The stock is bubbling on the stove.

I have some new shoes on my feet (a once a year event!).

I am excited because tonight is the first episode of the new Doctor Who.

Right now Amelia is having a nap (or at least she is lying very very quietly listening to her CD of the beautifully spoken Kate Winslet reading “The Folk of the Faraway Tree” – thanks to Lucinda for the idea!) so I have a little bit of time to work a little bit more in my studio…

I spent a little time yesterday on my lamb for Month of Softies. I think her eyes are a little high for it to be an exact match to my sketch… and the mouth and nose are a little big… but I think it still has some of the original character…

I wish I was being a bit more prolific with my sewing at the moment. I have such a huge pile of pears cut out and ready to sew, but there are a few other things going on. I got the proofs back for the prints for my show and I am blown away by how amazing these prints are. I am used to print outs being a bit of a compromise but these are exact replicas of what I see on my screen. I can’t wait to see how they look printed out at actual size.

I took my first two images down to the printers in Richmond today so that they can print off some proofs ready for June’s exhibition. It felt great to hand them over and feel as though it’s all starting to come together. It also felt quite good to get back from driving to and from Richmond. I still find driving to be extremely stressful so a challenge like that was something I have been lying awake worrying about for the last few nights. Where will I park (a concern because I still have never executed a parallel park)? How will I manage a right hand turn back out into Swan Street? That kind of stuff. Regardless, I did drive to Richmond, find a park and survive to tell the tale, and what’s more it gets easier every day.

On the way home I stopped and checked my PO Box and found my back-tack parcel for stage one with fabric, ribbon and buttons to make a sewing kit to send to my secret buddy.

For those of you who haven’t been to the back-tack website here is a snippet of what the whole idea is about:

“Back-tack is a craft-come-sewing swap with a twist. You send fabric and anything else you’d like your partner to use in creating their notions holder, like zippers, buttons, ribbon, to someone (they don’t know who you are, you do this anonymously), and receive fabric from someone (anonymously). Once you’ve received your fabric/notions you get to work sewing a notions case (you’ll be sewing for a different person than the one you sent fabric to) and then filling it with items you think your fellow back-tacker would like (read their blog!) and sending it on to them for them to enjoy. You will be sending the pouch to a different person to the one who sent you the material.”

This is an interesting challenge for a control-freak like me, as part of me wishes I could have been the one to choose the fabric and embellishments for my final partner, as it is impossible for the person who sent me my package to have known what her tastes are like not knowing who she will be. Likewise, I have sent off a package of fabrics to my first partner based on my idea of what she likes… but she is not the one who will end up with the kit that she makes and I have no idea what the person who she is making the kit for really enjoys. Perhaps she likes 80s inspired punk fabrics, or checks or gingham or something else all together. Fabric is so personal! And so this is the challenge. Perhaps I am taking this all too seriously and I need to lighten up — and after all, this is the challenge that we signed up for!

I also went over to Patchwork on Central Park yesterday and picked up some green fabric ready for the next bunch of pear pincushions. I particularly like this one of which I could only buy a scrap:

Now it’s time to do some work…