Seriously, what day is it?

  I am completely losing track of the days now and existing in a sort of eternal 'now'. I've resorted to decorating the weekend pages in my desk planner with washi tape, just to remind me that they are the weekend and therefore DH and DS will be off work. I still don't feel like I am doing retirement right, yet my days seem constantly full. I don't think I'm getting the balance right yet and probably spend too much time at my desk on one thing or another (some of them frivolous like gaming or surfing), and not enough time crafting.

I have been working away on block seven of the Australian BOM and have finished the embroidery now, so I just need to assemble the 3D elements and applique them on. I haven't taken a picture because it doesn't look like much yet.  As a break from embroidery, I am knitting the second sock of the vanilla socks I started towards the end of caravan season.

On Tuesday I had a day out to Birmingham to visit the Rag Market (a market with various fabric and haberdashery stalls) and nearby fabric shops such as Fancy Silks and Barry's.  The market on a Tuesday was pretty quiet with a lot of vacant or shut stalls.  One haberdashery stall was closing down and the owner told a customer there just aren't any customers any more. I guess COVID has hit markets pretty hard.  I still had fun looking at what was open. There are a lot of global influences evident, from fancy embroidered silks for saris to African wax print fabric.   I picked up some bag zips for .30p each, some flower motif trim from the closing-down haberdashery, a couple of pieces of quilting cotton I thought were cute, and some more Japanese-style fabric and jersey lining to try another Haori jacket and hopefully get the sizing better next time.

I enjoyed Turkish mint tea and fresh falafel for a snack in the market, and wandered up for a brief look at the German-style Christmas market (almost entirely food and drink stands which was disappointing, virtually no shopping).  I changed trains on the way to Birmingham in Leicester where I used to work, and had time to wander out to the front of the station and look out at the corner of the city that I walked through for 4.5 years to the office prior to lockdown. Strange that it ended so abruptly.

I'm about 3/4s of the way through piecing the next block of the Tilda Wreath Quilt. Predictably, as always happens to me with repeated block quilts, I am quite bored with it now but will soldier on because I don't want to put everything away until it's done or I will never get it out again.  I have purchased a seasonal pattern from Edyta Sitar called Tannenbaum and have pulled fabrics from my stash for that, it looks fun, but it has to wait.

I've been playing a bit more with my Brother Scan N Cut and tried a gift bag project which is a free download.

I've signed up for a couple of Udemy courses on using the machine and software which hopefully will get me more familiar with it.  I tried reading the 110 page manual but it's very dry. Also a friend is giving me a free folding dining table which I am going to set up as a Scan N Cut workstation in the attic.

I sold three dollshouse kits for smaller scale houses last week, which was good, gets them off my list and to a new home that wants them.  I was actually in my dollshouse room this week, I've started re-painting the Venice scene that I bought at the antique shop in Horncastle back in the summer, trying to make it look more realistic. It was hard to cover up the blue but I'm getting there. I have no training in painting or mixing colours but I am trying to make it look more like canal images I found online.

In between sorting out Christmas shopping etc. I have acquired a couple more small needlework antiques after being inspired by an online show & tell session on collecting needlework tools.  The first is a vintage brass etui, possibly 40s or 50s, with thread bobbins, a thimble and a needleholder.  The second is a leather case described as antique but I don't know how old it actually is. It seems to be a repair kit for travel or campaign, with sturdy threads, storage for tools and a slim pincushion.

We spent some time in the garden today, hacking back great armfuls of dead plant foliage and trimming back overgrown shrubs, then rescuing the drip hoses to take them inside the shed for the winter.  Despite some really cold spells, we still have some flowers improbably clinging to life and brightening the garden with some colour. We only got about half of the garden done, so will need to go out and do some more next week when DH is on holiday for Christmas.  It's hard to know what's going to happen over Christmas, whether we will have more COVID restrictions imposed or not. I had my booster shot on Wednesday and felt a bit rough for 24 hours plus had a very sore arm, but it's good to have had it done.

I hope you are all staying well.