Years ago, I taught myself how to make patchwork, based on a few scraps of a patchwork quilt that my Grandma had been working on when she died. She patchworked using the English method, where you tack the fabric onto cardboard templates, sew the pieces into place, and then take the cardboard out. Until recently I thought that was how all patchwork was made, but apparently it’s quite an unusual technique.

Anyway, I’ve been feeling in the mood for a new project. I like having something to do with my hands in front of the TV, or something to do not in front of the TV, when J is monopolising it playing on the Playstation. So I decided to have another bash at patchworking.

It’s an ambitious project. I’m trying to make a quilt for our spare bed, and I don’t have a sewing machine, so it all has to be done by hand. Patchworking and quilting a double-bed-sized piece of work is a huge undertaking – we’re talking at least a year’s worth of idle hands in front of the telly. But I’m excited to give it a try.

I’m using the same technique my Grandma used – the English method – and cannibalising lots of old postcards and birthday cards in the process. And, since starting on Saturday afternoon, this is how far I’ve got:

I have a long, long way to go. But I don’t hate it yet. So there’s hope.