaining from others, whereas here I was somewhat trapped by social convention not to behave too differently from the others. It just felt like the risk vastly outweighed whatever benefit I was gaining, as I didn't know any of the others particularly well.  I got DH to pick me up early and  I don't think I will go again for a while, maybe not until infection rates hopefully calm down next year.  It is very surprising to see people at an organised event behaving like everything's fine and back to normal, particularly given the age demographic of lacemakers.  However they did take my phone number so they'll be able to let me know if we've all been infected by someone at the meeting...  I was working on my Bucks butterfly mat and have made a good start on the final repeat.  I've had to order some more of the Madeira embroidery floss that I am using as a gimp as I just do not have enough for the final butterfly.

I tried on my first Lenten Rose sock and was pleasantly surprised to find it fits okay, perhaps slightly loose but that's better than being too tight which is always the risk with a fair isle sock.  It is surprisingly difficult to take a picture of your own foot.

I finished block 4 of the Australian BOM - the only addition will be a large metal scissors charm to be sewn on in the far distant future after the quilt is quilted.  The next block will be block 5 which will be one-quarter of the way through the 20 block quilt.

Feeling pleasantly caught up on the BOM, I turned my attention to the Clothkits blouse panel that I bought secondhand a few weeks ago.  Although technically in my size, the designers expect you to have a waistline which I do not, so I've cut out a size 16 in the shoulders and an 18 for the tummy. It's a bit odd to be cutting on printed lines since fabric is fluid and not necessarily square, so a purportedly straight printed line may not actually be straight in ruler terms. It also means that the printed lines can show through to the right side so I had to add a bit of concealing fabric when I did the collar facing as there were printed lines on the seam allowance too close to be trimmed away.  The blouse is a bit cartoon-y /folksy in style, but it's sort of fun to see how it will look since I only have a diagram not a photo of the finished article, which makes it like a mystery sewing project. There is a very clever 'bust' dart which is actually in the shoulder, with the dart line hidden behind one of the pin tucks which makes the shaping invisible.

I have plodded on with the strip-pieced quilt and have made it to strip 32 of 36.  For a break from the tedium, I sewed together a few strips so you can start to see how the polygons combine to make stars.

I had a new experience last weekend which was tabletop wargaming.  DH has spent a good chunk of lockdown painting all the models for a Games Workshop game called Blackstone Fortress.  To celebrate the big finish, we sat down as a family to try playing the game.  It's all completely beyond me (and DH to some extent) but luckily it was child's play for our resident expert DS, who raced through the rulebooks, set it all out and told us what to do.  I was dead weight, just rolling dice when I was told to, but I managed two hours of being on best behaviour before pleading to be allowed to knit on my second Lenten Rose sock in between turns. It was a fun thing to do as a family and the other two enjoyed themselves. My character survived (unlike DH's) and even took out some of the bad guys.

I pulled some quilts from my collection to display on the metal stand I bought last week, they look nice.  I just need to find the right place to put it as all our rooms are getting rather crowded.  Too much coming in to the house and not enough going out (mostly my fault to be honest). The front and rear quilts are 30s quilts I bought when on holiday in America, the middle quilt was an unfinished top I picked up there as well and after rearranging some blocks and adding a border, I quilted it myself.  The little one on the shelf is a wallhanging I made many years ago from a magazine block of the month.

The spell of hot weather has continued, punctuated by occasional heavy rain, which has been nice even though I am generally stuck indoors for work. 23 working days left to go!  I interviewed my first financial advisor yesterday, whom I'm sure is very good but I think gold-plate standard as his initial assessment fee was twice what I was thinking I would be paying overall, and then the annual fee was going to be half again more.  I've got a couple more interviews next week although I may set up a couple more as one of the interviewees only got back to me when the referral site checked with me whether she had or not, then obviously nagged her so that I got an email the same day at 9:35pm. We'll see.