Why is it when you tidy up you cannot find a thing? Grrrr

Today started well - another lovely morning greeted me and the harvest festival was delightfully traditional with lots of offerings for the Meals on Wheels to utilise this week.  Christine and Linda had worked hard with the floral arrangements and the church looked lovely.








After a healthy lunch of homemade soup I decided to do a little more tidying up of the craft room - ssh , I might just be breaking the back of this particular task!   You can even see the top of the cutting mat now!  I try to make sure that every project has its own bag or box but inevitably things go astray.  You may recall the block that I mentioned yesterday - the quilters garden from Mandy Shaw's "A Quilter Lives Here" quilt pattern. Well that is block number 5 and I have done blocks 1, 2 and 4.  Since I haven't finished embroidering block 5 and wanted to show you the block with the patchwork attached, I decided to attach the patchwork to block 1 instead.  For EVER the blocks have always been in the same place - but are they there now - NO!!  I've looked in the box that I keep spare completed blocks - NO, the bag that I take to this group with the scrap fabric - NO!  I felt like the girl from Just William - I could scream, and scream and scream!  I knew there was a reason that I hate tidying up! They will turn up in the most unlikely place but .........

So - what was a girl to do but to take the dogs for a walk.  I am so lucky to have the nature reserve alongside the beach to walk the dogs in.  The particular route I take is not popular with dog walkers so I can let the dogs run free and it helped to blow off the cobwebs whilst I fumed!

When I came home I wrote a reference for a former colleague - it was a task that was tinged with sadness.  She is a fantastic teacher but doesn't feel valued anymore where she is so wants to move on.  I really hope that her interview on Tuesday goes well - teaching is a hard enough job without feeling like that every day.  Since I was on the computer I also started to make a list of UFO's - unfinished objects that I will pledge to complete in 2016 - gee that depressed me - there were eight  that I could think of straight away (each one could take up to  a month) and that's not counting the projects that I have bought to start.  (You only count UFO's if you've started them!)  Can you retire from retirement?

Then I spotted a lost and lonely carrier bag - I looked inside - some headphones, a magazine and, BINGO, the missing blocks!  Mine was not to question why - it just goes to show what the power of a good walk and some fresh air.  So - here we go - block number one surrounded with its patchwork border.

Sewingbuddy - I've made a start!



So - all in all a good morning followed by a fairly frustrating afternoon.  Roll on another fire and dose of Strictly / Downton Abbey - normal service will soon resume!