Christmas is in the freezer

 I've not really enjoyed cooking the full Christmas dinner for a good many years now, it's so much work and by the time it's ready, I usually don't even want to eat it. I've always enjoyed the leftovers a lot more, which can be enjoyed without putting the effort in.  But we're trying something different this year. My m-i-l told me that they had ordered Christmas dinner from the upmarket frozen food supplier 'Cook'. This sounded great, so I've ordered one as well.  It comes with a turkey crown and several sides and works out about £17 per person which is cheaper than a restaurant, and hopefully will be much less work for me.  You could specify when you wanted it delivered - being of a paranoid nature, I had mine delivered this week so I know it's in the freezer ready for the big day (and if it hadn't worked out, I would have had time to buy supplements). It duly turned up and is now taking up a shelf and a half of freezer space which feels well worth it.

Christmas is now rearing up everywhere, and we went to a couple of Christmas fairs today.  At the first one, held in a big church, one of the craft tables was selling £1 bags of assorted ribbon which seemed like quite a good buy. My ribbon stash has been getting a bit low, so I brought home four different colours.

We stopped into Lidl, to pick up a few of the Christmas tea towel sets I had seen posted on Facebook - only £2.99 for a christmas print and a matching solid towel. The post I saw was sewing tote bags and stockings out of them. Not sure what I'll make with mine.

We went to another big fair at Workbridge, a charity in Northampton providing employment opportunities to the disadvantaged. I was surprised but pleased to see a whole stall selling macrame items in big soft cream cord - all the 1970s favourites were there: the owl with big eyes, the braided spider plant holders, fringed wreaths etc. Is macrame coming back? They actually looked quite good, I was tempted by some macrame christmas trees but remembered I am meant to be decluttering. Finally this afternoon we went to a food fair in a community centre - they also had a craft table which included some cute trees made from yo-yos/suffolk puffs sewn in decreasing diameters, threaded onto a stick which was set into a small pot. Very cute.

This week I have finally stopped procrastinating and started practicing daily on my longarm. After warming up with some free motion doodling, I had my first ever go at using a ruler for longarm quilting.  I was quite nervous but it is actually easier than I expected - right up until you stop paying attention and suddenly veer off the ruler into space.  I drew some boxes in chalk onto my practice cloth and tried out the rulers that came with the machine, and watched various Youtube instruction videos.  I also sent off for two more Handiquilter rulers which will be christmas presents from the family.  

When I ran out of practice cloth, I loaded up my first actual quilt which is the charity quilt I assembled from the Little Quilt panels from my stash.  

Then I used the straight ruler to try to follow all the sashing lines, had a go at continuous curve quilting on one of the corners, and am currently trying out arcs in the border.  It's been good practice for everything from learning how to start/stop neatly,  winding bobbins, adjusting tension, to how to roll on the quilt. There are some real wobbles in several places where my concentration lapsed, but hopefully the eventual recipient won't mind. Ruler work is very start/stop compared to using pantos, but I was enjoying it when I could get a smooth line.  There seems to be one place in my table which isn't quite level - the machine suddenly zooms sideways half-an-inch when I reach it. The engineer had a lot of trouble levelling the frame on our Victorian floorboards I remember. I also had a incident where, in mid-line, the tension suddenly went haywire and I ended up with several inches of birdnest on the underside before I realised what had happened. I'm guessing that the thread jumped out of the tension disks but who knows. It's been pretty good since.

I've been progressing the Blue Ribbon embroidered blocks quilt as well.  With great care and holding my breath, I trimmed up the embroidered blocks successfully to size.  Then I could put together several units of the quilt. It turns out I have loads of background fabric, so I am able to proceed with my plan to add some nine patch blocks on the right hand side, and I've cut those out but haven't sewn them yet. I've never had a quilt kit with such a generous portion of fabric - you could almost make two quilts I think out of what they've provided.

After making loads of little bits and furnishings, I have finally progressed the Chinese dollshouse kit to the stage where the instructions start you working on the actual house walls. I was worried over what glue to use to adhere the sheets of artwork to the MDF walls. The translated instructions suggest 'latex' whatever that means. I didn't fancy my chances with PVA glue, so I went with regular wallpaper paste in the end.  It has worked well in terms of fairly flat artwork, and gave me time to adjust the artwork to the best fit onto the not-always-the-exact-same-size MDF pieces. But it means that the paper isn't anchored solidly to the wood, which might pose issues when horizontal surfaces are glued to vertical ones and only attaching to the paper surface. Hopefully the floors will be adequately supported by partition walls. It's fun to start seeing the house taking shape.

