Getting around to blogging after a few days off

 It's not been the warmest April day, but bright and breezy enough to put a spring in my step.  I eased myself into Saturday by tidying up and hoovering, and shoved a load of laundry in the machine.  Once that was pegged on the line I caught up with 'The Archers' while adding more quilting lines to this.  

I made this small quilt a while ago, at least the patchwork and appliqued part of it, and finally got around to adding backing fabric.  

I had very nearly enough of this soft grey floral cotton.  Just had to add a little corner piece of a similar style of material to make it large enough to back the quilt.  I tacked the layers together and the work-in-progress is currently sat on my dining table.  It's a very busy pattern, isn't it?  Hopefully the occasional section made in plain fabric allow the eye to rest on them, providing a little oasis of calm among the frenzy of dots, paisley motifs, flowers and swirls.  

I'm not convinced that I'll be able to get all the pieces to lie flat, without any lumps or bumps, but nothing we make is ever 100% perfect, is it?  If we didn't make mistakes or have difficulties, we wouldn't feel the urge to start a new project, have another go, improve our techniques.  

After that, I mooched down to the allotment and - trying to be tolerant toward the dandelions that're blooming like crazy, and providing food for the pollinators - I spent an hour relocating foxgloves from where they'd self seeded to where they needed to be.  So many foxgloves!  

There's no sign yet of the seeds I planted a week or two ago popping their heads above the ground.  But I've plenty started off at home, now living in the cold frame in the back garden.  So they'll make the journey down to my allotment plot in a month or so.

That journey's always rather fraught.  You nurture your baby squash plants and cucumber plants, coddling them, keeping them safe.  Then off they go to the wilds of allotment life.  Among the snails and slugs that might see them as a tasty feast.  

I'm not as diligent about allotmenting as some of the old boys who have plots they've maintained for years.  They're on site practically every day, come rain or shine.  

Rotivating, planting row after row of spuds and leafy greens.  Theirs is a very traditional, old-fashioned style of keeping an allotment.  Nothing wrong with it, but I favour something more haphazard.  Flowers among the soft fruit, plenty of herbs and things like borage and calendula grown purely to attract the bees.  

Once home, I re-potted various houseplants, feeling instantly guilty about how dried out I'd let them get.  The poor things!   I'd been trying to avoid over-watering them, but I think I went too far in the other direction and they've been gasping for a drink of water.  Something tells me I'm not a natural when it comes to indoor gardening.

It's early evening now, and there's nowt on the telly, so I'm re-watching series two of 'The Killing'.  The only problem with subtitled dramas is you can't sew or scroll through Twitter on your phone while you're half-watching it.  You either have to pay full attention to the TV screen, or miss something vital.  I was watching a French subtitled drama the other day, and at least with that you can pick up certain words and phrases.  But with Nordic Noir, it's such a different language, with nothing familiar about the sounds.  About all I can figure out is 'tak' for thanks.  

Well, I'm aware this hasn't been the most scintillating blog post you'll ever read, but it's been an enjoyable day all the same.  There's a lot to be said for life's small pleasures.  Being outdoors, getting dirt under your fingernails.  Appreciating the evening light.  How the days are stretching out, getting ready for the summer to come.