Leap of faith

 At the Lace Day last week, I overheard a conversation about booking holidays abroad amid all the uncertainty, and one woman said 'sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith'. For years I have been promising myself a return trip to the AQS Quiltweek show in Paducah, Kentucky once I retired. (I was lucky enough to go three or four times when I was younger, the last visit being 2009, and absolutely loved it.)  So I've been looking at airfares and dithering ever since I retired in October.  Registration was opening Tuesday afternoon and they finally posted the class list a little while beforehand.  Looking through the offerings (which seemed much less than the huge list I remember on my last visit, but now AQS do several regional shows plus there's the panoramic going on), I was immediately seized both with nostalgia and excitement.  Some of the events I always went to are still offered (Women's Work is Never Done lecture by Gerald Roy, All Star Review, the Auction etc). I decided to go for it!  The UK has recently relaxed restrictions for tests on return to the UK so it's a little easier to go abroad as long as the country you're going to will let you in.  So I sprung for the fully refundable air fare even though it's the most expensive, just in case. I get the impression that Paducah is going to be a smaller affair than I remember - for one thing they've knocked down the Executive Inn since I was last there, and apparently the big tent that replaced it is in jeopardy due to the civic authority pulling its funding.  But it will be Paducah!  I'm excited.  In the old days, when it was hard to get so many quilting notions on the UK and fabric was fabulously cheaper in the US, I used to take an empty suitcase and absolutely fill it with purchases.  I don't think I'll be doing that this time, for once thing I probably wouldn't be able to manage a big full case on my own any more. Plus I'm trying to get rid of things and cut down on acquisitions.

I've been procrastinating about continuing to downsize things, in part due to the difficulty in taking decent photos in the gloomy winter months.  I've always struggled with lighting in photos, I'm no photographer.  But I finally decided to purchase some aids so after looking up what other amateurs are using, I went on Amazon to acquire two diffused box lights and a ring light.  I've had to squeeze a small set up into our attic junk room amongst the Christmas decorations, because there is literally nowhere else in the house with room to leave it all erected. But already I've taken photos and posted three framed pictures on ebay and some bric a brac on Facebook.  The lighting set up means that even without a window nearby, photos are coming out much clearer.  I read a meme on Facebook that said something along the lines of 'we spend two-thirds of our life accumulating, and then the final third trying to get rid of it all!'.

I've been quite virtuous this week about tackling procrastination.  Last weekend I finished putting together the Tilda Wreath Quilt while on another international Zoom call with Chooky and friends.  There were so many seams and bulky junctions from the multitude of small snowball blocks that it needed help. I invested in some Mary Ellen's Best Press starch alternative which I had heard good things about, so when that turned up I gave the quilt top a good spray and repressed all the seams which made a huge difference. It lies fairly flat now and looks like a quilt instead of a jig-saw puzzle. I chose some backing fabric from my stash and cut some binding strips, put it all on a hanger and added it to the queue of quilts waiting to be quilted.  There are so many now that the clothesrail is starting to buckle and I had to really strongarm the prior ladies along to squeeze this one in. One day.  DS is collecting momentum toward moving out in April so hopefully this year I will be able to put the quilt frame up in his office /the dining room.

After many unfortunate episodes in the past with overflowing scrap crates, I downsized to a small scrap bucket last year.  This was once again overflowing so I spent several hours ironing it all and chopping it up into useable sizes as per Bonnie Hunter's system.  It feels good to turn a crumpled mess into future potential, but on the other hand I rarely actually use the cut-up scraps since I don't tend to make tiny geometric repetitive pieced units like she does.  I've made a few tops and things though, so never say never.

One of the good things to come out of the panoramic has been the rise of virtual events and I've done several this week.  As well as Chooky's call, I 'attended' a lecture on the country house in the work of Jane Austen through the Historic Houses Association, a lecture on the subtleties of window placement in Japanese tea houses and the tea ceremony through Japan House, several modules in an online course about Japanese washi paper history and usage through FutureLearn, several modules in my second Scan N Cut course on Udemy, and a coffee morning show and tell with the Quilter's Guild. One of the great things about retirement, and being more or less stuck at home anyway, is that I can just sign up for things when they pop into my inbox. The computer is a real window on the world and so much easier (and cheaper) than trying to physically travel to a lecture or course.  Safer as well.

I should report back on the Organ Super Stretch Needles.  I'm pleased to say that these have stopped the skipped stitches.  I tried several samples such as sandwiches of Bosal foam/interfacing/quilting cotton, ditto with added zipper tape, sewing binding onto wool batting sandwich etc. - all situations where my machine had become unhappy - and they are all fine now. I did ask the engineer why the machine used to be fine doing all that and now wasn't, he said it could just be wear which although still within tolerances, was causing the occasional hiccup.  So if you're having trouble with stitch quality on bulky materials, worth trying the Organ Super Stretch needles.

