After last week

 If you haven't read last week's post, I am referencing the traumatic experience with my mother-in-law when we attempted to make a start on getting her and my f-i-l ready for a move into a retirement flat.  It took us a full day to recover and I think it took my m-i-l even longer but she assures me she is now with the program and is trying to do a bit of decluttering every day.

Meanwhile, I have worked out my post event stress by ruthlessly tackling my own stash and evicting all of the same sorts of rubbish that my m-i-l is clutching onto: old curtains from the last house we moved out of 10 years ago, the homemade folding design wall I used  in that house before getting a proper wall in this house, all kinds of old home dec fabric I've been given and never used or that is left over from our current curtains and cushions, old dressmaking fabric left over from projects or that I've never used, five inherited tapestry and embroidery frames, loads of scraps left over from various things, jars and boxes that 'might be useful', bits of plastic tablecloth and ripped up bed linen, canvas I've never used, and a whole bunch of other stuff that 'might be useful' that just becomes wallpaper, unnoticed at the back of a cupboard.   I added the good stuff to the m-i-l pile and we took it all to charity today.  I also produced a  big pile of rubbish stuff which DH took to the dump. 

I also pulled out my two bins of batik fabric left over from my batik phase about 15 years ago - most of the leftovers in colours I don't particularly like, and I've donated the lot to Project Linus along with the remains of the jelly roll from my Checkered Dresden quilt instead of hanging onto more scraps. And I sold 14 book-type sewing magazines online, and got back what I paid for them, which freed up a chunk of bookshelf in the sewing room. I have so much more room in my sewing room now and have actually been able to clear most of the floor - I can walk around now without it feeling so much like an obstacle course.  It feels good.

I was on a roll so raided the spare coat closet and my own wardrobe, and we took two big bags of old or never worn coats and jackets, along with some of m-i-l's items, to a local charity shop.

The most unexpected result (for me anyway), is that I have impulsively moved up my departure date for Japan by a week so that I can see the cherry blossom after all.  Based on the latest blossom forecasts (which are a big thing in Japan),  I had philosophically accepted that once again I was going to miss the blossom time by a week or so, like all my previous trips.  But being haunted by last week's trauma of my m-i-l wailing in tears that she had wasted her life was quite a spur to stop and seize the roses now while I can.  It turned out that while I couldn't move the return date without spending almost the cost of another flight, I could change the departure date for only a change fee.  So now I will arrive in Tokyo while peak cherry blossom is still on the trees (according to the latest  government forecast anyway).  This sort of impetuosity is very unlike me and part of my brain is still panicking but the rest of me is looking forward to such an iconic experience.

As mentioned above, I got my Checkered Dresden quilt to top/flimsy stage.  The final border is a bit skimpy because I had run out of the green background fabric and didn't like it enough to order any more.  So the quilt is now up in the 'to be quilted' queue upstairs.  It's turned out alright, I like the pattern although I don't like the colours much - that's what you get when you pick up a 'bargain' jelly roll and can't really tell what you are buying because it's all wrapped up.  It's come out about a double size or perhaps a bit bigger.  I would be tempted to make the block again in colours I like more.

Since that I've been working on the final three Lori Holt Zippy Bag pouches.  I again modified them by adding a vinyl front and got them all to binding stage.  I thought I would use single-stage binding because I had some cute red gingham double fold binding from my m-i-l's stash.  What a mess.  I first tried just winging it, and of course didn't catch the binding on the back.  Then I tried clipping the binding, but it was still moving around as I sewed on my industrial machine.  I've resorted to fabric glue which is doing a better job of holding the binding in place while I stitch, but it is still much messier looking than my normal two-stage binding (where you machine on one side, then take it the back and machine again to catch the back down).  I ran out of bobbin thread after starting the second one, so have given it up as a bad job for now, I will try again tomorrow.

On the loom, I have started a set of four placemats using torn strips of leftover quilt backing from my Lori Holt Let's Bake quilt, which is in a pretty aqua colour with somewhat ugly cooking motifs on it.  Using it as weaving material, you don't see the motifs.  I'm weaving two placemats on the same warp, they are looking nice.  The thing I don't know, is whether they would be machine washable or if a washing machine would just make them fall apart.  Perhaps if I have left over warp, I will weave a bit of a test sample and run it through the machine to see what happens.

  

I finished the knitted wool hat that I started on the Malta trip, it fits well and the double band feels nice over my ears.   Of course, meanwhile the outside temperatures have jumped up to 12 degrees so I may not be wearing this until next winter.

I've been plugging away on my multi-coloured bobbin lace and finally am starting to have somethign to show for it.

This is from a German book that I bought several years ago, with several patterns in multi-colours that I was really attracted to after years of making only white or ecru lace.  This is why I taught myself Bruges lace the last couple of years, so I could try out some of the patterns.  However, now that I'm actually doing it, I can't really say I'm enjoying it.  There is a lot of stopping and starting with the different colour motifs, which you have to do in the right order so that later motifs join to earlier motifs.  And a lot of sewings (joins) which I find tedious.  I'm glad I'm trying it but I think maybe I won't be making so many things out of this book after all.  I liked Bucks lace better, where you just continuously work on one pattern in one colour.

Since I'm now leaving in just over a month, I am starting to think about what craft projects I will take with me to do on the trip.  Probably a cross stitch project, and possibly also the Gail Pan BOM 'Bloom and Sew' quilt that I have signed up to.  Bloom and Sew is a mystery quilt with blocks that are a mixture of the designer's characteristic embroidered motifs featuring flowers and sewing themes, and pieced fabric.  I'm thinking I will take the embroidery with me to do on the trip, because that worked quite well on my last trip to Japan when I was embroidering the blocks for the Paducah quilt kit. And I'll need a knitting project for the plane, but I'm not sure what.  Usually I take either a lace shawl or socks, but I have many multiples of both shawls and socks and really don't need any more. I'm trying to think what else would have the same benefits of a single ball of yarn with lots of knitting time from it.  Suggestions gratefully received!