Ah, I love a day without outside commitments. Mr Fixit was working overtime so I was able to indulge my desire for a morning of solitary book reading and tea drinking, followed by an afternoon of quilting.

This quilt top had been pieced and the zippers sewn on (for trees) and I had fused some contrast fabrics to Heat n Bond for leaves. The freehand leaf-cutting was unexciting but I had Netflix to make it more interesting.

Today I sprinkled leaves randomly and peeled off backing and ironed until I felt there were enough. I have some left in case I want to add more.

I pieced a backing out of scraps from the front and large chunks of some of the other fabrics left over from making the top. Above photo is after I pin-basted.

I started with my walking foot and did some “stitch in the ditch” quilting along the verticals, avoiding the trees. Bear in mind that I excel in slapdashery and the stitching sometimes wavered from the ditch!

After switching to the darning/free motion foot, and dropping the feed dogs, I changed the thread and added some quilting to the sun, and then started on the leaves.

By this stage the family was all home and I needed to take a break and cook beans for dinner. As I write this, the pressure cooker is going nuts because sometimes bean water clogs the valve and then you get a sudden gush of steam as the pressure releases. I’ve cleaned bean muck off the stove and it should be OK now!

It’s been a beautiful sunny day and I feel a teeny bit guilty for not having gone for a walk or anything else close to exercise. But I’ve really enjoyed my day so far, so guilt be gone!

Next update will hopefully be a finished wall quilt.