Circling back to the contemporary quilts

A cheesy title for this blog post I know, but when I looked at my favourites from the contemporary quilts category, all but one featured circles so it just had to be done.

This first one though could potentially be debated about it being a quilt at all, it wouldn’t be one to snuggle up under now would it? But the thought process, colour choice and pure skill in creating this aren’t in doubt.

RANDOM CIRCLES, DEBORAH COLLINS

The non-circle quilt in this post instead uses triangles to make squares and pinwheels in a beautifully chaotic way, and in a way that Chris English does so well. I love the mash of colours and patterns, all the while there’s a very distinct overall theme.

CHOOSE QUILTING, CHRISTOPHER ENGLISH

More circles in this quilt, and more structure too - though some of the misshapen circles do have an element of Pacman to them, but also a touch of Orla Kiely, don’t you think?

SPINNING TRADITION, DAISY ASCHEHOUG

I love the thin width of the quilting of this one too, and that it’s horizontal not vertical, small details really do make the difference.

The final quilt is for me one that has a cheery and summery look - that’s definitely down to the colours and patterns used. It’s also a design that the more you look at the more you see, are they diagonal rows of circles or a circle on top of four others, or something else.

FLOATING BROKEN CIRCLES, CARINA ENVOLDSEN-HARRIS

Either way, it definitely deserves its place in my favourites from this category - which do you like best?

Walking East Stoke's lanes: June 2026

Despite being away for the first part of the month we somehow managed three walks around our village’s lanes this month, and each of them in different directions.

The first of these took us down Moor Lane, making a brief stop to check in on the sheep, on a Saturday lunchtime a couple of days after arriving home from an active holiday, so I think our legs were restless and ready for action, so it would have been rude to ignore them.

We headed up across the A46 noticing that still a few wild roses remained, but they’d been joined in the hedgerows and verges by the daisies, and more surprisingly already some seedheads.

We made it as far as the bridge, our cue for turning and heading home, but noted there were some blackberry bushes along the way which may provide a fruitful stop on a later walk. It could be the year for more blackberry and lime jam if we remember in time!

Our second walk took us in the opposite direction, heading down School Lane towards the River Trent - and once again we stopped briefly to see what the sheep were up to. It’d been a hot few days so it was good to see the sheep had been shorn, but we were also out earlier than normal and as ever, they seemed surprised to see us.

Once we walked past the church the views open up on the right hand side across fields, and on this occasion a line of small fluffy clouds. The path bends around to the left and even with the warm weather there was still a wet patch or two in this shaded section.

We decided that as the temperatures were still relatively cool, we’d head along towards the Red Gutter - my first walk that way in quite a while, but definitely worth it for the views and (even more) tranquility.

And more daisies it seems, and a few arty shots of the crops.

We emerged on the banks of the Trent and turned right along the river path, stopping to admire the reflections and despite trying many times failing to catch one of the bright blue damsel flies busying themselves in the nettles.

Along the way I stopped to photograph more than I’ve shown here, but there’s thistles and poppies growing across the path from the crops. I’d seen this plant above before on our walks but wasn’t sure what it was, my plan was to look it up and find out. I forgot, obviously, but I soon found out as our District Council shared a post on Facebook about it being ‘National Invasive Non-Native Species Week’ - who knew?

But anyway the accompanying image was this plant, which is a Himalayan Balsam - a fast growing invasive plant that spreads rapidly along rivers and wetlands, out competing native plants for space and light, which leaves riverbanks bare in winter when it dies back, and so increasing erosion and impacting wildlife.

And it looked so pretty too.

There are volunteer programmes to prevent the spread of this plant, which contributes to our Local Nature Recovery Strategy here in Nottinghamshire, I had no idea about any of this when I took this photo, but it seems right that given its invasive nature it’s controlled and managed. Nature is not only wonderful, but the management that is required alongside it is truly even more wonderful.

We reached our turning point of the jetty - which was very nearly but not quite visible and turned back inland up the long stony track towards the village realising that the stones that were added to minimise the puddles a while back now where doing their job and making the track a much easier walk, and no doubt much easier for the vehicles that traverse it too.

We were back at the sheep, and this is why we check in on them whenever we walk past - they are cheeky, but can’t we all resonate with that bit over there being that little bit tastier if only we could reach it?!

Our final walk this month was along the bridleway towards Elston. As we headed down from crossing over the A46, this was the view across the fields we were about to walk past, isn’t it beautiful?

I was once again surprised to see these, what I think are, bullaces already in evidence on the bushes. It seems early, in my mind I have them this developed much later in the summer - but that could just be that that’s when I’m looking for them.

We were heading over to the pub in Elston to watch England’s second game in the World Cup, and the pub had opened to show the match - it’s not usually open on Tuesdays - so we thought we’d go along.

It was the most dreary game, but at least we were rewarded with this night time view of the path on our way home.

Thanks for joining me for this update, if you enjoyed this post you may also like to see all of the posts in this series.

This June...

It’s been a tad warm hasn’t it?

We started the month in France, in a-much-cooler-than-it-had-been-the-week-before outskirt of Angers, which we were pleased about. The temperatures prior to our arrival were in the high thirties, and even on holiday, that’s not good. And then when we got back we had another heatwave, with another forecast for the start of July, so yes it’s been quite warm overall.

