Thread 9 - TalkLair: “Russell's teapot goes on being round”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 8).

The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with summer flowers - should bloody well be, what with all that rain. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

Excellent toilet location! That reminds me of an incredibly expensive house some friends-of-an-ex bought on Richmond Green, back in the 80s. I think it was this house: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/england-83479433-14488567?s=8554c80affea80cbf409915ba9434d1a80242910ae287d93ad1d0223a653be3d#/

There were small cupboards all over the house, on every floor, in hallways, off main reception rooms, which contained ... bidets.

(The last two sale prices are fascinating, by the way.)

That's a huge price reduction!

We only did sewing at secondary school for two years max, same with domestic science. Most of us only did it for one year and then went to Latin or classical studies in second year and something else that I can't remember. I was rubbish at sewing and cooking but I'm a lot better at both now. I don't know if I've already said this but the sewing machines we used in my dressmaking class was the same as the one we used back in the seventies. Bernina sewing machines are very expensive but they will last a lifetime and beyond.

Those prices come from land registry data, but don't necessarily mean the house was actually sold for that price - it could be someone getting a share of the property.

Our previous house's sale history would show a 50% drop and then a slightly over 100% rise over the time I lived there. I bought it, MrBint moved in and 'bought' half so we had equal share of the deeds, then we sold it properly to strangers for slightly more than the original price.

Ah, that makes sense.

According to the description, there’s a whole shower room in that cupboard! On the whole, I think there is a basic rule to be observed which is if an en-suite is going to be too small to use, don’t put one in.

Ah, that Ian Frazier poem about the rules of food was most entertaining!

On the subject of mending, my mum trained as a nursery nurse in the 1950s, and learned to darn as part of that: her darns on our summer dresses were beautiful and neat.

She never taught me properly so during lockdown I did an online visible mending course and since then have darned anything with a hole in, enthusiastically. I like wool socks best and they do go at the toes (should cut toe nails).

I've also had a go at sashiko darning on jeans:

journal.tokyobike.co.uk/sashiko-darning-visible-mendings/

I have some jeans that I love that are wearing in places so plan to do some reinforcement soon.

I do want to go to this exhibition about the Japanese art of mending:

www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/japanese-aesthetics-recycling

I can do basic mending and love seeing the things more creative people can achieve. I once worked with a young woman who was amazed to see me repair a trouser hem that had suddenly gone - she said she couldn't sew, even to replace a button, and if anything needed repair she threw it away. Weird and not very good for the planet.

Massive thunder and lightning here last night alarmed the cat and knocked out the surge protector I've had for about fifteen years - I suppose it's earned its keep. I have a feeling the shop I bought it in has closed so not sure where to get a replacement.

Agree, everyone should do it. I remember one day a group of us talking about the course and soberly agreeing that what we were learning was so interesting and useful it should be required of every school leaver. We imagined a world where, instead of, say, conscription into the armed services, everyone learned to make, do and create and how different the world would be. They were heady 17 year-old thoughts but looking back, I think it was true.

@artant what did you teach?

There was an article about sashiko mending in The Times the other day. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-mottainai-just-say-no-to-waste-in-japanese-is-the-new-hygge-tq38jrhvf

It's in archive too.

@Tricyrtis2022 I led the Fine Art pathway (I neither draw nor paint but no matter) but in a very broad way so that students could make pretty much whatever they wanted as long as it was made as an artwork (really just made from/about ideas that interested them rather than as, say, a piece of functional design responding to a brief). Experimentation and failure were encouraged. Many had only really painted at school so discovering that a video or photograph could also be art and that while some artists draw plenty don’t opened up all sorts of possibilities. It was a big course so my pathway group could be 60+ and kind of provided a home for the students who didn’t quite fit anywhere else.

I also ran (and delivered most of) the contextual programme (art and design history and the context in which things happened).

That Japanese mending exhibition looks amazing.

@artant that sounds like a really good course. Showing people that they don't have to paint or draw for their work to be called 'art' is such a good way to encourage people to experiment with being creative.

What you said yesterday - It’s the most fun you’re allowed to have in education as a student or a tutor - is absolutely right. It was wonderfully fun, for everyone.

@MmePoppySeedDefage I did some Sashiko mending on my jeans earlier this year or last year. A Japanese person would look at it and laugh me out of town because it's not very good, but the arse was out of a pair of jeans I love, so I went with some African wax fabric as the patch and a whole load of extremely unperfect Sashiko stitching. I find Sashiko so beautiful and inspiring. I love that it came from an actual need to mend and a desire to make the mending a thing of beauty.

I must have a go with Sashiko mending. Most of the holes in my clothes are a result of getting caught on rose thorns whilst pruning, so there's plenty to experiment with.

@MouseMinge I've noticed in photos that a lot of mends are done with light coloured threads, but was thinking that brightly coloured thread would be good. What colour did you use?

I used red and the light Sashiko thread which is sort of ivory. The red was Sashiko thread too, it's really nice to work with. And I got Sashiko needles which are also nice to work with. I think I might start practicing again when autumn starts.

I was thinking red too. Don't have the correct thread at the moment but do have a bundle of brightly coloured embroidery thread that's been in my kit so long I've no idea where it came from.

Just finished watching the World Cup Final, verdict: correct result.

Yes, it was. Spain deserved winners.

You guys might enjoy seeing Siddi quilts, which are Freeform and not made like traditional quilts, and are often made from it's of old clothing. I made one for my goddaughter's baby. pieceworkmagazine.com/pieced-together-african-quilts-of-india/. I saw one at an exhibition and then learned how to make one. I don't think I'd want to make a adult size one though!

Sad about the Lionesses losing. My Brits in Maine group is gutted.

Totally gutted. They're not better than us in general but were definitely better on the day. They were cheaty little pretenders in the last minutes, falling over if someone got within a breath of them. But well deserved on the whole because they had us on the back foot for most of the game. Mary Earps was fabulous thobut and Greenwood was a bit of a Stuart Pierce de nos jours with her bleeding head and bandage. Next time and we're still the champions of Europe.

Just bottled another batch of beer, and I still have my usual Sunday two games of Aussie rugby to watch. Sundays are a gruelling programme!

Thanks for the link to that article Tri. That's decided me that I'm going to the exhibition this Saturday. Those quilts are interesting, Britinme.

My sister embarked on a quilt but she decided to make it to go with her bedroom décor, in the late 1970s, so brown. By the time she was nearly finished, fashions had changed, and she'd gone off brown, so she never did finish it. All her hard work!

House fans - how about a windmill? This is just up the road from me, I often walk past it and marvel...

https://www.hamptons.co.uk/properties/17551847/sales/HOV170231#/

Those quilts are amazing, @Britinme I've also learned something new today. I had no idea that there was an African population in India. I've seen similar quilts from India for sale in a shop run by a friend who goes to India for a few months each year and buys from women to sell over here. I'd love to make one, but, like you, I'm not convince I could managed an adult one. Maybe I could make one for my not really neice's baby who's due in December.