Various walls drying out after pasting (the ironing board cover is filthy because I rescued this board from the side of the road to use as a spare table, I need to replace the cover)

Starting the house assembly

A little gazebo for the garden

The cross-stitch robin christmas ornament has progressed, but unfortunately I went a little wrong on the robin's back, then forgot I had, and proceeded to go even more wrong with the right hand side of the wreath, to the point where I am basically just making it up now. So it was with relief that I received my issue of CrossStitcher magazine with a cute free kit for a Santa Letter on aida fabric. Abandoning the robin for a while, I am cleansing my palette with the easier magazine kit.

Black Friday, which was never heard of in the UK until a few years ago since we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, has turned into a fairly big deal here, with many retailers now participating.  I picked up various things that I wanted to get anyway:  some tiny folding reading glasses, a pair of quickdry trousers and some SD cards for travelling; a new fitted sheet; a set of pots and pans to replace our 30 year old worn out saucepans; and some trainers. 

It's finally turned fairly cold, only 2 degrees C today, although we still haven't had a killing frost so the garden is still looking decent.  The cold is a bit of a problem - I ordered an arsenic test at long last, so that I can test the green decorative paper inside the needlework table I bought last summer to see if it is arsenic green and therefore poisonous. But the test instructions state that in order to work properly, the test needs to be conducted at an air temperature of between 22-28 degrees Celsius. Not going to happen in this drafty old house in winter, so it may need to wait until the summer unless I can think of somewhere else to go that would be warm where I could get out what looks like a chemistry set without being suspected of poisoning the water supply.

The travel virus

 Having done a fair bit of research on what to see in Hong Kong when I stop there on the way to New Zealand next year, I realised that I could really do with an extra day. So I phoned up Trailfinders to move my departure flight forward a day. I'm going late in the season, looking to travel on a Monday and it's still three months away so I wasn't anticipating much more than perhaps a penalty charge of a few hundred pounds.  But nope, the Monday flight is almost full already and the only seats left would be an extra £770 - which is not only the cost of another flight somewhere, but way more than an extra day in Hong Kong is worth to me.

It almost feels like COVID has spawned another virus - the travel bug.  Many of the travel vloggers I watch on Youtube are reporting over-tourism, in some cases such as Kyoto in Japan it is causing real problems for public safety and public transport. And the Facebook travel groups I'm in tell a similar tale of being turned away from museums and trains, or not being able to find accommodation, because travellers didn't book months ahead for popular destinations.  The days of 'winging it' like I did with a backpack in Europe 40 years ago seem to be over - unless you are travelling off the beaten track or really out of season. I wonder if COVID opened people's eyes to the reality that life is short and unpredictable, and maybe slaving over a desk for the next 20 years isn't really what they want to do with the time they have. Or perhaps just being shut into the house under lockdown, or restricted on travelling out of your own country, built up  a demand which has now burst the dams of national borders. It's also pretty easy to go almost anywhere now, if you have the money. It is no longer exotic to go to Thailand, or Bali, or even the Galapagos.  And much as I enjoy going to new places and seeing the famous sights, it does feel a bit like you are just a hamster in the queue for the local sightseeing treadmill.  Which makes it a lot safer for me as a mature solo traveller: as long as I'm sensible and hang on to my passport and credit card, I should be fine. But still, is it really travelling in the old-fashioned sense of the word?

Anyway, enough of my first-world wittering.  My eight or so blog readers want to see the crafts :)

I finished embroidering the big centre block at long last for my Aunt Grace Blue Ribbon quilt kit from Paducah.  Most of the blocks are done now - I need to add some applique leaves to the flower blocks, and I need to replace the lower left star background because the provided fabric is too low contrast for the middle star.  In fact, I'm very surprised at how much fabric I have left over - they have supplied long quarters of everything, even when there were only a few squares to cut out of a specific print.

leftover fabric

I do not find the asymetric layout of this quilt very satisfying.  Given that I have so much fabric left over, I am tempted to add some nine patch blocks down the right hand side of the quilt to provide some visual balance. I'll have to have a play. I've got plenty of prints left, it will be the background fabric quantity that will be the limiting factor.