We made it to France travelling by train which turned out to be a complete breeze, and more importantly no airports! I don’t dislike airports as such, but travelling by train is much more preferable.

Anyway from Newark we travelled to Kings Cross before popping over the road to St Pancras International and the Eurostar to Paris. We stayed in Paris overnight, then headed to Angers on the train for the next five nights staying in a fabulous chateau, before getting the train to Tours for a couple of nights making time for some wine tasting and our second visit to the Chateau de Villandry (so much more on this to come!) before heading back to Paris for our last night before jumping on the Eurostar, and then another train back home.

THE VIEW FROM OUR WINDOW AT THE CHATEAU DES FORGES, ANGERS

I’d intended to travel light, as I would be the one manhandling the case, and even though we took stuff out as we were packing, it turned out that it wasn’t that light at all - in fact the case was actually rather heavy. Moving it up and down stairs at stations both here in Newark and in Paris was hard work, though thankfully I was offered help which I was very grateful to accept.

We celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary while we were away in a fantastic restaurant found my MOH, he’s very good at this and he found some brilliant restaurants during our trip. Though we arrived slightly later than intended and a little flustered as we thought we knew where it was, but had misremembered the way there. Oops.

The food here was brilliant though, as was their artwork.

A MEAL WITHOUT WINE, IS LIKE A DAY WITHOUT SUNSHINE.

Since we’ve been home we’ve been busy too - well apart from in the heatwave when we’ve been like hermits hiding indoors in the hottest parts of the day, then when it’s cool enough to do things not really doing too much as heatwaves are tiring. So we’re glad for some respite from the heat, which you may already have gathered.

I had a press day at Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland, which is relatively local to home, and I was also invited to the Gardeners’ World Live preview event and a day at the show too. Both of which were fantastic events, with plenty of inspiration everywhere you looked. I’ve more to share from both of these visits, but I’ve already shared my highlights from this year’s Gardeners’ World Live.

We were in Birmingham for England’s first World Cup game, and it all went rather well didn’t it? We had a fantastic table, with a view of the match, in our regular haunt of The Button Factory in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. And the game was a good one, and really gave us hope for England setting the tournament alight, but the following two games weren’t quite that and were as fractious as usual to watch. Let’s hope England remember the highs from that first game and show more of that for the remaining of the tournament, so that it can finally come home (for the men, the women’s team have already got that sorted!)

A GLIMPSE OF OUR FANCIER THAN EXPECTED ROOM IN BIRMINGHAM, WHERE WE COULD HAVE WATCHED THE FOOTIE FROM THE BATH IF WE CHOSE TO (WE DIDN’T!)

I’ve also lost some of my gained responsibilities this month, which is great news. Just this week MOH has reclaimed grass cutting, and since we’ve been back from holiday he’s back on his usual daily breakfast making. It’s great, not least because it means I can turn my attention to the rest of the garden, and because I’m still not good at mornings, but also because he’s so much better. We’ve been back to the hospital for his six week check, and they don’t want to see him again until his annual check up next year. Phew.

My car gave me a little scare though, with a warning triangle appearing alongside the ‘I need a service’ spanner. The manual was most alarming saying to stop driving and contact the dealership straightaway. So once home I did call the company, and was reassured that it was related to the service and the spanner, and as that was booked already there was nothing to worry about. And indeed there wasn’t, and until I’d read the manual I wasn’t that worried, but with two longer than usual journeys ahead of me I wanted to be sure I’d get there (and back).

I said last month that I knew exactly what holiday embroidery I was taking with me before I knew what clothes would be in the suitcase, and it was even better to actually do some of this while we were away, either on the train or just in quiet moments. It’s not finished, but I’ve made huge amounts of progress. Though needless to say I’ve not touched it since we’ve been home!

SEWING ON THE EUROSTAR HOME

In two pieces of shock (sewing) news I have almost finished my summer dressing gown - which has taken way less time than I expected, and really is much needed on those warmer days, and I’ve finally started my Flying Geese quilt too. As I said at my sewing group last week, now it’s started it’s a project rather than just a pile of material!

I know, I’m not even sure who I am either. Though of course I do have other projects still to finish, and yet to start as well as some new ones appearing on the horizon, so it’s all ok really! I’ll share more on both of these shock sewing projects here soon I’m sure.

One of the new projects that my head is grappling with arose from a workshop I went to last week, where I picked up many tips and tricks for making a pattern from clothes already in my wardrobe, and if I can make it work for the well worn and much loved dress I have in mind, then my mind will officially be blown. I have the start of the pattern, and I have some material I can test it out with - so hopefully I will have another version of this dress, which looks a lot smarter than the one I have and love sometime soon.

And that’s not all, today I’ve ordered my greenhouse after much (and a couple of years) deliberating. But with a price rise imminent (tomorrow!) I snuck in right at the last minute. I’m not rushing into this at all though, I have opted for the delayed delivery so within the next six months, my greenhouse will arrive.

Hopefully that gives me plenty of time to come up with a plan, that’s more adventurous than ‘sticking it in the garage’!