Brit Sewing Thursday Linky (23rd January 2014)

First of all a big thank you to everyone who commiserated or offered advice last week on my sewing machine problem. Just to clear something up it has been serviced very regularly, the last time less than six months ago and each time they never get to the bottom of my problem... BUT.... Since trying the advice I found online to thread the machine backwards through the take up lever, I have not (fingers crossed!) had a repeat of the problem!

So, with the machine back working I have had a much better sewing week. I now have three of these quilt-as-you-go log cabin blocks.

 

The tutorial I used is from Stitched In Color, I love the densely quilted result you achieve, though you do get through bobbins like you wouldn't believe!

They are/were intended for a dog bed. My sister is very concerned they'll be trashed, but I don't know what I'd do with them otherwise. Bear in mind they have a back which is not meant to be seen! I intend for the dog bed to go in my new sewing room (more on that after the weekend) so it shouldn't get too much wear, I hope?

6 weeks to go - Goodbye damp garage!

I mentioned last week that we'd discovered our second garage, at the back of our house, had serious damp problems. It's not an attractive building, but we'd been delaying doing anything with it as we thought it might be a useful storage space during the build. However a damp storage space, is not a useful storage space at all. So we made a bold decision this weekend and we demolished it!

Now I will be entirely honest here. I did the prep work getting rid of the trellising and the plants growing up it and then Jim did the heavy work. I asked him to call me when there was something fun to hit with a sledge hammer, which is exactly what he did and then I went back inside in the warm...

We also did a long drive on Friday to go and view some possible replacements for the garage. We want something in keeping with the general Canada / New England theme of the build. There are some amazing garden buildings out there with mezzanine floors, verandas and underfloor heating. We shall be having something quite modest I think! There will be more shuffling of numbers round Excel spreadsheets this week. Time is not on our side, we need to make a decision this week!

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky (16th Jan 2014)

It's been a frustrating week for sewing for me with the reemergence an old (never solved) problem with my Pfaff. The machine repeatedly drops the top thread from the take-up lever midway through sewing which results in a dramatic crunch from the bobbin, horrible bunched up thread and swearing from me.

I've tried everything. New bobbin, new needle, different thread, adjusted tension, you name it and every time I sew more than a couple of inches without a problem I allow myself to hope I've fixed it and then it happens again!

The only positive thing is that having sat down to write this and managed for the first time to put into words the problem I'm having, I have found a possible solution online. Someone has suggested threading the machine from the other side so that it crosses over itself. Please let it be that simple!!



So anyway, just one thing from me this week, one of Liz's scrappy log cabin blocks for the FQR Bumbling Honeys Bee. (Just don't examine the stitching on the back too closely Liz, bunched stitching and all that!) Great fun to put together, despite everything...

What have you been up to?

Renovation countdown - 7 weeks to go

Last weekend we started work clearing everything in preparation for the builders arriving on site in 7 weeks time. What this basically meant was an entire morning spent at the dump disposing of things we had accumulated and (mostly) the previous owners had left lying around (bricks and rubble mainly) followed by the rewarding purchase of another interiors book to drool over.

We discovered (perhaps faced up to is a better phrase) that a rickety old garage we have been storing things in is not watertight and a lot of the things in it are now sopping wet. This helped expediate the disposal of a few things, but may also expediate the disposal of the garage itself, which is an entirely more exciting prospect... This is the very garage that I one day dream of turning into Maybush Studio. We shall have to see if we can juggle things in the budget. I seem to spend most of my days now shuffling numbers around Excel spreadsheets.

On a positive note however our staircase quote has come in under budget and I'm giddy with excitement at the prospect of living with oak open riser stairs. Trust me, you would never ever find open riser stairs in a military quarter. Maybe that's why I'm so excited!

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky - The first of 2014!

After the long festive break and all our secret sewing throughout December, welcome to the first sewing linky of 2014!

