fred_mouse

I started cutting pieces for the borders of chaosmanor's quilt yesterday. I did an amount of math, and concluded that yes, I could do 18 pieces at the shorter length, rather than 9 pieces at the longer length. (each piece costs 1/4" of fabric for seams)

I have no idea where those numbers came from now, because I have four sides, and therefore however many I have has to be a multiple of four. Which I think means I need 24 pieces of each colour and I may have stuffed myself up right royally.

Off to look through my notes and see where the numbers went squirrelly. Also, because I needed 2 3/4" but there was an issue with the cutting mechanism, I cut the first two colours at 3", which means that I have a fair bit of extra, if I need it. Also, I was doing the math for slightly longer than needed in the hope that that would mean that if my seams were too wide I'd be fine, so possibly I just have to do very scant 1/4" seams.

ETA: worked it out. 24 pieces of each colour across the four sides, but three colours * 6 sets -> 18 pieces on a side, all three colours combined, so six pieces on a side.

The general summary of the last few days is 'ow'. There has been a cold front, and my body is having all the snits.

Today

• voice chat with Youngest, talked about 'how does this assignment even work' and 'argh, how I am I supposed to pass this unit if the materials aren't made available to externals'
• sewn the currently cut bits of binding together, sewn onto the quilt -- I'm about 40cm short, so that will be some faffing around, but whatever. edit: and now I've done that, it is all sewn on, and the first pass ironing done. still to pin
• progress on the crochet - the pale green ball of yarn is not the same as the one I've used already, will have to work out whether there is another one somewhere. Otherwise, this is looking nice as a final edge, which is one row short of what I was planning. Then the rest of this set of yarn gets offered elsewhere
• prepped parcel for Youngest; Artisanat will post

Yesterday

• cancelled many of the plans for the day, because ow. this included not doing any of my Friday exercises
• expedition to get pens for Youngest (Officeworks), library book (Spearwood; plan - one, actual, four). Any optional other details abandoned
• did not start any of the library books; started book one of a series I own books 2 & 3 of -- had to go to the internet archive library for it, which annoys me no end, but there are no ways to actually get an ebook that I can find, and no easy option to get a physical copy.
• bias cutting fabric to be binding for current lap quilt
• trimmed the last edge of lap quilt
• decided that the lap quilt needed a row of quilting just in from the edge (say, 1/2"?) - very pleased with that decision now that I've added the binding because the quilting is exactly where I would have decided it needed to be.

My quilting projects are moving along steadily. By which I mean that I've done three sides of the hand sewing on the first quilt I picked up, and have now spent a frustratingly large amount of time fixing the error I made the first time I sewed the bias binding closed. The important detail is that it has to be twisted when sewn together, so that it smoothes out properly. Can I remember this between one time and the next? No. At least this time I didn't make the mistake of assuming I'd got it right, and was able to just unpick.

In addition, I've put the borders on another project that was 'all but the borders'. This is a smaller one, for a kid to take places and sit on. It is made from a single pack of pre-cut squares (possibly referred to as a 'charm pack'?) which are pink and ballet themed. I suspect the originally planned recipient will have grown out of it, given it has been a couple of years in the making, but I'll check in with their parent and see what the thought is. I've gone for the slightly lazy straight strips borders, because they are short enough that bias binding seems silly.

The tiny bit of left over bias binding from the first quilt I've added to the placemat I've been making from scraps for something like ten years. Which is also at the 'all but borders'.

In terms of books -- my 'just one book' is going dreadfully. I haven't touched Braiding Sweetgrass since the last time I wrote one of these. I'd completely forgotten that I was planning on reading for the Hugos (ah, is there a Hugo voters packet? I really should remember to look), so don't have that (or the deadline) in my reading plan.

However! And this is the thought that prompted this post: I'm going away with chaosmanor and artisanat for the up coming long weekend. We are heading south on Friday morning, and then Chaosmanor and I are hanging around at accommodation and maybe in town while Artisanat goes to dance workshops (daytime) and socials (evenings). I have allowed myself one box for taking books and craft. Currently it has ~12 books, most of which are either started or short. There are a couple of aspirational extras. And I have the two quilts that need borders, and a blanket that needs the ends sewn in. I'm also trying to work out how to pack the other crochet project I've signed up for, which won't fit in the box, but does need some attention.

