- Listen to Mark’s new old Christmas song and reply to email
- listen to Tania’s new Christmas tracks
Woke up at 06:15 and fed the cats and took my morning vitamins with a small plum, then looked at the neckline for Charlotte’s red with white squares dress that we had been working on last night. When I pinned it in place last night, I had the top part of the keyhole perfectly centred on the shoulders, and the bottom point perfectly centred on the middle line in the pattern on the fabric. Then I sewed the orange twill down on the “sew here line” I had marked tracing my old Keyhole neckline pattern I made for Khevron in 1995, which fits Charlotte as well as it fits pretty much everyone else I have helped with sewing ever since. I cut the neck part of the neck hole, but before cutting the neck slit, I turned everything over, and looked to see how well the stitching framed that central line of the fabric. Not very well, being too close on one side, too far on the other, and not as parallel as I would have liked. So I sewed around the slit again, this time looking at the red side of the fabric so I could get the spacing correct around that central white line, but was smart enough to put it down and sleep. This morning when I looked at it, I decided I was happy with the new spacing, took out the wrong stitches, turned the orange to the other side, and basted the edges down to get it to sit properly.
That was when I realised that this fabric is not the same front and back—the white lines of the square pattern are bolder on one side (probably intended to be the front of the fabric) and softer on the other. We had put the neck down without thinking about that last night, so, of course, it wound up attaching such that the orange sits on the side with the softer white lines. So I will ask Charlotte when she gets up which side she likes better, and if she prefers the bolder lines, then I take the neck off and do it again correctly.
Since there was no point in finishing the neck till I talk to her, I did a 30 minute HIT session, and updated this before breakfast.
After breakfast we finished cutting out Charlotte’s dress. About the time we finished that I got a call from Kerstin, who sold her house to Bryan called, and we arranged for her to drop by at 14:00. Then we had a message from Angelika, would we like the left over Cremé bastard and blueberry compot from Friday? Yes! Yes we would. So while Charlotte sat down and started sewing, we hurried over to Angelika’s (I really love her farm!), and since we were there, we looked at the hot tub she had gotten years ago intending to fix us, and, since she never did, she wondered if we want the project instead? Yes, we have been talking of getting a hot tub when we build the deck.
Then a quick stop by the store to pick up spinach and other salad veg, after which I had just enough time to make the salad before Kerstin arrived. We had a lovely visit, showing her my Hammer Dulcimer and bas Moraharpa, and had a nice ficka with the desert we had just picked up.
Then we drove her home, stopping by her old house to double check and see if there was anything there she still wanted. I need to remember to contact her now and then, I think she would appreciate the company, and I liked her.
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