I got a section of the hedge mulched today - soggy cardboard is hard to come by but i managed to get it at least damp, and then placed the straw from the remnants of the roller bale in the wheelbarrow with the water so it to was wet through.

Managed to pull apart the last two log cabin blocks and render them into a useful form, which involved having to find a few extra lengths as by the time I had got to the outer strips, they were no longer long enough with the easement resulting from more accurate seaming.

I had also hauled out the curtain fabric and had another look at my options. I found two roller blind rolls and they are clearly marked for the placement of the blind, the calico is 120cm and the rollers are 125cm so that would give me an inch either side that was not cluttered up with fabric - that should work. The fabric itself is 150cm wide though, so I will need to cut it down the middle (to keep the selvedges) and seam it together. I think I will ask Caroline to do that as her seams seem to be straighter than mine ....

Then I plan to use basting spray to stick the two fabrics together, sew down each of the various lines that go down and across at 120mm intervals which will bond the two fabrics more securely, then stick it onto the rollers. If I mount them above the windows, just below the ceiling, I can then at a later date, install a pelmet to cover the rollers and to enhance heat retention on chilly nights. From memory there is framing in all the right places to allow that to happen.

Once that was all done I noticed that Gordon from across the road had got home so called over with his newspapers (I have been collecting them for him in his absence) and was invited in for tea and to meet his lady friend. We had a lovely chat about the village and the village personalities and then home to stir up the fire to warm the place up for the evening.