Which means I have the craft and general reading covered, and I just have to sort out getting some books on to the ipad for Hugos.

Craft: did not deal with the munged joint, have instead moved the lap quilt and necessary supplies so I can start sewing the back of the binding. Discovered that despite carefully redoing the corners, I did indeed stuff them up. So, there is going to be some unpicking in my future. I have no idea how I'm going to deal if it turns out I didn't actually fold enough under (what I did manage to do was sew bits down that shouldn't have been, so I can't actually turn the corners). Have also done two rows on the 'easy' craft project, which is knitting for kitties. The goal is to use up the red and green yarn I pulled out previously (roughly half and quarter of a ball) and then reconsider.

Books: made progress on Witch King. Continue to struggle with the jumping back and forth in the timeline, even though I understand exactly why it is doing it in terms of narrative and echoing themes, etc. I just keep falling out of the story and having to work out who is who every chapter.

Picked up, and then finished (3.25 hours) an ebook that I'd put on hold that came in some time in the last week. I suspect this one came from a recommendation list that I went 'oh, well, a few of those look interesting', because this was somewhat outside my usual. But it was Australian written YA SFF. Ish. I don't think it read as YA, and some of the other reviews I looked at flagged that the teenagers weren't convincing (I'm not sure that they were convincing humans). And the SFF is definitely there, but it comes with near future apocalypse, a nasty pandemic, and a whole heap of other nastiness. The book is The End of the World Is Bigger than Love (Davina Bell) and I've given it 2.5 / 5 for having been really good up to a point and then just throwing that away for a telegraphed dodgy ending. In my review elsewhere, I've likened reading it to my memories of reading Barefoot in the Head and the half of One Hundred Years of Solitude I made it through.

I ran out of oomph entirely yesterday evening, and once I'd eaten dinner retreated to bed to do SFA. Which included skipping the first rehearsal of term. Still a bit flagged today. Worked from home, because I had a skin check appointment (rescheduled from last Friday; good that I could get a new appointment so fast, given it was about three months wait for this one) at 8:30am. Nothing anomolous or concerning detected, which is a win.

Came home, walked to the shops for coffee (given I'd already notified my line manager that I was going to be late in), and made it to my desk just in time for the weekly team meeting. I was the only one online, which is unusual. And we managed to get through everyone in 15 minutes, which is unheard of. Mind you, there were at least three people missing, and many of us didn't have a lot of variety in our reports (three of us were approximately 'more code for [project]; three projects, or possibly four).

And then coded for the rest of the day. I now have half a function where I had zero function and ideas yesterday afternoon. But by 3:45pm I was so vague that I couldn't work out whether my tests weren't failing because there was an error in them, or because my code wasn't working (they should have been failing. I had captured a snapshot, then updated the code. The snapshot should be changing because I added a thing). The joy of unit tests. But without them I would be guessing and writing half arsed tests, which is the way I used to do it.

Craft: The next step on the quilt is trimming the edges. This requires not being too tired to safely hold a rotary cutter. That was not me yesterday, and may not be me today. In which case, I'm going to pick the 'next' project, which is to finish up the yarn I've been using to make 15cm squares for purrdence's knitting for kitties project. Miniumum task is thus one row, which is 30 stitches, which I should be able to do no matter how shit I feel. And because it is in a nice self-contained pouch, I can keep it next to the bed.

