Silhouette Cameo - have a heart!

Having had success with getting my Bow templates into the software ,  I decided that I didn't want to use the Bow shape after all.  I wanted to add too much text, and couldn't see how to fit it on that particular shape.    I decided to use a heart shape instead.

So, I made up a heart in black fabric, scanned it, copied it, flipped it.   I then set up the Cameo, very carefully, to cut 4 hearts.  One of the pieces of fabric had a specific pattern on, so I had to be very careful to make sure I got the fabric in exactly the right place.

At this point, I tested using freezer paper and Filmoplast as interfacing (to keep the fabric rigid for cutting).  The Cameo manual indicated that the interfacing should go down with the fabric uppermost.    My wealth of experience with the machine over the last few days has shown me that that isn't right. It all works much better if you put the fabric on the cutting mat, and the interfacing on top of that.

My hearts cut out beautifully, and the one with the special design was perfect.

I used my Janome editing software to add text to the design, and off I went. I had decided to add some wadding to the heart and it seemed best to do this on the side that had the writing, the side that was uppermost n the embroidery machine.   It went well enough.  I put the back on,  and finished the item.

I had bits of stuffing poking out of the side stitches, and my attempt to trim them off ended in disaster - I cut trough some of the edging stitches.

Undeterred,  I decided to try again with the second heart.  This time I used not only vinyl as the stabiliser, but I hooped in some Filmoplast on the underside and floated some Filmoplast on the top.  Not only that, but I had learned enough to know to pre-score the Filmoplast before putting it anywhere near the vinyl.

The fabric placement stitch went down, securing the top level of Filmoplast.  I painstakingly removed the filmoplast from the centre,   and stuck down some wadding I'd prepared. It was cut into a heart shape and was smaller than the heart.  I trimmed it, and then I put on the fabric. I stuck the fabric where possible,  and added some Magic Tape to secure it.  The tacking stitch went down, perfect!  I removed the MagicTape.

Next, the candlewicking stitch. All looked good.  I changed the thread and bobbin thread, and the text went on.   Then I unhooped, turned it over, unpeeled the centre of the bottom Filmoplast and secured wadding, put the fabric on, put Magic Tape on. Put the hoop back on.   Tacking stitch. Then the edging stitch.  It all looked great, I started to clear up my work area ready to tackle the other heart again.

I got back to my machine and my happiness evaporated.

 

Part of the fabric had been missed by the edging stitch (you can just see the white showing above the edging stitch in the photo. It's much more evident on the real item.).  All the padding had made the fabric that bit too small (or I should have put some Magic Tape on, perhaps).  I stopped the machine,  tried using MagicTape,  and made it re-sew the edge.  A little better, but still missing parts.   :-( 

I let it finish, including the buttonholes, as at least then I could keep it as an example.  When it was finished I unhooped it and found that the other side was in a really bad way. 

I definitely should have cut the fabric a couple of mm bigger, and/or put MagicTape all the way along the edge at the second tacking step (removing it before the edge stitching happened.

Or not padded it.  But it's much nicer padded.

Never mind.  It's all good learning, and a good opportunity to work with the Studio Design software and the Cameo cutter again.

Silhouette Cameo - trial and error.

The Silhouette Cameo arrived early on Tuesday afternoon.  I left it on the side, unopened, while I carried on with domestics and other such avoidance activities.

Eventually I unpacked it, and tried it out using a design from their template library.  It worked really well, cutting the fabric beautifully!  I was going out on Tuesday evening, so I stopped there, happy that it was all going to turn out fine.

On Wednesday, I attempted to work with an embroidery design. I needed something exactly the right size, so I printed out the design info from my embroidery software.

 I calibrated my phone camera.  I tried to take a pic of the design and to import that pic into Silhouette studio.  I failed. Several times.

I then tried to do it using my flatbed scanner,  which after a bit of faffing about and watching Youtube videos (thank goodness for YouTube and the people who post there!), I managed to get my design imported.

I then completely failed to get the software to work with the design.  The manual, and the online help, were not very helpful at all,  so I googled and searched, and worked out what was wrong.  The Cameo software was trying to trace both sides of the outline instead of seeing just one line, and it was also too faint.

Next, I trued cutting out the design on some coloured paper and scanning that.  Now that actually worked - except that the edges were scrappy where I'd cut with scissors.   In terms of using the cut fabric,  it wasn't any better than what I'd been doing originally, it still required a lot of trimming.

Eventually I gave up with trying to use the printed image, and took the drastic step of actually creating the item using black fabric, and then scanning the created item.

This worked well, and I made up a bow with the cut fabric.  I then learned that the bow isn't entirely symmetrical, so I needed to create both a back and front template.  This was OK, I just copied the original scan and then flipped it.

I was then ready to try and make the real thing.

Re-cluttering

I've been embroidering for days.

I wanted to make some tags to put on the Twins' birthday presents.  I bought an in-the-hoop tag design, and really liked it. I tested it out, and it stitched well and looked good.   I looked online for fabric specific to each of the two children.   I found what I wanted, and quite a lot more besides. While I was shopping for fabric for the twins, I ordered some sticky stabiliser.  And a few other bits and pieces.

Of course, when I find something easier than expected,  I have to make it more complicated. I have to try harder,  do better,  make better,  more intricate,  more detail....

I tried using vinyl as a stabiliser, to avoid getting white bits round the edge of the pieces. .  I'd bought some ages ago from that trip to FabricLand,  but I thought I'd bought stuff that was too thick.  I had ordered some thinner vinyl the other day but it hadn't arrived, so I decided to try the thicker stuff anyway. 