With the centre panel embroidery out of the way, I could start work on a cross stitch Robin xmas ornament on linen, which I bought on the Cross Stitch Guild weekend last year.  I love the look of cross stitch on linen, but I hate doing it.  Even wearing the strong headset magnifiers, I still stitch into the wrong hole between the floppy linen threads and constantly have to unpick. I also got into a muddle with two virtually indistinguishable shades of brown, and have to had to devolve to doing one complete row of the robin at a time, rather than try to do an area of one colour. Hopefully I will get it done in time to hang on the Christmas tree.

I'm still making tiny things for the Chinese dollshouse kit.  I thought this was a Japanese house but having just made a mini Chinese lyre and stand, and looking at some of the other details, now I'm thinking it may actually be a Chinese house.

I managed to track down a video on Youtube of someone who made the same house kit- only far more perfectly than I am managing. Her glue seems nothing short of miraculous, instantly grabbing in defiance of the laws of physics. The video is strangely hypnotic - the soundtrack helps and the fact that there is no talking, with most of the action being done by disembodied tweezers.  Also she(he?) is building things out of order compared to the instructions, but I suppose that's due to being very experienced. The instructions have you build all the bits first, and then start on the actual house construction.

I have finally started practicing on my new-to-me Simply Sixteen Handiquilter machine.  I'm trying to do a bit every day to build up some experience.  On the second day, I tried using longarm quilting rulers for the first time - scary to start with but I'm getting used to them now.  The machine came with a small selection of rulers (arcs, clamshell, a straight edge) and having watched some videos by Angela Walters and others, I have now ordered a couple more from the Handiquilter dealer which will be Christmas presents for me from family. I'm approaching the end of the sample fabric top that the dealer loaded when he installed the machine. After that, I'm tempted to just load up the charity quilt top I made with the Little Quilts panels and have at it with rulers.  Most of the tops waiting for quilting are not suitable for an all-over design so being able to do ruler work on them would be helpful. It will also get me used to winding bobbins, advancing the quilt etc.  I've only hit my head on the slanting ceiling once so far.

Autumn colour

 Although not currently studying Japanese any longer, I am still in touch with some of my Japanese online language partners - and a few of them have been sending through photos of beautiful autumn colour from Japan: reds and oranges of maples and gingko trees.  We don't get that kind of colour much here in the East Midlands - most of our trees just turn yellow, the leaves die and fall off brown on the ground. Much less interesting.  But it is definitely feeling autumnal and even wintry outside now.  We still haven't had a good hard frost - which I am waiting for so that our garden dies back and we can retrieve our drip hoses (currently hidden under the undergrowth). We also want to take down a conifer which in the nine years since we transplanted it, has increased in height probably 5-6 times and is blocking the sun for most of the back border now. I thought it was a juniper but now I'm wondering if it is an infamous Leylandii.

I found these fashion items in our local Shoezone - now keeping my feet warm 

in our draughty house

The colder days make it much more attractive to stay indoors doing crafts.  I finished the Urudale Farm handwarmers from Shetland - I actually visited the farm and saw some of their sheep and bought the wool directly from the farmer.  I've added fingers to make them warmer - the pattern is for a fingerless mitt. Looking at this closeup, I can see that I missed a few stitches of contrast at the top of one finger, will have to fix that.

I used the boxmaking techniques I learned at the weekend retreat a few weeks ago, to glue/sew some drawer organisers. This worked really well, and has organised the mess on one side of my dressing table.

The flat pieces, before the vertical corners are stitched by hand.

I sewed a couple more blocks for the Vintage embroidered blocks quilt.  The Sunburst instructions advised the poor technique of sewing the paper foundation arcs together, then turning under the inner and outer seam allowances and appliquing the circle to the 9-patch and background - instead of piecing in shaped corners.  This obviously resulted in huge lumps of bulk at every junction of points being folded in on itself, and it's virtually impossible to get a smooth-looking curve. I first tried a machine blanket stitch which just looked terrible, particularly on the outside of the arcs.  I unpicked the outside and redid it by hand which is an improvement but still looks poor close up.

I've been plugging away on embroidering the huge central panel, and I'm almost there - just doing the wheels and undercarriage of the wagon now.

I've also sewn a small test bag this week but I can't publish photos of that yet as it's still under embargo.

