Buy it or Work Out how to Make it?!

 

The obsessive rabbit hole that I fell into this week was all to do with Travel Journals. I have been accumulating stationery for my (grown-up) children to keep holiday diaries like they did when they were little. Obviously, I had to watch copious Youtube videos and several of the channels recommended a pouch by Delfonics to in which to keep all of the bits and bobs. Those pouches are Japanese and cost a minimum of £40.00 so I decided that I could make my own. Firstly, I ordered a pdf pattern which cost me $5.00 then I had to watch 4 painful episodes on YouTube in which the maker kept apologising for making mistakes like the pockets being too small to hold pens. I got the gist and make my first prototype. 

I used very heavy duty canvas which was not conducive to making square corners so the next one I had a go at had rounded corners. The thing was getting the zip band to fit the circumference of the bag panels. It has to be considerably smaller and my maths is not up to figuring out ratios so I worked by trial and error. I spent FAR more time figuring out this project than I should have so if I had bought the Delfonics pouch for £40.00 I would have been quids in;) Well, now I have drafted a pattern which I will refine further to include pockets with gussets and a super-neat lining.  Eventually I will make a Youtube video which I hope will be easy to follow!

Nella had asked if “we” could make her a quilted jacket which meant could I order the fabric, quilt it, cut it out and work out how to put it together. I spent a long, stressful day figuring out how to put the relatively simple jacket together so I could post it to her in Norwich. She is delighted with it but has not sent any photos. My selfie does not really show it off properly…

Since I was spending so much time in the workshop, I managed to get a couple of customer quilts done in the background:)

Is Decluttering Worth the Hassle?

I know there are successful “Sort Your Life Out” experts out there but I have to say that I find decluttering exhausting. I can’t swing a cat in my workshop and Freya might be bringing the contents of her flat here so I am trying to clear out some of the stuff that I don’t actually “need”. I have been listing a few things on Facebook Marketplace but there are a lot of scammers and chancers to look out for. I sold a nice, red formica table and stools that I loved but they were not being used and were taking up floor space. The trouble is that that I am then tempted to use the cash to buy some camera gadget or accessory that I also don’t “need”. Someone wants me to post a heavy vintage leather suitcase and I would love someone to take the antique treadle sewing machine off my hands but I know that they are not very popular here. 

I had a couple of disasters with the Royal Mail this week. For months I have successfully used their parcel pickup service. The Postie brings the label and I don’t have to queue up at the Post Office. I have a new Postie who muddled things up - my sister got my Amazon return, Amazon must have received a crappy old lamp that I sent her and Fergus’ parcel arrived back home because the label ”fell off”. From now on I will be writing on every parcel in Sharpie and taping on the QR code, even though I should not have to;)

I only did one customer quilt this week - blocks that look like wintry windows which had an all-over snowflake pattern.

I finally tackled the cutting out of the Tula Pink butterfly quilt this week and it took 3 tedious days! It was a lot of sorting and organising, not aided by some of the fabrics in the kit being short on quantity. I had to join some scraps together and rummage in my stash for similar colours. Some of the pieces are ridiculously small and the Quiltalong group that has already started stitching agrees that accurate piecing is tricky. There are some very small Drunkard’s Path pieces that I might decide to bondaweb appliqué instead of getting annoyed with piecing them together. Life is too short to get frustrated by what is meant to be a “fun” side project!