The joys of a winter duvet

Oh those doubters out there - last night's sleep was wonderful.  As the wind and rain lashed the house I was snuggled down between the feather duvet and bed topper - it felt so comfortable and reassuring that it was a pain to let go so early.  When that alarm went off at 6am I could have cried!  Why so early you ask?  Well M & S were delivering the bed for upstairs between 8 and 10 and could ring around 7 to tell me that they were an hour away.  One has to be ready!  As it was they arrived around 8:40am and the new bed was quickly unpacked and assembled.  The mattress is coming from a different firm and will arrive on Wednesday - that plan is coming together and the upstairs bedroom is turning into a lovely comfortable spare room.




I am, however, still tired and everything today has felt like I am swimming through treacle.  Housework was done and post posted.  Otherwise I have been sewing - firstly making a start on some tea towel bags to sell at the Scamblesby Art Fayre in October.  The tote bags are made simply from Tea towels - often tea towels have nice motifs on and are made from stronger fabric than fat quarters.




Then it was time to assemble everything (plus the kitchen sink) for a Scamblesby sewing day tomorrow.  With my Christmas present list seemingly growing day by day I have decided to use these days to make the smaller gifts and, hopefully, start crossing off the list.  With only 98 days ad 8 hiurs to go I am not panicking - honest!

This evening (yes that is really all I have done today, apart from dozing through a lunchtime catch up of the soaps from yesterday!) the plan is to make a start on the applique that needs to be finished for the Textile Group on Monday.  I don't half leave things to the last minute!!!

Dieting wise everything is still on track.  Mind you - I am also doing more cooking - breakfast was Kedgeree, lunch was Bacon and Asparagus Pesto Pasta and Dinner will be a steak casserole with veg.  All of which takes time to create!

The weather is on the turn - thank goodness!

As I shivered last night beneath the summer duvet, my mind was made up - it was time to go back to the winter duvet.  I may live to regret this but I do love my feather duvet!  So my day started with bed stripping and washing.  Taking the summer duvet off meant that I could sort the dog bed out, wash that bedding and then give them my duvet (its cheap enough to have a new one every year).  Cue a disgusted look from Millie who doesn't like the smell of newly washed bedding - and look how much hair the dryer has managed to extract from the bedding!! Shocking!  Needless to say both the dryer and the washer have had an empty run through to ensure that they are properly clean!






Today has therefore been an at home day - one where I can get some more sewing under my belt.  However I am extremely tired so it was also one of those days when everything seemed to take an age to do!  First up was / should have been  a simple task - 4 coasters to match Mum's table runner.  That way I can get it into the post tomorrow.  Needless to say the unpicker came out in sympathy.




The next project was one that I have wanted to do ever since I made my artisan apron - some raw edge applique flowers up one side (see Pat I promised you that I would do them!).  I had also unpacked my bag from the weekend workshops and came across the flower heads that we cut on the ScanNCut machine so used them - that way it can be a reminder of the "fun" that we had!




The final job, before sorting out upstairs so that the delivery men have room to deliver my bed tomorrow morning (the delivery time is sometime between 8am and 10am - yikes!), it was time to trace a couple of designs ready for some applique.  Mind you I also came across an idea for our next project - Sewingbuddy - what do you think?

could this be the best £3.07 that I have ever spent?

Today was another early start before I headed off to my hair appointment.  It seems as if my appoints come around far too quickly but it is a very pleasant way to spend an hour - settled down with a good book and supplied with endless coffee!

After the weekly shop, I then popped into B & Q.  Having now got a neat front garden, I wanted to tackle the weeds growing in the cracks on the drive.  I found this gadget for £3.07 and have had fun this afternoon - scraping them out with ease.  In fact I am now looking at a very clear driveway!  The next job will be to sort the grass verge outside the property (the council never mow it) and then start to paint the endless fencing.  I will soon have to start charging admission!


The rest of the afternoon has, I am sad to say, gone quickly.  Dogs have been walked and housework done.  My aim, today, has been to get the house sewing ready - tomorrow and Saturday I have little planned so can have an extended period working on some Christmas presents / projects.  Of course, if the weather improves (it is grey and overcast here and is forecast to rain tomorrow) I shall start the painting.

Happy accidents - and today's mystery tour

So we set off to our mystery destination!  However it soon became clear - particularly when Sewingbuddy joined us and the Humber Bridge came into view - that we were off to Scarborough.  Wendy had never been to the fabric shop so we were off for the day! Now you have to understand that we have never yet gone the same way there and back - often travelling the whole 2 1/2 hours with no toilet/ coffee stop.  Today was no different -apart from the fact that we stumbled across a craft centre, set out as a castle indoors, with a pair of stocks to keep Sewingbuddy in place!!  What a happy accident!





Once at the fabric shop, Wendy was beside herself - finding treasure after treasure!  She was, I am happy to report, quite restrained! (but would go again!).







After we left Scarborough, it seemed to be sacrilegious not to stop off at Bridlington, have some lunch and visit a sewing shop that Sewingbuddy and I had discovered on our art holiday - cue more spending!(all essential you understand though).  Sewingbuddy had rung ahead and booked us into somewhere for lunch (somewhere with a great view)- where I tried the extremely slimming steak pie and chips!