Various cartoonlike Japanese accessories are slowly taking shape, from the myriad bits and bobs that came with the Chinese kit for a Japanese house. Whoever comes up with these kits and instructions is so clever, fashioning illusions out of bits of wire, fabric and paper. I hope it is some kind of specialised engineering profession or modelmaking speciality.

I went down to London last week to visit some friends, and passed by the brilliant Hatchards Book Tree in St Pancras station.  Very Harry Potter-esque. The faux book spines are all handpainted apparently, and there were Edwardian seating alcoves around the base which were all occupied.

I had some time to wait on my return and enjoyed visiting the station shops, which have changed somewhat from when I used to commute into St Pancras 10 years ago.  There's even a Harry Potter shop now in King's Cross next to the Platform 9 3/4 photo opp.  I bought a travel journal in a stationery shop to take on my New Zealand trip.  I've spent some time lately researching Hong Kong and trying to work out what I might feel like doing in my three days there on the way to NZ.  It's difficult because there is so much you could see, and I don't know how jetlagged I will be - plus I've read warnings that the high levels of air pollution can make you feel bad the first couple of days. There are fabric and haberdashery markets which could be dangerous - the New Zealand tour I'm taking only allows one suitcase on the bus. I suppose I could try posting things home. Or find somewhere in Auckland to stash a second suitcase while I'm on tour.  Any Hong Kong tips (or NZ) gratefully received.

An entrepreneurial day

 I sold some things at a sort-of craft fair this week. I say 'sort of' because it was actually the monthly meeting of the U3A (University of the Third Age) which they decided to open up as a craft fair but not allow the public in - therefore limiting the customer base to the c. 60 elderly attendees only.  But tables were free so I thought I might as well give it a go. I collected various makes of mine languishing around the house and under beds, put silly prices on them to at least recover the cost of materials, and had a trial set-up on the dining table.  DH gave me a lift and I set out my wares.

My things were admired, and after a slow start  I sold three handbags, several draw-string gift bags, and some pincushions and small things.  I almost sold a quilt, a couple really loved it but decided that even at the rockbottom price of £85 (which probably doesn't cover the materials cost) that it was too much for their budget. It was nice to send various things off to new homes where they will be appreciated and used, and I made a grand total of £76.  It was exhausting and I'm glad it's over but it feels good to have yet more clutter out of the house.

Also on display was the little group project of 5"x7" boards that I contributed to, each with a path so that all the paths connected. Mine is fourth from the right.

When I got home, there was a Facebook message from a woman who wanted to buy all the Rowan yarn I had listed on Marketplace after my knitting room clearout - so that's also gone off to a new home. That's all the unwanted yarn gone now except for one bag of Sublime - I took a bunch of odd balls to the charity shop and the rest went on the charity table at the quilting retreat. 

I finished the Book Nook Kit.  There were a few pieces left over so I had to backtrack in the instructions and work out where they were supposed to go.  These Chinese kits mainly have pictorial instructions with some English sentences, which don't always make sense.  The end result is a bit crude but I like it, it reminds me of all the little covered shopping arcades we've been in for a cup of tea and some shopping around the UK.  The mirrored perspective is cleverly done, and the lights add a bit of magic. They are controlled by touching the icon on the front.

Feeling a bit on a roll, I have now pulled out the bigger kit for a Japanese style house that I bought a few years ago.  Same sort of thing, with a million pieces in various bags. The first job is to go through all the bits and compare them to the inventory in the instructions - I'm missing a couple of things and a couple are broken but nothing that's a deal breaker.

I added some borders to the Sewing Panel wallhanging and I think it's done now (apart from stitching around the appliqued letters).

So I've started working on  piecing blocks for the embroidered blocks quilt kit that I bought in Paducah.  I started embroidering the blocks back in Japan, and they are all done now except for the massive centre block which I'm still working on. Obviously I haven't pressed the embroidery yet and it will need to be trimmed to the correct size.

I've got all the fingers done on one of my Shetland handwarmers and I'm working on the other one now. I'd like to get them done so I can move onto one of the stranded patterns I bought up there.

You have probably noticed that my new-to-me Handiquilter is not getting mentioned - that's because I haven't really used it yet.  While the scaffolding was up and I was on call for the builder, it wasn't practical to be up on the top floor running a machine. That's been down a few weeks but I've been quite busy with other things. I don't have any simple tops to load up, everything waiting for quilting is going to require some skill - which I don't have yet. I should keep practicing on the practice sandwich but I think I'm a bit daunted to be honest. Must try harder.