The embroidery design site I perhaps love most, BigDreamsEmbroidery,  announced a sale to celebrate something or other.  I greedily emptied items from my wishlist into my basket and bought them.     I tried out some of the designs as possible alternatives to the tags.  They were amazing.  Everyone was double sided, with different fabric front and back.

I stitched out different sizes, different fabrics.  I couldn't stop.  I tried different stabilisers.  I added text.  I threaded some of them onto ribbon so I could keep them together. 

I ordered yet more fabric squares in various sizes. It's not particularly cost effective on a cost-per-metre basis, but on the plus side it gives me a wide variety of fabric colours and patterns, and I can always go and buy proper amounts of those fabrics which I end up using a lot.

I started to get a bit fed up with cutting round the fabric on the hoop, mainly because I'm not that good at it.  I wondered about cutting the fabric first.

I asked DH if he could laser me some templates,  or build them with his 3D printer.   We discussed it in detail and decided not.   I tried making templates using the machine, I had this great idea about stitching out the outline until the paper was perforated, then that would give me a template......trouble is it doesn't help with my accuracy.

I looked online.

I found something that might work.

I asked about it on a relevant Facebook page, and the discussion that ensued was really helpful.  I watched some videos.  I showed it to DH.   I ordered it.

Fabric storage 'A'

Meanwhile, the fabric - and stuff - started arriving. On Saturday, a couple of packs of fabric-by-the-metre arrived.  And some pre-cut squares. And the tabletop sleeve-ironing board - which is a perfect size for ironing my embroidery bits and pieces and has been in use today.

Today, the post was full of little packets.  Luckily, the packs arriving in the post were mainly either pre-cut 5" squares or fat quarters so when I got them out they didn't look too much.

I've re-organised the fabric shelves.  The non-fabric stuff is now piled on the floor waiting for me to find it a new home.  I'm not sure where that's going to be, I can see this all spilling over into the spare bedroom.

Fat Quarters

I've made myself a little fat-quarter (FQ) storage box out of a cat food box, so I can pick up the whole box and bring it downstairs.    I've even made 5" square "bolts" as well.  Each FQ is wrapped round a bolt, which gives it some rigidity and means it is easy to see the pattern from the edge.  I can flick through without the fabrics all screwing up.  .

Today the stabilisers arrived, and they are all over the worktop.  

Add caption

As a test run with the sticky stabiliser - and making myself use my digitiser software - I created a personalised Mothers Day card for my lovely mother in law. 

Pic is  of my second attempt, and this is the one I'm going to send her.

I still haven't made the twins tags yet. I'm waiting for the cutter thing to arrive, and I'll use that.

Goodness knows where that's going to live.

Mucky pup

I had decided, yesterday, that if today was sunny I'd sort out the compost. We have 4 bins which are full, but have not produced compost.  They need relocating to a sunnier spot, and the compost needs turning.


It was sunny, gorgeous day for being in the garden, so I put on an old jumper and set to work,

I started with an empty bin,Bin 0,   and started to empty Bin 1 into it.  Eventually I got to a point where I could lift bin 1 off the compost and finished shovelling.

Then I moved Bin 1 to it's new home, and started emptying Bin 2 into it.

Then Bin 3 into Bin 2.

The Girls came to watch, lined up along the fence.

Finally, Bin 4 into Bin 3.   To be honest, I'd had enough long before I'd got bin 4 to the point where I could lift it off.  

I need a cup of tea.

Clacketyclack

Yesterday, during and after uncluttering, I stitched out some more of the myriad of embroidery designs that I now own.   Clackety clack, clackety clack.

I went upstairs and I could hear clackety clack. A different clackety clack

DH was using his lathe to turn a bowl.

Who are these people that we have become?

Un-cluttering

DH built the cupboard that evening.   We'd had to remove the gateleg table (which had it's own drinks cupboard inside), and clean up a bit first.  We discussed the positioning of the drawers inside the unit - I've gone for 2 outside drawers, with additional shallow drawers inside.   I like the sleekness of two big drawers on the outside, but need the storage capacity of more drawers and this gives me an opportunity to see how it works in practise. I decided I needed to think about it, so that part waited until Wednesday. 

On Wednesday, it was all installed.

Yesterday I started trying to organise things into it. After lots of farting about, it was done.

It came with blue protective covering over the drawer fronts and I quite like the shock of the blue colour.  

It doesn't go with anything else in my kitchen, and it isn't a colour I would have chosen, but I quite like it. I will peel it off today to reveal the vanilla coloured fronts.

The workbench isn't quite tidy and clear yet, but it is looking better.

I haven't decluttered at all, I've just un-cluttered. A bit. For now.

Clutter

The embroidery continues.  Clutter increased on my workbench.   Boxes of threads.  Reels of stabiliser. I bought kitchen towel holders to make it easier to move the stabilisers around; I now have 4.  That doesn't count the stabiliser which is flat, which is propped up against a wall;  or the water-soluble stuff which is in a box upstairs (a kitchen is not a place to keep something which dissolves).   There's magnetic knife block with my scissors, tweezers, clips and stuff;  the box with the machine feet; the needles..... it goes on and on and on.

I had sorted out a cupboard upstairs to organise my fabric. It has storage boxes in front of it containing stuff like bindings,  cords,  ribbons,  and apron tapes (which are great for bunting). There was no room for any of the downstairs clutter.

We had decided some time ago that storage underneath the worktop would be required, and a little while ago I decided that an Ikea kitchen unit would probably work best.   Either 60cm- wide x 40 deep, opening under the worktop,a bit awkward; or 40 wide x 60 deep opening to the side and requiring me to move the bin each time.  I needed to see the units and drawers "in the flesh" to decide and, as this meant a trip to Ikea, I kept putting it off.

