Wet weekend

Monday's unrelenting rain put a bit of a damper on Notting Hill Carnival, but in Kensal Rise we could still hear some of the music rumbling in the distance throughout the day. And it was quite amusing to watch the traffic speeding through the lake that had formed outside -

The drain simply can't cope, even with less water. By morning it had shrunk somewhat -

Being trapped indoors made it imperative to do something "useful" - while dusting and hoovering the weekend studio I managed to throw out a few old, unneccesary, bothersome things - and found a few bits to salvage, including this, which only needed a few more borders to get it to journal quilt size -

which, now that it's 8"x8", doesn't quite work as a "High Horizons" quiltlet. Hmm, what to do with it next ... foiling? applique? hand stitch? Let's face it, some things end up looking like a bunch of scraps thrown together - this seems destined for the interior of a potholder!!

Perhaps this accumulation of scraps has more chance of success -

It's waiting for next weekend to be sewn together. Joining the scraps of wadding was a simple pleasure, and now there's enough for three more JQs. (Old towels and sweaters make good wadding for JQs too.)

Handstitching is a lovely thing to do on a wet weekend, listening to Radio 4 or catching up on the iplayer - I got on with this

which is mostly linen threads, the rows made either "over and over" or "back and forth" - each has a different feel during the stitching and then later when you run your hands over the piece. It was inspired by seeing the work of Gillian Lavery online - that brought on the itch to stitch, and it feels wonderful to be filling this cloth in this simple way, waiting to see what evolves from choices and accidents.

Also under the needle, a small double-sided piece - again to see what happens and what changes can be made to something prosaic -