Update on the sock challenge, progress for some things plus a sewing project...

First, I wanted to update you on Kate's Sock Madness progress.  She managed to finish the qualifying pair of socks in the necessary timeframe to be named to a team/group for the rest of the challenge.  As of 2:30 AM this morning, the teams had not been announced.  Kate and all of her knitting friends were checking their phones until the wee hours to see their team members and perhaps even the next challenge.  But she will not be just a cheerleader this year.  If I can get pictures of her socks as she finishes them, I will post them so you can see what she is doing.

I have begun really digging into the craft room.  As I have been uncovering stuff, I have taken several days/weeks to kind of live with the things I have to deal with in order to come up with a plan.  One of the things I uncovered was my Accuquilt system.  I had found most of the dies earlier but finally found the cutter unit in the great unpacking weekend.  

This is a very useful tool for quilters.  It uses die patterns to efficiently cut shapes quickly and accurately.  I can cut, for example, 2 1/2 inch strips and create my own jelly roll materials.  I can also cut 5-inch squares for charm pack materials.  I also have many other strip and pattern dies to make the tedious cutting chores much easier.  In ky sewing room in PA, the dies and cutter lived under my cutting table but were not easily accessible so I did not use them as often as I might have if the had been set up in their own space.

I finally decided that what I needed was a space, table or shelf-like thing where the cutter was always out and the dies could be stored where I could get to them.  I looked for things I could use locally on used furniture forums on FaceBook.  Nothing appeared.  I then looked on good, old Amazon and found a metal baker's rack with a wooden top.  It was just the right size, could hold all of the dies and I can use S-hooks to hang my most often used rulers within easy reach as the rack butts up to my cutting table.  I think it works perfectly!

There is a plan forming so I can get the craft room up and running.

Last Sunday, after an evening of Dungeons and Dragons, I wandered up to the kitchen to put something together for dinner.  When I turned ao the lights and looked around to find that the drawer holding all of my cooking utensils was not sitting straight in the cabinet but was now being held in only by the drawer front with the body of the drawer angled down into the cabinet below.  The center drawer guide system had broken and would need to be repaired.  The holder for the guide had broken (it was plastic).

In this picture, you can see the little plastic piece.  The metal guide is supposed to live inside the little plastic oval.  I moved it to the top.

This is how it was when I wrestled the drawer out.  The plastic oval broke along the bottom.

Rob had put together a list for me to use for things just like this.  There is a service here in Fairbanks called "Fairbanks Handyman Services".  It is a franchise of "ACE Handyman Services".  I used the internet since it was a Sunday night, and requested a repairman come to fix the drawers in the kitchen.  There were two other drawers in the kitchen that would fall forward and down when you opened them.  So I asked for someone to come and replace the drawer guides in all 9 drawers  That way, the drawers would all be very secure, no longer squeal when opened and give the kitchen cabinets a longer life as redecorating the entire kitchen, is not in the budget.

This is the drawer that broke,

This is one of the drawers that fell forward when opened.  I had put some heavy items in the back to try to balance it so it could be used for baking implements.

This was the other one but it only held towels and was one of three such drawers.

All of these drawer guides will be replaced.

These two will be fixed as well.  These hold all of the silverware (left) and cutting knives and utensils (right),  Both have quite a bit of weight in them.  I am sure that they would have been the next to fail!

I was pleased when the Service called early in the afternoon on Monday to make arrangements for the repair.  I was even more pleased when she had a gentleman who could come on Tuesday to make the repair.

Joe, a tall gentleman who had lived in Alaska, then moved away before returning arrived at 8 AM.  He assessed the situation, went out and found drawer guides that could replace the old ones and provide a very secure opening and closing action at a very reasonable cost.  He had to go out again to get extra equipment to make his job easier and faster and to get wooden slats that he used to make the new guides fit the old drawers.  But in 6 1/2 hours, he had managed to see what he was needing to do, find the hardware and other materials to make the fix, make the adjustments under the drawers to make it work and do it nine times over.  I now have drawers that open easily without making a single squeal and will hold the load that I am putting on them with all of my cooking gadgets.

Joe is coming back on the 15th.  Rob and Kate had an ice maker installed in the fridge here before I arrived.  I had two fridges in PA and they both had ice makers.  I am used to having nice, cold drinks with the ice that they made.  There was a connection in the kitchen for an ice maker that must have been installed in years before.  It is copper tubing connected to a valve under the floor.  Over the years, the valve became enclosed into the ceiling of the lower level where it is very difficult to access it.  It has also corroded badly to the point that no one wants to be the one to try to turn it on for fear of it exploding and water gushes out.  So Joe is coming to replace that valve and make sure that water gets into the new ice maker so I can have my ice when I want it.

He is also going to scope out the possibility of replacing the kitchen countertops, dishwasher, trash compactor, and sink.  He will measure, come up with ideas and then give us a quote.  Now that the drawers are fixed, the cabinets, while not the best, still have some life in them.  So we can update some without gutting the thing.  At least we will know what kind of cost we are looking at.  

Last Wednesday I went to the only, true quilt shop in Fairbanks.  It is Northern Threads and is a beautiful store.  I follow them on Facebook and saw a class for a Runabout Bag.  I thought it would be fun to attend the class and maybe meet some local sewists.  The class ran from 6 PM to 9 PM.  The pattern is from Lazy Girl and in the case, a fabric panel has been created with the pieces to do 2 bags.  The store sold the panel in two colorways.  I took the one with purple in it!

There was another older lady whose name was Alice.  Then there was a mother with a young girl and the girl's friend.  Her daughter had sewn some, the friend had never touched a machine.  There were also three other women who were at various stages of learning to sew.  Karen Prino was the instructor.  She is an employee of Northern Threads and does a lot of the long arm quilting in the store.  She gave Alice and me instructions then turned her attention to the less experienced sewists.  I had taken my wool mat and small iron so I did not have to use the community iron.  These days you really have to think about the things you come in contact with when with people you do not know.  I learned a new way to install a zipper.  It works really well when you do it right.  I only had to rip out once.

Here is my completed bag.

This is the front of my bag.  The zipper went in easily.  I loved the color.  I was able to use Zippy for my zippers.  Zippy was one of the early things unpacked.

This is the back.  The fabric with purple flowers is used to create outside pockets.  I set it up for two pockets, one for my phone and one for my pens/pencils or reading glasses.  It makes a great bag for traveling.  It will hold IDs, money, credit cards, tec. and you can hang it around your neck so you can use your hands for other things.

Calling it a night.  I will type more tomorrow.