Internet outrage

On Friday I had plans to set up a blog post once I'd finished virtual breakfast club with some of the girls from work. Ten minutes into breakfast club our internet dropped out, which is very unusual, and resetting the router did nothing. I used my phone to tether so I could run an interview I'd booked with a potential student, leaving the family to sort out the internet but it wasn't sorted and so my post didn't get finished or posted. Turns out it was a problem across the country affecting our provider. In addition our landline crashed. We could make outgoing calls but not receive any so we had to get that sorted. No internet when you plan for it, such as when you're travelling is OK but no internet at home causes chaos. We did take the opportunity to switch out our old router and get the new one set up but it was very late on Saturday before everything was up and running again.

My plan for Saturday was finishing off the coat for Luna Lapin. On Thursday I'd made a start and by the end of the day it looked like this.

I love the detail in the coat, the little pocket flaps and the tabs on the cuffs. I also like the lavender colour. The next time I was able to get back to this project was Saturday. I didn't have a lot left to do so I figured it wouldn't take very long. There is a saying 'don't count your chickens before they hatch'. Well that proved right. The coat is rather fiddly to make being small but the side seams, sewing on the buttons at the cuffs and completing the hem went quite smoothly. Then I moved onto the button holes. The coat is double breasted and so there were 6 buttonholes to do. Not a problem, my machine has a good selection of buttonhole designs and the foot uses the button to make the right size hole so all you need to make them is to mark the front position of the buttonhole. Before trying the buttonhole on the coat I practised several times on a piece of doubled felt. Once I was happy I moved to the coat. The first attempt was a mess as it didn't stitch properly because the big buttonhole foot didn't slide well over the coat. It took me quite a while to unpick what had been done. I chose a different buttonhole pattern, practiced a few times and started again. It worked perfectly and so did the next two. All three buttonholes were along the outside of the coat. Now I needed to line up the other three button holes. Two worked perfectly but the third was off the line so I had to unpick that one. Part way through unpicking I had to answer the door and must have been a bit distracted when I got back to the coat as I started to unpick the wrong button hole. In total 3 buttonholes required unpicking and I can tell you the stitches were tiny! Anyway all finished now and it looks good. Here is Luna modelling her coat.

She chose to perch on top of a garden chair so she could also show off the apples on our tree. These apples are Egremont Russets and will be ready pick end of September, early October. Our rosemary bush, behind her has also grown huge this year. The inside of the coat is neat and the collar and hem are finished with hand stitching.

The back has a cute pleat in it which helps it fit over her fluffy tail.

 

I couldn't get any smaller buttons but I used the smallest I had. If I make the coat again, which I'm sure I will be asked to do, I will order the smaller doll buttons. The picture taken outdoor is the true colour. The indoor photos turn the colour very blue. I love all the top stitching detail on the coat. It makes it look like a real tailored coat but a lot more fiddly to make.

Yesterday John went into the loft and bought down my doll's house. There are two boxes of pieces for this house. The one John bought down is for the main house.

Richard and John bought me this for Christmas a while ago and I haven't had the time or space to get it made up. They also bought me the basement for the house and one day I set this up to see what it would look like and the room it would take up.

The house will fit on the white top of the basement. I love that the basement has railings but we are going to get some metal rather than wood railing when we get to that point. I'm making the house first. I opened the box and looked at the pieces. I loved the windows as the lower half of all the sash windows will be able to open. The front of the house and the basement open. You can see where the opening is in the photo. Later this afternoon I'm going to start rubbing down the pieces of the house with fine sandpaper and then later in the week I can start on the painting and papering. Choosing the wallpaper and paint is proving to be good fun. There are two rooms on each floor including the basement, 8 in total as the roof also opens. I am thinking I might decorate each room in a different historical era e.g. Victorian, Georgian or present day but I haven't decided yet. 

On the sewing front today I will be completing stitching the binding to the back on the Mr Rabbit baby quilt. That should be completed this evening.

Casso still believes this quilt is for him. He's going to be very upset when I wash it and it leaves the house.

I also need to draw out some more embroidery as I've finished everything I've got set up. I need to try and complete the Christmas tree cross stitch that has been hanging around waiting patiently to be finished for some time.

My big problem with this piece is that I don't enjoy doing cross stitch as much as I used to. Never mind I'll get it finished and if lucky, in time to use it this Christmas.

Now I need to do a little sorting on my dolls house. John is cooking dinner but I will be offering moral support if needed. After dinner, this evening will be finishing off sewing the binding to the back quilt. The cross stitch may come out if I finish the binding early in the evening.  I'm linking this post with Kathy from Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has been working on.

Take care

Lyndsey