Eventually, DH asked what we were going to do about storage and I told him. I explained that I wanted to look at the kitchens anyway, as I am seriously thinking about an Ikea kitchen.  We set a date to go to Ikea - yes, it really does require planning - and eventually The Day arrived.    

Ikea is actually only  about 40 minutes away.  It usually takes longer to get back.    I normally go to Ikea on my own, as I can pretty much guarantee that one of our gruntles will be dissed if we go together.  

The problem isn't getting to Ikea, it's (a) the parking, and (b) how long it takes to get around and do everything. Even a quick "in and out" isn't quick at all, especially if it involves buying a kitchen unit - it requires 2 additional lots of queueing: once to order the items, and then again after the checkout to wait for the order to be picked and assembled.

We walked through most of the store very quickly, stopping maybe twice to look at something. We got to the kitcheny bit, and it took forever.   I wanted to examine the cupboards and drawers. I wanted to see how the different drawer combos worked.  I evaluated all the insidey bits.  I thought about our kitchen. I studied the doors.    DH did well, really. 

Eventually, we discussed a drawer for the embroidery stuff, and agreed what size we wanted. We then discussed the drawer configuration, and innards, and queued to order.  We then bought lots of innards. Experience has shown me that it's quicker, easier and better to return items having bought too much than to have to go back and buy more. The Returns department doesn't necessitate going in to and round the whole store.

We raced through the rest of the shop.

We queued to pay.

We queued to wait to collect the kitchen unit.

And we went home.  Without arguing, Without even a bit of gruntling.

Wonders will never cease.

Lovely Lotti

Lotti (short for "Borlotti", a reference to her gorgeous markings) is a loopy Exchequer Leghorn hen.   Yesterday she crouched for me, so I knew that she would soon re-start laying.  Poppy has also been crouching, but no sign of any eggs from her yet.

Today I had to put the Girls away so that I could go and see to the Allotmenteers.  The Garden Girls are well used to being called into their run and rewarded with corn, and I was a little surprised to see that Lotti wasn't around.  I checked the nestbox on the Cube - empty.  

I realised that she must be in the pampas grass somewhere.  She has made a nest in there before, so I knew to look at my head height, not on the ground.  I heard little chirrupings, and soon saw her, nestled in a hollow, throwing bits of pampas onto her back,

There was no sign of any eggs, so today must be the first.  I waited for about 15 minutes, but nothing happened. She continued to turn around, throw papas, snuggle down, chirrup, throw pampas, stand up, turn around....

I left her to it.

When I got back she was happily rootling around in the garden.  I checked, and the nest looked empty. 

I looked more carefully and discovered an egg, covered in pampas bits.

I wrote the date on the egg, put it back, and covered it over again.

At least I know where she is laying. I don't want to put her off by removing the one and only egg she has laid there so far. I'll check each dat and write the date on any eggs, and when she's laid a few I'll start removing them.

Grandma-ing, continued

On Monday I suggested we made some biscuits. I remembered that I had a cookie press in one of the cupboards, so I dug it out. 

My trust ginger biscuit dough was loaded in, and off we went.  Or didn't.  We tried greasing/not greasing the baking tray.  In the end, we searched for a Youtube video to help.  We saw someone using a different type of press, but got the idea.

It was OK, but the mixture probably wasn't the best consistency.  It was the type of machine where you have to click the handle, and DGS's hand was soon aching from the effort.   We decided to try a different consistency dough, and that's when I realised I didn't have enough defrosted butter.   I got ready to go to the shops, and looked online for a recipe for the particular press we had.

I couldn't find one for that press.  I looked on the Lakeland website, which is where I got said press from.  Nope. In fact, they didn't do that press anymore.   I did a double take at the press they now did,  it was one which didn't require clicking, just a simple press.

I decided to buy the different press as well, so we rushed into town to Lakeland.   We couldn't find the press anywhere.  I asked.  There were 6 on the shop floor somewhere, just no where that we could see. Neither could the assistants.  A search ensued, and eventually the 6 were located.

We came back, tried it...and it was amazing.  I mean, really, really great. Easy to use, and such fabulous shapes.   We filled tray after tray, baking 2 trays at a time.   I meant to take pics, but completely failed.

The biscuits were lovely.   We sampled plenty, and kept on doing "quality checks" to make sure they were OK stored in a tin. This went on over a couple of days.

For the sake of my waistline, I packedmost of them up in a tub for DGS to take home with him.

The pic shows the cookies being done on a sheet of baking parchment, but we had better luck on an ungreased baking tray.

Grandma-ing

My lovely eldest grandson has come to stay for a couple of days.   DH is away, parent-sitting, so it's just the 2 of us.  He is of an age now where we can have proper conversations, has sensible opinions,  and it's always interesting to hear his views on things.

We made pancakes for dinner - well, tea I suppose - and he learned how to hold the pan in one hand, the batter in the other, and to pour and twirl. I also showed him how to flip pancakes with a turner. (He had earlier asked me if I was a tosser, which made me laugh a lot).

I had to make a second batch of batter, we couldn't quite finish it.  I said I'd have a go at tossing pancakes, although it had been a long time since I'd tried and I hadn't been vey good.    I surprised myself by managing it very easily.   He asked me if how many tosses I could do, so I had a go. I stopped at 20.  We discussed the physics of tossing, and why high tosses were more likely to fail.  I did try some high tosses, after a couple of good ones, an semi good one, it finally ended up on the floor.

It took some persuasion to get him to try. Reassurance that the batter would only be thrown away otherwise so it didn't matter if he dropped it, eventually he had a go.  I showed him the technique I used,  and he managed to do it.

