Empty nest

 DS has left the building.  We had a very long day yesterday making two trips down to Milton Keynes with all his stuff (about a 45-60 min drive) and on the second trip it was our job to meet the 'man with a van' that the girlfriend had hired to move her apartment contents. Meanwhile DS and girlfriend were travelling by train from her flat so they didn't arrive until later.  DH had to help the man tote everything up to the first floor.  Then we started moving things to the second floor bedrooms.  Once DS and girlfriend arrived, they started unpacking and we helped with preliminary furniture placement, sorting out bags to be unpacked, carrying more stuff upstairs, removing rubbish etc.  Then we drove them to IKEA (they are currently car-less) for DS to buy a work-from-home desk, storage shelves, and the usual trolley full of things that you didn't go for but realise you may need.   That filled the car up to the point where girlfriend and I had to stay in the canteen (we had all eaten supper there, meatballs of course) while they took the IKEA stuff back to the flat, then returned to fetch us.  DH and I finally got home about 8pm absolutely exhausted, but we toasted the new couple in a bottle of champagne they gave us as a thank you.

This leaves DS's room in our house in theory empty, but in reality still containing a lot of things he wants to keep but doesn't want in the new flat.  So we need to pack all that up and move it to the attic, we will start today.  It also needs a huge clean, and eventually we will redecorate the room.  DS's departure has a knock on effect on many things: the fridge is a lot emptier now that all his Asian sauces and jars that he liked to experiment with are gone for example, and for the first time in two years we have our dining table back.  I was able to take off the waterproof cloth that's been protecting it while it was functioning as DS's office, take the leaf out, and expose the natural wood.  The floorboards are all chewed up where his office chair was rolling around but otherwise it looks like a dining room again.

On Thursday I travelled up to the Birmingham NEC for the Sewing for Pleasure/Creative Crafts show.  I had a nice wander around although the 2.5 hour journey by train had tired me out before I even got there. I was only there three hours then had the return journey so it may not be worth it, I don't know. It's the kind of thing I looked forward to being able to do in retirement - go to craft shows on weekdays - but I've been feeling quite tired lately.  I did buy a dress-worth of washed linen in a pretty teal colour which will be another linen dress, and a half yard of tapestry fabric for making bags.  I purchased a Sapphire anniversary bobbin from the Lace Guild stand to support their celebration of their Sapphire anniversary.  As there is still no sign of the webbing I ordered (I've had to open a Paypal dispute now), I was able to get some at the show and the necessary plastic buckles.

So with the webbing I've been able to work on my ripstop nylon backpack again, and have added the straps and handle to the back piece.  So all I need to do now is to join the back piece to the prepared front/sides structure.

I can work on the ripstop backpack because I finished the Karvi mini backpack earlier in the week.  It's turned out fairly well. The cork fabric behaved much better than I feared it might, and gives a nice professional look to the bag.  The hardware all went on ok, and apart from some wobbly topstitching, the bag looks pretty good.  I feel like my bagmaking skills are improving.

As the next instalment of the Australian BOM hasn't arrived yet, I've gone back to working on my Little houses cross stitch sampler which had been waiting patiently in a corner of the living room.  I'm working on the F-G-H picture.

Mother's Day in the UK is approaching, so I had a go at a cardmaking cutting file from the Brother site which I cut out on my Brother Scan N Cut.  It's a pop up card, so it folds flat for postage but I think I will need to post it in some kind of box so it doesn't get crushed.

Meanwhile it is glorious sunshine outside, yesterday was up to 15 degrees C, our magnolia tree is starting to blossom, and the daffodils are out everywhere.  Spring has definitely sprung here.  How about where you are?