Summer Solstice

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.  It's been sunny and warm, an oddly enjoyable kind of Wednesday given that I spent a fair amount of it cleaning.  I'm not a natural 'housewife'.  If the sun's shining or there's a chance of going outdoors I'd rather do that.  But do you ever have those moments where you look around your home - maybe the sun's beaming through the windows, illuminating every corner - and you suddenly realise how dusty that shelf is.  How there are smudged fingermarks on the door.  A cobweb in the top corner of the room.  The carpet could do with a really thorough brush and vacuum.  In short, everything needs sprucing up. 

So, I spent the morning cleaning the hallway and stairs, washing down the paintwork and suchlike.  Not the most fun in the world, but it looks much better now it's done.  I'll have a good go at the front room tomorrow, and start on the conservatory after that.  It might be more of a summer clean than a spring clean, but sometimes you just need to pull on the Marigolds and get busy with the hot soapy water!

After lunch I did an hour on the allotment.  The Phacelia, which had proved such a bee magnet, has nearly finished flowering, but everything else is flourishing after the recent rain.  I managed to find a few ripe strawberries, and the raspberries are beginning to appear.  

Back home I continued with another fabric collage based on the work of Janet Bolton.  I'd enjoyed the slow stitching 'dragonfly' piece I'd made, and having seen an image of an angel the artist made, I thought I'd do a version of that.  

By chance I had two different fabrics patterned with tiny stars, and a couple of scraps of blue-green material perfect for the planet earth.  

I built up the background, then dithered over what to make the angel out of.  

I picked a shiny pink for the dress, a leaf pattern for the wings and a little bit of silk from an upcycled men's tie for the halo.  

But that shiny pink was bothering me.  It wasn't right, though I was reluctant to unpick it and start over again.  Instead, I covered it up, adding a lightweight double gauze material in a softer matt pink.  

That's much better.  I quilted most of the finished piece and while it's not quite as pleasing as the dragonfly, I'm happy enough with how it's turned out.  I was going for a naive, folk art kind of look, and hopefully that comes across.