I am so thrilled that the sun has finally put in an appearance, and just in time for half term too! As much as I have enjoyed sewing my way through Winter, and a very soggy Spring, I am definitely ok with having a bit less sewing time and exchanging it for days out in the sunshine. :-)

After all the excitement of getting ready for the shop launch last week, and making sure all the technical stuff was working correctly, I have now gone back to the simple pleasure of making quilts again. (Hubby will still be watching over the tech for me) I made a simple square in a square quilt in January, and I love the look of it, so I've started another one in pretty pastels to keep me going over half term.

As you can see, I've got a lot more blocks to go, but they are perfect for when I only have a short time to sew in, as I can just nip in and whip up a few at a time. I actually used a jelly roll and a layer cake for these, but I still have half the layer cake squares and some short strips left, so I'm hoping to get another quilt top out of the remaining fabric too.

At the beginning of the year, 2 of my quilty friends recommended some online classes by Philippa Naylor, and I signed up for the year. I kept meaning to watch them, but I never quite managed to sit down and actually remember, until the last couple of weeks. Now that I've started, I am completely hooked, and have learnt so many things already in just the two classes that I've watched so far. If you want to have a look for yourself, you can find them here: https://www.quiltersquestiontime.com/   The classes are all in small parts, so you can watch one in a tea break, or sit down and watch half a dozen videos, and Philippa is really calm and easy to listen to. Her quilts are amazing too!

After listening to Philippa's chat about threads, I have bought myself some polyester thread and am planning to have a little play with them. I am normally an Aurifil girl, and wouldn't have quilted with anything other than 100% cotton, but I am definitely up for experimenting, so I'll let you know how I get on. Right now though, I am off to enjoy that sunshine! :-)