Desperately Seeking some Christmas Spirit

Last Tuesday I went into Aberdeen to do some Christmas shopping but I was sorely disappointed. The pop-up makers’ shop that I wanted to browse was closed, the Christmas market was deserted, many shops had gone bust and everyone looked miserable. I went home lacking any festive spirit. I fared better with some of my online shopping although I do find I get easily distracted. I was looking for a simple hat with ear-flaps but came across an amazing octopus creation instead. 

My workshop is slowly drying out and seems to be less mildewy after I sprinkled the carpet with antibacterial poultry powder which has drying properties and contains a fungicide. I have done a couple of simple gifts for my folks and made a macrame covered jam jar which contains a tea-light. 

Mo commissioned me to cut and embroider some lettered cushions for one of her clients. It looked like a simple job but it actually took several hours to get the velvet letters cut and satin-stitched neatly onto linen.

 While I was doing some admin the other day I put a cheesy Christmas Musical on - “Christmas on the Square”, written by and starring Dolly Parton! Perhaps binge watching Christmas movies might help me to find some Christmas Cheer. 

Crazy Flood

It is a good job that I have been keeping on top of customer quilts because my workshop will be out of action until it dries out! We had a repeat of Storm Frank from 5-6 years ago which was meant to be a one in a hundred years type of weather event. Well, global warming is no myth here as extreme weather becomes increasingly normal. It had been raining persistently for a couple of days but eventually the ground was soaked, and the field drains overflowed. Before I knew it water was pouring in the door, seeping under the walls and coming up the drain. In the end I had to abandon ship and check the situation in daylight. 

I don’t keep much stored on the floor and I managed to shift some cardboard boxes. There was almost an inch of water to mop up, thankfully mud and sewage free. I was glad that I had bought a Vax that can suck up liquid! The problem will be getting the carpet to dry without going mouldy. The dehumidifier does not operate well in low temperatures. I have ordered some antiseptic poultry powder to use as carpet cleaner and another dehumidifier so fingers crossed we don’t get much more rain.

Before all that drama, I did the background quilting on my crazy quilt/coat. I used a variegated thread which maybe I regret. I also added a few of my favourite motifs which I will highlight with paint. While I was reminding myself how to make Qmatic do a double run of stitching, I realised that I could make it do some fancy stitches. I was able to mark out some of the wonky blocks, send the outlines to the Art and Stitch program and get it to do some machine embroidery around the areas that I had chosen. This is quite a slow process so I did some kantha stitching on areas of the quilt while the machine was busy. Considering that I thought this was going to be a longterm hand sewing project, I seem to have gone a bit “off-piste”. 

Nessie had a grand day out meeting up with some other Scottie Dogs. She was a bit puzzled at first as she thinks she is the ONLY Scottie in the world but after a while I let her off the lead and she ran around having great fun. All of the owners thought she was cute and she managed to con about 100 snacks out of them. She would probably quite like a friend to play with but just having one small dog makes life easier if I am staying with Freya or my folks. Anyway, the cats would definitely not be impressed if they had to put up with 2 Nessies!

Ducks in a Row

November may be a bit dreary at times but it tends to be busy as Quilters want projects done in time for Christmas. I will be going to Norfolk for a week or so in December so I need to get all of the jobs done by then. Apart from going out to collect a second-hand mini Dyson hoover from a Facebook Marketplace seller, I have pretty much been in my workshop getting stuff done. 

Using zips to attach quilts on the longarm means I can get the next quilt ready to go and if someone comes in with a rush-job I can unzip and swap non urgent quilts if necessary.

Unless I get more customer quilts in this week, I intend to longarm the crazyish quilt that I got from Ebay. I am going to do an allover design onto it without wadding, just a flannel backing. The idea is to keep it lightweight but stable as I intend to make a coat. In my head I am going to add some hand stitching but we will see if I actually carry out that threat. 

I do need something to stop me from speed reading through a set of 13 grisly detective novels and watching niche Youtube videos. I had to watch a disturbingly nerdy video by a Dyson fan who did a side-by-side comparison of 2 almost identical models to work out which charger plug to order. I viewed several reels about microphones to realise that I had to find a different cable for a mic to work with my Gopro camera. The sound quality when I film at the machine is OK but could be better to match the main camera. 

I ordered 40 tiny ducks from the internet - I only needed one to stick on top of my lens to give me something to focus on where presenting to the camera - the other 39 can be a stocking filler to use for a treasure hunt;)

Under and Over

 

There goes another week! Admittedly, most days are the same these days. The unseasonably warm autumn weather seems to be finished - there was a bit of a storm midweek which blew off the last of the leaves off the cherry trees which are now bare for winter. I was trying to make a video but the rain was hammering loudly on my workshop’s tin roof.

I did a couple of customer quilts, using a favourite pattern, “Stacked Snails” which looks like a modern Baptist Fan.

I came up with another project on the L890 overlocker / coverstitch machine. I fed scraps of binding into the binding attachment and made a lot of straps or belt loops. I wove these to make new fabric which could be turned into mats, purses or even a sunhat. I might make some more and see how they turn out as quilt blocks.

I scrounged an old wooden box from Mo to upcycle into a footstool for Nessie. I added castors which came with ridiculously large screws so each one is only attached by 2 screws instead of 4. The screws have gone through to the inside of the box but I don’t intend to keep anything inside. I have painted it black and will cover it with a pink sheepskin rug (which I am not convinced is real) and if Nessie turns her nose up I will put my feet up on it instead;)

Nella and Freya travelled to Paris separately to see their favourite band, “Wolf Alice”. Nella was very apprehensive to be flying solo via Schipol but she made it despite a long delay. They had a great time even though it was a short trip so that is another milestone in Nella’s new life!