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Saturday 16 March 2024

The Sewing Machine is Winning

Ages and ages ago, I bought a sewing machine. It was one of those bargains where it was a return, and there was a voucher, and another offer stacked on top. I think that it cost around £20. I wrote about it ages ago, but I can't remember when so I can't check. I know that it wasn't a lot, which is fair enough for a discontinued Amazon own brand discount machine.



It has 42 stitches, apparently, but no instruction videos on YouTube and the manual is somewhat sparsely written. I had a few issues threading the machine up. First off I couldn't thread the needle and broke the needle threader.


The presser foot was loose, but I didn't realise so I bent the needle before the presser foot fell off. 

When I finally got the dratted thing threaded up with a new needle (and after a lot of help from DH) and did a few test runs, it was okay. 


I should have done a lot more,but instead got started. Because an even longer time ago I picked up some duvet covers to turn into curtains. As I have mentioned, my windows are an inconvenient size and standard ready made curtains won't fit, but duvet covers with heading tape work fine. However I've got a little over confident and I also bought some curtain interlining. As I clicked 'pay' I thought, I can just... And we all know how that goes. 


The inexpensive curtains that I bought from Aldi were in either double or king sized. I want to have the same colour curtains in both the main rooms - study and living room. The study window is 90 inches wide, the living room window is 46 inches wide. Double duvets are 200cm wide and king sized are 220cm. I bought two of each. I checked my order history and the interlining is 6 metres long and 54 inches wide (yes, I know!). I am going to have to do a lot of sums, and they aren't really the sort that I can rope bear into. 

By the time I'd messed around, I managed to get one double duvet attached to heading tape. I did not do a good job but I'm hoping that 'crushed' fabric, fullness and gathers will be kind to my skill.


Using a sewing machine is supposed to be quicker than hand sewing, but it was a close call with this machine as it ambles gently along. I called it a day at dinner time and went to hang out with the men. However now that it's all set up, I should be able to add heading tape to three duvet covers easily enough tomorrow. I'm not sure about the interlining. I'll share how I get on. 

I would also mention that I'm glad that I'm using these for curtains as the fabric is quite scratchy and I wouldn't like them on my bed. I was going to use the pillow cases that came with the duvets as cushion covers for the study and living room but I really don't fancy them now. I'll see if I can think of other uses as I don't feel it's fair to donate such uncomfortable things...

...but I could use some bags for yarn...

Anyway, I'll share how I survive with the sewing machine tomorrow. 

(and thinking about it, I don't think that I've bought enough lining...)

Hugs and good health to all. 

Tuesday 12 March 2024

I Was Tempted and Did Not Resist

I'm just passing through quickly before I forget to post again. I called in at Aldi and saw this...

So I spent £10.32 and came home with this...


I need an intervention. Though I think it will make a cute blanket. As it was, when I was rearranging some of the yarn from the current blanket that I'm working on, I found that the extension lead to my laptop and the fire was red hot, as was the lead to the electric fire. I've replaced it and got a new extension now, but it was worrying. 

I was thinking on Sunday night about Across a Misty Bridge. It's a series of stories from some writing prompts around 2013 which laid the foundations for Tales from the White Hart. It's been tacked onto the White Hart books in the past and has even been around on Story Origin at one point, but I felt that it could do with a brush up and a little extra care to make it's own story. It's been at the back of my mind for a while and I have been tinkering around with the punctuation and spacing but hasn't really got anywhere. On Sunday I decided to forget the fancy stuff and just put it back on the blog as I was never going to get around to it. Today I'm over 18,500 words into the re-write and still going. I think that not only do I need an intervention but also possibly a diagnosis. 

Hopefully back tomorrow with something sensible. Hugs and good health to all. 

Sunday 10 March 2024

I Finished Something!!!

I felt like I should do a lap of honour around the study.

I had almost finished knitting a blanket ages ago. I was on the final stretch, then I put it aside and it's just been a huge lump next to my chair. Today I finished it.




It's around 44 inches by 40 inches (very roughly 112cm by 102cm) and is 600g of DK yarn from an Aldi sweater kit knitted with two strands on 8mm needles. It is wonderfully squidgy and warm and snuggly. I thing it works out at £7.50. 

I have a gazillion and four blankets scattered all over. I'll take a risk and say that my plan is to concentrate on the blankets and big sweaters until the weather gets warm, then I can switch to using the lovely yarn that was donated and my lucky box and make scarves and hats for the Seaman's Mission - although I have about two or three inches to go on the nice garage man's scarf and I need to get that finished, but it's in the car and I can't face going out to it right now. I'm also building in knitting time to relax me before bed. 

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. DH made a tasty dinner and bear got me a lovely candle and card. He turned up just before lunch and has been an absolute sweetheart. 



It's guava and mango and smells incredible. I'm thinking of keeping the lid to use as something like a coaster. 

Hugs and good health to all. 


Saturday 9 March 2024

Finally Something Happened.

I have a bunny shaped flower holder that I accidentally bought in Tesco.


DH finds it terrifyingly sinister. I think that it's because it took him by surprise. 

Tesco aren't in my good books at the moment. I had an order booked to be delivered between 3pm and 4pm. 4pm is when DH and bear traditionally have their Saturday afternoon meal and we had to leave the house between 4.45pm and 5pm to get bear to his party. I was dropping him at a nearby Morrisons because, well...


I admit nothing, but don't want to share it with his friends. DH has some paint on order.