I did some thinking over Christmas about whether to continue with this linky and if so how to make it better. You may have noticed that I now keep it open all week and that will continue, meaning that you can join in on any day of the week not just Thursday, but are there other things I could do?

Are there ways we could spread the word and encourage more Brit sewers to join us? Do let me know. My head is in many places at the moment and it is entirely possible I may miss the obvious...



The first project to share with you this week is my completed doll quilt for DQS 14 on Flickr. It started out being called a "wonky windmill" quilt, but I have renamed it my "Can Can Mini Quilt" as when I look at it all I see now is high kicking legs! Maybe that's just me?

This will be in the post to my partner at the end of the week along with some local chocolate (Montezumas!) a quilting magazine and something for the small person in her life. I'll take a photo of it all together before I mail it.

I have also been playing catch up with my blocks for the FQR Bee. Currently working on Kathie's December blocks, with Liz's January log cabins next in line.

After the rush of Christmas if you have a lull in your sewing schedule, do consider entering the X Factor Pillow Swap on Flickr. My most favourite swap because you make what you want and get a pillow assigned based on the points yours scores (not anywhere nearly as scary as it sounds) the deadline is January 25th and some of the entries already are lovely!

Boat House Cafe in Chichester Marina

Like many people, today marked the end of Christmas leave. It's been a pretty lacklustre festive fortnight. We are only just at the end of our winter illnesses (in time for work tomorrow, typically) and its rained relentlessly for most of the last two weeks.

Our round of family illnesses has meant we had to cancel pub lunches, a long-planned theatre trip and a visit to family in East Sussex and after over two weeks of making excuses, I genuinely think some people started to think we were avoiding them.

It wasn't all bad news though. Some particularly brave friends we haven't seen for two years dropped in for coffee despite the coughs and colds. They stayed at arm's length and seemed to have escaped without becoming infected. Today we thought we'd better make an effort to finish Christmas leave on a high and make up for the cancelled trips, so we headed to Chichester Marina and the Boat House Cafe for lunch.

It's only been open for about six weeks, but even at midday in mid-winter it was packed. The ambiance, the decor, the staff, the serving time and the food were all faultless (what a pleasure it is to report that when it happens!) They even allow dogs inside and there was a queue of them nearly as long as the human one when we left. I have this place marked down as my first venue to review for south-coast breakfasts in 2014. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it!

Tomorrow is yet another new page. Not the start of the new year, but the start of the working new year and we have many things to make progress with this year, as I'm sure you all do too.

Happy New Year my blogging friends!

The year of the build!

 

After many months of build-up we started 2014 by spending today viewing static caravans.

I was disproportionately excited about the whole thing despite the fact that the caravans are cold, very unglamorous and the bedrooms are tiny, because the moment we move in we will be on the way!

The caravan we have our eye on is HUGE - 35 feet by 12 feet. We need to check it fits in our garden and work out the logistics of getting it on site. We don't actually need all the space, but it turns out the smaller ones don't have double glazing or heating... and that is a sacrifice too far!

Anyway as we are now counting down to the start of our build, I thought now might be a good time for a quick Q&A...

Q. Are you demolishing your house or are you just renovating it?

We thought about demolishing it, we even got planning to, but in the end we settled for a complete remodel. We are decapitating the existing bungalow, adding a first floor, knocking two of the ground floor rooms into one and replacing (and in some cases relocating) half the windows on the ground floor and then cladding the new building.

Q. How long will it take?

The builder says 4 months, we think nearer 6! We start on March 3rd and we'd love it all to be finished by the end of August when Theo turns 3, though even then I suspect there will be a lot of finishing work to keep us (as a couple) going for several months.

Q. Why the caravan?

When the build starts, only one bedroom, the kitchen and bathroom will be left untouched and we will need some of that space to store our furniture (and everything that's currently in the loft!) Our isolated rural location means we need to stay on site for security too.

Any other questions? If so, just leave a comment and I'll update this post with answers...