Things I used to do

 I went to a Lace Day today, for the first time since life as we know it halted.  It had been cancelled in 2020 and 2021 but my 2020 ticket remained valid. When the organiser called me and said brightly 'Hi, it's X from XX' and I was thinking who the heck are you until my rusty brain dredged my memory and found dim recollections of when I used to go every year.  And just trying to think what to take with me for the day was quite challenging - luckily I had a written list from the old days so I just had to locate items such as my table stand that I hadn't used for two years.  We all had to show a negative lateral flow test to get in, and there weren't nearly as many people there so I could have one end of a table all to myself.  It was much quieter than it used to be, and people I sort of recognised all looked a lot older (as do I).  Even though it was quiet, it was strangely exhausting to be in society for five hours and I had to crash for a nap when I got home.  I have started learning Bruges Lace from the Edna Sutton book that everyone recommends, which is good apart from when it tells you to do a technique that it doesn't actually explain in the book. But I worked through three basic edgings for a few inches each, and moved onto a zigzag braid and it was nice to have a quiet environment to concentrate on the new techniques. I picked up a £2 pack of bias tape makers from the secondhand table which I'm sure will come in useful, I don't think I have the largest size although some of the others are probably duplicates of what I already have.

If you recollect I joined the UK Quilter's Guild in November, and eventually received my joiners information after Christmas? Today I unexpectedly received 8 fat quarters of Liberty fabric which is the current subscription gift. I wasn't expecting to get it as I thought I had joined beforehand, so that's a nice surprise.

The 25 block applique quilt is finally completely finished and labelled and on the bed. The needle turned applique designs are mostly from ‘Grandmother’s Last Quilt’ by Blanche Burkett White but some also from ‘Rose Sampler Supreme’ by Rosemary Makhan. Batting is Hobbs Heirloom Premium 100% wool which was a pleasure to handquilt through and is surprisingly warm on the bed. I started this quilt in 2007 when we lived down in Middlesex, and optimistically thought I would make two blocks a month and be finished in a year.  The handquilting alone took me two years.  It's not perfect but it's probably a level of achievement that I will not duplicate again in terms of amount of handwork and time. So I'm proud of it and love how it looks.

I have trudged through to completion of the final block of the Tilda Wreath Quilt so I just need to join it up into a top now.

I've finished the construction of the roombox kit including the lighting and garden area so it's ready for furnishing now. There is a plexiglass front and matboard frame that go on the front but I've left them off for photos.

I'm pleased to have finished this long cupboard residing kit but still can't find any furniture arrangement that I like the look of. I think really I would be happy to sell it but it's not something I would trust in the post, and the odds are low of finding a local collector who wants to buy it.  I'll see.  I keep putting bits of furniture in and moving them around, hoping to find something that 'sparks joy' and would justify the box taking up space in my dollshouse room.

I downloaded a cutting file to make a little cardstock box on my cutting machine, and also this handy notepad holder. As DH says, it's quite neat what the machine will cut out but at the end of the day it's only cardstock so not very robust.  I'm working on another mini album at the moment, just enjoying playing with the pretty scrapbooking papers.

After an extended dialogue with the sewing machine engineer via What'sapp, including stitching samples on various materials and trying to get the machine to skip stitches while being video'd (it wouldn't, and in fact started immediately behaving much better than it has done for some time), he has now sent me some Organ Super Stretch needles to try. I've never heard of Super Stretch, but I looked them up and apparently they have an extra long scarf so that stitches won't skip when sewing jerseys and microtex fabrics.  So I need to try them on various samples and report back.

Ironing the wallpaper (as you do)

 In yet another crafter activity that would puzzle a non-crafter, I spent an hour or so this week ironing dollshouse wall and floor papers to flatten them out - as part of the ongoing sort out of my chaotic wallpaper cupboard.  DH kindly drove me to the craft store where I picked up six sheets of greyboard, which I cut in half and hinged with duct tape to create big portfolios to hold the papers.  All much more organised and usable than the previous disaster of a cupboard. I made one for wallpaper, one for flooring and tiles, and one for smaller scales.

