A quick update. . . I did indeed add an emery cushion to my Victorian sewing bird. It's a bit of a cheat in that I took a prefabricated strawberry cushion--the type that comes attached to those ubiquitous tomato pin cushions--and covered it in the same fabric as used for the pin cushion, and glued it to the button. It was necessary to use a drop of glue to adhere the button to the bird, but I can live with that.
Here it is put into service while I work on Benjamin Bunny, one of nine ornaments I'm making for the Christmas tree:
(As always, click to enlarge.)
Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle Duck, Jeremy Fisher, Mr. Tod, Pigling Bland, Squirrel Nutkin, Tailor of Gloucester, Tom Kitten, and Peter Rabbit. Characters from the wonderful tales of Beatrix Potter. I bought the patterns for these from The Cheswick Company (they can be found on Etsy) last year.
I am sewing these entirely by hand because I think it adds a lot of meaning. (Soapbox: Nothing makes me sadder than the sight of $20K 'embroidery' sewing machines, which seem to be the rage. They're available now from every major sewing machine manufacturer. This is not craft in my opinion, it is production. Push a button to start the machine, it stops now and then to tell you to change the thread color... congratulations, you have become a machine operator. IMO, the results are not satisfactory. Give me imperfect hand work any day.) Here is Benjamin Bunny, I just finished him:
Winter Prep
It's that time of year when the turn of temperature and color of leaves forewarns of colder days to come. It turns the mind's attention to the issue of fuel and the desire for warmth when the thermometer dips below 40, 30, 20, 10, and beyond. To that end, 2 additional cords of wood were delivered this past week making my total store for the winter a little over 5 cords. I don't think I will require it all if years past are any indication.
One cord is stacked. Four are not. There is work to do. Two cords are on the other side of the yard. There is more work to do.
Another brain storm hit last month when I realized that the 'garage in a box' which I purchased several years ago and which has sat in the grass unused since I got the garden shed 4 years ago, would make an excellent cover for my stacked wood. So I gathered the pieces and re-constructed it in the upper garden. I'll purchase some tarps to cover it and hopefully that will solve the winter long struggle of keeping the wood dry, and safe from inclement weather.
I truly love the holtz hausen stacks I've been building these past few years, but throwing a tarp over them turns into a headache mid-winter. For starters, tarps don't protect the sides of the stacks and that wood gets wet. The stove doesn't like wet wood and physics demands that creosote will be the result. Additionally, trying to shovel snow off the uneven surface of a holtz hauzen is impossible. A shovel is too stiff, a broom too weak. So some snow settles on top and it melts when the sun comes out and the result freezes into ice and before you know it there are 6-8" ice puddles on top of your wood and the struggle is real. And stressful. But not this year if all goes well.
Other News
The broken Subaru left the yard today and I'm very happy to see it gone. It saddened me to see it all the time. 90% of it was in good, useable shape, everything from the chassis up. A shame that it was all rendered useless because of a rusted out under carriage. It's nice to the have the drive cleared.
Speaking of the drive, I decided to move the hexagonal flower bed and fountain to the other side of the walk and that leaves an alley that will allow vehicles to drive right up to the house if need be. I won't be using it as driveway, but it's available just in case. I will probably make the entire area where the hex bed is now into one large cottage garden. The bed and fountain in their new location, the almost cleared emergency driveway to the left (yes, my little wagon had a flat tire and needed some attention):
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