My Weekend...

In spite of being full of a cold, I've actually managed to have an ok weekend. No2 has been at his Dad's, so it's been quite productive. It's a shame my nose is so blocked up, I can't really smell my lovely, delicate paperwhite narcissi that are along my conservatory windowsill...

Yesterday I made a stained glass suncatcher for a 60th birthday present. It is a pansy and I am photo-less because I'm waiting for a chain delivery so can't hang it up to photograph it. My stained glass has been put on the back-burner for a while as my 'studio' is in the garage and it's sooo cold out there at the moment, I've been avoiding it! However, there is a birthday party looming, so I wrapped up and managed to make it in a few hours.

This morning after cleaning out the chickens, I planted some garlic. This year I'm trying Solent White. My garlic last year was a success too, I've still got loads to see me through til this year's harvest. In a couple of weeks I'll be able to get cracking at sowing loads of seeds and my seed potatoes should be here too. I managed to get some International Kidney, which is the Jersey Royal, I couldn't get them last year (probably left it too late...), but this year I'm much more ahead of myself.

This afternoon I started sewing my quilt pieces. I laid them all out on the floor - it was hard! I really struggle to do random! I had 18 different fabrics and although it sounds alot, it was difficult getting them right. Also, because I had such a variety of colours, it was tricky getting it balanced. I think I'm happy with! I've just got to sew together the main rows for the middle of the quilt and then I can start the border. I'm really looking forward to doing the hand-quilting, but I've got to decide about the backing fabric (and buy it!) yet...

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last post. It's been a difficult week, bringing back many painful memories. I have been helping Jake's Mum with his funeral arrangements. I was glad to help. He is going to be buried near Tom, which I think is a lovely idea and was requested by Jake's Dad, who I don't know. The funeral is on Thursday and I know it is going to be very emotional as there will be many similarities to Tom's funeral, which still feels so fresh in my mind. It was a beautiful, beautiful day in spite of it being terribly sad. Strangely enough, I was reading one of the weekend-paper magazines earlier and there was an article about the owner of the company we used for Tom's coffin. I couldn't bear to have a huge, heavy wooden one so I opted for a natural looking bamboo basket one. It was perfect, comforting in a strange way and just seemed so right for Tom. Bizarrely, the owner has been awarded for the Best Green Coffin Manufacturer in the UK by the Natural Death Centre - can you even imagine that there is such an award?!