I've done some more work on the roombox kit this week.  I've glued in all the internal wood trim and the plastic window panes, and have been finding and printing some suitable pictures to be the views through the window.   I've painted the outer box in a light green colour, and tested the 15-year-old electrics before gluing them in.  I've had to order a new transformer as I don't have a spare one. I spent some time fruitlessly trying to puzzle out the leftover wooden pieces which are meant for the garden before giving up and doing my own thing with them. I used some of the brick paper from my stash and painted the top piece to look like stone.  So we're just about there with the construction, just some more tidying up, wiring in a ceiling light, and planting a garden behind the wall.

I finished knitting the ankle warmers I started last week, using a free pattern called 'Sock Buddies'. I've worn these out on walks several times already, they just give that nice bit of warmth above the shoe and stop icy drafts going up your trousers on days when it's not quite cold enough for boots. I used the Simply Stretchy Bind Off by VeryPinkKnits for the upper bind off so they easily go over my calf.

After sewing another block for the Tilda Wreath quilt (chore) I took another break to sew the medium size Brumby Pouch (reward) for DS.  I think it looks quite smart in this beach stripe twill fabric.  I've shown it with the large size for comparison. DS is quite pleased with it. It's nice to be able to make him something he will actually use.

But the big activity this week has been washing the 25 block applique quilt, drying it and sewing the binding on.  The packet of Hobbs Wool Batting says to wash it like a cashmere sweater, which is more or less what I did.  First of all I prepared an area in the livingroom where the quilt could dry, testing for fit and laying sheets down.

Holding my breath the entire time, I lowered the quilt gently into a tepid bathtub with three Colourcatchers, using some of my small stash of imported Orvis Paste for soap.  Watching for any sign of pink in the water, I let the quilt soak 30 minutes, stirring it gently halfway through.  I drained it in a plastic laundry basket then gently rinsed it three times.  Although the Colourcatchers did turn slightly blush-pink, I couldn't see any signs of running on the actual quilt.  I blotted with towels and spread it out flat in the livingroom for 36 hours, then finished drying it over a banister.  More breath-holding as I examined it in the sun - no colour runs that I can see!!  Whew!  After the trauma last year with the Let's Bake quilt colour run, I was quite worried.  I gave the quilt a gentle press from the reverse and then chose a white fabric from my stash for the binding, it's not an exact match as I don't have any of the actual block fabric left from 14 years ago.  I trimmed up the edges and sewed the binding on one side by machine, and now I am hand-stitching the binding down while I watch sumo on TV in the evenings. So it's almost done!! So exciting after all these years.

I also finished the surgery on the gimps of my Bucks Point butterfly hexagon mat this week. I finished the lacemaking some weeks ago then discovered that I had accidentally doubled up the gimp thickness on three of the butterflies without realising (because I was working with a windowed cover cloth so was only looking at one area at a time). Cue much bodging as I surgically removed the unwanted gimp thread while fighting down the urge to just throw the whole thing out.  So now I am back to square one and need to darn all the finishing lace threads into the work, then two years of work will finally be finished.

I've continued my papercraft journey this week, trying out some of the projects I've seen on Youtube although it's never as easy as they make it look. I continue to experiment with glues, trying to find one that grabs quickly without warping the paper by being too wet.  It's fun making things with pretty cardstock, similar to patchwork. None of these are perfect and I don't actually have any use for mini-albums but I'm having fun.

I made three mini-albums and decorated a file folder

and I made a birthday card to send to DH's sister (this

is a project you can download from Canvas Workspace then

cut on the machine)

My sewing machine is playing up so I am already feeling a bit bereft at the idea of it going away for another service.  It started skipping stitches when I was doing bagmaking which I put down to the bulky layers, but it's gotten worse and now it is regularly skipping stitches even when quiltmaking, such as sewing the binding on the applique quilt.  I've tried bigger needles and sewing more slowly but it's not helping. Something is definitely not right, so really this coming week I need to find somewhere to have it serviced. Sob.  Luckily I have a couple of others I can use but it's not the same. Are you emotionally attached to your machine?

Winter blues

 I've been feeling a bit 'meh' lately - partly the weather, partly my perpetual poor sleeping, but to a large extent because of retirement I think. I know it's only been 2 1/2 months so it's early days yet, and I know I must still be in the mental adjustment period.  It's not that I miss work, but I think I am feeling the lack of an operating framework and purpose. I'm busy every day and getting stuff done, but I don't feel settled or relaxed.  'ganbarimasu' as the Japanese are fond of saying, which can have many meanings ranging from 'I try to do my best' through to 'I am barely hanging in there by the tips of my fingertips as I continue the struggle'. 

