Lovely. It wasn't a gushing leak, it was a drip, but a very steady drip - like one drip every second. Though there is some type of linoleum flooring directly around this pipe, only a few inches away a section of carpet starts and it had puddled and run and soaked the carpet.
Fortunately, it was pretty easily fixed. It was covered under the home warranty which came with the house when we bought it, and which we decided to renew last year (and will probably again this year, as it's turning out to be pretty darned useful).
The worst part about the water leak was that since it was before the shut-off valve, I had to have the city come out and shut the water off at the street, on a Sunday, in about 18 degree whether - they weren't terribly happy - and they couldn't find it. They scurried around out there for more than half an hour with their metal detector, digging up chunks of my treelawn. As one of the water guys put it himself, it looks like we've had an invasion of groundhogs.
Nice of him to find the humor in it, but when the snow melts, this is going to be a mess. Well, it's already kind of a mess, but ... .
Anyway, that's a concern for another time ... when there's a thaw, like in 6 months from now.
But because things going smoothly and easily isn't part of the Homeowner's Manifesto, last night our stove quit working. Just ... quit. Nothing would heat up, digital display will only come on when a burner is turned on (though the burner won't work). Very weird.
Fortunately, that's covered under the homeowner's warranty, too, so ... another service call put in last night, we'll see what happens with that. I kind of hope it isn't fixable, because I hate that stove, and the warranty includes replacement of the appliance if it isn't fixable. I can go back to the awesome ceran top stove like I had at the old house, and left (because I was just sick of moving and it was too much trouble). I'm sure I'll have to pay something myself if I upgrade, they probably only pay an amount that would purchase a model like the one we killed, which is probably about $400 or $500 - and a ceran top model undoubtedly costs several hundred more. I haven't priced them since I bought the last one in 1994.
Anyway - every time some inconvenience or work drama surfaces anymore, I distract myself (and cheer myself up) by thinking of all the things I'm making right now. Creativity has definitely moved in and set up housekeeping. For a quick something as a mini fix, I'm making a quilted table mat for the dining room. During the holidays I had a Christmas placemat on the table with a little arrangement of candles, but when we took down the holiday decorations, the table seemed so bare. I thought I'd make something to lay on the table, then put some candles on, and since Valentine's Day is the next holiday, it's themed that way. More on that when it's done in a few days.
I'm still slogging away on the sweater, and it's coming along. Gauge is still on track! Amazing. And I'm nearing the end of the back piece. Probably won't be done by spring, when it would have been useful, though. But we'll see.
I'm also working on a scrap quilt, which kind of came about by accident.
I've been wanting to make a mariner's compass quilt for a long time, and I saw one in a magazine I mostly fell in love with - it's called Spice Island, and the fabrics are all batiks in shades named things like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc. - looking appropriately spicy, as you'd expect. Here's a picture of it.
I love the colors of that quilt, but the one thing I don't care for is all the individual blocks with mariner's compasses in them. What I'd really like is a quilt with a big giant mariner's compass in the center, then other decorative things around the outside. I believe those are called medallion quilts.
But I can't find a pattern for one like that anywhere. Every one I can find always contains a bunch of smaller compasses. I've seen one or two that had a compass in the center, but they were quite small usually. I think there's a logical reason for that ... mariner's compasses are a challenging version of quilt-making, and the larger they are, the harder they are to make, so I think it's much easier to make them the size in this quilt.
But I get stubborn when I get an idea, and the only way I've been able to figure out I could make the one I envision is to learn how to draft compass patterns myself, so I can make it any size I want. To do that, I need some good instructions, and people seem to be sort of secretive about this art ... I haven't been able to find any free instructions online, although there are a couple of books that apparently have good directions. My local library doesn't carry them, so I'm thinking about trying interlibrary loan. I very well may end up buying the book(s) but I'd like to check them out first and make sure it's what I want.
Meanwhile, I also love the fabrics this quilt is made out of, but they are batiks, which are expensive. I can't imagine being able to afford all the suggested fabrics for this quilt any time soon, so I had another idea. I could use muslin (which I've taken to buying by the bolt at Joanne's when it's on sale or I have a coupon, and which I think is a wonderful thing), and then hand dying the muslin in the yardages and approximate shades for this quilt - not using the batik method probably, as it's complex and I don't know how to do it, but maybe using some natural dying techniques which give nice subtle colors. Of course, I don't know how to do that either, but I have a feeling that will be easier and quicker to learn than batik, an art form unto itself. (though I may need to try that some day ... ).
See why I can't get anything done? Everything mushrooms. I go from wanting to simply make a quilt I saw in a magazine, to re-drafting the pattern and re-designing the quilt and hand-dying all the fabric for it before I can start on it.
Anyway - I desperately was in the mood to make a quilt, and knew it'd be awhile before I could start on the mariner's compass, so I started a scrap quilt instead. That's the one I'm working on now.
I've cleaned up the Imaginarium a lot lately, it's really coming along. I'll have to get some pictures posted soon. So my next step is to finish fixing up the 'clay station,' an area I made just for working on clay, so I can go back to working with that. Sometime this summer I want to start an Etsy shop, but ... need some stuff made and ready to sell first.
And I have a jacket/dress thing in process, and a whole slew of mending, and Greg's pirate shirt to re-make (made him one for Christmas, but it was too short, so I'm going to take it apart and remake it longer), embroidery to do on the pirate shirt, clay to play with, and oh, I don't know, half a dozen or so other projects.
I figured out the reason I've been going slowly nuts for awhile now is I wasn't making anything. I am much happier now. :o)
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