He then set to work on the lego battleship I'd rediscovered recently. I'd bought for him  a year or so ago, put it under the bed in the spare room, and had forgotten about it.
 

The World's Most Expensive Apron

You may remember that my decision to make bunting for DH's special birthday led to me buying a sewing machine, and then an embroidery machine, and then lots of embroidery thread, and then selling both machines and buying a combined machine,  and so on, resulting in the world's most expensive bunting...?

Well, I think I have now made the world's most expensive apron.

You may remember the story of the patterns and me asking my aunt for help, well, this is what happened next.

Tuesday arrived and I went fabric shopping to Fabricland.  I needed 2.5 yards of fabric in 2 coordinating fabrics.  I picked out several possibilities, and decided to buy 3 metres of each to give myself some leftovers to make cute little purses and things.

I spent a small fortune. 

On Wednesday afternoon my Aunt arrived, and we got started.  I was nervous about using fabric from my new stash, I wasn't at all confident in my abilities.   I had a brainwave of using a pretty duvet cover (one I'd bought, brand new, to make into bunting in fact).    That way, if I made a cock up it wouldn't matter.

It was a long, slow, process.  The apron is reversible, so there was a lot of fabric to deal with, and the two sets had to be sewn together before the garment could be assembled.   I decided I didn't want pockets, which saved several years of sewing.

Four and a half hours later, we were near the end. I turned the nearly-finished apron through one of the open shoulders, shook it, and voila, we were ready to do the shoulders.

We read the instructions. which involved laying the apron face down, then crossing over the left back to the right front, and then.....blah, blah, blah,  We could not for the life of us work out what to do. We looked again and again at the four layers of fabric for each shoulder, trying to work out what to join to what and how.   Understandably, the instructions were written by someone who knows what they are doing, for someone who knows how to sew.  They didn't make sense though.

I decided I wasn't thinking clearly enough, and called it a day.


I asked my Aunt J to join me for dinner, and made a chicken risotto in Thermy - superfast, supereasy, super-delicious.  Despite getting stuck, it had been a really good afternoon.

On Thursday, I procrastinated most of the day.  I went and saw to the allotment chickens, all the time going over the four pieces of fabric.   When I got home,  I turned the apron outside-in again, and re-sewed the edges as some of my seams weren't great. I also decided to overcast all the way around to prevent the ends fraying, It took some time.  I was actually quite chuffed that I'd thought to do this.    In preparation for the final top stitching, I did some tests on fabric.  I kept looking at the shoulders.


I contacted PaisleyPincushion  with a detailed explanation of where I'd got to and why I was stuck.  While I waited for a reply, I googled shoulder seams and read impossible-to-understand explanations. I watched a couple of videos.  One website was making a reversible top, the front was black and the back was blue.  She mentioned that you had to sew black to black and blue to blue.

I went back out to the kitchen, and looked at my apron shoulders again.

And then I realised why all the talk of "contrast t contrast" wasn't making sense.   I'd put the back pieces on the wrong way round. I had my contrast fabric showing, instead of the front-fabric.  THAT was why I couldn't sort out the shoulders.

The pattern lady's reply confirmed about the "main to main".  I realised that I needed to sew the two inner pieces together,  and then the two outer pieces.   By now it was late on Friday and I decided to wait until the next day,

So today, I did it.  It took me a while. I had to check that all my marks were in the correct place despite the pieces being reversed.  I had to get the pattern out to make sure.   I sewed my first seam, one of the underside ones, and it was good, The second one, the topside, I realised I had gone wrong as the seam was showing.  I unpicked it, and twisted the shoulder round to try and work out how to do it from the other side.  The material was fraying badly, and I wasn't sure it would work.   It did!  When I managed to do the first one, I cheered out loud.

When I'd finished all four, I was amazed to find that they lined up pretty well.  This was especially important because of my cock up with the back pieces,  the place of the join was pretty obvious. 

When it was done,  I took a deep breath and started top stitching all the way round with a decorative satin stitch.  It took forever.

Shoulder seams - from a distance

Shoulder seam - needs threat trimming

My top stitch decoration

Even though it was made in cheap and cheerful fabric, I quite like the bright pattern.

Front

Back (panels are the wrong way round, this is the inside fabric)

It is, of course, waaaaaaaaaay too big. Good job I hadn't used my expensive fabric to make this version.

I don't care though.  I'm really pleased that I've managed to make something. I know it might seem like it's only an apron but it isn't.  It's a reversible apron, with quite a few bits to it.  Sewing is also something that doesn't come naturally to me at all,  so the whole thing has been a bit of a challenge.

Rather than make it again in a smaller size,  I think I might try another pattern. Maybe the other Paisley Pincushion one.  Although I do quite fancy the idea of making one with slimming princess seams down the front. I was picturing using some plain fabric for most of the apron, and then some of my lovely stuff for the centre panel.

I can feel another night's googling coming on.


 

A spring in my step!

What a fantsatic day of Spring weather we had yesterday!

Early February, yet it was sunny and warm enough to have the back doors open.  All that lovely fresh Spring air,  letting my house breathe for a few hours.

Wonderful!

Back in action

At last!

DH is now able to remove the back brace for extended periods. He has to make sure he's wearing it if he's doing anything that might involve any sort of bending or lifting.

The vertebrae will never bounce back to its original shape, but it is healing well.

Quick Trim

Having failed miserbaly last winter, we were determined that tthis yearwe would get two of our apple trees professionally pruned.  They are getting too tall for the appes to be easily reached (even with an apple picker). They also grow over on to some common ground. I don't mind people picling apples from the other side, but in the last few years people have been quite vicious while doing. Last year someone brought a broomstick with them, and wrecked some of the branches in their greed to get apples. They took so many, and didn't care about the damage.

