Carpentry 101

 

I swear that next week I WILL take pictures at work just to prove that I have a job and am very busy;) I think that is proof in itself that I am so busy and forget to take photos. My 2 day ruler course went very well with the participants telling me that it was “outstanding”. I am so pleased that everyone went home with the confidence to have a go at ruler quilting. I worked on finishing 2 customer quilts that I feel have taken far too long way as I have been redirected to other tasks, including cutting 60+ half metres of Moda Grunge fabrics that were an urgent mail order. 

Last week I bought a hand saw and used my kitchen table to cut some second-hand MDF panels to fit the walls of my lobby. That was really heavy going but I got it done eventually then stuck them to the walls with stinky glue. 

I went to the local DIY shop and spent far more than I should have on wooden mouldings, primer and paint. It took me ages to trim them all to size and attach them to the panelling. There were some dodgy joins but one was pretty good, if I say so myself. 

I slapped primer on as fast as I could and had the initially fun then boring job of painting everything with Farrow & Ball “Cook’s Blue”. The panelling has all had one coat so far and I admit that some areas are as skilfully painted as a fishing trawler but I think it looks lovely. It is a tiny space, usually packed with coats but I thought it deserved some colour. Besides, when Nessie shakes her wet fur the dirt won’t be as noticeable!

Feels Like Spring

 

Maybe I am too hopeful but March has started with lovely weather - frosty first thing then sunny and mild. Such conditions are wasted if you are working of course but 2 days of nice weather at the weekend lifts everyone’s mood. I even decided to cut the grass which was long and straggly and had never really stopped growing. The old guy next door said it was too soon but his whole property is a mess so I ignored him. My grass is awful anyway and could not get any worse. 

I finally got the overhead locker up in the kitchen - Mel’s husband did it for me and I am thrilled with it. I am not entirely sure what will go into the cubbies (nothing too heavy) now that I have become obsessed with storage. 

Mel and Iain brought me some pieces of second hand MDF panelling which I plan to fit into my tiny lobby. I bought a hand saw and amazed myself by managing to cut it. Mel says I should become a freelance Handywoman but I don’t think I am ready to buy a van just yet;)

I was actually very busy at work this week which is my excuse for forgetting to take any snapshots. There were classes, demos, phone calls and emails to answer as well as 3 customer quilts! 

Readers who log in regularly to get quilting reports from me will think I have become a DIYer instead. Wait until I start planting things in the garden…

Some Wet Holidays

My sister and her boys loved my tiny cottage with all of its quirks and Nessie had people to play with all week. I took 3 days off and obviously it rained constantly every single day. We did not let that stop us and did a driving tour of Dartmoor, admired Tintagel Castle in the howling wind and followed that with ice cream in Port Isaac. Looe was the driest place that we visited between squalls. Of course, it was a glorious spring day when my visitors left but the next day lashed down with rain again!

It was lovely to have company and a few days just pootling about but it’s back to normal routines and work this week with a couple of quilts to longarm and further classes to plan…

Nessie wonders what I do all day...

 

Nessie spends a lot of time snoozing or looking out of the window when she is not out on squirrel patrol. I think she thinks that is what I do too when I am not at home. She is very much mistaken! I had a busy week preparing for my class on “Quilting with your Bernina”. The participants learned lots but on reflection, there was too much for just one day’s class. Feedback from one student reported that they were not in the least bit interested in the history of quilting which I mentioned in passing so that has been duly noted for future reference;) 

My sister and nephews are coming for a visit so I will be taking a couple of days off. This meant that I had to make sure everything was prepared in advance for the next batch of classes. The other job which has been getting ignored is completing the filming area so we can make short instructional videos. The idea is that the background looks like a sewing room. We found a folding screen to hide some cables and the door so I ran up some ruched panels with Bernina branded fabric. The media team has to share the space with the technician and we will have to agree on a schedule for access.

Mel and her husband, Iain came for a rake around Tavi with me on Saturday. I had hoped that he would help me to attach my IKEA cupboard to the wall. Left to my own devices I would probably have used nails and no-nails glue but as an engineer he requested that I should get a gadget to find the wooden studs behind the plasterboard so it is fixed correctly and not tilting at a bit of a slope like my so-called “floating” shelf. I blame that on the gas-man who must have leaned on it.

