Grey.

Warm and grey with the occasional heavy shower today.

An afternoon of unpicking the elastic from around the bottom of the four seat sofa cover which will be used to cover the sofa cushions has resulted in me being not a fan of machine overlocking stitching. It took all afternoon and part  of the evening to remove the elastic using my trusty stitch ripper. Out of curiosity I measured the edge of the fabric I had taken the elastic from. It measured 32 feet and the elastic was sewn on both the top and bottom edges. Yes it would have been easier to buy the elastic I need to fit the new sofa cover but in spite of the time it took it would feel wrong to throw out something just because time was needed to make it reusable. At least nowadays my natural thriftiness fits with the calls to save the planet by reduce, recycle or reuse as much as we can. 

Speedy spent the afternoon either sleeping next to me under a mound of fabric or rolling around on the floor with the tape measure. 

Some loud bangs this evening had me peering out of the window in time to watch some large fireworks being set off nearby.

Wet.

A very wet and windy day today, much warmer too.

The rain didn't interfere with my plans to carry on sewing the sofa cover. Today I worked in my study as it's more comfortable to sit at my desk. The drawback being the lack of room on my desk even when I push the keyboard back out of the way. Work was further hampered by Speedy sitting on the little space there was and trying to sit on my lap on top of the sofa cover. That was after I'd stopped him from flicking all the loose items; thread, scissors etc from the shelf above. He's so bored poor cat. Each time I think we're nearly there with his feet he sneaks in a quick chew when his collar is off for eating or evening relaxing.

Listening to the radio as I sewed I was more or less gasping in disbelief at an article about handbags (US - purse). Apparently they are really important as other people can tell so much about us by the latest designer bag we're sporting and of course they can be a good investment. I think they were talking about bags costing thousands of pounds or dollars. What a load of pretentious rubbish to justify spending so much money. I'm sure people could find handbags to suit the outfit or occasion at a fraction of the cost. For me a handbag is a practical item, it needs to have a strap long enough to sling across my shoulders and should be large enough to carry my camera, purse and a few other essentials. That covers my two everyday handbags with a small black bag for more formal occasions. When walking into town I carry a backpack to bring home my shopping so generally put those essential items in my jacket pockets. That was fine until, after almost melting while waiting in Smiths for the Post Office I decided to roll up my jacket and stuff it into the backpack. Before that could happen I spent ages searching the depths of the pockets for a paper I needed in the bank then later searching again for the scrap of fabric to match against grey throws and finally for my headband. Perhaps a handbag would have been useful after all. Peter went into town today to collect his prescription. He'd had a text saying it was ready which surprised us as it's a week early. I thought maybe they were being organised early so people don't get caught out over Christmas. When he got to Boots his prescription was there but ...... not mine. I don't think we'll have this problem with the local pharmacy when we're in Borth. The population is much smaller and the pharmacy is only a few doors away from the Health Centre.

Grey.

The day began with a misty morning which settled into a grey and damp day.

I had yet another builder's bill to pay so once more I walked into town. The Pannier Market looked rather bare with just a few stalls selling craft/ Christmas goods. Normally the market is unoccupied on Thursdays.  

Bank visited and letters sent I did my usual skim through the charity shops. Somebody must have donated their collection of glass balls to the Air Ambulance shop, there were some pretty pink ones, some green and this large clear one which I bought to add to my collection. There was a deep blue one which caught my eye. Instead of being a sphere it was more of a blob but was too pricey for me as it did have some scratches.

I called in at the charity shop that sells haberdashery and picked up a 72 inch zip. I'd seen it the other day before I'd realised that the sofa's back cushion is all in one not two separate cushions. Another charity shop yielded a metal curtain rod with all the fixings and large end spheres. I also got curtain rings and metal brackets in yet another charity shop. At the moment there are no curtain rails at all in Red Roofs so I'll need rods for all the windows and every little helps. Then I met a friend whom I haven't seen for a long time and we had a very long chat standing in one of the shops.

Coming home past one of the old grand houses I saw some builders standing by a pile of bags filled with rubble and house fittings. This small sink caught my eye and I thought I would be brave and ask if they were throwing out the sink. They said there was nothing wrong with it and I was welcome to take it. It got a bit heavy on the approach to home but that's another saving for Red Roofs. Although there isn't anything functionally wrong with the sink in the separate toilet, avocado is dated and not very nice. The plan is to replace all the sinks etc with white though I still have a hankering for this type of sink (which Peter doesn't like.)

Chilly.

We had a very heavy frost this morning, not surprising after a clear night when I'd been able to see the brighter stars shining through the urban light pollution. The day itself has been bright and sunny and some of the washing I hung out on the line was nearly dry when I brought it in again.

After exchanging a few emails with the environmental health officer he asked if he could have the offending loaf which I'd been keeping in the freezer. Peter was going into town so he dropped the loaf off at the council office. I don't think it's ergot on the bread but any mould is not good. I'm interested to see what happens in this case. Even if Tesco's only improve their staff training to check for such things or if they allowed more time for stock to be checked it would be a good result. 

