The completed English Paper Pieced top, still tacked around the outer edge with the papers inside. No batting, backing or quilting.

With all the fine weather we’ve been having over the past couple of weeks, there hasn’t been a whole lot of sewing going on. Some dreaming but not much action. I began this year deciding to complete the three unfinished quilts I have lying around, as well as experiment with some new ideas. It’s now March and I have made a start on one of them, my ‘Bows’ quilt. I have added the backing and batting layers and begun quilting (with the tacking still in place), just simple running stitches around the squares with pink, blue, yellow and green embroidery thread. It’s the largest quilt I have tackled so it’s got a bit crumpled as I try and quilt the centre. I tried a quilting frame but couldn’t get on with it and decided to quilt it on my lap instead.  Not sure if that will turn out to be a mistake. I think I will have to quilt around the bows as well, so it’s going to take a while. Here’s the quilt, over a chair, to give you a better idea of size. You can clearly see the three layers of back, front and centre batting (a low loft cotton wadding) and how I have begun quilting the top half but still have the bottom section to complete. And here is a close up of the backing fabric.:I LOVE text on the back of a quilt.

So, what HAVE I been doing these past weeks? I’ve been escaping to the garden. Mainly I have been stripping the branches of fallen trees  and roughly sorting them into size order and stacking them, so that my husband can more easily create kindling and logs for our fire. I have also been arranging spring plants outside my study door, where I can see them from inside:

Max has been sunning himself in the meadow while Sweet Pea watches from a safe distance. )

Early Spring is my favourite time in the garden and I really want to make the most of it. Now is the time to prune and weed and dig and plant. Soon the the garden will explode into leaf, the ground will get harder and buggy things will appear in their hordes determined to feast on me.

Today the weatherman has said that rain is on it’s way, for a few days at least, (saving me a lot of watering) and that will certainly necessitate an escape back to the house and to sewing.

So, until next time…

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