Ok, so I need to bring the Concertina situation up to date. I did return the 30 button to Hobgoblin in Canterbury. In fact, they even paid the return postage which I thought was excellent. I then travelled up to Stoke-on-Trent to visit one of the main concertina suppliers. I found him quite off-hand considering that I was spending £2,000.00. He gave me £400 for my 20 button, which was more than I paid for it. When I got home, it didn't sound right, so I took it to Mike Acott, who fixed one of the reeds. However, I still felt that the main C reed on the C line wasn't right but couldn't get anyone to listen. However, once you think something is wrong, even if it isn't, the thought won't go away so I asked to revert the transaction. I got my old 20 button back along with a nice payment. The 20 button came back in a nice wooden concertina box and new bellows. I had to accept a reduced price for it as he had made the upgrades. When the concertina came home, I was so fed up with the whole process that I put it away and that is where it stayed for over a year.
This means that I haven't changed my ability to play music (the current concertina doesn't have enough notes to play the type of music that I like) so it has been quite easy for me to let go. I bought some new music the other day so I am getting back in but the problems still won't go away.
I spent some of the last year sewing a tapestry for a tea cosy. Tapestries take quite a time to sew. The particular one that I was sewing here was a 10 stitches to the inch = 10 x 10 = 100 stitches to the square inch. The tea cosy is 12" x 8" = 96 square inches = 96 *100 = 9,600 stitches. We wanted a cosy for the morning coffee pot. We have one I made a few years ago for the teapot so this would make a nice pair.
It is a bit out of shape but I don't really have the means in the flat to do a lot of work in straightening it. However, it needs making up - the inside needs to be a thick wadding to keep the heat in and then there are three sides to be made using a contrasting material. You can just see the red fabric with white dots. The wadding comes from The Cheap Shop down in Tiptree and works wonderfully.
Now we come to the third hobby. I am quite keen on patchwork/quilting. It is a technical exercise as there are patterns to be worked out, sizes to be calculated and some precision sewing to get any item complete. In the past, as you can see from the blog, I have made pillow covers and shopping bags. Now, with the lock down, I found that I still had a sewing kit for a runner that would fit perfectly across the top of our bedroom drawer unit.
Off I went with my normal gusto. However, I forgot that I hadn't done any mitred corners in some years and made a complete mess of it all. I used up some of the material so I had to get some more. Plus, I didn't have any wadding or backing fabric. Some time ago, when we cleared out the Marklin railway, we also threw out all of our unused fabric and wadding! The kit for the runner was bought in Bungay at the SewAndSew shop. I called them and they agreed to put together a pack of stuff - replacement fabric, some backing and wadding plus a small supply of fabric in what are known as "fat quarters". This would enable me to not only finish the kit but to also get some practice under my belt.
That practice hasn't gone too well. I now know the techniques I need to not only do the mitres but also to fit the edge binding. However, the actual processes didn't go too well as my sewing machine is a "cheapish" John Lewis machine. Instead of starting up smoothly, it tends to jump into action making it difficult to control. As a new machine would be £200 - £300 I am reluctant to jump into it. A neighbour has offered to lend me their spare machine so, if that happens, it will show me whether it is me or the machine! We shall see!
