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Well, what's been going on around here for the past few days? Not a lot, really, or not much worth reporting. Cassie has adopted the above box as her favourite sleeping place. You wouldn't have thought it was particularly comfy but seemingly it is.

There's been a bit of this sort of thing. Gratifyingly, Grandson is now very keen indeed on books and is pretty chatty, though still in single words apart from such observations as "Hello, teddy".

Now then. When Thimbleanna and Sweetiepie came to visit last August, they very kindly brought with them a cutting board, a rotary cutter and some lovely material. Thimbleanna is a craft genius and when she chose Christmassy material, I'm sure she had in mind that I would do something with it by - well - Christmas. That gave me four months, during which she could have made fifteen quilts, nine pairs of socks and a thousand cupcakes, soldered lots of things together and built a wall. I am made of feebler stuff, however, and have been feeling somewhat wobbly for a while as a result of various life events. I haven't really made the wobbles better by trying to distract myself with piano lessons, a more ambitious choir and Zumba, all of which are enjoyable in their ways but a touch stressful. (Actually, the Zumba is fine. I don't mind being somewhat rubbish at that.)

Anyway, the other day I got her lovely material out, admired it very much and started fiddling about with it. First of all I did this with it (you do realise that no actual sewing was involved here - simply arranging on the floor). (I soon worked out that the floor isn't the ideal work surface.)

But I decided that this was a bit too much colour and pattern together.

 

So I tried this instead, which I like better, though I can see some changes that I might make in the specific arrangement.

 

These are the other materials she brought.

 

They're also very pretty but - one thing at a time. Not that I'm even doing one thing yet. I'm still thinking, which is more restful, if less satisfying, than leaping into action.

 

This was a few days ago.

 

Then yesterday...

 ... I went to a quilt show. Which I enjoyed a lot. It was very busy - I hadn't realised that Edinburgh was such a hotbed of quiltmakers (or at least admirers).

But it did make me think...

... how on earth does anyone ever manage to make anything as beautiful and intricate as that? This one, of coneflowers (are they?) in a meadow was probably my favourite. I love the impression of light and the shapes and the colours. But it was a teeny bit discouraging. I imagine myself stitching things together in little squares, which even though very simple will probably tax my sewing machine skills to the utmost.

But still - Volume 2 is due on Monday. We're all looking forward to meeting her then or not too long thereafter. That'll be fun. Currently we're at the stage of jumping every time the phone rings. I wonder what Grandson will make of her?