It was my birthday this weekend, on the summer solstice. I can't remember it ever being this hot. Or this summery. Or this lovely.


Oh, and I was thoroughly spoilt. We were supposed to go up-country to visit family but alas plans had to change last minute and we ended up staying in summery London for the weekend Summery London. Have you ever heard it called that?

There was a boat trip up the Thames, an exciting day out at the National Gallery, a trip to Borough Market, adventures past the Royal Guard and of course - cake.

And best of all, I received phonecalls and messages and cards and parcels from around the world.

Are you ready? I'm super excited about this ta da moment.


All of the animals have been traced, cut, stuck and positioned on the quilt front... completely ahead of schedule. Ah, bank holiday weekends. Some of the animals go in two-by-two, and some are greedier: we have five quails, three zebras, three chickens, four fish, three newts.

I like to think that the hardest part is over, but now I need to find two pieces of quilt wadding THAT FIT to line the back, and start the free-motion outlining of each colour. Slow and steady.


Rainy weather is a great for getting things done. I've also cut back on work - slowly - so I'm doing less driving around and attending meetings (very good for the nausea), and more time working on illustrations and designs (very good for the soul). There are some exciting projects coming out of my studio, I hope to be able to share them with you soon!

In the meantime, I've also been doing some of this:


The result is a lot of little squares, slowly being pieced together to make a postage stamp quilt. I'm making them with 2.5" squares which results in a 2" square block on the quilt, and although I originally aimed for 2,000 blocks, it's probably going to be more like 900. My little sewing machine has been hard at work with the zip zipping along of quarter-inch seams.

The piecing is the fun bit: cutting down fat quarters into 2.5"squares is not fun. There's a lot of measuring and pressing involved, and the occasional unhappy exclamation when the perfect 2.5" square shifts at the last minute and puts out an entire row of "postage stamp" seams. I think this calls for a weekend in front of the TV with a cutting mat and an iron nearby.

This little quilt is all for me. My first ever "all for me" project. So indulgent.

Real honest-to-goodness ice creams from the ice-cream man's van. (I had an ice lolly. With Strawberry and Lime and Pineapple. Yep.)

And there has been some indoor progress too.

Oh it was so nice having a bank holiday this week. I'm still quite sick (ah the joys of pregnancy, they say) so I had a rather lazy weekend on the couch, in bed, in the sun. And then, all of a sudden-ly, it started to rain.


It's still lovely and bright outside, but the rain is glip-glopping on the pavement outside the windows and everything inside becomes hazy and snug and warm. It's quilt weather.

F is for fairy lights

Unicorns, and sparkly purple fabrics. Lots of late-night tracing, cutting, ironing and more cutting. Making good progress on the remaining animals - only four more sets to go. Then I need to assemble them, measure out the backing, and iron them on. Then lots and lots of free motion quilting. No pressure.

X is for X-Ray Fish

That's my sewing table, and it is absolutely covered from end to end with bits and pieces of colourful fabric. You never know when you might need a bit of yellow for Yaks, or a touch of orange for Vultures. Choosing fabrics is half the fun.