Thursday 18th April

 The stair lift was installed! Almost everything else I did today is eclipsed by this wondrous event.

Otherwise there is a plethora of things to mention; sowing my heritage sweet peas; six varieties in a box, a Christmas present;

There are only a few seeds in each packet so I have sown six of each in paper pots.

Then I  suddenly realised that we are racing through April, and I need to finish the baby socks before the end of the month. I set to, finished the ribbing and the leg. 

Heel flap and heel turn tomorrow, gusset and foot over the weekend? That's the plan, distractions permitting. 

And what a distraction! I did a lot of reading and thinking about this Bog Coat; there is no way it will work with 5 fat quarters. The body will be far too narrow. Further digging lead me to a free pattern from Threads magazine, still available online. 

After a bit of approximate measuring, and thinking, and thinking, and measuring, I decided the only thing to do was to try it. 

Problem 1; the dining room table has got out of control. To be honest it is mostly my stuff. I need to get it sorted.

Problem 2; I was using the only piece of 'spare' cloth I was prepared to sacrifice; some creased and crumpled cheesecloth, and I couldn't get to an ironing board.

So, doing all the measuring and cutting and sewing (rough and ready tacking stitches) while sitting on the settee I cobbled together a very rough Bog Coat in less than 2 hours, including carefully arranging it over my model and taking a photograph before it disintegrated. 

This has given me the confidence to cut into some rather lovely fabric I've got upstairs and make it for real, which is what this was all about.

Thursday 18th April - My Oxygenated Life

 Before;

After

When the chair gets to the top, just before the landing, it stops, leaving the foot rest over the top stair. Then the chair swivels through 90° to face the wall, so that is no danger of wasting the journey by tumbling back down the stairs when you get off!

I've just used it 'for real', to nip to the loo (in slow motion...). Travelling by stairlift is slow, but still faster than I can manage on foot, and I went up and came back down with the portable oxygen concentrator on a lower setting than I would have used and not breathless at all.

I am so happy!

Wednesday 17th April

 I'm in between books at the moment, an unusual state for me. Kindle have rather got my measure and are always coming up with 99p offers. I managed to succumb to just one; 'Touch not the cat' by Mary Stewart. I must have read this a good number of times, but it will bear re-reading.

But, I did splurge on this last week which arrived today;

This is going to be very helpful for working out how to make a bog coat. I am imagining raised eyebrows... the original bog coat was found in a Danish bog and is one of the earliest pieces of clothing - that must be in Europe, because aren't the pyramid stuffed with textiles? - anyway it is reckoned to be about 2000 years old.

It's a very simple construction; basically sleeves, rectangles front and back, and a hole for the neck.

I was thinking it could be a zero-waste pattern, but I've had a better brain-wave; 5 fat quarters would probably be enough. 

These, maybe?

I reckon it could make a lovely light weight quilted jacket/top; I've a thin quilted mattress protector which has been retired from active duty, and also an old duvet cover which would make a lining. But Ang says I need to add gussets (help!) where the sleeves join the body! Here's where the book comes in. There's a whole chapter on them, and I pretty bearly understand the diagrams and instructions. Another couple of read through and I should be there.

Meanwhile, I've started the next charm square for the book cover. The plan is to chain stitch a spiral between the stamps to start with.

When I'm in need of a little tlc, being presented with a tea tray like this, is just the best thing.

Term has started, so I'm teaching again. Just five students left and three should be moving on at the end of the Summer. Ah... I'm no longer semi-retired, more like nearly completely retired!