Around the Houses

It is rather annoying that some sellers on Ebay and Amazon claim to be from the UK when they are in fact based in China, so items take ages to arrive. A box of 60” tape measures finally arrived that looked positively vintage although the contents had never been used. I devised a way of sewing them onto my mini zipper canvases so both zeros met in the middle and I even wrote down detailed instructions in case I ever need to make 4 sets again. 

I am never sure how much work I will get done during school holidays but I loaded a sweet customer quilt called “Welcome Home in Spring” and started off with a basic bead-board border. The plan is to stitch-in-the-ditch around all of the applique, add some detail on roofs, some free-motion in large areas of sky or grass then decide if it needs any more quilting after that. It is one of those projects where I could just keep going - adding chimney smoke, paw prints, flower pots…

I was required to be a Roadie for Fergus for a band rehearsal then I detoured to IKEA to collect a Raskog trolley so each Q24 can have its own set of kit parked nearby. Since I had now made 4 sets of zippered leaders I decided to make 2 more one-hour baskets. As I could not find the fabric that I quilted before, I used off-cuts from the vintage kantha jacket that I had tailored for me in India. I have really enjoyed making these baskets as they are so easy and useful so next I made 2 smaller ones to hold Q24 cleaning kits. I even had to buy mini tins of WD40 that would fit nicely in each basket!

Much time was wasted online and on the phone trying to line up Young Driver insurance in the event that Fergus might pass his driving test. Because he is 17 and a boy the prices were shocking and some companies would not insure him at all. His lesson and test began at 7am on Friday morning and I was so pleased for him when he sent a text with good news. 

We went to collect a pre-loved VW Polo from one of my quilting friends and he drove it back home sedately following my Landrover. He gave it a quick wash and then spent much of the weekend driving around on little jaunts to the shop, beach, around the block, and even to Aberdeen city centre. It will be very handy to have an extra driver and vehicle - I just have to hope he continues to be a sensible motorist.