Another new year

 A couple more days and I can hang up my 2024 official Sumo calendar. DS and his girlfriend went home today, and I've taken down the first few Christmas ornaments. We are trying to eat up the last of the holiday treats before we go back on a diet in January.  It's been a nice quiet week. The frozen Christmas dinner in a box was so easy to cook and tasted fine - not the best Christmas meal I've ever had, but certainly streaks ahead of many restaurant Christmas menus I've been subjected to at past office parties.  The lack of stress and mess was fantastic and I fully intend to order a box again for next Christmas. All's I had to do was follow the schedule for putting things in the oven, and then finish off a couple of dishes on the hob near the end.  

Crafting presents for Christmas included a new standard mat for my Brother Scan'N'Cut, and two new A1 size cutting mats for my sewing room cutting table.  These are from Ansio, a brand I hadn't heard of. But they were on sale for literally one-quarter of the price of an OLFA mat.  They are replacing an OLFA mat that is probably 15-20 years old, and another which is 9.5 years old - both of those are brittle, hard and gouged/scratched.  The Ansio mats seem fine, the A1 size is a little smaller than the OLFA A1 size but they are heavier - I think because they are a double-sided layer of self-healing material sandwiched around an inner core of something else. I've cut a few things on them and they feel fine under the rotary blade.

I finished off the pincushion and tape measure for the Ambermakes sewing panel case.

For my next project, I pulled out one of the panels I bought in Japan at the shop of designer Masako Wakayama, from her American Country 22 collection. The panel is designed to make eight separate projects, and is in her typical style of country motifs and random English words.

Unfortunately, the instructions are not only in Japanese, but are handwritten and photocopied onto A5 size paper - so they are tiny and barely legible.  I scanned the pages and enlarged them to A4 size, darkened the font a bit and printed them off.  Then I got to work with Google Translate.  It turns out that on top of all those issues, the instructions are pretty minimalist.  Mostly consisting of 'sew right sides together, turn, quilt, stitch together and add zip'.  Luckily I have made up Japanese projects before, so I am familiar with their method of sewing completely finished components which are then joined together with hand-stitching, with the zipper being added last. Also, there was a QR code on the instructions linking to a short video on her website showing the finished projects and which panel components were used for each - no tutorials but still helpful.

I started with the first project, which in retrospect is the most difficult so probably not the best choice.  This is a vanity case with a slip pocket in the lid, and loose pockets in the interior.  It took me a really long time because most of it is hand sewing, plus there was a degree of trial and error as I felt my way through the correct order of assembly which resulted in a fair amount of do-overs.  The outside is decorated with appliques cut from the panel, and the lid is another panel piece as is the handle decoration.  It was nice this week to have the time to undertake such a timeconsuming project.

For my second item, I chose a much easier project which is this drawstring four-sided bag, assembled from four panel pieces. The drawstring ends are finished with 'buttons' cut from the panel. Relatively speaking, this was a much quicker project. It's about 6.5 inches high.

Of the remaining six projects, there are a couple I probably won't make (a string of appliques on felt, and a mini wall quilt) but I've cut out the pieces for two flat zipped pouches and there are a couple of small bags I might tackle.  Nice to remember my enjoyable visit to her western-looking shop, CribQuilt, in Tokyo.

I didn't do any work on the Japanese dollshouse while we had both DS and his girlfriend with us, but before they arrived, I finished off the onsen spa area.

The spa didn't need much, just a couple of shampoo bottles and a ladle

In the changing area, I added folded yukata robes with belts, and large and small towels in the cubbies. There's a basket for used towels, some toiletries and soap on the sink, and a bonsai in the window. I think that's all it needs - it's a small area.

I've done some longarming most days, and I'm almost finished quilting the 30s Sampler quilt.  There are lots of mistakes and wobbles, but on the other hand it is a cut above what I could have done on my old setup with the Pfaff 11" throat machine. And it's been a great learning curve, to tackle a real quilt and practice all the mechanical issues of tension, threading, winding bobbins, rolling on the quilt etc. Not to mention learning some basics of using longarm rulers for quilting.

I'm halfway through the second Little Cotton Rabbits wristwarmer.  I am knitting this one straight, and apart from having to do colourwork while purling, it is so much easier. Since the colours are changing almost every row, I've been able to minimise the purl rows because I can just join on at the right side and knit a lot of the pattern rows. And my tension is more even. Teach me to try to be clever (knitting the first wristwarmer in the round).

