all made up with nowhere to go

The new washing machine is here! And it works and everything! (As it darned well should!)

I got up at 6am yesterday, because the site I ordered from let you know between 6:30 and 8:30am when your delivery is due, and the last time I ordered from them, they told me at 6:30 that it was coming at 7, so that was a nasty surprise. But this time I was prepared. So I got up and made sure everything was sorted, and the delivery email said it would get here between 9:30am and 1:30pm, so I got to spend a lot of time hopping around the living room feeling very anxious.

They eventually came at ~11:30, and were gone by 11:45, which was bloody amazing, frankly.

The only gripes I have is that the one guy pushed the washing machine too far back, so the outlet hose got kinked, and that the other guy was very ignorant, and carried on a conversation he'd been having about dog food evidently before they even got to my house (and more or less ignored me the entire time). But it was 900% a better experience than last time, so I am absolutely not complaining.

I was only without a washing machine for three days, but oof did I feel it. I put on a load after they'd gone, and because of the outlet pipe being kinked, it caused an overflow in the pipe that connects to the sink outlet. Which was delightful, of course. But it wasn't a bad overflow, so it was easy to clean up, but I would have rather not had to do it at all.

But now I have a fancy new washing machine, that I can talk to with my phone! This is optional, but you can choose different cycles from the in-built ones, and see how much time is left on the cycle, etc etc. (You can also see on the machine itself how much time is left, and I know this is not a new thing, but I appreciate that a lot. The old one didn't have anything like that).

~

So after I made the book wrap, I realised I'd sort of run out of things to make (despite having mentioned things here and so on, but I think my brain's just on one at the moment), so I made a coaster and some other bits and pieces in the same fashion. And now I am in a "feeling uncreative" funk again. I know it's probably just because I'm feeling very tired at the moment, but ugh, I wish it wasn't happening. I know it'll pass. I'm just venting.

I got out the book that I borrowed from the library that has the felt succulents in it, so I am going to have a look at that later for some inspo. I even bought some felt with my Xmas money that is in a colour set called Succulent, so if that isn't perfect, I don't know what is. I got the felt before I borrowed the book, just because I liked the way the colours went together, so it's sort of coincidence that I have the two things at the same time.

I think the last twelve months have just done a bit of a number on my brain, and it's taking me time to get back around to how I was feeling before that. I mean, I felt shitty before last January, but not as shitty as I did for the majority of 2023 until now. BUT ANYWAY. I'm sure I will work myself out of this. I've done it before, and I can darned well do it again.

~

Finally, I am watching Johnny Chiodini play through a game called The Tartarus Key, which is an escape room type game with PS1 style visuals (so right up my street, really). I bounced off it initially, because I realised (although I think I already knew) that, in a lot of cases, I have to be in the right mood for Johnny's streams. I like them as a person in general, but sometimes they just wind me up and get on my nerves, which is what happened to start with. But then I came back to it a couple of days later, when I was feeling tired and teary, and IDK everything was fine? Like I even laughed at a couple of jokes they made, where on the previous day, I'd been like, "Ugh, stop being such a fucking fool!"

Anyway, I recommend it! I think a few of you would like it, since some of you like puzzle games (though IDK how you feel about escape rooms), and I thoroughly recommend that you go in blind. It's more fun that way! Also I couldn't find any spoilers on the internet but I didn't try hard enough, lbr. But yeah, I deffo think it's a neat game and I've liked what I've seen so far.

Five things make a post?

1. It was -7°C when I woke up this morning at 6am. Do not want!

2. I had to cave and buy a cheap pair of bluetooth headphones for my phone with the remainder of my xmas money, because I keep breaking 3.5mm jack to usb c converters (well, the first one was duff anyway, but the second one only lasted a month, and at five quid each I'm not doing this repeatedly).

They're okay, sound-wise (I will admit I am a headphones/speaker snob, although I can't afford the sort of stuff I'd really like). They'll do, anyway. I do like that I can wander round my entire house, though, and the bluetooth signal doesn't drop out at all.

3. Talking of my phone, a friend was asking on facebook for phone recs as they needed a new one, and almost every single comment on the post was "I've got a Pixel and I LOVE IT". I refrained from adding that I had one and I hated it, because maybe it's just me, IDK.

4. I have been deconstructing some clothes to reclaim the fabric. Some of them were ones my mum made, and it's fascinating seeing how she put them together, and how lazy she was feeling about finishing them off properly.

I feel a bit weird about it, but I wouldn't wear them anyway, and the majority would be too big for me even if I wanted to. I think mum would approve of me recycling them. I hope she would.

(It doesn't stop me wanting to buy more fabric though - I've been looking at batik fabric lately and omg it's gorgeous).

5. I have been thinking about doing the 100 day art challenge, but I don't know what I would do for it. I've seen various things, most recently quilting/applique, but also gel printing, and drawing. I also don't know that I can actually commit to 100 days of anything, given I used to get burnt out after fifteen on Inktober.

But there's no start or end date on it, so it's something I can just think about for the future maybe.

I have been sorting through fabric again - this time I went through some of my stuff, and managed to find some fabric that I have literally had since I was a kid. But I evidently never used it for anything. But that is going to change now!

I've gone through all the stuff I have that was mum's and sorted out material I don't want (of which it turns out there's a fair chunk, both scraps and massive size pieces). I have been wanting to sort some of it out to make scrap packs, except I've had a cold for the last week, so that's been fun! (not) It's not been bad as colds go, but for most of the last week I've broken out in a sweat every time I've moved, and felt fairly drained, so even something as simple as making piles of fabric felt a bit beyond me.

One thing that I have been doing while feeling gross is making little fabric collages*. I'm testing out ideas for things I can put together relatively quickly, and then mount on a canvas when they're finished. I don't know if anything will come of it, or if anyone will even want to buy one, but it's keeping me amused for now (and also helping use up very small fabric scraps). Also it's more curl up in a chair friendly than paper collage. Or maybe I need a better set up. It's been a few years since I last had a shuffle round in the living room, so maybe I should have a think about that, actually.

They're not pictures of anything, they're just little abstract pieces, but I mean, that kind of fits with the stuff I've been drawing over the last few years.

So yeah, that's what I've been up to lately, apart from all the usual to-ing and fro-ing (bleh). Like I said, I don't think my life is terribly interesting at the moment (has it ever been?) so I'm just not writing about it much.

~

*They're not collages because they're sewn not stuck but I honestly don't know what else to call them. I suppose maybe appliques? *shrugs*