Making the most of an extra day

The weather has been lovely today - bright and sunny - and we made the most of it by getting out in the garden.  Three of the raised beds have now been weeded and turned over, although I have no doubt that more weeds will appear in a few days' time.  But for now, the beds look ready to go.  It was such a pleasure to get outside and do some practical work again after such a soggy winter (we've had no rain for several days now, which has been a very welcome change) and we made some tentative plans for sowing and planting this season.  

The mornings are getting so much lighter now, and the evenings pulling out, but we've had more hard frosts in the past fortnight than throughout the winter - I suspect we may still pay the price for the unseasonably mild temperatures up to now.  However, longer daylight hours and bright sunshine certainly makes us feel like Spring is very close.

We are still eating our way through the freezer and store cupboards, although I think we may have to do a small shop soon as the cupboards are getting rather empty!  It has been a really interesting little challenge, and one which has made us appreciate the value of making meals from scratch, and also making the most of home-grown produce - today we finished the very last of the spinach.  I must congratulate the Head Chef on some very innovative meals, but nothing is going to waste.  We are not huge meat eaters (mainly chicken and fish) and it has been surprising just how far a small amount of meat can stretch when it is bulked out with a good selection of vegetables.  

I had a bit of a clear-up in the workroom last week - I could hardly see the floor for fabric, patterns and boxes - and time spent sorting through the dressmaking and quilting stashes proved to be time very well spent.  The storage shelves were reorganised, paper patterns folded back into their respective envelopes and stray reels of thread rounded up.  I have one dressmaking project still to finish but as there is not much fitting involved it will hopefully be completed in the next couple of days.  I think I still have a bag to make, and a dress to embellish, both relatively straight-forward.  Once I have finished both of those projects I really need to make some time to get all my fabric pre-washed.  It's something I keep thinking about and I know it will make sense.  The dressmaking stash (I'm not sure that the half-dozen pieces of fabric really constitute a 'stash' as such but it takes me feel like a proper seamstress!) has actually been pre-washed - I made a point of doing that as I bought the fabric - but hardly any of my quilting cotton has been washed.  There is nothing worse than washing a quilt only to find fabric shrinks or the colours bleed - all that time and work effectively ruined because fabric wasn't pre-washed.  So that will be a goal for the Spring, and hopefully it will then encourage me and provide the incentive to actually use some of those carefully stored and much-admired (but never used) fat quarters.  I don't have to create heirloom quilts, but I do need to reduce the stash.  By the end of this year, I think I need to have made some quilts.  Some simple quilts.