Thursday 18th April

 The stair lift was installed! Almost everything else I did today is eclipsed by this wondrous event.

Otherwise there is a plethora of things to mention; sowing my heritage sweet peas; six varieties in a box, a Christmas present;

There are only a few seeds in each packet so I have sown six of each in paper pots.

Then I  suddenly realised that we are racing through April, and I need to finish the baby socks before the end of the month. I set to, finished the ribbing and the leg. 

Heel flap and heel turn tomorrow, gusset and foot over the weekend? That's the plan, distractions permitting. 

And what a distraction! I did a lot of reading and thinking about this Bog Coat; there is no way it will work with 5 fat quarters. The body will be far too narrow. Further digging lead me to a free pattern from Threads magazine, still available online. 

After a bit of approximate measuring, and thinking, and thinking, and measuring, I decided the only thing to do was to try it. 

Problem 1; the dining room table has got out of control. To be honest it is mostly my stuff. I need to get it sorted.

Problem 2; I was using the only piece of 'spare' cloth I was prepared to sacrifice; some creased and crumpled cheesecloth, and I couldn't get to an ironing board.

So, doing all the measuring and cutting and sewing (rough and ready tacking stitches) while sitting on the settee I cobbled together a very rough Bog Coat in less than 2 hours, including carefully arranging it over my model and taking a photograph before it disintegrated. 

This has given me the confidence to cut into some rather lovely fabric I've got upstairs and make it for real, which is what this was all about.