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!