I paid my final Trailfinders invoice for the flights to New Zealand and according to their countdown, it's just over 60 days until I travel.  Eeeep. I spent a few hours putting together my paperwork - I am old school and like to have printouts of all my confirmations, itineraries, sightseeing research etc.  After a few years of retirement travel, I think I have most things that I will want to pack otherwise. Although I'm still not sure what kind of temperatures to expect - I will be travelling in NZ's autumn but someone at DH's christmas party had been in April and they said it was hot so who knows.  I hope not, I hate hot weather.

Hope you had a good holiday period and best wishes for a happy new year in 2024.  Hope you got some good crafting pressies as well.

Happy holidays

 It's Christmas Eve's eve, and I think we're ready.  Presents are wrapped, food is in the fridge and freezer, Christmas TV has been programmed to record, and both DS and DH are now finished work for the year. DH's mother is feeling much better and hired care is now set up to start on the 27th.  The only thing left that I need to do is buy some sweets for DH and DS, both of whom had said in the past that they didn't want to do stockings any more (I love stockings so was hugely disappointed) but this year are surprised that I wasn't planning to do one for them.  Honestly.

I finished the Chinese dollshouse.  It was quite fun putting it all together, apart from removing the paper covering from the dust cover, which was a nightmare and there are still bits stuck on the plexiglas.  But to my surprise, the plexiglas glued together rather easily with E6000 glue.

The dust cover fits quite snugly over the house, and really sets it off. As DH said, it gives it something of the air of a museum model.

I also got the electrics working.  I re-did the wiring connections and managed to get the non-working bulb to come on.  The flickering turned out to be down to a dodgy switch in the battery box - I was able to order a replacement battery box from Amazon which solved the problem.  Having the lights on really makes it all come alive, a bit magical.

It's a really interesting design, with so many details and viewing angles. I added in some larger real rocks here and there, in addition to the small rocks supplied with the kit as garden edging.  I don't know what scale this is, I think it's smaller than my other 1:20 Japanese house.

Finishing off this kit, I felt very tempted to stay on the roll and start another Chinese kit (I have several waiting in the queue). But instead I am attempting to overcome my deep procrastination and finish off the details of my original Japanese dollshouse that I finished just before COVID.  The house and garden are complete, but I have never added in all the accessories and details that it needs. Mainly because that would need research and scratch building and it just seemed too overwhelming.  But I've made a start.  This is the front porch - I have made two 'kadomatsu' or Japanese new year arrangements, inspired by the explanation posted by Pavluv Pane on her excellent dollshouse blog.  After taking this picture, I also made a little bench to go to the side.  Now I've started on the onsen bath room - I'm making little Yukata robes folded up to go in the storage cubbyholes.  It still feels very overwhelming but I will try to do a bit at a time. It would be great to get the house 'finished' and off my list.

Once I had the quilt kits cut out and prepped ready for my next quilt retreat, I pulled out a printed panel by AmberMakes on etsy, for a little sewing case with accessories.  Quite fun to work on, although a bit fiddly.  It's a clever concept, so much more sophisticated than pre-printed panels back in the day. I've got two more accessories to make for it: a covered tape measure and a pincushion.

I've been knitting, un-knitting, and re-knitting the Little Cotton Rabbits Wristwarmers.  Unknitting because I forgot to leave a thumb slit, and also because of some pattern mistakes.  I thought I was being clever, knitting this in the round instead of flat like the original (which is then seamed, and you just leave part of the seam open for the thumb).  But I hadn't really thought it through: I had to knit back and forth anyway to create the thumb slit.  Also, one or both colours are changing virtually every row, so there have been sooooooo many ends on the inside getting in the way and making a huge mess - even though I stopped to darn them in every so often.  Normally I knit in ends as I go, but it doesn't work well when you are creating more ends in the new row and the first stitch is loose because the three rows underneath that all have ends etc.  Still not happy with my tension, although I know it will look a lot better after blocking.  I might try knitting the second wristwarmer flat to see if that's easier. I also might knit a thumb on, it would be warmer.

I hope your holiday preparations are in hand and you are getting some time for relaxing and crafting.  With best wishes for a happy holiday season!

