Christmas Chaos

 

Christmas with one extra person and a dog seemed more chaotic than usual. I did not get to do my jigsaw puzzle much because there was nowhere safe to leave it out. I have often accused Nessie of eating one piece so leaving set up with a curious puppy did not seem like a good idea. Nessie ended up mostly opting out of the sitting room - she and Fizzle kept out of the way, probably hatching plans for revenge.

Freya made me a cute little sconce from clay, Nella gifted me a non-alcoholic blood orange cordial and Fergus got me edibles (chocolate - not magic mushrooms!) My sister gave me a fabulous swimming hat with rubber petals because I expressed a desire to try out the local pool. 

We had 2 bouts of very heavy rain which caused more flooding hereabouts so I have not bothered to give my workshop a pre-New Year tidy as I still have sandbags and towels by the door. 

The kitchen was a bit chaotic - George brought a haunch of venison that did not fit in the oven and he was not accustomed to our casual approach to oven temperatures or timings. I got a bit flustered and accidentally turned the top oven onto the grill function so my hot oil for spuds created one or two slightly alarming flames. 

It was lovely to have guests for the holidays but I think we all (especially Nessie) secretly heaved a sigh of relief when they departed. I will be heading to Norfolk with Nella so it will feel like an extended holiday but at some point January will hit me hard and I will have to get stuck into lists/projects/quilts!

Festive Drama

I had to collect Nella from Aberdeen bus station so went for a wee wander around Union Square shopping centre while I waited. I went into the new Seasalt shop which already had a sale on. I stroked the velvet dresses to see if they were as wrong as the ones I had seen in Norwich and to my horror, I discovered that all of the nap was running in the wrong direction. When I helpfully informed the sales assistant, she insisted snippily that the designers would have requested that. It made me shudder to think that if I ran my hands down my imaginary party frock, the fabric would feel bristly!

The week was spent endlessly making grocery lists, trying not to eat the food that I was stock-piling for Actual Christmas. In between hot chocolates and schmaltzy Christmas films, I did at least some “Art and Stitch” practice.

Freya arrived with boyfriend, George and his rather scatty young collie, Poppy. Poppy has made it her mission to terrorise Nessie. Freya unwisely got in the middle of a dog fracas and got hit in the face which broke off her front tooth crown (that she smashed when canoeing at Uni). Obviously, dentists are all closed for the hols… Poppy has also decided that it is a good idea to poop under the Christmas tree even after she has been outside to go to the toilet. The seagrass matting that we have is not the ideal type of flooring from which to remove squashed-in poop. Nessie and Fizz have decided to spend Christmas together in my room, minding their own business. On Christmas Eve morning everyone is walking on eggshells, hoping there won’t be any more drama. I honestly think I should write a sit-com. I am almost tempted to pour a large gin and cranberry, despite having been teetotal for almost a year;)

Only a Week to Go!

When my children were younger Christmas did not begin until after Fergus’ birthday on December 11th. We have an artificial tree now so it has been up with only its lights on, waiting for Nella to “dress” it when she arrives home. I must admit that I sort of miss the frantic round of Christmas concerts and performances. The trouble is that since the festive season starts so early nowadays, the whole thing is spread out and there seems to be no definite Christmas period (for me, at least).  All of the Christmas Fayres are over already and I never go into Aberdeen where there probably are not any jolly carollers anyway;)

Fergus was 22 this week and I made him a semi festive cake. It was gingerbread with cream cheese frosting and cranberry sauce in between the layers. It was meant to be one of those “naked” cakes ie. inexpertly iced. I had a shortage of plain cream cheese so mine was a bit bald. I had bought 3 cartons of the stuff but had not checked the labels and discovered that they were the garlic and herb version! It tasted great - the sharp cranberry sauce helped to cut through the super-sweet frosting. I put together a fancy breakfast box as he is a bit of a foodie. I was going to order it online but the company did not deliver here. He was very pleased and gets to keep the IKEA crate.

I finished the bunny cushion but forgot to take a photo before I wrapped it. A DIY customer who has been waiting a while came and completed her grand-daughter’s quilt. I continued to work my way through digitising tutorials for Art and Stitch. There is a lot that I don’t feel I would ever want to bother with but I need to know how it all works. I have also signed up for a pricey digital Quilt-a-Long but I am treating it as a learning experience. 

Other than that, I have tried to wrap some gifts, scrawled a few cards, done some grocery shopping, and cleared the junk out of Nella’s room that had been dumped by other members of the household who did not want it in their rooms! Nessie had a pre-Christmas trim and was not impressed while Fizz remains oblivious to everything.

