Sunny but brrrr......

 The sun is out fit to bust, but its loosing the battle with the cold, I have my hiking socks on, my feet are freezing.

DB is talking about going out into the garden for a while, he is welcome, I am staying in the warm.

No real plans, I may spend a while sorting out the table mat I am making from the cut off piece of table cloth, its an experiment.....and could very well go wrong. I am considering quilting it on my Brother machine......that will be interesting.

I have to ring my machine dealer, I sent a message yesterday asking about the carrycases for the machine and embroidery unit for the retreat, I was told to ring this morning as there is a special rate for retreaters. It will be interesting, I found then on another site at £30 off.

Supper is the usual fish and chips, I am going to do a raspberry jelly, it will last us 2 days.

Ohhhh so cold!!!

Two things I really cannot cope with, very high heat and very low cold. We have had another frost and its taking its time to lift. I have to go out later.....hope they have gritted the road.

We had been concerned about our neighbours dog, she lives on her own and was taken into hospital on Monday. I saw her son yesterday, thankfully he has been coming over each day to feed the dog and sit with it for a while, his sister comes in the evening to feed the dog and the cat and leaves the light on so the house looks occupied. Apparently D has got kidney failure and is having to have dialysis.

I have been approached by the council to join their new initiative re supported housing, I have agreed to do it, there are so many improvements that could be made which , as a tenant I can see.

I must be loosing it, I was convinced I had a bottle of washing up liquid in the store cupboard.......No!!..... I usually get a new bottle in when I start a bottle, so will have to bite the bullet and but it from the post office shop, which will cost me an arm and a leg. 

I managed to cut the front of a mat yesterday, had to alter the measurements a bit, as the pattern is very big on the fabric, will make the one up and see how it pans out.

Supper tonight will be sausage with yorkies and the rest of the bread and butter pudding from last night.

Jack Frost came to call

At 8pm last night the car was iced up and still is this morning, good job we do not need the car today. Its coffee at the little chapel, so we will walk round. However the sun is shining, but its blooming cold still, its rise just above freezing this morning.

I finished the silver snowflakes yesterday, rinsed the stabilzer out and left them to dry, the silver grey has worked ok on the back, no way am I going to try doing them with metallic thread in the bobbin, two take almost a bobbin full of thread and I have used up 500m on the 6 I have made. The metallic thread is not cheap either more than double the price of the normal thread. The embroidry machine is getting a rest for now, I need to alter the Christmas table cloth and also cut about 6 inches off the new nightwear I bought. I may be going on 79 but hate things round my ankles.

I have some panetonne left so will make a bread and butter pudding for tonight, I got some minced beef out of the freezer yesterday, so supper will be mince and tatties.

An experiment

So yesterday I took the bull by the horns and decided to have a go at sewing with the metallic thread. it is very fine rayon coated in silver something......of course it comes off the cone in spirals. One of the problems is the spiral can twist and form a piece of thread you just do not want anywhere near your machine.......so I asked for tips, and many were forthcoming.......the main ones seemed to be use a thread stand as far away from the machine as possible, slow down the machine and use a metallic needle.....

The first one I sewed I hade to keep stopping to stop the twists going into the tension discs, so tried moving the thread stand further back, hmm slightly better, then I decided, as I had my 10 bobbin stand on the machine ro run the thread around one of the spikes.......it worked, by the time the thread got to the machine it was almost straight, I did have a couple of breaks but on the whole it worked well.

Thread behind the machine travelling up to the thread stand on the back of the machine.

You can just see it coming down from the top of the guide and round

the spool pin.

here it goes through the two thread guides and into the tension discs.

I am going to try and get the other 3 sewn today.  I did slow the speed down to half, but used the needle that was in. I need to have a hunt for the metallic needles, I know I have some.

Its very cold this morning, fleeces on, have not turned the heat up, we will manage with it as it is, just make sure the doors are kept closed. We have left over soup for lunch and smoked haddock, poached eggs and bread and butter for supper tonight. We have finished most of the chocolate we were given, so its back to normality. I have some panetonne left, will make a bread and butter pudding for tomorrow night.

Late again

sorry this morning ran away and hid!! I took medication last night and slept through till 8.30, by the time we were showered, dressed and had our breakfast the cleaner was here.

Many years ago I had a fight with using metallic thread in my machine, it hated it and it was such a diva I stopped using metallic thread......however a request from DGS's partner for the snowflakes in silver I decided to shut myself away and have a go. By fair means, or foul, I have managed to do three without too many problems, will do the rest tomorrow. Metallic thread kinks as it comes off the reel and can cause untold trouble by twisting and knotting. I managed to mackle up a system which has allowed me to do the three with only a couple of thread breaks........ so well pleased.

Once I have done the other 3 I am going to tackle shortening the Christmas table cloth which was made for the much bigger dining table, I am going to use the excess fabric to make some new Christmas table mats....watch this space.

Supper is bacon frittata and salad, we have apple and rhubarb crumble to finish off from yesterday.

 

Mild morning

again, the heating is off until after lunch. DB plans a trip into the garden.

We had a lovely lunch yesterday spag bol, cheese platter to start and then toasted panettone with ice cream for dessert. We sat round the table till almost 3pm, talking about when my children were little and what they got up to.

We facetimed with DGS's partner who had arrived safely at her parents in Poland with little miss, E had been given a bonnet shaped like a rabbit with big ears, she was very anxious to show us it.

Home again we just had a snack for supper, still full from lunchtime and then settled down to watch Downton. I know they have made a second film, it appears that at last the Matriarch is going to be written out, about time too, she must be about 180 now!!

DGS asked DB to grow tomato's for them, so I can see trays of seeds in the greenhouse in the spring. He will have to go out and put the fleece back on, the weather is due to change tomorrow.

I will be glad to see the cleaner back tomorrow, I have done my best to keep stuff under control......got rid of more excess to the charity shop. I am on a roll to find some more.

I am going to an embroidery retreat in April, DB is coming with me, there is a dinner each night, so I need to sort out some clothes. I tend to wear trousers unless its very hot, The ones I am wearing were bought before we came back from Scotland 9 years ago. A trip to Bon Marche is on the cards. A couple of pairs of trousers and some new tops should do it, and possibly a new pair of shoes.

Pork steak for supper tonight, I am cooking a gammon joint in the ninja, will use the liquor for soup and slice the meat when its cold, it will do us a couple of meals and sandwiches. Apple and rhubarb crumble for dessert, should do us a couple of nights.