Grim foreshadowing

 My husband and sister-in-law have been coping with a sudden crisis with their parents this week after my mother-in-law fell ill with a stomach bug, followed by a chest infection which sent her diabetes numbers rising. As she is her husband's carer, someone has had to stay with them constantly and look after them both while she recovers. They live two hours away from both us and my s-i-l, so care has required some logistical juggling. Luckily DH works remotely so he can work at their place to a degree. It's become clear that they really need someone coming every day. The council isn't responding yet to our requests for a Needs Assessment (which gets the ball rolling for social care) so we're having to arrange (hopefully temporary) expensive paid care to come in.  They really should have moved somewhere with better support a few years ago, but chose to install a stair lift instead.  Parental decrepitude is such a familar problem at the moment being faced by so many people I know in my age group. It's also a grim foreshadowing of what lies in store for us all.  Every time DH and I catch ourselves doing something that the 'old people' do (like talking to ourselves, forgetting why we just opened a cupboard, pressing the wrong buttons in a zoom call etc.) we feel a bit depressed. Hopefully we've got at least another 15 or more good years, but you never know.  We certainly plan to downsize out of this larger house into something more future proof, probably in about eight years.  Although I can't contemplate having less room for all my stash.  I fantasise that we can find copious square footage all on one floor level, for example a converted primary school :)

I've kept up with my hour or so a day on the longarm, working on the Thirties sampler quilt.  It's feeling more comfortable, and I'm getting more confident about using the rulers for simple patterns. But there are still lots of wobbles and some rough bits.  I feel exhausted after an hour of concentrating, I don't know how people keep on quilting for hours. Maybe it's like a muscle you need to build up.

I've been prepping quilt pieces for the next quilt retreat in January. There isn't a lot of room at the retreat for cutting out or designing, so I am trying to do that here at home.  I cut out and prepped blocks for an 'envelope block' quilt first.  Then I pulled out the pinwheel blocks I sewed from Tilda fabrics at a previous retreat, and composed some scrappy sashing for them which I will assemble at the retreat.  I tried several different fabrics for the cornerstones but liked this colour the best.

Currently I am sewing together jelly roll strips to make a Chequered Dresden Plate from a Missouri Star video.  I will cut all the wedges then assemble the plates at the retreat.

I've started knitting some wristwarmers using Shetland jumperweight wool I bought in Shetland.  For some reason my tension isn't great, I don't know if it is all the ends getting in the way since the colours are changing almost every row.  Hopefully they will block flatter.

The Chinese dollshouse  is finished now apart from trying to get the electrics to work.  I did an initial hookup but a couple of bulbs still aren't coming on and the lights are flickering. I also need to assemble the plexiglas dust cover which came in the kit. Unexpectedly, this has proved to be the most challenging aspect of the whole project, since the paper covering on the plexiglas is basically welded on.  I looked it up online, and it's probably because of age since it was manufactured.  Online suggested applying gentle head and rolling the paper onto a dowel, which definitely helps.  But it is still taking up to 30 minutes to clear one piece of plexiglas - there are five altogether.  I'll post pictures when I get the electrics hopefully sorted.  The house does look quite cool when it's all lit up.

All the Christmas decorations are now up, and DS is coming home for Christmas tomorrow.  He'll work remotely for a week then he has a week off.  It will be nice to have him back for a while.  He's semi-promised to cook for us a few times which will be a nice break.

This year's tree

In low gear this week

 I've had a cold most of the week so haven't had any energy to do much.  Intellectually I know it doesn't really matter - I'm retired, and there hasn't been much on this week that I 'had' to do. But it still feels like I've wasted a lot of time.

I finished sewing the binding on the Sunbonnet Sue panel quilt and it was collected by Project Linus to go to someone for Christmas. I hope they like it.  Next I loaded the Thirties Sampler Quilt onto the frame. to jump in at the deep end on stitching in the ditch techniques and trying out simple ruler patterns.  I've stabilised the entire quilt now by stitching around all the blocks, and I am going back to do the quilting patterns on each block.  Thinking how to quilt each block is half the battle, I'm not very creative that way, I'm better at copying things.  Trying to stitch in the ditch using straight rulers has also highlighted how poor my pressing techniques are: the seam allowances are going every which way and even some seamlines are a bit wobbly.  None of that really mattered when I was only stitching all over pantograph patterns but it's making life difficult now that I'm trying to learn to use rulers.