Before

After

It's difficult to show you the trees concerned because there is a very badly overgrown pear tree in the way.

Tree 2 Before

Tree 2 After

We'll aim to get the other apple tree and the pear tree done next year.

and sew on

I'm feeling a slightly shameful sense of pride.  I managed to use my machine to hem 4 pairs of trousers, and it went really well! I feel a bit sheepish, as of course DH is probably perfectly capable of hemming his own trousers. But I was curious to see if I could do it.

I feel that I've saved us £40, as it cost us £10 per pair to have them hemmed when we've done it before.

I'm also planning to make myself a new apron, one that is suitable for the larger busted lass. 

Normal aprons, the ones with the normal apron-tie round the neck, don't stay in place,  Some years ago I managed to sew a proper fabric collar on to such an apron, and it worked beautifully.  Now though, I plan to sew something a little prettier.

I bought a couple of patterns from Paisley Pincushion , via Etsy,  for such aprons.

This one looks like I can make it look a bit more tailored:

This one looks like an easier pattern to follow and doesn't require tying, but it might look a bit baggy...

They arrived a little while ago and I finally opened them yesterday to see what fabric I need to buy.  The instructions are easy, if you know about these things,  but to me  it was like reading an engineering manual.  I could undertstand the fabric requirements, but the first instruction was copyingmarks on to the fabric and then sewing the darts.

I know what a dart is, in sewing terms.   I have no idea how one is sewed.

I emailed my Aunt, who did a lot of dressmaking when she was a little younger, and she has very kindly agreed to help.

I was going to use a "Chicken Run"duvet cover I'd bought , the pillowcase has pics of Mrs Tweedies Pies. My brother calls me Mrs Tweedie because I have lots of pet chickens.

The main part of of the duvet cover has an enormous Gnger and Rocky picture,  so that's no good.  And it really would be a shame to cut it up.

So, I'm going to fabric shop on Tuesday, and have a go on Wednesday.

Sew and sew

My collection of bought embroidery designs is getting out of hand and I have had to get seruously organised.

I now have a spreadsheet listing all the designs, complete with pictures, my ratings, and information on where I have put the embroidery files (and how big the designs are, how many stitches, the set name if it was part of a set........).

I've also continued with stitching out the designs, so I have a sample of each one.  That's taken a while, and I've still got loads to do.

This is one of the first designs I bought, but I've only just tried it.

Truth told, it's too big to be of much practical use....unless I did it either side of the front of a black waistcoat or something. The colours are gorgeous.

I've got a couple of samplers - here's one:

I've also had a go at an in-the-hoop banner - well, one pennant - and tha was interesting. I might try this again properly, I was just messing about  which is why the letter is rubbish:

It's still a bit too big for what I want, I might contact the designer to see if they could do some miniscule ones.

This is all so  not me, I'm fascinated by it all.

Bin there, done that.

We have 2 lovely auto bins in our kitchen.  One a large, 50L bin, and the other is a smaller one for food recycling.     We've bin very happy with them.  I've got so used to them that sometimes I stand by the chicken feed bin, which is not a sensor bin, waiting for the lid to open.

In the last month I have managed to lose the bag ring from the small bin.   I didn't exactly lose it.  It was a sleety evening and I was emptying the food wate into the outside food bin.  The inside bin was a bit full, and I knew if I took the compostable bag out, it would split... so I carried the whole bin outside, and emptied it into the bigger food recycling bin.

I came in, washed the bin out, and put it upside down on the draining board to air and dry.

The next morning, DH put the bin back together and asked me where the bag ring was.   I knew at once.  It had obviously gone into the bigger food bin, along with the food and the compostable liner.

Unfortunately,  the bin men had bin in the meantime.

No response from the company about how to obtain a replacement.

....

And a few days ago I took the lid off the bigger bin, in the usual manner.  The lid flipped open, I picked it up and pulled the lid off.   Except it came off. Right off.   I 'fessed up to DH.   It was broken. Truly broken.  A tiny piece of plastic had come off and wasn't fixable or replaceable. We needed a whole new lid.


This particular bin had bin horrendously expensive and I could see that, even if I got a reply from the supplying company - which seemed unlikely given their past form - a substantial part of the cost was the lid.

I decided it would have to wait until next month.

We put the lid back on, but it was a nuisance.  We left the lid off. It was worse.

By a stroke of luck, Costco were selling cheap autobins (completely different shape, mechanism, size), and I decided to get one while they had them in stock.  They were  much cheaper than I expected

 It works really well.  The lid is a bit flappy,  but the sensor is great. It also senses that you are standing there and doesn't slap the lid down just as you are pouring rubbish in.

So that worked out OK then!

Feet first

A while ago DH bought some piece of kit or other and an xy table.   The combination of this enabled him to laser cut foamy stuff to make a padded inside for an air pistol case.

He then made me an insert for my sewing machine feet.    I had to search around to find a suitable case.  I struggled a bit as, in order to find a case that could accomodate all the feet, it looked like I was going to have to get something too big.  Im the end I used a Prym stackable case which I had optimisticaly bought before Christnas, but hadn't used.

DH did a printout of the holes, and I then cut them out and moved them around until I worked out how to fit them in the space.  DH then reordered his cutting diagram so it matched my proposed layout, and then lasered the slots.

Each foot has it's own specially shaped slot...

..and I've labelled the base of the (I've removed 2 feet so youcan see the labels).

Vary happy!

Cock a hoop

Success!

