Friday 11 January 2008

You can't get staff like you used to

Sorry it's been a few days since I've blogged. Domesticity reigns. I hate ironing big time and the one of the 'treats' I've always given myself is to pay someone else to do the ironing. I know there are loads of people who get away with doing none at all but DH wears suits to work and shirts are part of that 'look' and all our bedding is 100% cotton. I know the bedding doesn't 'have' to be ironed but the feel of fresh sheets ironed smooth is a luxury I wouldn't do without.

Margaret, my last ironing lady had to give up as she developed shoulder problems. She takes a lot of beating. Each shirt is immaculate. I started with an ironing service just before Christmas. DH complained loudly but with my leg there wasn't much I could do. Finally last week I got the ironing service to find me another lady, but she didn't turn up. The long and the short of it ended up with me doing the ironing and my leg which I had thought was nearly better blew up to twice it's normal size. Just very frustrating.

I did manage to take up the curtains for Fliss's room where Marion shall be sleeping tomorrow night. Two pairs of floor length curtains. I still haven't made her bed....

Pauline came over yesterday for lunch and we pondered the grid problem on the wholecloth. We both came to the same conclusion that just one direction of the markings would 'cure' it. I finished unpicking the trapunto but the existing marks proved just too confusing. With great trepidation and a towel underneath, I painted the area with a lightly wetted paint brush.
As you can see the marks haven't disappeared completely but they have blurred enough so any new marks shall be distinctive. In a couple of places the water soluble thread on the narrow lines of trapunto have dissolved but not so badly I can't stitch them back in. At the moment I'd like to walk away from this quilt and leave it for some time and I might even do that but after I've re-marked this blessed grid. It would be just my luck at the moment that if I did put it away for a few months, we'd have a very humid period and the water soluble thread would disappear! I don't hate the quilt, I'm still very pleased with the design but the frustration level is as high as any quilt I have done before and I haven't even started quilting it yet. It's like a lover who has been unfaithful. Can I forgive it? Probably, we shall see. BTW, a lover wouldn't get a 2nd chance (grin) and that says an awful lot about how seriously I take my quilting.

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