I am getting through the list. The Colour and Weave course was held over last weekend and the worst bit was towards the end when I tried to sort out the order in which students would do the remaining samples - it was a round robin. I nearly got it right but not quite as some poor students are having to do one more next Saturday. The only other thing of especial note was the number of cakes brought by students. I particularly liked the gingerbread with lemon icing. We held this two day course at the National Needlework Archive who were having an exhibition of work done by their volunteers. All I can say is that their vounteers must all have submitted portfolios to be allowed to work there. Startling good both from the point of view of technique and from design. I fell in love with a miniature Hat Shop. I think if the course had been three days long I might have resorted to theft.

The weather has been good enough for gardening. The greenhouse plants have all been overhauled and lots of weeding done. We have a huge number of plants in flower considering what it looked like last spring. Camellias, hellebores, crocuses, irises, snowdrops, daffodils, sarcocca (a sweet smelling shrub), heathers. The tulips are showing up and the clematis are well budded. The earliest clematis looks as if it will flower next week.

I have at last started on making a bomber jacket out of the blue and brown tweed. It is at least a year since I did any dressmaking and there was a lot of unpicking. The inside does not bear examination but the outside looks good.