I can't believe that .....

... it's been almost a month since I last blogged. Where has the time gone? In my defence, I have been rather busy in the run up to the general election - telephone canvassing mostly and then getting out the vote on the big day. And now here we are, with a coalition government. Not ideal (and certainly not what I worked for) but we shall see.

I have also been busy on the stitching front making various birthday gifts but, stupidly, forgot to take pictures until they were wrapped up and given so you'll just have to use your imagination here!

First was a pair of honeycomb pleated silk cushions in duck egg blue and pale coffee for my niece Kelly (actually she only got one on her birthday - the second is still on my work table half finished so you may see a picture of that if I remember to take one when is is done and before I send it off to her).

Second was a whole cloth, appliqued sofa quilt for my other niece Toni, in cream and red to match her lounge. I call it a sofa quilt as it's meant for snuggling up in on the sofa on chilly evenings. It's bigger than a lap quilt but smaller than a single bed quilt so just the right size - and not too unwieldy to quilt on an ordinary home sewing machine.

I've got a place on a workshop with Jean Littlejohn at Broadland Arts Centre next month (yippee!) which I'm really pleased about as places are as rare as hens' teeth. They had a cancellation apparently and I couldn't help wondering why on earth someone would cancel after actually getting a place. Who knows. Anyway, the theme is "Waterscapes". I was playing around with transfer dye designs in advance of the course and this - a photo which I did remember to take, albeit badly - turned into a lap quilt for my friend Sally's birthday.

We should be off to Puglia, Italy again on Wednesday for the course with Maggie Grey. I say should as it looks like the Icelandic volcano and the wind direction could be conspiring to prevent us getting there. Keep your fingers crossed for me!