Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

KajiKita

Watty1 said:

Are you therefore free of the PC or is there a transition period?? 

Honestly, I don’t know. I have offered to help the Chair with anything relevant to me up until the end of the year, but I’m kind of hoping I’m done …

KK

KajiKita

Aaaaand before the day had even ended I was updating the PC H&S policy I drafted a week or so ago … 🙄😉
I’m still not going to the meeting tonight though! 

Had a better day today - feels like my brain is slowly coming back online again 😊
Highlight of the day was managing to track down a MIA load cell that was sent out for calibration but taken by the wrong courier and has been missing for three weeks! A polite but firm suggestion that I would like to start an insurance claim led to them suddenly finding out WHERE the parcel had gone and a PoD for me to follow up. I did and the bemused recipients were delighted to have someone to claim it! 😊 The calibration house have now agreed to courier it from where it was delivered to and then recharge us for this and the load cell should be back in the customer test rig by the end of next week 😊👏 Phew … 

Checked the size of my Christmas present tapestry versus the existing frame I have (just in case it was too big to fit …) and it will fit just fine 😊❤️

KK 

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, I thought of you when I found a box of completed tapestries in a charity shop for £2 each. Mostly pictures of cottages, but I picked out some very brightly coloured flowers - I kept thinking about the person who spent all that time stitching, and couldn't bring myself to leave them all there. I'm going to turn mine into a cushion cover, but having got it home it's actually very wonky and not at all square! Any tips for restoring it to the proper angle??

KajiKita

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, I thought of you when I found a box of completed tapestries in a charity shop for £2 each. Mostly pictures of cottages, but I picked out some very brightly coloured flowers - I kept thinking about the person who spent all that time stitching, and couldn't bring myself to leave them all there. I'm going to turn mine into a cushion cover, but having got it home it's actually very wonky and not at all square! Any tips for restoring it to the proper angle??

You need to try something called blocking. Basically you have to find a flat surface that you can pin the tapestry to where you can leave it for several hours until it’s dry. Usually you put it face down on the surface and spray water on the back of the piece. Then gently pull it into shape and pin it every inch (with rust proof pins) until it looks square. It has to be left until it’s completely dry. 

So goes the theory but tbh I’ve never done it as I’ve never had the space or the want to do something with any of my finished pieces (I know, I should 😉😊). My current piece is on a frame and I will be interested to see whether it’s less distorted than it typically would be after not using a frame. There is a cautionary note about checking colour fastness with the technique above, but most yarns used for tapestry should be pretty robust. 

Good luck! 😊

KK

Cheery_Daff

KajiKita said:

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, I thought of you when I found a box of completed tapestries in a charity shop for £2 each. Mostly pictures of cottages, but I picked out some very brightly coloured flowers - I kept thinking about the person who spent all that time stitching, and couldn't bring myself to leave them all there. I'm going to turn mine into a cushion cover, but having got it home it's actually very wonky and not at all square! Any tips for restoring it to the proper angle??

You need to try something called blocking. Basically you have to find a flat surface that you can pin the tapestry to where you can leave it for several hours until it’s dry. Usually you put it face down on the surface and spray water on the back of the piece. Then gently pull it into shape and pin it every inch (with rust proof pins) until it looks square. It has to be left until it’s completely dry. 

So goes the theory but tbh I’ve never done it as I’ve never had the space or the want to do something with any of my finished pieces (I know, I should 😉😊). My current piece is on a frame and I will be interested to see whether it’s less distorted than it typically would be after not using a frame. There is a cautionary note about checking colour fastness with the technique above, but most yarns used for tapestry should be pretty robust. 

Good luck! 😊

KK

Ithank you 😊 I've blocked crocheted blankets and clothes before but never had much to do with tapestry - will experiment 😊

KajiKita

Cheery_Daff said:

KajiKita said:

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, I thought of you when I found a box of completed tapestries in a charity shop for £2 each. Mostly pictures of cottages, but I picked out some very brightly coloured flowers - I kept thinking about the person who spent all that time stitching, and couldn't bring myself to leave them all there. I'm going to turn mine into a cushion cover, but having got it home it's actually very wonky and not at all square! Any tips for restoring it to the proper angle??

