Another Week and a Bit That Was

Another week and a half has passed with life consisting of work, the supermarket and home, but I don't mind too much.  I always have plenty to keep me amused here.

After the glorious weather on the weekend a week ago, the forecast cold change came through with a vengeance last Monday, bringing heavy snow to some areas in the district.  It was 22 degrees on the Sunday, and 5 degrees on the Tuesday.  I had to pop into work for a bit on a couple of my usual days off, as one of my colleagues was snowed in.  The heaviest snow they have had for a few years.  We just had rain, receiving 55mm over the two days. This, on top of the already saturated ground caused some minor flooding, with the low level bridge under water for a couple of days, but I didn't get a chance to take a photo, as we aren't supposed to be out sightseeing.

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise on Friday, which brought a bit more rain, but not too much.

I had my first go at Click and Collect shopping on Friday, as there were a few things that were on special at Spotlight that I wanted. It worked a treat. They had them ready in about an hour.  Of course, it was while it was raining, and freezing cold. that I went to collect them. There were some pretty low volume fabrics and thread at 40% off. Of course, the large reels of white thread were already sold out. 

Some good news for the week is that on Thursday we both had our second Covid 19 vaccination shot.  Unlike the first one, where we felt a bit doughy on the following day, this time we had no symptoms at all.  It is a good feeling to have that all behind us.  

I didn't do any sewing over the weekend.  This is why.

Because, how can you work in this mess?

Mick worked all weekend (so much for retirement), so I turned up the music (at Lou's suggestion) and started having a tidy up.  

Everywhere seemed to be a dumping ground.

That looks better.

I even had found a home for my Pinnock machine, which was just sitting on my sewing table.  I had a large rattan basket with all sorts of ironing bits and bobs that are rarely used on this dresser.  Realistically, I just use the water bottles to fill  the iron, the mister bottle, the lint roller and my applique mat.  I found a smaller basket for them and have the rest stored in the bottom of the dresser.  So much better, but still accessible, when needed.  Let's face it, I didn't need all the lint roller refills, defuzzers, tiny travel iron and tailor's ham on the bench.

Mick was especially pleased that I had excavated the arm chair, so he has somewhere to sit, if he wants.

I then started sorting out some boxes, and shock. horror, actually labelled some.  Who'd have thought!!!

All my vintage doileys are properly stored, not just dumped all over the place.

There are still a few things that need to find homes or otherwise be dealt with......like the mending....and the taking up of hems on PJs and trackie dacks that have been sitting there for months.  I'll feel much better when I get that ticked off the list, and it will get a clothes basket off the floor.

I also started playing with threads.  

I've always been a bit anal, in that I generally only use cotton threads in my patchwork and applique and have quite a collection, due to enjoying machine applique. It's actually more organised than it looks.

I then have a drawer of poly threads that rarely get used.  Mick's Mum's sewing stuff has come to live with me, so I thought it was time to put her threads in with mine.  So may threads, nearly all poly. So, now I will try to use as many of these as I can in my patchwork.  I don't quite get the reasoning that you shouldn't use poly thread in your piecing, as it will melt when you iron it.  How hot must some people have their iron?  My clothes are sewn with poly and they don't fall apart when ironed.  The other reasoning is that the thread is stronger than the fabric, so the fabric will wear out quicker than the stitching.  Well, I'm not sure any of my quilts are going to have that amount of wear. I will still use cotton on what I would consider to be a special quilt, but for others I will try to start to use this large supply of threads.  I've seen some quilts where they use lots of different colours in straight line or wavy line quilting.  That might be a bit of fun and use up some of the brighter threads.

Anyway, my sewing room is much better than it was a week ago and I feel that I can actually do some sewing.  The first thing is to finish the garden trellis quilt top and then decide what I will work on next.

I did get to bake some more muffins on the weekend.  These are peanut butter and banana.   

It was also the weekend that I stepped out of my comfort zone....Mick needed a haircut.  He normally pops down to the local barber and has a Number 2 buzz cut.  That way he reckons he doesn't have to go as often.  He has been getting rather woolly, for Mick, and was even thinking that he would have to buy a comb.

Then, in the Aldi catalogue, there was advertised hair clippers for $20.  He suggested that, as he wouldn't be able to visit the barber anytime soon, we should buy some and me give him a hair cut.  I suppose it can't be too hard.

Before.  He's very lucky to have nice thick hair.

After.  The serious face isn't because it was a failure, just that he didn't want his photo taken.  It went OK for a first attempt.  I didn't go a Number 2, just a Number 4.  Mick is happy with it, so it looks like I have now become his personal hairdresser.

Yesterday I was just about to walk out the door to go to work when Mick rang to tell me that one of his work colleagues has been identified as a contact of a new Covid case in town.  Therefore, he had to go for a test, therefore I had to go for a test and we were self isolating....again.  It was a bit of a nuisance regarding both of our work, but better safe than sorry. 

Seeing as we were stuck at home again and it was a nice day, I took this bag that had been hanging in the sewing room over winter out to the back verandah.

And ended up with a small amount of lavender ready to use.

Knowing me, I would probably just put it away and not use it.  I had a quick look on Pinterest and found a tutorial and made these cute little pyramids.  There is still plenty of lavender to use on something else, but at least the paper bag is not hanging around any more......until next autumn.

Fortunately, our negative test results arrived early this morning, so we were able to get back on with our normal lives and not miss too much work.

We still have at least another week of general lock down, which means that the Bathurst Blog Meet will not be proceeding, although we will have a Zoom get together.  

The weather this week is forecast to be rather spring like, with temperatures into the low 20s, so maybe some stitching outside.  We'll see.