Woeful Weather

 Nessie and I travelled back to Scotland by train which is a long way with a dog on your lap, sometimes the floor. She was very good, especially at Edinburgh Waverley where we had 10 minutes to change platforms. Thistle (Fizz) was delighted to see me and was especially pleased that she could get access to my bed. Meanwhile my room had been turned into a recording studio and Nella’s room seemed to have been filled with the junk that everyone else had decided they no longer wanted in their rooms. It seems that I will have some serious sorting to add to my list of pre Christmas preparations and my general ever expanding To-Do list. 

We had extreme weather again this week with temperatures so low that it was minus something in my workshop. Since I had received chase-up calls from customers wondering what had happened to their Christmas quilts (they did not say they were Christmas quilts), I had to wrap up and get on with it. I am so glad that I was on top of things before I went away so I “only” had to quilt 2 and bind 5! I have now declared that I will not try to do any more customer quilts this side of Christmas:)

After the freeze, we had rain and more rain and I had to put sandbags outside the workshop door as the water was rushing off the field and 6” deep in the trench outside. This used to happen occasionally but now it happens several times a year and I have to shift everything and hope for the best that I just have to dry the carpet out afterwards. 

I caught up with Mo and asked her very nicely if she would be able to staple some scrap fabric onto a swivel chair that I found in the yurt. She found some fabulous leopard-print corduroy and I had the chair back together later that day.

I have been frantically doing some online shopping without any success for Nella then realised that I had intended to make her a bunny cushion from an Elizabeth Hartman pattern. Luckily, I had already cut out the 60-odd tiny pieces to make a small bunny in dungarees. I took most of a Saturday to do the single bunny block then I made a random patchwork cushion back in case she does not want to see the bunny all the time. 

Festive Felbrigg

 This is my third and final Sunday in Norfolk. Things have been hectic but having routines has helped. My Mother is recovering well and arrangements are in place to lighten the load of caring for my Dad. My sister is nearby but cannot be expected to put her life on hold and she has not persuaded me to move to Norfolk;)

I had an outing to Felbrigg Hall with Nella. It is a National Trust property in North Norfolk and it had put on a Christmas display of Christmas trees, lights and drawings of countryside creatures. I was intrigued by the notion of mushroom music but it was not even playing so I have no idea what it was meant to sound like. 

I am looking forward to getting back to “normal” back home. I am sure it will be a hectic couple of weeks as Christmas is looming fast with Fergus’ birthday before that!

Organising Chaos

 It has been quite a week! I started out by taking my dad to the dentist then a care home for a week’s respite visit, then my sister and I took my Mum home from hospital. She is finding it difficult to rest and recuperate as she usually runs around after my Dad. She had become quite stressed and overwhelmed, which I am sure led to the mini-stroke (TIA). I have tried to find ways of simplifying daily life here. I don’t know whether it is because their house is spacious and has lots of cupboards but there seemed to be “stuff” stashed in multiple places. I find that organising things reduces stress so I rounded up all of the meds and first aid supplies, putting them into labelled boxes in one sideboard. I will probably find that everything gets returned to its original place when I leave;)

Although I brought my laptop to try and do some work, my role as a temporary carer takes  an astonishing amount of time, patience and brain-space. I admire anyone who deals with it full time and I feel that people who work with Old People deserve far better wages!

I did go into Norwich one late afternoon for a mooch and met Nella for dinner which was nice. Nessie has been a very good dog and loves sitting on the back of the sofa to watch out for visitors.

The coming week will be interesting as I will be the carer for both parents. My sister and I are trying to persuade my Mum to accept more help and once that is in place I should be able to head home. I think my Dad would like me to hang around as long as possible but I definitely want to be back for Fergus’ birthday in mid December at the latest.

This was Not part of The Plan…

 

Things were ticking along nicely in my workshop - I had to do a couple of customer quilts with binding and I planned to keep working through the Art and Stitch manual. On the side I was posting junk for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

Everything changed mid-week when my sister called to say that it looked like my Mother was having a stroke! I threw some stuff into a bag, booked a one way train ticket and headed to Norfolk with Nessie.

Things were up in the air for a while until we knew how serious the episode had been. It was what is described as a TIA with some other medical issues caused by the strain of being a round-the-clock carer for my dad. My sister and I have been poking our noses in for a while, trying to suggest how to make life easier but this has been a huge wake-up call and some changes will have to be made so my Mum can cope better and stay healthy.