So my mystery trip was a lovely day out, expensive but really good fun - and I came back to a finished front garden - well finished as far as the gardener is concerned.  I am trying to save the fuchsia but also need to paint the fencing and weed between the cracks in the concrete. All in good time!

Time for a change

Today started with another hospital appointment - it was the follow up appointment to the fitting of the prism and we went through the same series of tests in order to check progress.  I am pleased to say that they are happy and have discharged me - apparently there is some slight resettling issue to my bottom left but she thinks its just the eye problem settling down.  I asked her if it could come back and she said its possible but if the medication controlling the temporal arteritis is helping then continue to take as prescribed and I should be okay.

After some shopping, and taking the car to be cleaned (it hadn't been done since the end of June!), I went to another Slimming world class for this week's weigh in.  Wendy has told me that we are on a mystery day out tomorrow so I am not sure if I would be back in time / want to rush in and out leaving the dogs alone again.  Truthfully I wasn't expecting much of a result - my home scales certainly hadn't budged an inch - but I have been good this week and always sufferred from a week 2 dip.  However I am delighted to say that I lost 4 pounds - making it a total of 15 pounds in two weeks - woop woop - over one third towards my target of three stone in three months!  I even got another certificate!

Of course the main news today is that my front garden is being cleared as we speak.  These are the appalling before photos - I just gave up on the weeding once I knew that it was going to be done.  On one of the hottest days of the year, he has worked hard to clear everything - including the old gravel and replenish it.  My next job will be to paint the fence and prune the bushes.

So as he toiled in the front I put my feet up  had some lunch and then got ready for sewing tonight / mowed the back lawn.  I also had to take my quilt down from the wall since we've been asked to take it - I wonder if I will get told off for disobeying miss and using the wrong colour for the sashing?

Housework wise it was the turn of the kitchen and the bedroom to get the going over.  Neither were too disastrous so easily done within the limited time available.

The gift of the gab!

After a crafting week it is time to look after the house and try to restore order - even I have my limits!  So, after a lie in, it was up and at the conservatory - window frames cleaned down, floors swept, carpets hovered and items from the old shed nicely arranged in the new and expanding shed.  There are some wooden planters waiting to be painted to go one the new patio - when it happens - but they are staying in until they are weather proofed.  It felt like a productive morning.

Next up was a cheeky request to the garage - the warning light in my car had come on telling methat the tyre pressure was low.  A former student nicely sorted it out for me - for free - sometimes it helps to be a helpless female.

Then it was on to the Textile Group.  We were low in numbers today- just Carine and I tackling Janet Clare's one mini charm pack project - but I was able to grill Carine on her success yesterday in the Great North Run and admire her medal.









A tip run called with a car full of old plastic bits, textiles etc - all sorted as requested.  As I arrived at the recycling centre I noticed a sign writing firm.  The tutor, yesterday, had said that she got her vinyl for free from sign writing firms as they often have offcuts so I tried my luck.  I don't know what I imagined but maybe a bag of scrunched up bits - so when the secretary brought through some pristine lengths I was overjoyed.








But then the boss arrived with this box and asked if it was of any use.  I asked how much but he gave it for free saying that they have good intentions and try to save it but then forget and it gets ruined so is thrown away.  I guess that this will all divide into 4 for Sewingbuddy, Lynn, Jean and I - what a good find!  Now we just have to use it of course!  Cue lots of vinyl related Christmas presents!

Oh dear me dear -some people just shouldn't teach!

Maybe it's because I am a former teacher and my judgement is clouded but the crafting world seems to be populated by people with lots of knowledge who think that they can teach. Well, and especially after the second workshop today, let me tell you that some can't.  In my opinion, teachers need to be (in no particular order):-

• enthusiastic,
• knowledgeable,
• motivational,
• able to plan a structured course,
• be well prepared,
• empathetic,
• able to quickly judge the starting points of their students in order to meet their learning needs, and
• provide pace and challenge to ensure that students do not go off task.

I could go on.

Our tutor certainly knew her stuff - well, that is unless you asked her anything about fabric or the software that supports the machine - although, to be fair, she did offer us a free follow up course re fabric (we won't be going - see below).  She also had spent some time collating different types of paper and adhesive sheets for us to try different projects on.  But there appeared to be little planning, certainly no challenge or motivation (we were, at one point, given a gold piece of vinyl and told to do what we wanted to - err?) and I certainly drew the line when I was tapped firmly on the shoulder - twice - when I dared to do it differently to the way she wanted us to do - even though my way would have worked.  In fact, at one point, Lynn called her out on something that she said, but I didn't hear, and she apologised for being rude.  Never have I spent two days in such good company but with such an aggressive tutor.  To cap it all - she told us - on many occasions - that she has been in this business for 10 years and that this was the third workshop that she had done - err?

To be fair, as I said yesterday, I have come away knowing more that I started the weekend with - but would I go back to another workshop with her?  Not on your nelly!  As I said - some people are just not cut out to be teachers - let them develop their other strengths - please!