Construction -deconstruction-reconstruction

One week left at work. These lovely flowers were presented to me by one of the Commissions I work with. In my working life there is now a bit of deconstruction, as I cut loose from the roles I have had for the last 5 years. It is an emotional time for some of the people I have known in these roles, and for me too. Even my DH, who is totally supportive of the changes, confesses his mind is busy with adapting to the changes.

There is obviously some construction too -I am building new roles for my future post-employment life. Some opportunities are calling me -for volunteer work in particular. I am also planning for changes around the house -jobs we  have wanted to get to for some time, but have been prevented by circumstances. We want to renovate the kitchen and freshen up the dining room for starters. I can hardly wait to get started.

We want to build more activity into our lives. At one point we used to walk every day for an hour -lately we have managed one walk per week, and possibly an hour and a half in the garden. We are both looking forward to making this a priority.


We have signed up for Sustainable House Day again this year, which will mean a bit of focus to our gardening as we prepare for it  on Sunday 17 September 2017. The website says "This unique peer to peer education is a valuable resource for anyone looking for inspiration, ideas and the key to sustainable living". We are not one of those newly constructed architect designed homes, with double glazing and insulated walls, or made of entirely recycled materials. Ours is a typical 1970s brick and tile house which we are retrofitting to make more sustainable and grow more of our own food. We hope we can inspire others to have a go even if they have an older existing dwelling.


In the middle of this, I have been constructing a quilt for our expected 3rd grandchild. The photo below is a picture of what I thought was a finished top. If you look closely you will see that the second row is wrong! The alphabet blocks are in the wrong order! One of my friends was brave enough to ask if it was what I had intended...umm ..no.

So I had to do some deconstruction, to unpick part of the borders and the whole of the second row, and then carefully try to get them back together again (reconstruction)  It went pretty well and I am happy I did it. 

Every quilt needs a back. In looking for a fun fabric for a the Aussie alphabet baby quilt I found this piece with Welsh pictures on it. Not quite big enough so framed it in green and white like the Welsh flag. Should be a fun thing for baby to look at during tummy time. Who doesn't love castles and dragons?

So I am hoping to that I can get the quilt sandwich pinned together today, and get some quilting done this week, which is my last week in the office.