Bear's party was the other side of Huddersfield. A party 20 miles away may not seem a lot to some, but it took an hour to drive. It's closer to Marsden Moor than it is to Huddersfield and some of the roads had stretches that had me thinking are you kidding me? At one point bear said that it was a nice view over the steep drop next to me, but the road was pretty twisty and the stone wall that stood between me and a nasty drop had a lot of gaps where it looked like cars had already hit so I kept my eyes on the road. It was a seriously twisty road and had a speed limit of 50mph which I absolutely stuck to! Mind you, I think that I ended up in a bus lane on the way back and I hope that I don't end up in trouble. 

But back to the Tesco order - there was absolutely no sign of it for ages. I can normally track it on an app (to see whether I've got time to, for example, put on a load of washing) and it just wasn't appearing. I didn't get my receipt emailed to me either. After 4pm I rang and the poor operator couldn't work out what was happening, so I cancelled. This meant that I had to pick up the stuff for Mother's Day on the way home from dropping bear off which I didn't appreciate. And I got a call from the Tesco driver when I was just outside Holmfirth who wasn't told that the order was cancelled and didn't know what to do with a delivery to an empty house. I can't complain too much. They're normally very good and I got a £10 voucher for my trouble. I was just glad to get in - and DH was an absolute hero! He put all the stuff away for me and I was desperately grateful. 

Bear was worried that he won't be here on Mother's Day morning, but I said that he made me feel valued all year round so I wasn't complaining. He's also getting the bus home, to my utter relief. 

Hugs and good health to all.

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Catching Up

 I was supposed to come back a couple of days ago but I got distracted. 

The candle - I left it outside on a cold night and when I brought it back in, the wax was really loose in the container. I thought it proved Jean's tip and was planning on making space in my freezer (my freezer is stuffed and the jar is massive) but DH attacked it with a knife, bent the knife but got all of the wax out of there. Citronella wax shavings are all over my garden and I have a lovely jar thanks to DH.

Aldi were selling off Christmas cake boards for 69p a throw.


It's as good a time to stock up as any, I guess. 

I've sort of been pootling around. The progess has been microscopic but I've been going imperceptively forward, and that has to count. 

Bear has agreed that I can make the overnight oats for him for breakfast. This means he can fall out of bed, grab the pot with the overnight oats in, race onto the bus (if it comes) and then eat when he gets to college and his stomach has woken up. He's currently neck deep in stress about exams, so I'm being nice to him.

I've picked up a hobby of watching traffic. Every now and then I click onto Google Maps and choose the 'traffic' layer. I don't know if this works outside the UK, but I can see how busy roads are, where the roadworks are and whether there's an accident. There was a string of four accidents just down the road from us, though I'm hoping they were all just slight dints. It's helped me avoid some awful hotspots, but I forgot to check and had to edge my way through a lot of parked cars when Leeds United were playing at home last night.

Writing stuff - I'm trying to get some focus on this. There are two short pieces from the White Hart - Qualified Success and Unrequited Love - and a short piece about me and trying to track characters. I'm completely failing to stick to the word limit for the writing prompt, but I'm having a lot of fun. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Sunday 3 March 2024

Candle in the Wind

I'm going to be back here and answering comments here properly tomorrow, all being well, but I thought I'd share today's adventure. 

I bought a BIG candle a few years ago, perhaps two and a half years or similar. I bought it cheap from Home Sense because I liked the jar it came in and only realised a little late that it was a citronella candle. Citronella candles should really only be burned outside as while they can deter insects, they can also make people feel poorly. In the past, I've been one of those who felt poorly after being near a citronella candle, and I am still unimpressed. 

I was looking at the dratted jar and wondering if I should just throw the whole thing out. However the jar is just the sort of thing I like, and DH agreed. I thought I may be able to dig out most of the wax if I softened it by putting the whole thing in a big pan of water. DH suggested burning it out, and we could leave it outside on the steps going down to the kitchen. 



The problem was, the house is far from air tight and I was starting to feel woozy. I suppose I could try burning the darned thing further away from the house, but I'm twitchy enough about leaving candles unsupervised, even if they are on a level surface, hidden from the street and away from anything flammable. I definitely don't feel like burning it out nearer the street and certainly not for the length of time it would take to get through the wax. It would take hours! I also have a sneaking suspicion that if I try and melt the wax and clean out the jar, I'd still be left feeling poorly. 

And it was a horror to put out as it was left on the floor outside the door, which was hard to photograph so I moved it onto the steps after it was out, but it also hard to lean down far enough to blow the thing out. I had to seal off the air with a baking sheet!

Hugs and good health to all. 

Friday 1 March 2024

Grumbling Again

I've done something interesting to my knee again. I'll be walking just fine then I'll get agonising pain and the damn thing will give. There seems to be a particular risk on the stairs. I have already used half of March's allowance of bad language. This is not new. It's worse than normal, though, and I'm not sure that I can make it as far as the car which is parked a few yards from the front door.

I failed to do much productive but I did read an ice hockey romance. I haven't seen an ice hockey match, and I was a little sceptical, so I went on YouTube to see what an ice hockey match really looked like outside of a romantic novel. It was a surprise. It reminded me a little of Celtic v Rangers, but a little less violent. I suppose a fast game where the players are equipped with weapons in the form of hockey sticks is likely to be a little enthusiastic.

I've done some knitting. I hope to get cracking and finish the scarf before the warm weather gets here. 


Bear hasn't mentioned the reward scheme. He was late home and then focusing on his homework. I shall see if he shares anything.

I plan to spend some time sitting down as, in my experience, rest is the only thing that works. However I need to do something as it's getting worse. 

Hugs and good health to all.