It's raining again and again and again!

 

The rain in Spain is mainly falling in the UK and Queensland....   
  I love rain.  It brings out the creative side in me and seems to just put every thing else on hold.  
   I planned to pick the ripe coffee cherries.       Too wet for that.

I have been sewing and now I can't use my sewing room comfortably because the vinyl flooring is sweating.    The concrete under it must be warmer than the atmosphere  or vice versa.  I mopped it then put the wall fan on it for over 2 hours and not an ounce of difference!!!
  Nothing else in the room feels damp. I'm hoping for some sunny days to dry it out plus any fabric that may feel a little damp.    The sewing room is an area that has been enclosed and lined under our house on stilts.   I've not had this problem before but  this winter rain is so out of the norm.   We get our rains mostly during Dec. to March.

 

courtesy of google images.

The older homes in the tropics were built on stilts to allow the breezes to cool them in the hot summers and also to give more space to use.     Our home was built around 1907 and is called a Worker's Cottage.      It is charming.

Feeling Like Something the Cat Dragged In.

I HATE being sick and now it seems I have caught the flu.    We had a visitor who had the flu and she came without tissues and was sneezing all over us.    Never even turned her head even though she did attempt to cover her mouth.   My man got sick first and now four days later.... me.    BUGGER !

My body and I have had a conversation and it is now well aware of my feelings on the matter.

Sewing Room 

My sewing rooms is full of junk, rubbish, hoardings,     

invaluable  sewing aids and fabric and the last few days have been busy with sorting and trying to unclutter.       I bought winter fleecy fabric not long ago to make clothes for the kids and trackies for my Mum. This is the first fabric I have bought in about 3 years and it takes up a lot of room.  

I would do before and after photos but I am too ashamed!   

I bought ring clip binders and plastic sleeves and into these I have put all my drafted patterns and some other commercial ones.   So much tidier and so easy to access.  I've labelled the spines of the folders for easy ID.   I used to sew dancing costumes for clients and have all those patterns.  They are too nice to discard and I can always use parts of them in 'normal' sewing.

Dresses for my mother.

I've sent away for my first Ottobre  pattern book on children's clothes.  I can't wait to browse through it.   For patterns that I will use often I trace on to the cheap vinyl from the $2 wharehouse and cut out.  I hang the large patterns on skirt hangers out of the way.   This works out cheaper than using  tracing paper or vylene. sp?    I also have an end roll of white newsprint paper that comes in handy for one offs.       

I'm hoping to sort out more today and cart the fabric I won't need in the next year to the attic,  out of the way.   I take things up there in small bags.  

It easy to bring what I want down from the attic.   I just throw it down the attic ladder.

Boredom and what to do with all my Fabric?

The dried ginger ready for grinding.

After doing some ritualistic burning outside on a bare patch of ground, adding dried Mugwort for the cleansing and lovely smell,  I went to my sewing room.       Well,  I sat and I looked around,  took out some fabric and admired it because that's what I do to  fill in time.   I did a little dreaming about what garments to make out of this and that. 

Then, as nearly always, I start the yawning.

This is a sign that I have no real interest in what I'm doing.   I get it folding clothes. I get it while looking in my wardrobe for what to wear,   in the sewing room and also talking to certain people on the phone.  So... I'm thinking that I may have to bring a sewing machine upstairs and work in the lounge area.   Something to break the non-productive cycle.    I will have to live to be a 100 if  I want to sew all this fabric I have!  


I used to live near Wanagaratta, Victoria where Bruck Fabric Mills are situated. We could buy fabric @ 40c a metre!  Later it got to 60c and then to $1.  This was good quality curtaining, sheeting, dress materials and drill siutable for men;s work wear.   I would travel to Wang at least once every three weeks to indulge, and indulge I did.  


Over the years I have supplied and made curtains, pillowslips, clothes etc etc and I still have a fair amount left.  I sewed 21 pillowslips for my mother one afternoon!    It has saved us the expense of buying new curtains over the years as we renovated homes and resold. 


Once we were at Lee Jeans at Wodonga, Victoria, looking through their remnant basket and I bought  denim for $2 a metre.

  I thought, wow, I should have got more of that.  The Man offered to go back and get it.  He came out with heaps as they just cut it off a whole new roll.  Not a remnant as the first lot  and still at $2 a metre. I did suggest for him to go back again but the worried  look on his face made me  stop pushing that idea!

The Man used to laugh at me every time I came home grinning with arm loads  of fabric wrapped in brown paper from Brucks .

I think I may have been a little addicted.