It’s just about still January, which this year hasn’t felt anywhere near as long as it has previously. I’m not sure why that is though, but I sure am grateful. Maybe it’s because we’ve been keeping ourselves busy, who knows.
The dishwasher which had a blip last month is now fixed which is great news. I can’t tell you how much I don’t miss washing up! Thankfully it was an easy fix, but also a worrying one. The cause of the burning smell was the plug which the engineer can only surmise had worked its way loose and was arking. When we saw the state of the plug we were glad we’d stopped using the dishwasher, but now with a new plug on the dishwasher and a new socket we’re fully operational, well dishwasher wise anyway.
The heating, which while it’s now working, still isn’t fixed. The engineers spent two days here at the start of the month with the result being the part they needed wasn’t in stock. There’s been issues getting the part, and hopefully it’s now arrived as they’re due back to completely resolve whatever is wrong early next week.
Of course, like it does, the heating going wrong happened at the coldest time of the year and we didn’t have any heating when there was a dusting of snow on the ground. We do have two fan heaters and they helped a lot in short bursts at a time, but heating our double height in places kitchen diner wasn’t really an option.
Wearing layers, adding more and more covers to the bed in a reverse kind of Princess and the Pea arrangement and planning meals to cook slowly in the oven were all tactics we used, and worked in their way - and hopefully, as I say, it will be fixed for good shortly - I’ll leave it at that for now I think, but there may be more here at some point.
It’s not all gloom and doom though as I’ve spotted that our snowdrops are starting to appear, and they’re such cheery plants that I can’t help but smile when I see them.
We’ve been out and about including taking part in our village’s Community Speedwatch team in the hope that something will be done about the traffic speeding through the village. There was a concert in Nottingham to see Biffy Clyro, who I’ll admit hasn’t been on my radar before and probably is unlikely to become a regular listen for me.
We ended the month with an evening in Newark trying two new-to-us pubs as part of the annual Beermuda Beer Festival. We tried beers we wouldn’t usually drink, including a sour beer that was thick with fruit and looked more like a fruit shake than a beer, which MOH described as ‘the strangest beer he’s ever tried’. I spotted a Space Invaders table top in the first pub, and I haven’t seen one of those for a long, long time; it brought back memories as we used to have these at home at times, which admittedly not everyone does.
I decided to make some small changes here on the blog, which I’m sure you haven’t even noticed. Previously the categories I used, and are displayed at the top right of my blog were Living, Loving and Exploring, but I felt they were no longer right for me. As you’ve probably just glanced up there, they’re now Living, Loving and Making, which feels a much better fit for my content.
My Christmas wreath is still up, and still going strong and I’m not taking it down until it’s looking worse for wear. MOH mentions occasionally that Christmas has gone, but as I point out not on our back door, not just yet anyway!
I have indulged myself with some end of year nerdiness, sharing posts recapping and reflecting on 2025:
We’ve even ordered those new sofa’s that we saw in Bruton back at the start of December. They won’t arrive until around April so our next decision is what colour paint to use in the lounge - the current favourite is Dibber by Farrow & Ball which will look great with the sofas, but looks less great with the builder’s white, so we’ll probably aim for something a bit softer, but possibly lighter than the suggested Slipper Satin which has been dubbed ‘dull mushroom’ here - you can see why we’re not so keen, can’t you?!
January always brings the Newark Quilt Show and I’ve been back there looking at the glorious quilts and perusing the supplier’s wares, and even picking up my Christmas present from one of them. I’ve plenty more gorgeous quilts from there to share, so do look out for those, and for the scrappy rosettes I made at one of the workshops there.
I’ve gone full steam ahead on a new way for my scraps too. This year I’m aiming to make my scraps into houses, and they really are the cutest to put together.
After an instructional blip I now have a stack of houses and a stack of roofs, which I need to marry up. In fact part of the fun of using my scraps in this way is choosing which to use together. It really is the small things.
I’m still thinking about and finalising my quilt plans for this year, along with the other makes that I want to make sure get onto the list though I expect to share my plans in the next few weeks. I couldn’t wait to share my new picnic rug though, I’m just so pleased with how it turned out, especially as it started from humble beginnings with a random scrap pack and a bit of an idea.
I still have one final charity quilt and one final mystery block of the month to go, and I need to get going with both of those as I’ve not started either yet. I’d been so good at keeping up with my stretch project and my own blocks but I haven’t yet been able to get myself back on track. I do wonder if it’s partly as once the mystery blocks are done, then the real work of assembling the quilt top begins and I think that will be a big task, let alone actually finishing the quilt completely. I’m also toying with the idea of going ‘off piste’ with the assembly, and I guess deep down I’m thinking that if that final block isn’t done then I don’t need to consider the next steps. Don’t our minds play tricks on us at times?
But anyway, I will get there and I will finish the final charity quilt in my stretch project and my own block. I already know that I won’t be signing myself up for quite so many charity quilts next year, though I will still make some - it’s just that there’s so much more I want to make, even if not all of them take the easy route. More on that soon I’m sure.
If you want to read my ramblings from previous monthly updates then please check out my ‘This is’ series.