You need to try something called blocking. Basically you have to find a flat surface that you can pin the tapestry to where you can leave it for several hours until it’s dry. Usually you put it face down on the surface and spray water on the back of the piece. Then gently pull it into shape and pin it every inch (with rust proof pins) until it looks square. It has to be left until it’s completely dry. 

So goes the theory but tbh I’ve never done it as I’ve never had the space or the want to do something with any of my finished pieces (I know, I should 😉😊). My current piece is on a frame and I will be interested to see whether it’s less distorted than it typically would be after not using a frame. There is a cautionary note about checking colour fastness with the technique above, but most yarns used for tapestry should be pretty robust. 

Good luck! 😊

KK

Ithank you 😊 I've blocked crocheted blankets and clothes before but never had much to do with tapestry - will experiment 😊

Well at £2 a piece you won't have much to lose

A picture or two, once you've straightened them out would be nice

Feeling worse than yesterday. I'm normally a Lark and I got out of bed yesterday feeling more like me - energised and cheerful. This morning I struggled to wake at all and feel slightly less energised than going to bed last night ....! I did sleep like my strings had been cut - I suspect because the deed was finally done with the PC! Started getting texts from PCs about my leaving, which I am ignoring for now ...

KK

KajiKita

I am starting to thank about how I want my 2026 to look.
A bit like others on here, I would love for my overall health to be better so I have more energy for living in the gaps left by working full time ... 

With that additional energy I want to:

- Remodel the veggie patch so it's smaller - landscaper booked for that task in January. I want, again, to try to keep on top of the bindweed and eat more from my patch. Didn't do so well at beating back the bindweed again, but did do well at eating more from the garden - having possible recipes / ways of eating the produce to hand, really helped I think. 

- Have a lot more scented plants - flower scent is hugely important to me but I am not planting enough in this garden and far less than I used to, so I need to get back into this next year. I have good ideas / favourites for early in the year but less for late summer, so I have some research to do here. I have just treated myself to a winter flowering honeysuckle and I know just where in the garden I am going to plant it ...

- Start attending a local garden society's meetings and probably become a member if I like their vibe. Have downloaded the draft 2026 programme - there's a social lunch in January I won't make it to, but there is a talk I would like to go to in February. 

- Maybe, if I can really muster the energy and they still exist, start going to the community choir that is based in a local ArtSpace. I suspect that this would do me a lot of good ...   

- 20th Wedding anniversary trip to Bayeux in June. Accommodation is booked and half paid for, ferry is booked and fully paid for, annual leave is booked in and confirmed. Need to book Madame Chloe into the Cattery. 

- OP by £4K on top of standard mortgage payments. This is excluding any 'exciting extras', such as what might come from the sale of the Bedford .... 

- Get our updated Wills finalised, complete the 'Death File' and take Mr KK through it. I'm hoping to really knock a hole in this over Christmas / mid-winter as there's nothing much doing in the garden at that time of year.  

- Review EF needed for covering 6 month's bills etc. (I suspect I could pay into pension / OP more but I am too anxious so keep topping up savings ...) and whether my easy access savings should increase (I've had it set at £500 for c. 6 years now! )

- Check financial progress - value of mortgage auto OPs and value of pensions each quarter.

- Read 52+ books / do 6 craft projects / see one friend in person per month / try 6 new recipes or cooking techniques / go to 4 gardens / get back into sketching flower shapes from my drawing book.

KK

Cheery_Daff

Sorry you're still feeling rough xx Hope it passes soon xxx

Looks like a good set of plans for next year though, well done you! 😊

debtfreewannabe321

Love the plans. I've made a start on mine too. Interestingly enough I was talking to someone at work about a choir they go to and I was thinking of seeing if I could join too. I'm not the best singer but I do enjoy it 😊! 

skint_spice

Love your aims for 2026, hope the end of PC work frees up some and headspace.