My birthday present

 The other thing I did in my four glorious days down the coast was unpack and get thoroughly familiar with my most recent birthday present ... a Janome airthreading overlocker! I had my old overlocker serviced recently after not using it for years, but when I went to thread it I just about cried with frustration. And remembered all those years of afternoons getting crosser and crosser while I did everything right and it STILL wouldn't work. This one was much easier, and sews beautifully. It does still take a bit of concentration to thread, and it is still very possible to get it horribly wrong, which I did the first few times, but it seems generally easier and more stable. 

I had a lovely time making very neat seams on a dress that was truly terrible and immediately binned (the cut just clung to my belly, which is not a feature to emphasise), a nice navy cotton shirt and a wearable muslin top that was a good fit, but reasonably ugly fabric that I had had for years, so might not get worn. I also neatened up the striped laundry bag that was falling to bits. Lots of fun and I will do more with knit fabrics now, that I have avoided in the past.

A few days off

Part of my pandemic mental health survival plan is to take days off here and there and have some beach long weekends. This week I went all out and took Monday and Tuesday off - went down Saturday morning and had four lovely days. Monday was completely summery and thirty degrees with a storm coming through in the evening. I had the windows open, just wearing t-shirt and shorts, remembering finally what it felt like to chill at the beach on a hot day! Last summer didn't happen because of the conference and the fires, and the one before that I went to Cambodia and Hobart, so I feel like I've missed out a bit. 

I also went for a couple of swims because the air temperature was so lovely. The water temperature was icy, but no matter, the new wetsuit is great! There's a point at which the seawater comes up your legs, and another point when it trickles down your back, but it soon warms up. I take a while to wrestle myself into it, and there are some uncoordinated wriggly dance steps to get out of it, but who cares. There were some good waves and Monday I had the beach entirely to myself. Such a treat .... I read books, went for walks, talked to nobody and gradually started to relax. 

I'd had a nasty vomiting bug last Thursday which didn't help the inner serenity - I ate the same as everyone else in the house but woke up at midnight and threw up for the next ten hours. It was HORRIBLE - at one point I was lying on the bathroom floor mentally going through the medicine cabinet to find something that would kill me because I figured I was going to die soon anyway ... I haven't had that feeling for ages and it wasn't good. But I survived and recovered, and made it down the beach even though a day later than I was planning. I ate a lot of plain toast and no alcohol, which was probably for the best. 

Thought about gardening .... didn't

It would have been a lovely weekend for gardening, but I couldn't be bothered. Luckily my husband got stuck in and did some because it is looking slightly chaotic out there as the weeds outpace the plants. Number two son has had a wave of enthusiasm for growing vegetables (he is putting his tomato seedlings out every morning and bringing them in every night, it's very sweet) but I've really got to be in the mood ... and I wasn't. I was in the mood for throwing things out though, which is good, and I went through a number of cupboards and then took a bootful to the Salvos. Followed by a nice long walk in the late afternoon and champagne with dinner. Actual champagne for once, there was a bottle in the fridge, I think it was a birthday present. 

All looking very lush and flowery.  I pruned the roses a bit late but they seem to be have started sprouting again. Wait until December when it's dead and dessicated. Speaking of dead - the pittosporums had been sadly neglected and were awful and leggy (see to the left of any quilt-on-clothesline shot) so they got the complete cut back. Apparently they will do fine but they look a bit tragic at the moment. We should have been tip pruning them four times a year HAH. 

On Sunday the planned book club reunion was cancelled at the last minute as people were sick, which made me a bit sad, so we went out to lunch instead and both the boys agreed to come! It was more breakfast for them, but still, we were delighted to have them along, and it was good to be out and about. Followed by a nap (instead of gardening) a walk (instead of gardening) and it was cold enough to put the fire on. Not sure how much longer that will be an option....

The town you left behind

 And finally, here is what the Carolina Chain turned into - scrappy solids. It is a variant of the Bonnie Hunter pattern because I didn't put the squares on point, which I don't enjoy doing, and fiddling around with setting triangles, although I think the finished look is better when the lines go vertical and horizontal rather than diagonal. 

I enjoyed making this and not thinking too much about what colour went where. I tried for a light / dark difference but not sure if I succeeded.

The quilting was fun too - I followed the pattern in a way that avoided as many of the seam joins as possible! It made an interesting secondary pattern so I just continued that into the border and it was easy and looks good, if I do say so myself.

And another Ikea cream doona cover on the back. This quilt is called "The town you left behind" because I think the quilt looks like a country song. Here is quilt with dog.

Sewed a top

When I was at the beach I not only went for an awesome swim but sewed a top (and a skirt, which I haven't worn yet, but I will take photos when I do). Not very exciting - a basic boxy shell top in a boring neutral grey - but fine for work. I had a short length of a nice textured suiting that I'd been gifted that wasn't long enough for anything much, so I used a very plain McCalls pattern as an experiment and it worked quite well.

This is the skirt of my good black suit that I wear all the time, which gives you an idea of the wow and pizazz of the overall outfit. My job does require invisibility, and a black suit with a matronly shoe is as invisible as you're going to get. I can run in those shoes if needed (and have) although from this angle it looks more like I would be trying to flamenco. Because that happens.

This photo is about the one piece of shaping in the top - the bust dart. It is perhaps pointing slightly optimistically at some place where my boobs once were, rather than where they actually are. I might lower it an inch or two if I make this pattern again. And yes, my sewing room is a bit of a mess, that's the trouble with starting up the weaving again without properly tidying the quilting. My solution is a bigger sewing room, or a second sewing room (weaving room!) but the children refuse to leave home.

Boo, hiss

Spring has undeniably started and I am grumpy and sad. I like winter, and I don't like summer, at least not in Canberra. Winter is woolly jumpers, fires, long walks and toasted cheese. Summer is heat, flies, noise and snakes. In summer neighbours come out of their houses into their yards. I have to show my bare legs. These things are unacceptable. It is a lot harder to pretend you are the only person in the universe in summer.

The only upside of summer is the beach and swimming in the ocean, and I am TERRIFIED that we are going to barred from the sea for pandemic reasons. Can you imagine it? I would not cope, in fact I would probably be doing some border-running to make sure I get in the saltwater, even if it means driving a very small car on a dirt track over the escarpment while being chased by a police helicopter. 

There is still some snow on the hills that you can see if you squint ... but not for long. SUMMER IS COMING.