dear jane.

Dear Jane,

I wonder sometimes how your quilt progress looked. Were you a methodical patchworker, doing a bit each night? Did you sew when a pile of scraps took your fancy? Did you stockpile fabric and scraps and wait for inspiration to strike, and do your blocks in groups?

It’s been almost six months since I picked up my blocks, it seems life and other projects have intervened. My blocks and fabric have been “stored” in my studio, tucked away and slipped from my mind. But there they are, just begging for my attention. So with spring comes motivation, and for now, at least, motivation in the form of quiet contemplative hand work.

In my flurry of organising, one small but critical space is yet to be decluttered. On the bookcase that anchors the heart of our home, lives a brown wicker basket. Originally holding a couple of hooks and some yarn, it seems to have becoming a holding pen for my now-overflowing yarn stash in it’s entirety. My next move is to clear it out, sending ugly unused yarn to the children’s craft box, sewing a roll to hold my needles and hooks, and maybe a cute fabric to replace the drab black lining. Then, the basket clear, and with it my headspace, slowly start packing it, not with every single ball of yarn I own, but with a mix of handwork projects. My ripple blanket. Some embroidery. A wee dragon almost finished. And a block or two towards the quilt.

KISS. Keep. It. Simple. Silly.