I spent all of last Sunday working out how to put my patchwork coat together which was not technically difficult at all, apart from me not getting my head around how to get the sleeves together. I had to unpick the cuffs because I created a closed tube somehow. Basically everything got “bagged out” apart from the sleeves which I finished with binding because I can do that. I topstitched all the way round to hold it all together. I believe there should have been some under-stitching, whatever that is but I thought that was too much effort. I think there is possibly too much collar but to be honest I think a mannequin will wear it more than I do, especially if I take it to FoQ where it will be rather warm for a quilted garment.
I ordered a vintage Moulinex salad spinner from Vinted in case I had to spin dry my undies if the washing machine remained out of action. The knob arrived shattered so I have tried to glue it back together. If that does not work perhaps I can attach a small doorknob instead.
We had another week of heat so when I worked from home on Friday I swapped a cup of tea for an ice lolly. My neighbour said he would water my plant pots while I am away.
I am back in Norfolk for Nella’s Graduation in Textiles at Norwich University of the Arts. We had a grand day out at the Norwich Lanes Festival where she got her face painted as a tiger. The medieval back streets were jam packed with people, handicraft stalls, pop-up bars, street food, DJs and an amazing carnival atmosphere.
Freya and Fergus arrived later in the evening so we should have a lovely few days together this week:)
I consider myself to be a problem solver or a fixer, without the dodgy associations of crime or MI6.
My children have often commented that they just want me to listen sympathetically, rather than come up with ingenious solutions to whatever problem they have.
This week a non local customer, who was on a fishing trip, came into work first thing to present me with a lovely bunch of flowers. I had helped her to fix her jammed longarm machine remotely by telling her how to get everything unstuck.
Someone brought in a battered vintage Bernina that she had inherited from her mother. I cleaned out a lot of fluff, gave it some oil and it performed very well apart from not doing the fancy stitches. These are operated with some cogs which could have been worn or required a full service. The new owner was pleased as she only wanted to make bunting and cushions.
The washing machine in my cottage conked out last week. It turned on but would not fill with water. I am responsible for replacing the white goods and I dreaded the thought of trying to get the old machine out and down the cobbled alleyway to the street, let alone acquiring another one, probably second hand, and getting it back into the cottage. I took my laundry to work as there is an ancient washing machine in the building’s downstairs kitchenette that is used by the garden machinery business for washing boiler suits.
A visitor, who only called in for a cup of tea, helped me to pull out the dead washing machine and I thought I would just try plugging it in to the neighbouring socket. Amazingly, this brought it back to life!
If only I could work out how to solve bigger problems like how to get divorce proceedings going;)
I plan on spending Sunday figuring out how to put my quilted coat together. I hope it just means joining the outside pieces, same with the inside, attempting under-stitching, bagging it out then maybe top-stitching…?
