So much has happened since my last post in February. To misquote Hamilton, "The world has turned upside-down." I couldn't have begun to imagine how much my life would change over the course of just a few months. If you had told me in February that the Festival of Quilts would be cancelled (along with my summer holiday in New Jersey), I wouldn't have believed you. But here we are in the midst of a pandemic with no end in sight. It really is mind boggling as they say here in the UK.

One of the best things that has happened is that my daughter acquired a new Border Terrier puppy just before lockdown commenced. Saké (named after the Japanese rice wine) has proven to be a life saver in so many ways. Alysson had been talking about getting a puppy, and being at home 24/7 was the perfect opportunity to get one. 

My main obsession is now photography and nature. I am sending out an email a day to our local neighbourhood and interested friends (I'm up to day 110) featuring either a wild plant, bird, butterfly or insect. On a recent walk with my husband, I mentioned that a year ago I wouldn’t have known the name of a single plant we were passing, but now I know them all, or photograph them so I can find out when I get home. It’s been such an education, but it does take a lot of my time, which is fine as time is what I have got. 

Here is a Hummingbird Hawk Moth feeding on Valerian in my garden. The Hummingbird Hawk Moth’s wings beat at an amazing 70-80 times a second, so it it ‘hums’ as it hovers. This motion sometimes makes it look orange. 

Another great joy of living here in the countryside is that we have at least five hedgehogs who come to the special restaurant outside our front door every night (I leave out hedgehog food and water). A few months ago while I was gardening I found a plant with gigantic leaves in my compost area. I decided to take a photo, so cleared away some of the twigs and nettles around it. I lifted up a leaf and there was a hedgehog sleeping right in the middle of the plant. Needless to say, I gently dropped the leaf and walked away to let him slumber on. It's fascinating to think about all the wildlife living on our property as we also have rabbits, squirrels, muntjacs and various voles and stoats. Also a rat or two and the occasional fox or deer. Loads of birds have nested here earlier in the spring we so have lots of baby birds coming to our feeders.

I vacillate between being really happy and really anxious. It depends both on the weather and whether I watched the news or read the newspaper. I’m trying not to do that, as there is really nothing I can personally do about this world situation. I just have to ride it out as best as I can. But I do feel that we’ll be living here in the country at least for the next year and maybe longer. Our lives won’t get back to normal until there is a vaccine. The children have moved back to London permanently and it’s really much better for all of us, although I do miss Alysson’s cooking (not the clearing up!) and Saké, who grows more enchanting by the day. ​I am now on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/quiltmaniac1/

and Flicker
 https://www.flickr.com/photos/183905236@N02/
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so check those out if you are interested in my nature photographs (and the occasional Border Terrier). 

Can it really be true that I haven't posted anything since last October? Where on earth has the time gone? I must have had my head in the clouds.

Never mind. Just a quick update: My book: The Complete Book of Patchwork, Quilting & Appliqué is going to be re-published by Search Press later this year. I have a meeting with them next week to discuss updates to the art and text, although going through it again after so many years made me realise it is actually quite a good book for beginners! I am looking forward to working on it again and making it an even better book.

These photos were all taken at dawn on January 20th. I feel that they will be a good inspiration for a new quilt....after the book is done.

I gave a lecture to the London Quilters on October 15th entitled Contemporary and Modern Art Quilters. Here's a review! The quilts in the images were made by Natalia Manley and Luke Haynes.

http://www.londonquilters.org.uk/news.html

I'm very pleased to report that Bernina has posted a video about my quilt, Jack of All Seasons. I made this for the Bernina Challenge for this year's Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.

If you go to this link, you'll be able to watch it! I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzSQVIC7RWE&feature=youtu.be

Undaunted (and because I had already torn the fabric and was quite determined!), I gave it a try.

Here is one block. Note the strange appearance of the pink flowers around the edges. So two pairs of squares were totally matching, but all four didn't match perfectly unless I turned them a certain way.  However, I don't think it matters.

Again, for this one, the white flowers at the edges are different on two pairs of blocks, even though the middle flowers match.

I decided to use the yellow flowers for the sashing since I couldn't do Easy Stack with that section.

Here are all the blocks I made, arranged with the yellow sashing. I didn't quite have enough of the yellow so had to piece one of the long sashing strips, but just made it. I plan to frame it with the white and pink flower strips, so watch this space!

I made this quilt for Urania who will be 98 in July. She is the mother of my friend Judith.

Urania loves dogs and gardening. I originally pieced in the navy blue dog fabric, but then found a fabric with golden retrievers (like her favourite dog, Cedric), so added that as a flap on top.

When Urania unzips the zipper, bright flowers are revealed. The stretchy net is from a shower scrubber and is lovely to pull.

The doily was crocheted by my grandmother, Grandma Fett. It's hidden under some spongy shelf liner that feels really nice to touch. Urania loves travelling so there is a little Eiffel Tower key chain on top of the strawberry fabric.

I went to visit Urania today to give her the quilt.

She loved it!

She enjoyed looking at all the fabrics and fiddly bits with her daughter.

We had a lovely chat and some tea.

Jack came too, but he was more interested in the squirrels in the garden.

It's lovely to be able to make something that brings so much pleasure.

I just finished making this memory quilt for my  friend Roy Stout. Roy was a talented architect who designed fabulous buildings that have enhanced the London skyline.

He designed and oversaw the building of my house, so I wanted to put some images on the quilt that would remind him of the job he loved so much. (He especially loved bricks!)

He also enjoyed visiting churches, and the cities London and Paris. I was very glad to find fabrics with those images to include in the quilt.

As I was sewing the last stitches on the binding, I got a call from Roy's son to tell me that he had died a few days ago. I am so sorry that I'll never see him again and that he will never see this quilt. He was well loved.

I was thrilled to be invited to talk about the wonderful Ann West hanging on a programme called Moving Pictures on BBC Radio 4. The series has been created by Cathy Fitzgerald, who looks in detail at various works of art. She decided to devote one episode to this textile hanging which is in the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in Lonodn. Here is the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09ly6rk

What you do is to click on the quilt to open up a new window and zoom in on the areas we are talking about. It's fun and really gives you a great opportunity to explore this wondrous textile in great detail. I hope you enjoy it!

The quilt is currently on display at the V&A so you can view it in person.

This is my second attempt at making a Fiddle Quilt. It is for a good friend who loves cricket, golf and gardening, amongst other things!

Ken's favourite colours are red and blue, so I started out by appliqueing his name using fusible web. I machine-embroidered around the edges using a buttonhole stitch, which worked well.

I ordered golf and gardening fabrics online, but couldn't find any cricket-themed fabrics. However, I found a cricket key chain (hooked onto the belt loop in this photo). It has Ken's initial, his birthstone and a cricket bat and stump. The handkerchief is made from one of cricketer Ted Dexter's ties left over from another project.

I pleated some blue fabric for texture and sewed on a beaded ladybug that my daughter made. I included some tomato plant fabrics as Ken used to grow them.

Ken worked in shipping, so I've hidden a lighthouse underneath some star/planet fabric that he'll have to unzip to find. I quilted a brick garden wall on the right and sewed on a crocheted flower for texture.

Ken and I shared a fair amount of wine in our day, so I've added some drinking fabric for his amusement, along with some wooden shapes on string and ribbon. I'll be giving this to him over the holidays and I hope he likes it.