Daisies, ribbons and even more seed packets!

Rain fell for a sizeable part of the day, so gardening and allotmenting were put aside. I did venture out to take a few photos of the garden. These Mexican daisies are everywhere, blooming away like crazy. The lemon verbena is doing well, and smells heavenly. Such a fresh sharp scent. You can't resist brushing your hand against the leaves as you pass by.

The thyme's covered in little flowers attracting busy bees, the purple of the verbena looks wonderful against the mustardy yellow of the dill with its plentiful umbels. There's the vibrant sunshine yellow of the rudbeckia, the flagrant orange of crocosmia ... a garden, however imperfect, is a blessing, isn't it?

I popped into town for some groceries, and managed a quick rummage in a charity shop too. Picked up this signed copy of 'Tidelands' by Philippa Gregory - I do love a hefty hardback book with a nice dust jacket- as well as a few crafty supples. Four rolls of ribbon, a little sewing kit with pre-threaded needles and these sheets of pearlised adhesive paper. That bundle set me back a grand total of £2.57. A bargain, wouldn't you say? Ribbons are always useful for adding a flourish to present wrapping, and the white and yellow ones are particularly pretty.

The other thing I did today was to continue my experiments with gelli printing, which is getting totally addictive. More seed packets were assembled.

I particularly liked the colour combinations of these two pieces, so stuck 'em in my 'quilt ideas' notebook, where I collect photos and quick sketches and thoughts about quilts I'd like to make in future. I'd love to get some fabric paints and translate these colours and patterns into cloth. I love the raspberry colour on the left, and the blackberry purple with the sludgy green on the right. I can imagine quilting stitches being used to sew around the circular shapes caused by the bubble wrap, making the surface of the quilt resemble the original bubble wrap itself.

Not sure if it'd work, but I'd love a mixture of fabrics in such a quilt - silky material that's printed on, alongside the smooth luxury of velvet. Rich sumptuous shades. Jewel-like colours. Wouldn't that be something?

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