I've seen posts on a Machine Embroidery Facebook group about 'ITH' or 'In The Hoop' projects. Mostly they passed me by.    I was looking for 'In the Hoop' videos on Youtube to see what it was all about and, luckily, I came across this one from PicklePieDesigns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us4CRL9_leE

I was amazed at how easy it seemed to be. Coincidentally, I had a USB stick full of photos to give to my DSD (darling step daughter), so I decided to have a go.

I had to order some zips first, and ordered a mixed pack from Amazon, which arrived the next day.  I bought the design from PicklePie, and had a go,

Amazing!

I showed DH who kindly showed interest. Then I made another.

 I didn't take a photo of the first one, which was made with a spotty fabric.  I've given it to DSD now.
Here are some pics of the second one I made.  I used a cat fabric for this and I worked out how to match it up on either side of the zip

I was really pleased.  

I looked at Pickle Pie's other offerings, looking for a tissue-pack sized zippered case.  She didn't have one, although she did have an array of different sizes.

I searched, and the other sites I found had them, but they had stipple quilting over them which I didn't really want.  I emailed PicklePie to see if she could, perhaps, put one up.  She emailed back to say she would add it to the list of requests.

Another website had anunstippled coinpurse, with the zip 1/3rd of the way down.  I bought that and tried it.  It was OK, but it wasn't as good as PicklePie's.  The new one involved spray fabric adhesive, and finishing off with wundaweb.  It was OK, but it wasn't as neat.

So I'll wait and see if PicklePie comes up with the goods.

Doh!

A hole appeared in one of DH'checked s soft shirts.

For a few days I considered patching it with a home made applique patch.  I've never made an applique patch, I wasn't really sure how or what to do.  I looked online, couldn't find anything that would help.

And then I wondered if I could darn it using my machine.  I looke din the instruction book, and there was a small section on a darning sticthc using the buttonhole foot.   I looked online for videos, but all I could find were videos about darning free-hand.  However, it did give me confidence that it could be done.

I got a small piece of material and forced a hole in it, and then followed the instructions.  To my amazement, it worked!

I found thread to match the shirt, took a deep breath, and had a go.

It worked beautifully.  A neat little darn, the thread matched well.  I was so pleased, I showed it to DH.  And then I realised that I had the shirt the wrong way round.  My beautiful darn was on the inside,  and on the outside was white bobbin thread.

I couldn't see how to unpick it.  So, I decided to embroider something on top.  I found a heart, I found thread to match the red in the shirt.  I tested it.  I did it.  It worked.  Not sure how DH would feel about having a heart embroidered on his shirt, but never mind.

I trimmedround the embroidery and.....I made another hole.

Really.

So I had to darn that. The right way round.

It could be worse. 

That's what I keep telling myself.

It could.  I could have just binned the shirt without trying.  In that respect, we're no worse off than we were before.

That was quick!

When we get close to the allotment we call for Henry.  Without fail, we unlock the gate to impatient boks and burbles. As soon as the gate is swung open,  the harem pours out onto the grass path and starts nibbling grasstops.

Today I counted 7 black girls plus Henry (plus Nora and Batty,).   One of the Littlees had obviously attached herself to the harem.

The remaining Littlees, 2 black girls plus Big Bird and Princess, were wandering around as their own little flock.   

In between checking the feeders, I kept an eye on the newest member of the harem.  She mingled amongst the established hens without problem.  She got pecks on the head when she got too close,  but they were more of a "Oi", rather than an annoyed "OY!!!!!!!".

Doesn't mean she'll be roosting with the Establishment,   but so far so good.

Seeing red

I've been continuing to stitch out the embroidery designs that I've bought.   I tried a couple direct on to cardstock, but it wasn't entirely successful.

Today I decided to try a Redwork design.  Redwork is something that is very common in the US,  it is very simple outline embroidery, usually done with red thread (hence the name.).

I bought  pleasant hen design from emblibrary.com and then stitched it directly onto card, using a purple thread.

I think it worked well.  I can see me buying a few more of these  for card use.  I'm kicking myself because they sent me a fantastic discount voucher which I hadn't used, and it expired on Monday.

Sneaky peek

It wasn't my day to do the Allotment chooks today.  

This evening, however, I was driving through the village. It was dark, and raining.  I wondered if the Littlees were OK.   Although we have plenty of coop space,  I had visions of them being denied access to the coops by Angry Old Hens.

The next thing I knew, I had parked by the allotment gates and was slipping around on the mud trying to find my way down to our allotment.  Luckily I had a small torch in my coat pocket.  I bought 5 fantastic, small, LED torches from Amazon a while back, and I now have one in each coat, one in my handbag and one in my car. 

Shed: Henry and 4 wives;  Mrs' old ropey coop: SIouxsie in the nest box,  NoraOrBatty and 2 wives on the roosting bars'  home made coop: Norman and NotNorman in the nestboxes,  NoraOrBatty on the roosting bars.  And in the Littlees' coop?  All five of them, together.

All is well.

Looking forward to seeing them in the daylight tomorrow to check for signs of henpecking.

Chilly

It was -5 this morning, and the Garden Girls' drinkers were both frozen over.  Even the inside one, which is better potected and therefore usually less solid, required hot water and a bit of bashing.  Reminded me a bit of the old ReadyBrek advert, the one with the girl and her pony. Sorry, I'm digressing down memory lane..

It was our turn to do the Allotment Chooks today, so we went before breakfast. 

We started by poiring fresh water on top of the drinkers, and fresh water into a bowl.  This meant that the Girls could drink while we worked.     DH fired up the camping stove, and we defrosted each of the metal drinkers in turn.  Once the ice started to melt, I broke it with a stick. 

We then set up the tea lights (prtected in a small glass ramekin, with the ramekin inside an illy coffee tin, holes drilled at strategic points to let the condensation out), and put one under each of 2 drinkers. 