I did feel energised after joining in with a marathon quilting call held on Zoom last weekend.  Organised by an Australian with superpowered stamina, Chookyblue started the call at 6am her time and kept going for about 15 hours I think.  Quilters from around the world joined and left during the day.  It started at 7pm for me and I did three hours working on the Brumby Pouch from Minikins Season 3 by Sew Sweetness. I had to call it a night because I was getting tired, but when I woke up the next morning I checked online and they were still going!  So I rejoined from 8:30am UK time for another couple of hours in my PJs, and finished my pouch.  It's much more fun sewing with company, I miss that. 

DS has accepted my offer to make him a smaller size of the pouch and we have agreed fabric choices, so that's waiting on my sewing table.

I'm on the penultimate block of the Tilda Wreath Quilt so that's almost over.  And very excitingly, I am virtually finished the handquilting on the 25-block applique quilt that I've been working since 2007.  I think I started handquilting it in late 2019, so 'only' two years of quilting.  The next step will be to hand wash the quilt crossing all 10 fingers and toes that the reds don't bleed into the white background.  I hope I pre-washed or tested them all, but 14 years ago who knows what I was thinking.

The postman brought two six-yard lengths of backing fabric ordered in the new year's sales from Fabric Giant.  I tend to order backing fabric on spec when I spot something cheap enough but still decent quality.

I finished knitting the Just Keeping Warm hat and have tried it outside during our latest cold snap.  It's pretty warm but also quite bulky, it feels a bit like wearing a felt bucket on my head. The brim fits nicely around my head but then there is a lot of crown going on before the decreases, like a beret had a baby with a beanie hat.  I'm slightly tempted to unpick it and shorten the crown section but then it might stick out oddly.  The handmake ceramic buttons were in my stash, some long ago find.

In another blast from the past, I excavated from the back of a cupboard an ancient dollshouse roombox kit that I acquired in 2008 from Iris Boughton. She was selling it off cheap because it was the last remaining kit from a class she used to teach.  It came with minimal instructions since the class would have taken you through construction, but she emailed me a couple of photos of a finished example afterwards.  The kit dates back to the heady good old days when dedicated people slaved to put together fully comprehensive kits for little recompense, just to help out their dollshouse club or their friends. So there are little packets of pre-cut pre-painted (now yellowed) skirting board, mouldings, window components pre-painted yellowed doors, mystery templates, mystery packets of MDF triangles that are something to do with the garden and so on.  I pulled the kit out now because it seems like a relatively low-risk re-introduction to the hobby, which I need to get back into if I am every going to tackle my cupboards full of dollshouse kits.

The first job was to pull out all the little packets and start puzzling through the instructions, trying to work out what is what and what goes where.

The outer shell, and some templates which turned out to be for the floor

The interior has an interesting angled perspective, and the first job was to assemble the components of the walls . There will be views out of the windows and bulbs above the openings to simulate daylight (if the electrics in the kit still work that is).

Once I had walls, I started looking for wallpaper.  This is the contents of my wallpaper cupboard, which turned out to be about 40% rubbish, and the remaining 60% was mostly brick and slate papers or tiles, or smaller scale papers. I had inherited some pieces of actual real-life wallpaper that looked a bit in scale, which we used to be grateful to find in the old days but now looks impossibly naff; crumpled bits of giftwrap; ancient stick-on faux marble out of scale, etc etc .  I had a big weed out of rubbish and am going to try to make some cardboard portfolios to hold the remainder in a flat usable condition.  But there was nothing suitable for my roombox, so I had to raid my scrapbook paper stash instead. Then I had to try to remember how to apply wallpaper without getting glue all over it or cutting raggedy edges.

Before I could glue the wallpapered walls in place, I had to create a floor.  This is made from individual 'planks' of real wood veneer that I acquired in a closing down sale a few years ago. I had to be careful to stay within the lines of the floor template so that my walls would glue in accurately.

Meanwhile I was repainting the yellowed wood trim in a white acrylic. I appear to have failed to have taken any photos of the process of gluing in the walls and adding the window and door.  

This is a photo from the 'trying out furniture arrangement' stage.  I had thought I was going to use a nice vintage wicker bedroom suite I bought secondhand a while ago.  But it turns out that the odd shape of the room, interrupted additionally by the door and window, makes furniture arrangement a real challenge.  The bedroom suite fit  but the bed took up most of the room and it all looked too crowded.  I hauled out my boxes of 'furniture awaiting homes' and tried out various arrangements of living rooms, studys etc. without much success.  The above picture is the best so far in terms of visual balance but feels dull. Obviously accessories and installing the wood trim will pep it up a bit but I don't know. I suppose for an introductory project it doesn't have to be stunning.

