Turnip disaster, draft excluder, making of a quilt

When turnips are seedlings, slugs like to nip off all the leaves, killing the plant. Then when turnips grow bigger, slugs can't be bothered with the leaves and turn their attention to the root. I learned that this winter with the remainder of my turnips left in the ground; about half of them had been completely mined out by slugs. Rather disgusting to pull up a nice fat turnip only to see a slimy invertibrate poking out of a huge hole. And that's after the cabbage root flies got to them. Sigh.

I sewed a quick draft excluder for our front door; that door can let in a terrible draft in winter. It actually works! I basically sewed a big tube and a small tube; I stuffed the small tube with brown rice then put it in the big tube, which I filled up with polyester stuffing. The rice makes the excluder a bit more sturdy. Dried beans or lentils could work, too.

I've been piecing together a small quilt for Franklin's bed made from old wool jackets and coats. At the moment the quilt top measures 40"x49". I can't decide if I want to piece together the smaller scraps and make a border (adding another 4-8 inches all around) or to finish it this size. I certainly have lots of scraps left. It's not in the least professional-looking, but it's warm and fuzzy. Each of the jackets I paid £1 for (love that shop!), and all of them are at least 80% wool.

This quilt needs a backing however. I've been on the lookout for thinner wool items, like skirts or trousers and while I have a couple things, it's not enough. As this is for a not-quite-fully-potty-trained toddler, I'm sticking to wool as it repels water and also doesn't hold odors like other materials. Plus it's warm!

Garlic, daffs, bread, birthday

My garlic grows so tall! It's nice to see something growing out there, for a change. However, as far as winters go, this one's pretty mild compared to the last two. No snow yet, and only a few hard frosts.
In fact, it's so mild I even have a daffodil flowering. I took its photo last week and it's now opened fully.
I go through phases of breadmaking. This month I've made it nearly every day. Partner and I bought a small, round cast-iron casserole dish which makes a fantastic crusty loaf. Partner made the first loaf in it; the contrast amazed me. I hope my next loaf compares to his.

Partner's birthday this week. We're spending it in London with his parents. Even though I had planned on gifting them and other London family with some Christmas baking, it seems so long since Christmas I just don't feel like making the effort. After all, they're all probably on New Year's diets now, and sick of the sight of Christmassy foods. I am.

More of the same, really. With socks.

A new year with new plans and dreams. I have some big dreams for this year. For instance, I dream that starting in about June/July, we will stop buying vegetables, permanently. Partner and I put up another raised vegetable bed this weekend: a tall one intended for carrots. I hope to grow a year's supply. I've put in my order for potatoes and a few other vegetable seeds, so this dream is already becoming a plan.

I also dream of chickens out back. As soon as we have a hen house, we're putting in an order for three or four hens. I'm excited!

And I dream of a beautiful house, with beautiful things which I love. Perhaps a gentle purge is in order. Already one non-beautiful item has been replaced; Partner found a small hi-fi cabinet on freecycle to replace our old battered cabinet. The units (all five) are shut behind a glass door and the old cabinet is hollowed out, ready to grow carrots. It looks so much more attractive as a raised bed!

I knit myself a pair of fun stripey socks. The yarn was once all the same boring beige color; I changed all that with a few packets of kool aid. I had as much fun dyeing it as I did knitting with it and I've got enough (fingers crossed) for another pair. But at the moment I'm knitting birthday socks for Partner. It's no surprise, he knows about them; he had to try the first one on about ten times during the knitting process to ensure fit. However, as I knit the second sock, I wish it were for me; it's so soft: wool/cashmere.

A few photos

The simple evergreen garland I made. I knit myself this hat from some cashmere.
"Ceremonial" planting of my birthday cherry tree. Partner actually planted it. I did one shovel of dirt, just like the Queen.
Hey, I knit these two hats too!
And the stroller cover. It's so toasty and warm for Franklin.

Catching up

I admit it, I've been a bad blogger. I don't have the "don't bother me I'm studying" excuse anymore. Or even the gardening excuse. In fact, I don't have any excuse at all. So I'll just apologize and try very hard to improve.

I also better apologize for not having any photos. I need to charge my camera batteries in order to take more photos. And I don't have any excuse for that, either.