I am a bit scared that I will be “told off” for clearing out the fridge and not rescuing the marmalade under a thick covering of green mould. My sister keeps reminding me that I am not actually 15 any more and am allowed to make some executive decisions. 

Quilting Workout

 

At the start of the year I declared that I would like to be fitter but I confess that I have done nothing about it. However, this week I had quite the quilting workout. Liz and Frances were here with an impressive collection of quilts. We had both machines going doing freehand and computerised quilting, using up more than a full roll of wadding. The results were super:)

The other thing that had me dashing about was having a bit of a clearout - I had some success selling a few things on Facebook Marketplace and Vinted which has spurred me on to get rid of some things that I have been hanging onto. This week I will advertise my vintage sweet-shop scales and the Raeburn cooker which has sat dormant in the garage for years. As a self-confessed junk shop addict, my house, yurt, summerhouse and workshop are all bursting at the seams. 

Sadly, I have to report that Pepper aka Blue Cat has died at the grand old age of almost 20. She was a bit of a weirdo really but a lovable character and we will miss her as we had her for 14 of those years. 

Freya came for the weekend with her boyfriend, George and his border x bearded collie pup, Poppy. Nessie was not too impressed with the visitor who was a bit bumptious for her liking. She is good at putting cats in their place (she thinks) but she preferred the new dog to be outside. The Christmas hols are going to be interesting…

Fireworks and Fluff

Unless I have a list to cross off, I feel as though I have achieved nothing in Life. That list can include walk / brush dog just so I feel I have earned the right to exist in the world. Of course, the Universe could not give a toss whether I make my bed, water my plants or brush my hair…

I completed the experimental non-slip sofa cover which does a pretty good job. The red is nowhere near the shade of the original sofa which needs a really deep treatment of leather cream. Now, I should really make another one for the other sofa but it really was not a thrilling task. The worst thing was the amount of red, fuzzy fluff that got absolutely everywhere.

Despite my Q-matic system occasionally going on strike because I have not yet fitted the new cables, I managed to get 2 customer quilts done. 

The other major task I have set myself without deviating into any other projects is to become an expert on all of the ins and outs of “Art and Stitch”. I have been carefully working my way through the manual, getting more familiar with it all. I still don’t understand why things don’t always work out how the instructions explain it and I freely admit that I find drawing with Beziers (nodes and vectors) bamboozling! With perseverance, I hope to get there in the end.

I can’t believe we are in November already. Freya came for a visit and we went to the popular fireworks display in Banchory. It was muddy and crowded but we got a place right at the front and enjoyed the 30 minute spectacle and large bonfire. Instead of queueing for food there we had hot-dogs and soup at home which was far more civilised.

Spooky and Soggy

Freya and I celebrated Nella’s 20th Birthday with her in Norfolk. As a child, Nella always used to request a different birthday cake every year and this year it was meant to be a pink angel cake (vegan). Like a Bakeoff contestant, I should have practised at home because using egg replacement, an unfamiliar oven with a dodgy thermostat and oddly shallow tins was all a bit much and I ended up having 3 attempts until I had an edible result. The first batch rose, dropped bits all over the oven then when I thought I had switched it off, I had actually turned on the grill so I burnt it!

I wore a frock to take Nella out for dinner but my Dad commented that it was a bit jazzy and was I dressed up as a Vegan?

Freya was busy working remotely most of the week but she had a day off mid-week and we went to a pumpkin farm. 

I had originally planned to drive home in one trip but with more heavy rain forecast, I stayed with Freya overnight in Glasgow. She lives right next to the Botanic Gardens where there is a seasonal event called “Glas-Glow”. Nessie always enjoys a walk around there as she thinks she might catch squirrels. There was a super display of pumpkins there by local school children. I drove the rest of the way home on Sunday but it took ages due to the weather, roadworks and detours. 

I decided to leave my unpacking until Monday morning and after that I had to reorganise my workshop. Even though I had shifted some furniture in case of a flood, Storm Babet caused more water seepage than the last time we had a bad storm. Such events used to be rare but now they seem to be at least an annual event. Fortunately, it had all been mopped up by the time I got home and I just had to have a bit of a tidy-up. 

I have loaded an experimental project onto my quilt frame. I am hoping to make non-slip sofa covers to replace the hideous stretchy nylon ones. I have 2 lovely red leather vintage sofas but keep them covered up so pets can sit on them too;) The “quilt” is red fluffy fabric and rubbery stuff to stop rugs from slipping (no wadding) so it will be interesting to see if that works.