I also let the Littlees out to join the main flock.    I was surprised at the lack of hen pecking,  the littlees were even allowed to drink while others were drinking.   Maybe it was just too cold for any of the big girls to notice, or maybe it was because Henry was standing nearby. Or we were.  

The two flocks separated again, with main flock going outside to the grassy path and the Littlees staying in the allotment area and exploring. 

The Oldies came back fairly quickly,  and I spread corn out everywhere.  There was a little bit of head-pecking, but nothing major that I could see.

We put the door-into-the-Litlees-Paddock on its side (as in Raymond Briggs' "When the Wind Blows" ), leaning up against the fence.  This would provide additional refuge if any of the Littlees needed it. 

All done, did a quick headcount. It's much harder now. It used to be 

6 black - check

Nora & Batty - check

Norman and Co - check

Henry

 and

Princess - check

Big Bird - check

3 Black - check.

Today it was "Nora & Batty, yep; Norman & Co, yep; Henry, yep; Big Bird,yep.  1,2,3,4,5,was that Princess or a black chicken? - Princess - 4, 5, 6, haven't I just counted you?. Hold on.  1,2,3,4,5 here,  6,7, by the fence, Princess, stop moving, 1,2,3,4,Princess, 5,6,7,8, where's number 9? Is there a black chicken in the shed? Yes? 9. Right.

Hopefully they'll be OK tonight.   

If we didn't have a cockerel,  I wouldn't attempt the integration this fast.   Hope Henry does his job, keeping the Girls in order I mean.

 

.

Lucky girls

I raised the subject of the 5 dinner girls.   Time was getting on, and it won't be long before we need to have their paddock empty so it can rest and be re-seeded before the 2015 hatch go in there.  

We talked about options.  The mother of 2 of the 5 girls is unrelated to Henry - and a different breed -  so potentially we could keep them for breeding.  The mothers of the other 3 are related to Henry, so we don't want to breed from them.  

We could dispatch all 5, which is - after all - what they were bred for.

We could dispatch the 3 and keep the 2. 

We could rehome them

Keeping 2 was an attractive option.  We had planned to breed and keep some girls from her this year. The mother is getting on a bit, so we need to carry the line on while we can.    We don't even know if she'll lay this year.

However, introducing 2 hens to a flock of 10 isn't a particularly kind thing to do.

Rehomoming them was definitely possible.... except we know that the 3 of them (a) are likely to be very broody (their mothers are), and (b) shouldn't really be bred from.    (a) is a nuisance for hobby keepers with small flocks,  and both (a) and (b) are a problem for more serious keepers.   

DH talked it over with OC (other chap),  and in the end they decided to keep all 5.  We have a few hens who are getting on a bit and are likely to stop laying soon,  and we have the space to accomodate them all.    We'd ring the 3, so we can easily identify them,  and we can then make sure that we don't breed from them moving forward.

So, today we put rings on them.  We'll give them today and tomorrow to get used to their rings, and then on Tuesday, we'll open up their paddock so that all the hens can mingle freely. .  They will still have access to their coop (although, of course,  the older girls will have access to it as well).

There is plenty of space, there are places for cover.  Having Henry should, in theory, mean that the older girls are kept in line.

There is 1 older girl who has a marked card already, so we will keep an eye on her. If she is unnecessarily aggresive, we'll remove her.

Let's see how it goes.

Five go loopy

The 5 dinner girls are desperate to get into the main flock's area.     They have no understanding of hen pecking - because they have grown up together, the pecking order of their group has been achieved without them realising.

Today, they tried to push past me when I went into their run to do the waterer and feed.  I decided to let them - I wasn't too worried, as I'd let Henry and the Harem out onto the grass and the main area was mostly empty.

Except for Batty,  who was dustbathing under one of the old coops. 

She was lying there, fairly still.  I had to do a double take; for a moment there, I thought she had died mid bathe.  But no, she was just lying at an angle,   building up for the next flourish.

The dinner girl known as Big Bird (who happens to be Batty's daughter) walked up to her, and started intently, fascinated,  head down, watching.

Time stopped.

And then Batty realised that her personal space was being invaded,  fflipped over, and gave chase.

...

Henry and the Harem came back in to see what the fuss was about .  There were a few squabbles, but the Littlees were OK as long as they didn't get directly in the Big Girls path or beak-line.

Shortly afterwards I attempted to shoo the five dinner girls back into their own area.  Four of them went in easily.  The fifth, a small girl,  didn't.

We had a bit of a Benny Hill chase as I attempted to walk her in to her own area.  Each time I got close, she opened her wings and then ran, squawking madly.  She ran through groups of Harem girls, causing them to scatter and panic as well.   It made me chuckle (it was a pleasant day, so I wasn't in a rush).

If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Lotti - my loopy exchequer leghorn - was her mother.

Actually, as I typed that, I had to go and check my spreadsheet to make sure that there wasn't any way that Spike (Lotti's brother, culled because he was a nasty bugger) could have been her father.

Nope. Spike was culled in October 2013.

Eventually I managed to get her to go back in her own area, and all was well. 

I will miss them when they go.

 

  

Domestication.

Yesterday, I managed to turn up three pairs of trousers,  using a double zigzag overcast stitch (and the overcasting foot) and a beautiful straightstitch for the hem, using my hemming foot.

Anyone who does this sort of thing without thinking about it,  will doubtless be thinking "And....?", and will be waiting for the punchline.

But the achievement is the punchline.  This is so out of my comfort zone, I feel huge sense of achievement. Especially as we normally pay £10 a time to get trousers shortened.

I also made 8 litres of cream into butter,  which is business as usual.

