Your mother was a hamster*

*and your father smelt of elderberriesThe kids are back to school and work has returned with a bang. I've had my head down deciphering awful writing all week, with very little time for anything else. The dog walking must go on, however, and with it the final little bits of foraging for the year. The blackberries are all gone now (mostly to my house, admittedly), so this week was all about elderberries.They take quite a lot of cleaning and de-twigging, and you end up with a far less impressive amount than you thought, but hey - free food, right? And jam. You can't go wrong with jam.Steamy!This autumn I've made a ton of apple pie filling (yum!), a million blackberry things (jam, cobbler, [Read more...]

Englishness in a glass




Why I need to get out more

Katie (the puppy) is a master of toy destruction and can decapitate pretty much any squeaky animal in less time than it takes to get it home from the shops. I'm fairly sure she's not alone in this talent, so I don't hold it against her. Instead, I thought it might be nice to commemorate her kills.Yes, I know vulture is spelled wrong. That's how my son says it.I have a whole stack of little wooden plaques just waiting for their heads. Dog toy taxidermy – it's the new big thing.

Head in the sand…

Or at the very least, buried in fabric.My work situation is a little uncertain at the moment, for all sorts of boring reasons that I won't go into. Although I have a shed-load to do it seems that what ended up happening instead was a little bit of stitching. I'm playing around with some Field Study to make a shop sample for Annie. This is such a beautiful fabric line. Gorgeous colours, and such a fantastic mix of prints. It's pretty much the definition of eclectic. Just a sneaky peek for now, but I'll show you more when it's done.I have also got my Pervalong bundle in my hot, sweaty hands. I love it so, and I can't wait to get started. I'm very excited that I will have some lovely people [Read more...]

Muscle memory


*insert wild cackling here*


It’s been a while

It has been a long time since I was here. Life could not be more different. New home. New husband. Happiness. It feels good.Life got complicated there for a while, but there was always time for making. And with a house full of quilts (but always space for more) there needs to be somewhere to share them. What's the point if you can't show off a little, right?There have been quiltalongs:(single girl)(swoon)and block parties (that will last a long, long time):(rose star block party)and assorted other quilty adventures here and here.As always, there are a million works in progress. Keep watching - I'll prove it!