I have heard it said that the most difficult part of a novel to write is the first sentence. I doubt I’ll ever write a novel, but I believe the part about the fist sentence – I won’t tell you how long I have been sitting here trying to make a start – but now I have!

This summer my garden benefitted hugely from my feeding of the birds through the previous winter as more than 30 Sunflowers sprang up in all sorts of places. All came from seeds dropped by the birds and my gardening style is such that I was happy .to let the seedlings flower wherever they were – front flower beds or vegetable garden where they grew tall and thick stemmed with heads a foot across, tubs and containers where they grew much shorter with small flower heads eve in  cracks in the path – very short but still producing tiny flowers. The most unusual place I found some plants was in the neighbouring orchard where they were growing among the branches of a cider apple tree, as first shown in the October issue of P&Q. The seeds had germinated in some soil caught in the junction of a branch to the main trunk and found sufficient nourishment to grow and produce several flower heads. Nature is amazing and the sunflowers did a wonderful job of lighting up the garden as actual sunshine was sadly lacking this summer. No wonder the sunflower is so popular in patchwork – either in fabric design, Sunflower blocks* or providing inspiration to use a glorious yellow colour in our quilts.

When my  great nephew came for the day we enjoyed  ourselves measuring the tallest and shortest (I had to think centimetres not inches)  and, once a teacher always a teacher, even though he was not yet 5, I introduced him to rudimentary graphs as he drew lines to represent their height. I wonder if he will remember when he is introduced to graphs at school?

Another plant popped up in one of my tubs, this one unknown to me and certainly unsown by me, so again I think I have the birds to thank. Lovely yellow flowers and as I write, it has been flowering for over 2 months. I am watching to see how it fares through the winter and if it survives, by seed or root, will try to grow it on the bank of the stream which runs through my garden, .next spring

The birds on my table are increasing in number and variety as the weather gets colder and I think you will be hearing more about them in future blogs. As I pass the window looking out onto the bird table I find myself stopping ‘just for a minute’ and then find that 10 minutes has passed as I watch their antics. A good job it is not my office window or I don’t know if magazine copy would ever be ready. This is where the teacher comes out in me again, I may not do a lot of sewing at the moment, (but that may change shortly), but I do feel that through the magazine I am encouraging hundreds (thousands?) of others to enjoy patchwork & quilting.

Happy stitching,
Dianne

*17 blocks are illustrated in ‘Encyclopedia of Pieced Patterns’ compiled by Barbara Brackman. I was going to let you know how many designs were in her Appliqué encyclopaedia but as I cannot quite lay my hands on the book at this moment, cannot do so. If you saw my office, you would not be surprised I cannot find i!  I am sure it will turn up and then I will let you know. One day when I have tidied up a bit, I may even post a picture of my office – but not this month!