Spring has gloriously sprung!

It's been the weather for long walks. My photography skills aren't up to much, so this picture doesn't do credit to how lovely the view was from this bridle path. Deep blue sky, masses of dandelions everywhere, cowslips, daffodils still blooming. The sharp yellow of a field of oil seed rape. Blossom on the trees and birds flitting about, gathering material for nest building.

This second photo was taken at RSPB St Aidans nature reserve. Easy to reach from my house, and ideal for an early evening stroll. It's not only what's visible that I like about this site. It's the sounds too. You get the birds squarking and calling out as they swoop and dive through the air, but also the rustle of masses of reed beds and dried grasses as they sway and shiver in the breeze.

Such pretty blossom.

Once back indoors, I've been studiously ignoring the DIY type jobs that need doing - everytime I go into the bathroom I'm looking up at the ceiling thinking 'It'd only take me a morning to paint that' - there's even a tin of paint and a brush in the bathroom, all ready to go! - instead I've been playing about with these improv blocks. Sewing strips together, cutting 'em up, reassembling. Once you start, it's addictive and all kinds of patterns emerge out of the chaos.

I'm alternating that playfulness with another task. Quilting this backing on to my scrappy quilt. It's made up of remnants of material, plus some orphan blocks and a couple of pieces of hexagonal patchwork that would've been made up into cushion covers, if I didn't already have way too many cushions. I suppose some people might think it's a shame to have these handmade hexies tucked away on the reverse, out of sight, but I rather like the idea of a quilt having a hidden surprise.

I'm looking forward to getting this quilt finished, and I think it'll end up being a favourite that I'll use for years to come.

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Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Another week's flown by ...

Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days. Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden. The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram. I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them. This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory. It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them. Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....

Folding a zine and an alternative use for a bank card

Hello again, and excuse me while I scratch my insect bites. I don't know what it is, but at this time of year I'm invariably itching like crazy because I've been bitten by bugs. It seems to coincide with blackberry-picking season, but whether that's purely coincidental I don't know. Whatever's biting me, I'm obviously a tasty morsel in their world! I might try using a highly scented oil like Tea Tree oil, see if that deters them. Anyway, let's get on to more pleasant matters - I'm having a go at making a zine style booklet. Because I didn't have any paper large enough, I joined together two A3 sheets of sketchpad paper, using torn pieces of book pages for the joining. I thought that'd look less noticeable than packing tape or similar. Having chosen my colour scheme I used acrylic paint and an unwanted plastic bank card to apply the paint. Plus a stencil, sponge and modelling paste. Applying paint with a ATM card wa...

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