My exploration of the world of papercrafting continues.  I have worked through one of the two Udemy courses I purchased in the sale, all about how to use the design software for my Brother Scan N Cut.  And I've been watching Youtube videos about papercrafting and cardmaking.  It's not a hobby that I've previously felt very drawn to but now that I have the machine and a starter stash of cardstock, the potential is attracting me.  I made a very simple card for a friend using some of the paper I got for christmas, and used my machine to cut the scalloped layer. I hope she likes it.

15 years later...

 DH often looks at my blog, mainly to keep track of new acquisitions I think, and he pointed out that in March 2022 I will have been blogging for 15 years!  Good heavens.  It doesn't seem that long since I met Swooze on a text-based chat forum and she said I should start my own blog to show pictures of all my crafting. I've long since had to start paying Google a monthly fee for storage because of all the posts and pictures (almost 900 posts) although I don't expect anyone ever looks at what I was doing 10 or 12 years ago.  Perhaps I should have a big purge of older posts if there is any easy way to do that without killing the blog.  I started printing the blog off as an annual photobook several years ago for my own records, being a dinosaur who still doesn't trust the magic 'cloud' that the youngsters place so much faith in.  Wait until they experience a few episodes of media becoming obsolete, companies discontinuing their service (sob, my Nokia music library...), or going bust, that'll learn 'em ha ha ha.

Anyway, happy new year and hope you had a good new year's eve.  It is a startlingly balmy 14 degrees here, we went out to do some weeding this morning and I actually got too hot, bizarre weather for January. This morning I conducted the annual ritual of swapping out the old year calendar and desk diaries and replacing them with the 2022 versions. Although after two years at home, my planner system has pretty much broken down so I didn't have much to copy over from last year. Gone are the days when my mini filofax went everywhere with me and ruled my life.

This week I managed to finish two more blocks in the Tilda Wreath Quilt, so I'm up to 6.5 blocks out of 9.  I rewarded myself by taking a break to sew a pillow cover out of a cross stitch alphabet sampler that I rescued from a charity shop in Olney last week.  Beautifully stitched, it looked like it had come out of a frame, and they only wanted £1.50 for it.  I have given it an inner border from the robin fabric that I bought in Birmingham a few weeks ago, and backed it with the bird tea towel that I got at the V&A museum in London last month.  I thought I was finished then realised I had managed to sew the back on upside down so all the birds were facing down, so had to unpick and re-sew. I think it's quite pretty, I hope the original stitcher would approve.

I've continued knitting the Just Keeping Warm hat, finishing the brim and picking up and knitting the main body.  It looks quite odd on the needles but looks nice when I try it on.  The cable in the crown is 6x6 which can be quite difficult to knit in this thick yarn but I'm managing.

Do you remember the Venice 3-D scene I bought this summer from an antique shop in Horncastle?  It had good bones but rather cartoon colouring and crude paintwork.

Using photos of canal houses in Venice for reference, I've spent some time the last few weeks touching up the original paintwork with acrylic paint and completely changing the colour of the walls themselves.  I was trying to achieve that ancient dilapidated quality that so many Venetian houses have, after centuries of renovations and repairs and weathering.  I didn't achieve what was in my mind's eye but am fairly pleased with the result nonetheless.  I wish I had taken a picture before putting the frame back together because it has proved impossible to find a camera angle without reflections on the glass. So it doesn't look as nuanced in the photos as it does in real life. I built up layers of colouring and stippling on the walls trying to add some realism.

Also in the dollshouse room now are my 12 kits  in 1/24th scale from the Petite Properties '12 Days of Christmas' advent calendar. I think the media embargo has finished and I'm ok to publish a photo of the contents.  It was fun to open a little kit every day. It's a fairly random assortment, ranging from kitchen cupboards to a bicycle!  PP have said they won't be doing Advent calendars next year, I think it's too much work for them and too much aggro over delayed post etc.

I have so many kits now, I have got to start making some of them up.  Youtube found me this video where he talks about how many hobbies can we realistically have, as opposed to 'interests' or more casual activities. I definitely feel pulled so many different ways now that I'm retired and supposedly have so much time to do things.  Sewing and sewing-related things like bagmaking are definitely a hobby for me, but I have several formerly all-consuming passions like knitting and dollshousing that I don't do much of now, or not at all (machine knitting), not too mention multiple other more casual but enjoyable craft interests, travelling, gardening etc..  Somewhere in my deluded brain I think that I am going to get to them all and therefore need to acquire and retain related stash, when obviously that isn't realistic.  The Youtube video links to a Ted Talk which defines a personality called a 'multi-potential-ite' and I think I am definitely one of those. Or maybe a hoarder. That's it,  I'm a multi-potential-ite-hoarder.