The sofa cover progresses, today I finally sorted out the darts on the second side and began sewing them. Work came to a halt when the plumber arrived to service our boiler. Saying 'plumber' doesn't really convey the relationship we have with this chap. Peter knows him and his wife quite well going back to the time when Peter worked as a plumber. Although it's a busy small company we've always had very prompt help with any plumbing problems and charges have been kept to a minimum. Today's conversation ranged far and wide as we have many friends in common and I taught his children in the local school. We are lucky in that the combi boiler here is a good make that has few problems and the computer check showed no fumes or imbalances with the whole system.

I had a phone call from the bank this evening. Normally this would be very suspect but this was asking me to complete a survey as I've recently been in to the local branch. No doubt the head office will be looking for reasons to cut back or close branches so I made sure my answers were all positive, which they would have been anyway, and I added a comment about how important it is to have a local branch.

Sunny.

Sunny and cold today with I think, a frost in the morning. (I didn't make an early start this morning.) Peter made a big cheese, potato, onion, cabbage and meat casserole. Perfect for winter weather though for me there was too much meat; bacon and Polish sausage. My mother was originally shown this recipe by a vegetarian friend and we only ever added a very small amount of meat.

Once my daily routine was done it was back to the sofa cover. Today it was all hand sewing. Seven long double stitched darts. This would have been a lot quicker with the machine but the new pedal didn't work and I haven't found a replacement specifically for that model yet. While I sewed in the sitting room listening to the radio a pair of sparrows and a robin were busy at the bird feeders. 

It's a clear dark night outside with the crescent moon shining brightly above. Three houses opposite have put out their Christmas lights which look nice and cheery. The house which has small children has blinking multi-coloured lights festooned over a small palm tree. Opposite us are some tasteful blue lights in a garland under the front window and a couple of doors down are multi-coloured lights hanging from the new canopy style porch roof. All I have to offer is a sunny dandelion in the lawn.

A pretty sunset again tonight but not as spectacular as yesterday's. I love the way the lowest clouds are edged with gold. 

Frosty.

We woke to a very frosty morning and it has been a crisp and cold day. The frost put paid to the begonias and nasturtiums in the front garden planter so I cleared the foliage away. I scattered the abundant nasturtium seeds across the front garden flower bed. A nice surprise for someone next summer.

Yesterday evening I noticed this pain free but large lump on my finger. I think it happened while lifting the sofa yesterday. I suspected it was a bursar and sure enough it went down, more or less when I gave it a good press. It's back again tonight but then I have been lifting the sofa again.  This afternoon I pinned and tacked the darts along one side of the cover. It's hard getting even darts when the not only is the fabric stretchy but the lower edge is stitched to elastic. I tired to pin the other side evenly, first by measuring the distance between the darts and then by placing the fabric against the tacked darts on the other side and matching them that way but neither method worked. It'll have to be a combination of pinning while the cover is in place and measuring the spacing of the darts.

The new plumber is supposed to be looking at the job this week but we've decided that whatever happens we'll spend Christmas here. Ideally we'd move straight after but who knows? My plan is that once the sofa cover is done I'll start packing things in boxes.

This evening the sunset began by filling the sky with a golden glow. Then everything turned red. The whole sky was filled with bright red glowing clouds as the sun sank down in a blaze of molten gold. 

Sunny.

On this first day of the winter the roses looked sad against the blue sky. It's been sunny for most of the day but also quite cold.

Today I made a start on fitting the sofa cover. Before I could do anything I had to hoover up the dust and ginger cat hairs revealed once the sofa cushions were removed. The first step in the fitting process was to see which of the 3 or 4 seater covers would be the best fit for the frame cover. It turned out to be the 3 seater which is more than ample. The next step was to sew elastic straps to anchor the frame to the wooden feet. For easier access I tipped the sofa on to its back and got a nasty surprise. That white 'fluff' wasn't dust but more of the woolly aphids that I had found on the orchids. I used insecticide to wipe off the aphids, gave the sofa a spray and closed the room up. I would of had no chance of getting rid of the aphids if I hadn't discovered their hideaway.

The latest set of photos from Borth show the new windows. Not the bay window yet but most of the rest have been done. When I saw the kitchen window (above) I was quite upset by the lack of a level line across the top of the glass, not so much by the same across the bottom. Today looking around the house I see that the kitchen window here is exactly the same and this unevenness occurs where ever an opening section of a window is next to a fixed section. If money was unlimited I'd have them changed but I think it looks more noticable in the photo due to the contrast with the dark walls. 

Swinging round from the first photo is the view from the dining area. Not bad! This is why I'm not bothering having a breakfast bar across the kitchen area, no one is going to sit with their back to the sea. 

My study/ guest room will be lovely and light especially now that the smaller window has been extended downwards to match the street window. There'll have to be a blind to obscure the view in from the street on the big window but the south facing smaller window looks across our drive into our neighbours' front garden. Having not seen anything else to inspire me I think we'll be having horizontal venetian blinds in all the windows facing out onto the street.