We started this week with 32C last weekend and are ending it at 18C with blustery showers the last few days. I havent even put away all my hot weather clothes and now I am reaching for warm long sleeve tops and my raincoat. Still, I would rather it be cool than hot, and the showers will help the garden although it is too late for our very yellow lawn.
I have continued to plug away on my Gail Pan embroidery quilt blocks with the enjoyment of using my new train case to store the fabrics and hoop in. There are six sets of blocks to embroider, I am partway through set three now. Some people have finished their quilts already and they look so pretty, one day I will get there.
My knitted cowl is coming on well in the possum and merino blend I bought in New Zealand last year. At first I was worried because I wasnt getting much stitch definition but it's looking ok now and the yarn is very fuzzy and warm.
I have continued with the Crossstitcher Houses of Britain SAL, currently working the 1930s house that I started at the retreat in Nottingham. I have been using the new magnifier I bought on Amazon and I can't believe the difference in the quality of my stitching. It's like night and day, I obviously should have started using a magnifier a couple of years ago. I keep stopping to admire how much neater my stitches are than on recent projects. I think because my eyes had become weaker, I was often not quite hitting the exact hole, sometimes having too much slack in a stitch, ending up with a wonky stitch here and there etc - all combining to create a messy result. The magnifier is working well apart from it tends to slip down and I have to adjust it occasionally, I need to figure out something to clip the part together behind my neck so it doesn't open up.
I have visited a few fabric shops but havent found the raspberry pink fabric I am looking for, to be the background for my Fat Cat Dresden Plate blocks. But I'm making my annual visit to the Festival of Quilts at the end of the month so will take along my swatch and one of the dresden plates and hopefully find something suitable. While I didnt find the pink fabric, I did come across a large cot-size unicorn panel that for once looks reasonable and not like it's designed for a toddler. My son's girlfriend has become a quilt convert and loves cuddling up in the quilts I gave them for their new house and she really likes unicorns. I will show her the panel and if she likes it, then I could set it with some blocks and make her a quilt out of it. I will take the precaution of checking with her first though before doing all that work, I have seen too many sad stories online of people who were disappointed with a lukewarm reception by the giftee after putting a lot of effort into making them a 'surprise' quilt gift.
We've pretty much finished digging the brick edging in around the lawn and flower beds, it looks awful at the moment because of all the bare earth around the bricks and where we have recovered lawn territory from overgrown flower beds. Hopefully the rain will encourage the grass to start reclaiming its rightful area. I am discouraged that the weeds are reappearing after my big weed removal exercise when I got back from Japan, I don't know how gardeners maintain the popular English style of having shrubs and flowers in beds surrounded by bare dirt, they must be out there weeding every day. We did try mulching one year to keep down the weeds which helped but was a big job in itself and expensive to buy all the mulch. I love looking at the garden but do not love working in it.
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