Here - not doing anything, but here!

It's lovely having some teaching assistant type cover in the nursery at school - I enjoy the work, I will enjoy the money when it comes in - but one thing I am really missing is all the time I would normally have in my sewing room. At the moment, the time would be limited by having the hallway decorated anyway - frequently I can't really get to the room or get into it - but as a sample of what my life would be like if I had to work again, well, let's just say I hope it doesn't come to that.

Anyway, I hope to have some work to show tomorrow - there are some things I really need to get done as the deadlines are getting near - but in the meantime, here are some goodies I got today when my friend Cathi arrived from Ireland to spend the week (most of it - they are leaving for a few days midweek to take their girls to Disneyland Paris). The Dear Jane blocks are part of our little ongoing swap - she has brought a lot of them because she took a number of them to work on as handwork when she went to the US over the summer and because she is teaching some of her quilting group the technique. I don't have to come up with the same number of blocks, luckily! The fabric is actually from a friend of hers who I met on a visit. This friend, Carmel, was collecting blue fabrics for a scrap quilt and when I got home, I sent her a bunch from stash - this is by way of a thank you - isn't that sweet? I particularly like the one with the circles...