Books: I have no idea why past me put Jane in Love on my library holds list. I stalled out at about 30% for failing me on plot, writing, and characterisation. It only needs one of those to hold me! The world building was good, and I love bits of the way Jane (Austen) interacted with the modern day. But I loathed one of the other viewpoint characters, for being written as completely vapid and off putting. Like they were written for a farce, in what was otherwise shaping up to be a somewhat bland rom-com. And even the time travel bits didn't keep my attention. (also, it was published in 2020; set in 2020. Which means it completely missed the experience of living through 2020)

Instead, I have grabbed the next ebook on the library shelf. This is Old Boy by Georgia Tree, which is a biography of their father. It is written in first person, which is occassionally off putting -- somehow it manages to break the fourth wall at times. Which, given it was assembled partly from transcripts of conversations, makes sense. The father, whose name I haven't worked out, is a decade and change older than I, and grew up in suburbs around where I lived while I was at uni. There are so many fascinating historical details -- like the kids playing in the builder's sand of the nearly hospital (presumably Charlie's, but could the Hollywood Private) building site; and similarly around the train stations being built on the Fremantle line. And a reference to throwing boondies, which is one of those words I've never really encountered outside WA. As a kid I was told it was an Aboriginal word, which presumably meant Noongar word. But I've also heard a similar word for besan ladoo at some point, and given that a boondie is a handful sized lump of yellow sand that holds together, that would be plausible.

and that is enough waffling from me. Off to look at my craft options :)

I want to claim that I'm going to be doing this weekly. I'm choosing to not expect that, but if it becomes a pattern, I'll be very pleased.

The 'do the smallest thing' on the current project -- a lap quilt, has gone well. I was in too much of an emotional state yesterday to trust myself with the sewing machine, but I'm holding to the idea that one day's break is an acceptable thing, and that as long as I did some today, it would all be good. And I did!

Every day that I've gone in to the sewing space, I've done my minimum of one row of quilting, then done at least one more. And it has gone really well -- I know why I'm going in there, I know that the commitment, including sitting down, turning things on/off, getting up again, is only a minute. And I have a completely defined task to do. Which meant today, I sat down, and I was comfortable, and in the right headspace, and finished off phase one of the quilting (straight lines, cross ways) so I have a checkerboard of quilt lines roughly 5cm apart. The blocks are 16-patches that are roughly 20cm; I'm did 'in the ditch' and across the middles of the blocks. Each block being a different pattern (with one common colour) means that that doesn't always mean having a sewing line to follow, but mostly. And now I'm doing diagonals, on what I'm thinking of as the quartiles. What this means is that each block is 4 squares wide, so I'm counting from the edge and starting my diagonals one and three squares in from the edge. This should, if I've worked it out right, mean that the centre four squares on the blocks will have a quilted rhombus. I did about five of those. Tomorrow, I'll aim for one more.

And this means that I need to do the preparatory thinking for the next bit, which is a) trimming (find the equipment) and b) binding. Because the common fabric has a cheerful yellow background and a couple of pinks in the pattern, I was thinking of trying to match the brighter pink. If I can get commercial bias binding in that colour, or near to, I'm very very tempted to use that (assuming I can get enough). Because it is a lap quilt, the narrowness of the bias binding should be fine. Added to that the wadding is 3-4mm thick, and I think there is enough coverage with a 1cm wide bias binding. The reason for thinking about this now is that I'll need to do the purchasing tomorrow, on the off chance that I get the quilting done before next Friday.

I've been watching videos (I know, how unlike me. But my sound sensitivity was down for a day or two, and having great big ear-thingies instead of having to insert earbuds in? Game changing).

Former NASA Engineer Builds an Incredible Obstacle Course For the Squirrels That Are Stealing His Birdseed article has some short sections from the video; full video is at youtube. Actually watched this a few weeks ago, but still had the article open. Is 20-30 minutes long, don't remember what quality the CC was.

History of fanfiction (not all the episodes):

1. Virgil was a Homer Fanboy - shared storytelling traditions
2. Feel the Berne (Convention) - the beginnings of copyright
3. Slashing Up An Ion Storm - early 20thC, fanzines, Star Trek, Star Wars
4. The Internet is for Fic - the internet fanfiction.net, AO3, and some others (no mention of geocities though)
5. 50 Shades of Legality - filing the serial numbers off; Marion Zimmer Bradley and the story that went nowhere; Anne Rice; fair use; kindle worlds.
6. I Love You, Mary Sue! - includes a partial reading of the original story containing Mary Sue; My Immortal

Just get it done quilts - how to iron blocks - there are some nuances here that I am not currently doing.