I wonder how my wee house will cope with 3 extra people? The spare bedroom is not big enough for 3 so someone will have to bunk down in the sitting room. It is so annoying that the new sofa is not big enough to sleep on. That was the whole point of bringing the bigger red leather one from Scotland - sadly it is now languishing in the shed!

Cats in Frocks

 

Nessie and I went on a charity shop mission to find Victorian style pictures for my arsenic green sitting room. I could not resist a barmy cross-stitch of kittens in frilly dresses. I hasten to add that it will be part of a “gallery” collection and not a main feature!

My DIY ventures continued with me spending an entire evening attempting to put up a curtain wire for curtains across my wardrobe area. After a lot of dropping tiny screws and shimmying up and down my step stool, I finished the job which would have been better attempted with 2 people, to find that the curtains sagged disastrously. I decided not to persevere and ordered a spring loaded shower curtain pole instead, which was far more successful.

A plumber came and replaced my broken bathroom radiator and when he left it was toasty. Later on it was stone cold - after much internet and soul searching, I had to turn up the thermostat that I had set to a stingey 16 degrees. After the smart new radiator was installed I put up a wee bathroom cabinet as the old one was set so high I could not actually see in the mirror. The new one is naff quality, basically cardboard, but it looks much better and serves its purpose.

Since moving here, I have been going to a weekly “Fair-Share” food larder. For a small fee you can get quite a haul of stuff that shops are getting rid of as the dates are short. This week was particularly good for veg. If there are things I don’t think I can use I take them to work and give them away and it helps to reduce food waste.

I taught a 2-day masterclass about the L890 overlocker / overstitch machine with lots of technical info followed by practical experimenting on rolled hems, gathering, sewing seams, flatlock and more. The participants were all enthused and some are looking forward to my next class on quilting which is this coming week. I really enjoyed being in teaching mode, challenging the confident students and boosting the ones who were floundering:)

My First Visitor

 

Freya finally arrived on Sunday evening! We had a lovely week together - she was able to work remotely and entertain Nessie. She loved the cottage and enjoyed cooking most evenings except when we went out for tapas and pizza. She was a huge help with little DIY projects like putting together some IKEA shelves, since I never bother to read the instructions. We also moved the furniture around to accommodate the new-to-me armchair. 

It was really nice to have such easy company, from chatting in the evening to our outing at the weekend. We spotted a kingfisher on the river, walked in the grounds of Cothele house and paid a visit to the Trago shopping emporium (not something I will repeat in a hurry). 

Hopefully I won’t be lonely this week - I will be too busy preparing for teaching a 2-day Masterclass in using the Bernina L890 overlocker/coverstitch machine. 

Another Trip Around the Sun

 It was my 57th birthday this week - the first one on my own but I had the most amazing cake at work. It was a bit of an error that it ended up being such a fancy carrot cake topped with macarons but it gave everyone enough cake at coffee time for 3 days. I FaceTimed my children and am still waiting for Freya to arrive for a visit after a dreadful train journey, plagued by train cancellations due to another bad winter storm in Scotland. 

For a change, I made a couple of successful purchases at the junk shop. There was a mock Victorian plant stand for £3.00 which I will either donate to my friend in Love or keep as a shoe rack. Maybe rashly, I bought a comfy floral armchair. I opted to get it delivered as it is too big to fit on my festival trolley and I was not sure if I could manhandle it in the door. It is coming later this week and my cottage will truly look like a Granny lives there!

Nessie is currently on her windowsill waiting for a trip to the park but as it is lashing with rain I think I will persuade her to wait;) Instead I need to get on with some lesson planing for forthcoming quilting, overlocker and binding classes.

Really Should Get Out More

 

There was a cancellation in this week’s Sewing Mastery class so I took the space and had an intensive 2 day training course on getting to know a Bernina sewing machine. This was enlightening as I have never had any training on how to use all of the features on my machine. Whether I will remember it all is another matter;)

On Saturday I gave a 2 hour lecture-demo for the QGBI virtual retreat, complete with a cream tea interval. 2 out of 3 cameras co-operated, I had extra lights and a wireless mic. I think it went pretty smoothly apart from forgetting to put a bobbin in the machine. I expect folk quite like it when “professionals” mess up and make the same daft mistakes as everyone else.