Today,  DH made marscapone out of a litre of cream. This is the second time we've done this, and this time it worked like a dream.  He used the Codlo,  so that's another tick for that appliance.

And I used Thermy to make a lemon drizzle cake. 

Such domestication!

Out with the old

I'm on a mini decluttering roll.

I've bitten the bullet and put some lovely unread books in a pile to go.  Sadly, they aren't worth selling, despite costing a lot of money when new.  I checked on Amazon, and there are loads of all of them for sale for 1p plus £2.81 postage, so no one is going ot pay more than 2.80 for them incuding postage... and as they are all hard backed, postage costs too much to make it worthwhile listing them..

I seem to remember getting to this point once before and then deciding I might as well keep them,  but I still haven't read them, and I expect it will be the same next year.  

I did try posting them on a couple of Facebook local-selling sites, but even though I was asking little for them, they just aren't selling. 

I should have done this before Christmas, as they would have made great Christmas presents.   However, I'm not keeping them for another year.

They'll be off to the charity shop tomorrow. 

Reality check

Went to see to the allotment chooks today and noticed that all the hens had disappeared from a neighbouring plot.  

There were no signs of fox attack, nor of forced entry.  The hens were there on Saturday, I always say "Hello" to them as I walk past.  DH and I discussed whether the plot holders might be unaware of what happened.  It didn't seem likely,  they would probably have been down that morning already.

But what if they didn't know?

I phoned OC (other chap) to see if he knew what had happened or if he knew the phone number of the chaps who have the plot.  OC didn't pick up his phone,  so I carried on with my own business.  

I walked past the Allotment "office" on the way back to the car, and found the number for the membership secretary.  I called, explained why I was phoning, and asked her to phone the plotholders to let them know, just in case they didn't already.

A few minutes later she phoned me back.  They had removed the hens themselves, to be culled because they weren't laying.

It happens all the time, all over the place. For many people, hens have to earn their kee - and not everyone has the luxury of funding "freeloaders".  I realise that they don't have the space to keep so many non-laying hens.  

I was sad for the hens concerned, but I know they had a good life - better than many.

Most of our allotment girls are only" freeloading" over the winter.  For the second-year girls, I don't really think of this as freeloading. they are just having their winter break. For the older girls (3 are 5 years old and 2 are 4 years old), this might just be a winter break or it might be the henopause.    They are lucky girls because we have space to accomodate them even if they aren't going to lay any more. 

They have no idea how lucky they are.

Normal

DSD visited on Saturday, and so I bit the bullet yesterday and took down all the decorations.

It took ages.  The boxes are currently standing on the landing, waiting to go into the loft.  No point putting them away immediately. as I inevitably keep finding bits of Christmas debris for a couple of days.  

I was marvelling atjust how many boxes of stuff there is.   We don't actually do that much decorating.  The tree decorations fit in one box;  the front-door-wreath have another box.  We have a 2...I can't think of the word...mantles is what comes to mind, but itsn't quite right They take up another box.  The bannister....mantle and lights take up another box.   Then there are the various battery-operated fairy light strings and the hangers for the kitchen...   

When I was a kid we had one small box of christmas tree ornaments,  a fake tree,  and some then-trendy shiny hanging things which folded flat (which replaced the old-fashioned paper ornaments which folded flat)   The fashion was to have these things hanging from the ceiling.  Everyone seemed to have them.   I left home at 18, and I don't think I've ever used those sort of ornaments in my own home... I wonder when they stopped being de rigeur?  

Once everything was packed away,  I carried our lovely tree and wreath round to the tree recycing point.  I'm very lucky that our local council provides a collection service, and even luckier that it's within walking distance.   I thanked the tree and wreath, and left them with all the others.

Today I'm putting newly-washed tablecloth, table runner, mats and stuff away,  and then I'll bring my sewing machine downstairs and think about what to sew. Or embroider.

I've already been clearing out stuff that we no longer need, or don't use. 

 

New Year

No New Year resolutions here.  Personally I find it best to make decisions on changes as I go, rather than waiting til January.

Had dinner with friends yesterday.  S had made a lot of her own Christmas tree decorations, mostly hand sewn.  I might try making a couple, ideally  now while I am thinking about Christmas...if I don't do it now then I won't have time later in the year. 

I'm waiting to take the decorations down before I set up my sewing machine.  Normally I'm more than ready to put everything away by now..but the tree is lovely and has hardly shed at all,  the front foor wreath still makes me smile,  and I like having the candles everywhere.  Maybe tomorrow. Or Sunday.   

The allotmenr chooks are all happy.   The little Dinner Girls escaped into the main run today.   One of them got very excited at being in Henry's presence.  She's obviously coming into lay as she crouched excitedly, waving herself at him.   He pecked her on the comb and walked off.  She ran around with the excitement of it all.

I shooed them back into their own area, reminding myself that we aren't looking to increase the harem with any girls from the 2014 hatch.   Back in the winter of 2012, DH merged the then-dinner girls with the then-harem for the winter... and couldn't bring himself to cull any of them after that.   I can see a similar slippery slope with this hatch,  and it it really isn't a good idea.     My plan was to do some selective breeding this year (2015) and keep some of those girlies.  If we keep the 2014 girls, we won't have room for any from this year.

At home, Custard is on a final warning.  She's always been a bully of a chicken. Not in Milly's league (Milly was the cream legbar we had to cull in the end), but she does have a nasty streak.   She's been particularly horrible recently,  and the final warning was issued when I caught her dragging Poppy round the run by the comb.      After Milly, I promised myself I wouldn't shilly-shally if it happened again, but I obviously am.  A bit.  Custard isn't in Milly's league of nastiness though.

We'll see.