Check-In Post March 17th 2021

[badly_knitted]

Hello to all members, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


Today's Question: No question today.


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Comments

[badly_knitted]

The first of my two pairs of short, blue arm warmers is sewn up, and the second pair ready to be done.

Also, the second buddleia has been cut back. Lots of sawing, took me just over an hour. The third one will be the hardest because it's not so easily accessible and it's twice the size of the last one. I'm expecting it to take at least two days, possibly three.

[smallhobbit]

You're doing well with sewing up your arm warmers.

And cutting back the buddleias!

[badly_knitted]

Only two pairs for myself and the dark navy pair for my neighbour left to do!

It was nice out again today, so I wanted be out in the sun. Of course, now I feel exhausted. But tomorrow, if the weather and my health permit, I'll be out there again!

[annofowlshire]

Oh buddleias ;_; we cut a huge one out of the abandoned garden here. There’s another down in the front paddock that is even more massive, but it sort of blocks the beer garden of our neighbor the pub, so we, as the owners of this place before us, have opted to let it go wild XD

[badly_knitted]

They can be very impressive when left to their own devices, and excellent for butterflies, bees, etc.

My garden isn't huge and all the shrubs have gone a bit rampant in recent years, so I'm attempting to tame and rejuvenate them. The one I cut back today was very straggly because until last summer it had been fighting the overgrown hedge and massive brambles to get some sunlight. Now it has lots of shoots down the bottom so I've sawn all the big branches down to around 18 inches in height. By late summer it should be a good, bushy... bush.

[annofowlshire]

Our property has a lot of parts to it—the garden area itself isn’t huge. We also have pastures and woodland, but those can be left a bit more to themselves, especially if we’re doing haymeadows or letting them out for grazing (our front pasture is going to be loaned to a local horse owner, and we’ll probably do hay meadows in the further pastures and let a local farmer cut/collect it.)

[badly_knitted]

That sounds amazing, your own woodland! You'd have to drag me away. And you get to play host to someone else's horse! I love horses but I'm horribly allergic, can't breathe around them.

[annofowlshire]

The woodland is fantastic, but it’s very steep. Some parts are near vertical. The whole property is on a hillside so the only flat parts were carved out for the house and outbuildings. Some of medieval reenactment people were talking about camping here in the future and I was like “um, good luck with that?” XD

Part of the reason that we are loaning the front pasture to a neighbor is because it’s so steep you can’t get a tractor or anything with it. Benefits us as well as her because the horse will keep the grass down XD

[badly_knitted]

So much the better, I always did love scrambling. I'm too old now, and can't travel, but I would have loved a place like that when I was young and fit. My ideal holiday location.

It doesn't sound like a good place for camping though, not unless the campers don't like laying flat. *grins*

That sounds like an excellent arrangement.

[medievalrosalie]

My entire back of the unit I live in is concrete but I've bought wooden boxes and planted an absolutely wonderful garden which is growing a bit wild but has brought bees and butterflies. I don't have a buddelia, but they like the salvia and the elderflowers.

[badly_knitted]

Salvia is very good for bees and butterflies. A buddleia would grow in a tub, but they grow so fast and strong it would likely grow through the bottom and into the concrete, so perhaps best not to try. The one out front self-set in a pile of leftover builder's sand. Before we knew it, it had put roots down through a crack in the concrete so we ended up building a raised bed around it on top of the concrete! It's been flourishing there at least 25 years now.

[medievalrosalie]

So very busy! Sewing up success and gardening is good for the soul!

[badly_knitted]

I love being out in the garden, it's my happy place even though it's massively overgrown and there's not a lot of pretty plants. I am determined to drag it back from the wilderness.

[smallhobbit]

The wool arrived for the daughter's hat - it's bright and multicoloured. I've found a pattern, but plan on doing k2p2 rib rather than k1p1 rib.

I also did a bit of mosaic with cut up squares of wrapping paper. Very sticky and gluey.

[badly_knitted]

Oooh, sounds lovely! I like bright and multicoloured. The rib should be very effective!

Sticky and gluey can be fun, as long as it's not superglue!

[smallhobbit]

It was just pva glue, so not a real problem.

[badly_knitted]

I like that glue! Use it a lot myself in crafting.

[medievalrosalie]

100% groovy on both counts! Wool arriving is always fantastic! What colour is it?

[smallhobbit]

The wool is red, orange, yellow and green.

[annofowlshire]

Today was hard, but I got to spin tonight and chat with my medieval reenactment group online so that was nice way to have a chill.

[smallhobbit]

That does sound relaxing.

[badly_knitted]

Just what you needed after a hard day!

[medievalrosalie]

This is the best thing about online- chat is possible at the least!

[medievalrosalie]

I did a little bit of sewing on the hood. The bottom of the lining is sewn to the outer and now I'm up to sewing around the face. It's been a long day, although I had a fun radio thing talking about nipplegate (book cover nipple censorship... it's a whole other story) so I'm making a cup of tea and hoping to get it finished tonight. My small nephew has discovered online chat and has been taking up a lot of my evenings with kid jokes and humerus animal pictures, so that slows me down a bit. They're only small for such a short time, that I don't begrudge him in the least, but it's cutting into sewing time! hahahahahaha! My kitty is finally looking like she's recovered from her stress-induced urinary infection, but it's been over a week of bloody pee and sadness. The meds have worked their wonders finally.

Here's a close up of stab stitching the lining in. I've just discovered my phone has a macro setting on it, so there will be more fo this kind of thing!

https://www.facebook.com/rosaliesmedievalwoman/photos/a.1198829563514388/3919085368155447

[smallhobbit]

That stab stitching looks hard.

[medievalrosalie]

It's really, really not. It's just a running stitch but instead of just putting the needle through at a regular sewing angle, you put it through at 90 degrees and as you pull it through it just holds the fabric a little more firmly. Seams are stronger but they are slower to sew.

[badly_knitted]

Very neat stitching, and of course it has toi be done by hand, otherwise it wouldn't be authentic.

Glad to hear kitty is feeling better!

[medievalrosalie]

Lots of medieval re-enactor people use a sewing machine and I sure did when I started, but I find sewing by hand is soothing and it gives me a feel for working with the fabrics and threads.

Kitty was feeling a lot better until a water dragon elbowed its way past her and came right into the kitchen looking for snacks. She is pretty scared of it.

[badly_knitted]

I guess it all depends on what works best for you, but hand sewing sounds more authentic.

Oh, poor scared kitty! That's quite a bold water dragon *grins*