Bits and pieces

I started this post a while ago, well on the 5th January but didn't finish it because I felt I had very little to show since my machine was away at the spa. I've left what I wrote and will bring it up to date lower down.

When I went to bed last night a little after midnight it was snowing  but when I woke up this morning there was no snow in sight and the temperature had gone up. Instead of snow we had rain, not as much fun but we don't often get snow in London so not a surprise. Today being twelfth night I took our decorations down. I had planned to do this when our older daughter and family arrived but she phoned to cancel. Not a problem as we will see them very soon, probably next weekend and I do have a long list of things I wanted to get on with. one of the tasks on my list was to work on my doll's house. This was a Christmas present a few years back. This was the start of the day.

Here the house has been put on a larger base and the front basement area has been added. The side wall of the garden area of the basement has been glue together but the side walls have not been glue to the front of the basement of the house. This is because there is a garden area I need to complete before I do that

The black tiles in front of the railings are individual tiles. There are railing for the other side (already painted) and steps going down into the basement area and up to the front door need to be glued in place. I also have the tiles to finish the roof. The second chimney is now finished and ready to attach to the back roof. The chimney is a solid wood block and individual mini bricks are stuck on and finished with 'mortar'. Sticking the individual bricks down is a little fiddly and I have yet to add the chimney pots. 

I had promised myself that I wouldn't buy any more fabric or other craft items unless I had finished a current project. That promise has already been broken as Rowan was having an up to 60% off sale. I bought enough Felted Tweed yarn to knit a cardigan. This yarn is variegated and will be fun to knit but it will have wait as there are two other knitting projects before it in the queue. The pattern for this cardigan is just stocking stitch. 

We had a second puzzle that we hadn't made so we decided we would work on it over the week, if we had time. I'm back at work tomorrow so I won't have much time. Fast forward and today is Tuesday 14th. This puzzle was finished over the weekend and was fun and challenging to put together.

In the evenings I have been splitting my time between the puzzle and knitting whilst watching TV. Yesterday I finished the second sleeve and now need to sew the jumper together. This shouldn't take too long. Then I need to knit the collar to complete the piece. I'm hoping I will have a finish on this project by next week.

Last week was very cold and frosty. We didn't have any snow but we had a lot of ice and each day I had to thaw the car out before I could drive to work. In reality I did nothing other than starting the car and turning the heater and front and back demist/ defrost on. The weather has now warmed up but the last two days have been rather dull with limited sun. On Saturday John and I went for a walk with some friends and it was a beautiful clear, sunny and crisp day. Perfect for walking. We are walking the Wandle path. The Wandle is the name of a local river that eventually empties into the River Thames in Wandsworth. We started the walk in Croydon, the photo shows Croydon Minster but it was closed on Saturday so we will need to visit on another day.

I also took a photo of the war memorial as I like the way it looked against the leafless trees.

Croydon has a lot of old and new buildings that are all fighting to be seen I think the tower block wins.

Following the River Wandle we came across a little waterfall (not natural) shrouded in mist as a result of the weather conditions.

The area used to have a lot of water mills because it was a fast flowing river which was once one of the busiest in the world. Because of the river and the mills the area was famous for many industries notably silk printing for Liberty of Oxford Street. We came across this old mill wheel on our travels.

When we reached the grove we came to another waterfall. I love the way the water looks in the photo.

My final photo was of some artwork at the community garden that we passed near to the end of our walk.

From here we walked a little further to Hackbridge where we had a filling and tasty lunch at the Hackbridge cafe. Lunch always tastes more delicious when you have earned it by walking six miles.

Today the service engineer for my sewing machine phoned to say it was all finished and ready to collect. He had needed a part and that had delayed the finish. I will collect it on Friday and plan on spending Sunday reacquainting myself with it and starting some quilting. I've missed my machine!

Take care

Lyndsey