{tea for twenty}

A long time ago, while waiting not-so-patiently for Tilly to arrive, I sewed twenty tea cups to a big bit of linen, which has hung, framed, for a few years. I've actually never really liked how it came out -- the fraying edges and bumpy linen just didn't seem to belong on the wall. With garden tea-party season upon us, I thought it might be enjoyed a bit more turned into a quilt for Tilly and her friends and toys to sit on.

This is the first time I've used linen in a quilt, and I just loved it. I don't usually use a lot of yellow, but it's so trendy-Japanesy next to the linen.

In other news, I've spent the last five days trying to fix my broken Internet -- turning everything off and on again, on the phone to customer service, at my wit's end -- before discovering today that I had been messing with the wrong box. So sorry to the lovely Indian fellow who tried so hard to find out what type of modem I had, in vain, (uh, it was a hard-drive) and was so helpful to such a moron!

And because I've been Internet-less for almost a week, here are a few others things that I've been filling my time with. 

• Planning for the New Year. What, you're supposed to do that in January? Well, I just discovered Susannah Conway's printable (free) workbook recently. Great for dreamers and self-analyists, and those of us who get to things a bit late.
• Baking and sharing honey-comb cookies (that's when you squish too many on a sheet).

• Listing (and numbering) everything I get rid of as I organise and simplify. Yes, it takes a bit longer, but is so satisfying, and will no doubt make quite amusing reading in retrospect. A few favourites from the list so far: 46. a bag of four-year-old jelly beans, in flavours I don't like.   78. five half-finished felt rabbits.   95. crusty chocolate lip balm (9 years old) which I bought at Heathrow airport the first time I flew to China alone to see my family. 
• Sewing yellow-and-linen potholders for friends who recently moved into the most amazing modern house, and believing that if something I've made lives there, part of me gets to, too!