1. Rag mat - I've torn three old sheets and half an old quilt cover into ~ 1" strips; found a large (12mm) crochet hook; single crochetted a section (say, 35cm * 35cm?) with the pieces from the quilt cover. I'm going to strip the rest of the quilt cover, and finish this in a single colour - this will be for outside the side door. The rest of the strips will be used for another craft project. 
2. Costume for youngest for the end of the year dance concert. Bought an off the rack, greatly reduced price navy leotard in a size (or two) too small; cut it at the waist; added a full circle (lycra; red and blue designs on white) skirt and a waistband. At this point, it just needs the hand sewing on the inside of the waistband, and possibly some basting unpicked. 
3. Costume for middlest for the same end of year dance concert (in fact, the same number - the opening). This is both simpler (t-shirt) and more complex (lining up more seams, hemming) than youngest's. At this point, I think I just have to do the hem at the bottom. 

1. giant purple granny square - is now at the finished size. I've worked out the border, and started sewing the squares for the border together. 
2. simplified Lone Star (brown) - sewn one seam. I did go for hand sewing in the end. Not convinced it was the right choice, but at least it is progress. 
3. rainbow blanket - so much done here! I managed to buy another ball of the rainbow yarn, but not of the brown. I made 12 * 5 round granny squares with between 2 and 4 rounds in the centre in the rainbow, and the rest in the brown. There was supposed to be one each of 2, 3, and 4 round centres sewn into a strip, but a shortage of brown meant that I made one of the 2's larger. These were then sewn into strips of 3. Again, the plan had been that this would be systematic increases, and then I wasn't paying attention, and every single one is different! Each one was then sewn onto one of the existing (15 round) squares, and then the generated rectangles were sewn together to make a square (with a hole in the middle). From here - fill in the hole, and then put a border on. Keep going until I run out of yarn or interest, whichever happens first. 
4. Larger, yellow, Lone Star Block - diamonds are all sewn together to make the star. Background is under consideration
5. scorpion quilt  -- binding fabric has been selected, will be cut tomorrow. When sewn, I'll think about whether any of the 'missing' bits of quilting are necessary
6. fancy circles crochet-along (crochet) - sewed in the last few ends. Have now moved the next set of blocks into the active pile. 

1. cat blanket 2 (first pale green) (crochet)
2. pink sampler quilt (patchwork/quilting)
3. jacket for youngest (knitting)
4. purple skirt

1. The patchwork square that was new last post (for B) has been completed and mailed on its way. 
2. 'purple ducks' baby quilt with the green back - complete, photographed, stashed for the next appropriate recipient. 

1. cat blanket (crochet) - this was a 'need something that doesn't require focus' project, while socialising on Saturday night. Single crochet, starting on the long (85cm) side. Currently pale tan, see what I find when I run out of this ball. About 12cm wide at this point. 

1. quilt block swap (patchwork) –  the blue star/hand sewing is nearly done (of the four quarters, 2 are assembled into a half, one was completed over the weekend, and the last quarter was finished today in two sittings, one over breakfast and one sitting at the dance school). The simplified Lone Star is waiting on the other one to be done (and possibly other things on the machine to be moved). 
2. scorpion quilt (applique, quilting) – quilting has gone out to the corners, and I've filled in some of the gaps. Goal for this week is to finish the quilting (there are ~10 small sections, the smallest of which will be ~30s, and the biggest more like 10 minutes). Then choose/cut/sew the binding. 

1. pink sampler quilt (patchwork/quilting) 
2. fancy circles crochet-along (crochet) 
3. jacket for youngest (knitting) 
4. cat blankets (knitting) 
5. rainbow blanket (crochet) - other than sewing in the ends, which I did last Monday, this has not been touched. Still waiting for inspiration/finishing off one of the other projects. 
6. Larger Lone Star block (patchwork)
7. baby quilt with the green back (quilting)

1. patchwork swap block that was at the 'pass it down the line' has now been passed down the line.