So, on to my photo-less catch up post. I've been making things! I sewed Franklin's stroller cover. We call it a Cosy Toes. Is that the official name of stroller covers, or is it a brand name or something? In any case, this cover is like a little sleeping bag that attaches to the stroller and which the child gets strapped into and covered up by. I made it from a second-hand women's wool coat with a second-hand fuzzy afghan for the lining. Photos to follow (eventually).

I also made an evergreen garland to decorate the top of our piano. Partner wanted to cut down some evergreen hedge-type shrubs in our back garden. Heck, I even wanted them cut down--but then I thought they'd make great Christmas decor. So they have not been taken to the guillotine, just the hairdresser. I like the garland so much I might make another for the mantle. Or try my hand at a wreath. Or maybe I'll just think about it some more and try it next year. Photos to (eventually) follow.

In my garden, the garlic I planted--was it last month?--sprouted. We haven't had a proper freeze back there yet, though there's been some light frost. My nasturtiums are my frost guide; while they still live, frost has not conquered. And they live, though the top layer of leaves wilted. I still have some cabbages and chard to harvest; they can survive the winter temperatures, so no hurry to get them in. I even have a couple young potatoes plants growing--I guess we missed a few tubers when harvesting. I doubt they'll survive the cold, though.

Speaking of study, I got my exam results back. I passed both. I'm still amazed I passed the math, though it was a bit of a scrape; there are four grades of passing, 1-4, and I got a grade 3. But hey, a pass is a pass! I have to decide if I'm taking one or two classes this next semester. I'm signed up for one already. Trying to get through three (two mid-level and one advanced) last year nearly killed me, and now the remaining classes are all advanced. Could I really juggle two advanced classes and still manage to care for Franklin, get to work at the weekends, and not have a nervous breakdown?

Birthday next week. I'm telling people I'm 25. I was talking to another mother I'd not seen before at our play group. We talked about our kids--mine's not yet two, hers were 5 and 3; then she asked my age. I knew she was younger than me because of the way she was dressed, but I think she thought I was her age (24) because when I told her I was 30, she said "you look well for it." I nearly fell over. Maybe she thought I said I was 40?

Oh wait, I do have a photo! I took it on my webcam, to show my haircut and pin curls two weeks ago (superfluous toddler in photo because Franklin insists on being the subject of any picture taken in this house). So this one's for you, Kathy and Kim; thank you for asking about it.

Haircut, roof, turkey

Partner cut my hair this week. I think he learned a lot about cutting hair. Such as to only cut a little at a time, and to take it slow. I wanted it about two inches below my shoulders but it ended up just on my shoulders. I like it anyway. It feels good; he took off a good eight or ten inches and my head feels so much lighter. My hair isn't dragging me down any more.

It also means I can go back to my pin curl set. You read that right: I like to set my hair in pin curls. I love that Rita Hayworth look but it needs shorter hair. Shoulder-length is just about right.

Today I climbed back up on the garage roof for another patch job. Remember the last one--more than two years ago now? Not such a nice day for it this time, but it had to be done. With the wind whipping, I had a few precarious moments climbing on and off the ladder, but all's well that ends well. Partner wants to replace the entire roof with semi-transparent corrugated plastic; that's definitely a summer job. A big summer job.

It being Thanksgiving, Partner, Franklin, and I celebrated very quietly with lots of turkey and pie. In fact, the next day we even had turkey pie--all the leftover veg and some turkey in a white sauce, topped with mashed potato and baked for about half an hour. Partner's specialty, and quite superb.

The coat

Here it is! It's a double breasted overcoat, around size 2T (big on Franklin, who is still in 18 month size). The coat is made from a 75% wool, 15% cashmere, 10% nylon blend, and is lovely and soft and warm. It's also fully lined with a 55% cotton, 45% polyester lining, and has eight big buttons.
I added about ten inches of ease in the body of the coat, and five inches of ease in the sleeves. I also added an extra four inches length to the sleeves. This is a good coat for growing in!
The original coat was diplomatically called an old lady coat by Partner:
And the lining was one of Partner's old dress shirts:
Franklin's coat has a total of three functioning pockets: two welt pockets and an inner patch pocket. It also has a little loop sewn on the inside collar so it can be hung up easily on a hook.
Before I cut out the new pieces from the old coat, I ripped out the original lining. I dislike acetate linings; I find coats can get too hot and sticky with that kind of lining, because acetate doesn't breathe. The new coat has the added bonus of being machine-washable, too.

References:
Bag Your Jacket Lining - Threads