Festi post

[elegentry]

Should have written this earlier. My focus is shifting away, to house cleaning, deep tidy, rearranging furniture. All that.

Went to festi, came home. Did lots of fun stuff during.

On the way there
-foot complained lots. Needed painkillers and lots of breaks
-visited several good friends, one that I had not seen in about a year and has a new 3wk old daughter. So good to see her. Great to spend time with R&J (even if J says rude things about blogs) and Quatrefoil in her lovely little flat.

While there
-met the new site, very pretty! Did I take pics? sadly no. It is a valley surrounded by tree covered hills, very green and lush... because it is very damp. Also warmer and more humid than I like for much of the time. My big coat did not get worn at all and much sweating was done.
-managed not to get eaten by leeches unlike most of my household
-loved seeing everyone and catching up
-sang, sewed, cooked, drank some
-loved my new black frock and bright underskirt! Really works. Yellow Durer - convinced the neckline is wrong, bother, how to fix? The revamped button frock was most useful as cool working frock.
-loved living in my little tent
-for a change was not terrified that the big feasting tent would fall down- no high winds. What a relief.
-did three stints on troll gate- rather fun. Friday was too busy to do anything but sign people in. Other two days had time for sewing and chat. Very pleasant that the two quieter days had friends of mine on duty with me, quite by accident.
-went to my first L meet in years- actually useful, productive and well run. Encouraging.
-participated in the making of two new Ls! Both also friends, one ex apprentice. Very pleased.
-Enjoyed the household children. Seemed like 16 of them but there was really only 4.
-the kitchen sink! We kept a tidier camp this year than ever before in my memory. Much nicer.

On the way home
-packed up damp tents etc.  No choice, Monday was VERY wet and the humidity was so high that everything was damp even when the sky was fine.
-raced off to see Miss A who lives locally and I have not seen in 4-5yrs? Found her, spent half an hour or so until she had to race off to work. Sad to lose connections, great to have them reformed.
-Foot was vastly better, only a few twinges and no painkillers taken
-stayed with A&P, what a pleasant evening!
-experienced a dust storm on the road- thick orange clouds, had to slow to a crawl, could not see the road let alone vehicles! Put both headlights and hazard lights on in case another driver was more brave about speed than I. Very glad it did not last long.

After
-vast amounts of laundry, dishes, tidying, nearly done now.
-tent walls have gone really mouldy. No suprise but I need to figure how to deal with them. Has anyone got tips? I am thinking spray bottle of bleach or somesuch. Rest of tent is fine. Maybe this is where I finally need to remake the walls?

Interestingly I have arrived home wanting to make the house nice, rather than wanting to frock. Probably because I have been frocking for months and doing almost no housework. I want a deep tidy, furniture moved, painting and decorating plans finished. Spent much of the trip home planning this in my head. I'll spend a bit of time on this before I need to frock for midwinter.

Comments

[quatrefoil.livejournal.com]

The important thing about using bleach is that you need to make sure it comes off again once it's eaten the mould or it will also eat the fibre. I'd suggest either sponging it on and then sponging it off again with detergenty water, or if you use a spray bottle, rinse it off with a hose after, if water restrictions permit.

[montjoye.livejournal.com]

Ya I was worried about the bleach rotting effect. Sounds like salt is the go.

[toasty-hampster.livejournal.com]

according to Shannon Lush, oil of cloves is your friend, because it actually kills mould instead of just bleaching it. if you google her and 'oil of cloves' I'm sure you'll find info. nearly every time she's on 2BL someone asks about mould in all sorts of places, and that's always her answer. essential oil in a spray bottle with water.

[montjoye.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Just read doushasmum comment quoted Ms Lush and recommending salt. I am a bit sad, I was looking forward to my tent smelling of cloves!

Mould

[doushkasmum.livejournal.com]

Hi there, looking online I found this info about cleaning off mould:

Shannon Lush the Queen of Clean gave us some tips this morning on how to get rid of mould from clothes, walls, floors and leather.

To clean mouldy canvas etc, fill a bucket with 1 X Kilo of salt. Stir in the salt till dissolved. The mouldy fabric can be soaked in the solution or painted on. Leave to dry without rinsing. A salt crust will form on the surface. Brush away with a dry brush and the mould will come off with the salt crystals.

For walls/floors use one quarter of a teaspoon oil of cloves per litre of water, lightly mist over the area and leave for 24-48 hours, then vacuum or wipe away.

For leather, use a quarter of a teaspoon of oil of cloves in a 250ml bottle of baby oil. Give it a good shake and then put a couple of drops on a cloth and wipe over.

I am hoping my tent is OK, but I shall get some oil of cloves for my basket.

Re: Mould

[montjoye.livejournal.com]

thanks for this. I should have done this looking up myself seeing as I am not at work! distracted by prepping the kitchen for painting instead. Interesting, Erudito suggested salt and I didn't believe him. Sounds like it is worth a go- but on a good dry day. Am quite relieved that this weekend is not appropriate, would rather do other stuff.

Re: Mould

[doushkasmum.livejournal.com]

Another site I found later suggested putting a little clove oil in the salt mixture. OTOH someone said the clove oil was a dark brown so you might want to test it on a low down bit to check for staining. YMMV 8->

[quatrefoil.livejournal.com]

And I forgot to say 'thank you' for taking down my tent - much appreciated. It may have still been damp, but I'm sure it was much better than it would have been if I'd attempted to do it in the downpour that was happening when I had to leave on Monday.

[montjoye.livejournal.com]

thanks for thanks. It was still wet but dryer than taking down Monday as you say. Tues was at least fine. tent hem and bottom still wet. I rolled it but not into the bag. Left with A+P to give to R+J. Should be fine. You left a few things in it which I handed to M+J, torch, washer, some other thing I forget.

[quatrefoil.livejournal.com]

Ah, the things left in the tent were R&Js, which were in the tent when I got it - I'll add them to my list of post-Festival things to track down.

[montjoye.livejournal.com]

Ah the dangers of assumptions. If I'd known I would have taken them with the tent. Oops. Note your knife and cutlery pouch are with M.

[montjoye.livejournal.com]

Ah the dangers of assumptions. If I'd known I would have taken them with the tent. Oops. Note your knife and cutlery pouch are with M.

[omnot.livejournal.com]

My tent was mildewy a few months ago but after much carrying on trying to get it clean by laying it out and scrubbing it with a broom and laundry bleach, I found I could fit each section into my washing machine individually.

I had intended it to be a kind of pre-bleach rinse, but it worked so well that once it was dry, there was no sign of mildew for me to scrub off. :-)

I don't know whether that approach would be something you'd consider as a step in your mildew removal process, but I thought I'd mention it.

[montjoye.livejournal.com]

thanks. Wish I could use this method but the walls would not fit in the machine. Suppose I should just say wall, as in singular. Would have to cut it in about 3 pieces to fit. So far it is still languishing on the back verandah.