Blossom on the trees and wild garlic in the hedgerow

Spring has to be the prettiest of the four seasons. The apple blossom is on the trees, pink and white and so delicate.

The wild garlic is flowering.

Even though we've had little rain lately, the country lanes and bridleways are still green and lush. I've been occupying myself with the usual kind of things - tidying the garden and allotment, and planting seeds. The courgettes are sprouting, as are the salvias, though the geums are stubbornly refusing to germinate. I've been stuck into some good books too.

This P.D. James was a cracker, with a very satisfying twist in the tale. It's set in a hospital, and the writer's clearly an expert on the subject. Deeply knowledgeable but not showing off about that knowledge. I also loved the cover with this striking print by Angela Harding.

I'm a few chapters into a biography of Agatha Christie, written by Lucy Worsley. I'm a big fan of Christie's crime novels, and devoured them one after another when I was a teenager. I know some of them haven't aged well, with their attitudes to class and race, but Christie was superb with her plots and ingenious with her methods of literary murder. Worsley's writing style is a tad annoying - too many exclamation marks for a start - but I'm enjoyable all the same.

On the sewing front, today was the last day of Ann Wood's 100 day stitchbook challenge. My 20th page is complete, and now the task of assembling the book begins.

The last page, with its shiny beetles, for some reason brings to mind those Fifties fabrics with space age patterns and names like Atomic. I don't know why, but creative impulses aren't always logical, are they?

But I am tempted to sew more of these insects and incorporate that '50s vibe too. Anyway, back to the stitchbook.

I've got the embroidery for the front cover ready, and I've decided to add this Jessie Chorley design to the back cover.

One more mini sized crafty task I set myself. I'd acquired a pack of little tags, complete with adhesive squares on the reverse of them. They're meant for card making or other papercraft. However, they were a bit twee with their bland colours and 'Just for you' message, so I was going to ditch them.

But I altered them instead. Removing the tiny metal bow and sticking a piece of gel printed paper over the tag before gluing the bow on again.

I'm pleased with how they turned out, and will definitely find a use for them.

That's all for now. Hope you're enjoying your day and keeping well. Bye for now.

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Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....

In praise of wool

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Another week's flown by ...

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