I finished the Robin Christmas ornament and made it up into the ornament. There are several unintentional deviations from the chart but overall it has a charming vintage christmas vibe.

I can show you the tester bag pattern that I made a few weeks ago, as the pattern has now been published. I used some wicker fabric that I bought in Toyo.

The Chinese dollshouse kit is mostly finished for the house portion and the instructions have moved on to the landscaping.

I've been slowly putting up Christmas decorations and Christmas quilts.  The tree is up and almost decorated, I will finish it today.  My Christmas porch vignette is on display in the dining room and looks pretty with the  lights on.  We haven't done the outside lights because the weather has been so cold and wet, maybe we won't bother this year - I have lights hanging in both the front windows. And I hung up this guy from Japan:

Hope your holiday preparations are going well!

It's cold out there

 We're in the middle of a cold snap.  It freezes overnight, and every morning we wake up to a heavy frost in the garden so all the plants are dying back for the winter now.  The high yesterday was 3 degrees C during the day.  So basically I don't feel like going out because I'm not used to it yet.  Not that it feels a lot warmer inside the house - we've turned the heating up but it is still dropping to 15 degrees now and then, inside.  Too many cold spots and drafts. I have assumed my winter uniform of fleeces, fleecy boot slippers, neck shawls etc.  The dollshouse room remains icy all day but the sewing room will get warm if the radiator in there is on.  I'm getting more done though, because I'm inside more.

Despite the cold, I've been working on the Chinese dollshouse kit most days, it's at the fun stage where the house is going together, and all the little bits you make first are getting installed.

The ground floor.  I made the big rocks look more realistic with an application of wood filler and paint.

The upper floor coming together

Some sewing finishes this week.  My first quilt on the longarm, the Sunbonnet Sue panel quilt, is complete and I'm currently sewing the binding on.  It is not terrible.  I was basically trying out various rulers without actually doing much measuring, so the designs are all a bit wonky and off centre, but overall it looks fine I think. It certainly wasn't a disaster, and I have been sufficiently encouraged to load my 1930s Sampler quilt onto the frame as my next project.

I also finished the top for the Embroidered blocks quilt kit that I bought in Paducah, which is based on a Moda Blue Ribbon panel.  I took the smaller embroidered blocks along on my Japan trip back in April as a craft project, and sewed the first pieced block in October.  This week I added the nine-patch blocks and created an applique butterfly block using a design from one of my books of 1930s quilt reproductions - to fill in the gap created by adding the extra blocks to the original design.  I think it looks better now, more balanced than the original although not perfect. I also like that the pastels come forward more, so it is less aggressively red/white/blue. I sewed a backing and cut the binding, and it has now taken its place in the queue ready for quilting. I'm not really sure what will be the best way to quilt the embroidered blocks - the examples I've found online went with an all over design but that rather detracts from the blocks.

I finished off the Santa Claus letter cross stitch kit that came with the CrossStitcher magazine last week. I used the provided fabric to bind the edges of the canvas, rather than to sew a pouch as suggested, so that it becomes a Christmas ornament.  Fun stitch.

The Robin cross stitch meanwhile has careened onwards. Due to a multiplicity of errors, my wreath is a bit more oval than round and my stitches were also out by one thread when I came around to join the beginning.  Oh well, if a blind man can't see the mistakes from the back of a galloping horse, as my American quilting friend used to say...  I've started on the backstitching.

My bobbin lace group exchanges Christmas presents every year. This year I made them little cat-shaped clips, that I learned how to make in Japan. These were for sale in an Akita cafe that sold a variety of crafts, and the maker kindly showed me and a couple of other students how she made them. I traced the pattern and bought the clips to bring home with me.  The cats are based on a Japanese laundry clip - they tend to hang their washing on poles, rather than lines, where I was living. I didn't think I would be able to find the clips in the UK so made sure to buy some there and bring them back.  If you squeeze the cat's legs, their front paws open.

DH and I went for a Christmas-themed afternoon tea yesterday - with a gluten-free version for me.  So I enjoyed my first mince pies and turkey sandwiches of the season.  A fun way to kick off December. DH has also ferried down from the attic all the multiple boxes of Christmas decorations, so I can get started on Christmasfying the house.