Scrappy patchwork on a cold but beautifully sunny day

It's been a glorious autumn day. Chilly to wake up to, then the sun came out & shone brightly, so it was off to the allotment where the earth's softened up after recent rainfall. I was able to weed and tidy, trying to make the plot look respectable before the cold weather sets in and we slide inevitably into winter. At home I fitted in some sewing. The patchwork bug's bitten me again, after having a break and spending time lately with gell printing. I've been gathering up lots of tiny scraps and joining them together, going for a haphazard look. Nothing matchy-matchy or colour coordinated. There's something very satisfying about finding a use for the smallest strips or triangles of cotton, little pieces that might otherwise be destined to end up as cushion filling.

Speaking of gell printing, I've been using prints to turn into seed packets for flower seeds gathered from my garden. Hollyhocks, scabious, catananche. No calendula as hardly any of those flowered this year despite having masses of them last summer.

I'm thinking of taking a stack of these filled seed packets to my local library and asking if it's okay to leave them on a side table with a note saying 'help yourself'. Anything to encourage people to grow flowers and provide more desperately needed food sources for our under-threat pollinators.

I've been sewing more tags to go into the fabric book I'm making at my Saturday class, the second of which is being held tomorrow afternoon. This pair are decorated with motifs from a piece of shiny braid, and I thought they fitted in with my 'Winter Jewels' theme. I've also dug out a few of the boho style beads I made a while back, and can maybe add those to my fabric book, perhaps as part of the closure.

As you can see, I'm not exactly going for an understated minimalist look! Hope your week's going well, and thanks for stopping by my blog.

P.S. Just finished Richard Osman's latest Thursday Murder Club novel, 'The last one to die'. Brilliant storytelling. Highly recommended if you're a fan of the 'cosy crime' genre, and so refreshing to have older characters featured positively in novels.

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