The new sofa arrived in its enormous box that only just squeezed in the door. It looks good, although is a bit firm. Nessie approves anyway!

I should probably have taken myself on an outing on my whole free day off but I spent all day doing chores and DIY tasks. Freya is coming to stay next weekend and I want her to be impressed. I got the drill out and put up extra coat hooks and stuck some solar lights near the back entrance as the alleyway is only lit by one string of fairy lights and the cobbles can be treacherous. If I could work out how to build a wardrobe I would be able to hide all the stuff that I have but don’t need. It is annoying me what I left behind - how is it possible that I only have ONE bed quilt?!

It's Not All Rock n Roll

There was snow on Dartmoor this week which was all a bit dramatic but it only rained here in town. I was invited to met my cousin for a nice walk this weekend but I guiltily cancelled because my house was in such a muddle. 

It took ALL weekend to get almost everything to fit into the back bedroom and some stuff out in the shed (with my lovely red sofa which is now up for sale). I have a tower of boxes all of workshop and office stuff that I can live without and no pressure cooker. I found a bag of coats which I need to get hooks for, even though I have managed fine with one coat since September;) 

At work I have been having a bit of a January sort-out as I have to empty the random craft items out of the drawers that I took to work to make room for longarm bits and bobs. I found my photo-sticker printer so took stock of all of the quilts stashed in boxes and put a photo on each one to easily find them again. 

Fergus’ band, Amplehouse had a big week, firstly headlining a gig in Glasgow then releasing a single on Spotify. It is called “Better Person” and is absolutely fab! He has worked so hard on it and deserves some recognition, maybe even some radio play:)

Nessie is looking forward to our new sofa arriving later this week. I looked for a second-hand one but they were either awful, huge or I needed to pay to get it delivered. I ordered one from Habitat, read the measurements carefully and fingers crossed it will fit in the door, after the delivery guys have found somewhere to park and tottered their way down my cobbled alley…

Moving Chaos

(Before things got out of hand...)

I could have predicted that I would get a day of torrential rain for moving my stuff from the damp and mousey barn into my tiny cottage. And that the Van Man, who was very obliging, would have tiny van and that his mate was not particularly handy. 

The job that should have taken a couple of hours took all day then was abandoned when it got dark and will resume on Tuesday.

The most annoying thing is that the tatty sofa that was here had to be demolished to get it out and my lovely red leather sofa is now sitting upended in the shed because it would not fit through the door so now Nessie and I have nothing to sit on!

My previously tidy, freshly painted house looks like a tornado hit - there is mud up the walls, some chunks of wallpaper missing and my new rug got torn. I guess that is why professional movers cost more than Van Men. 

It will take me a while to sort out the chaos and I have realised that when my stuff got split into 2 loads at the last minute in Scotland, the more useful household items got left behind and I have a load of workshop stuff but no workshop. Oh well, That’s Life - at least I am not flooded out like some folk after the latest winter storms further north;)

Festive Season 2024

It is a long drive from Devon to Glasgow in a Mini but so worth it to spend a week with all of my favourite children. We spent a chilly couple of days in Glasgow then went up to Aberdeenshire for Christmas. It was a bit weird seeing all that I had left behind and realising that I have stuff in storage that I don’t need but plenty of things at Brigton which I could do with. The furniture had been rearranged so there were not any really comfy chairs to lounge around in. It was discovered that I had packed the mixer, taken all of the spices and could not tell anyone where most of the roasting tins were.

Freya and Fergus did most of the Christmas cooking and we had a lovely dinner. Nessie had a few really long walks and Mo had made a fantastic job of making my kitchen chair cushions.

The car was quite full on the way back to Glasgow with 4 adults, Nessie, luggage, Christmas goodies, a tortoise and the Kitchenaid mixer on my lap. 

Nessie was surprisingly pleased to get back to her new wee house and was excited to look out for squirrels in the park. 

I spent two whole days reorganising cupboards at work and was pleased to be reunited with my longarm machine which got assembled while I was away.

I went to bed before The Bells on Hogmanay, unlike my young folk who partied in Glasgow,  and had a lazy day off apart from a rainy walk around Tavistock before clearing everything out of the spare room because I have finally arranged to move in my stuff from the damp, mousey barn!