My weekend - Jubilee, patchwork and ladies of leisure

Who doesn't love the prospect of 4 days off work? The buzz surrounding the Jubilee has made it almost like having a second Christmas this year. Shoppers in the town centre on Friday were buying as if their lives depended on it. I've been getting a kick out of seeing red,white and blue decorations everywhere and have decided that bunting is the new tinsel.

It's particularly lovely to have 4 days to do my usual weekend stuff in. Particularly as I have suddenly become inspired by creating squares of patchwork using my sewing machine. It's still towards the crazy end. Let's face it I'm never going to be the quilting type who buys specific fabric and uses a rotary cutter for precision. However I was inspired by a blog post I read (can't recall where so let me know if you recognise it) where some made a patchwork quilt for their dad in blues because he likes the sea.

This far I'm liking the way different colours and textures sit together and how it allows me to use up bits of fabric too small for anything really useful. My piece has actually grown rather substantially since I took this photo.

Sunday I partook of some vegan Jubilee themed baking. I still can't seem to get buttercream icing to set when I use Pure margarine so had to resort to a ring of blue icing to keep the out of control buttercream in place.

Then I spend several delightful hours being worn out by my niece while her parents went to watch Jubilee celebrations on the Thames get soaked to the skin while attempting to enjoy themselves. I really don't know how parents and carers keep it up day after day. I actually took a book with me in case I had some spare time! I took home a lovely thank you from my niece (now displayed over my bass amp next to a picture of Nikki Sixx) and slept soundly.

 

Today I've been allotmenting, spending hours enjoying the calm state that patchwork brings and making a stick from the garden glittery. I'm taking part in a Jubilee show tomorrow with my burlesque troupe and one routine requires a hat and cane.

 

It's being busy great! Maybe the secret to a long and happy reign life is to keep busy or as my late grandmother would have put it - 'I wasn't meant to be a lady of leisure'. My cat would clearly disagree.