Let the clear-up begin!

I hope that you had a great Easter break and had a relaxing long weekend.

I'm pleased to report that I finished my banner and it was duly delivered to the church in time for the Easter service.  Here is a photo of it in the church.  The banner finally consisted of 93 felt daffodils plus 5 buds, and 10 "pebbles" made out of whatever fabric was to hand (two started life as socks!).

Now that I've finished the banner I don't have any excuse for not getting on with sorting out the house.  I'm dividing it into manageable steps and my first task is getting to grips with my extensive pile of recipes.  I'm a compulsive recipe collector and have to face the fact that I won't live long enough to try out every recipe I have cut out and saved from magazines, especially as I also have a huge collection of recipe books!  The other thing I need to bear in mind is that I may not be able to get some ingredients in Madeira, and probably should be considering simplifying my cooking to take advantage of the huge array of fresh fruit and veg that the island produces.

Over the last two days I have reduced two six inch piles of cut-outs to about one inch (sorry about the old measurements).  I have another pile or two to go and then have to start on the mounds of complete magazines! Finally I will attack the books themselves as there are some which haven't seen the light of day for a long time, and therefore are probably not going to be missed if they find themselves a new home via a Charity Shop.

Dave has been very busy painting our hallway in preparation for a new carpet to be fitted.  In typical fashion, we are getting around to doing the hall up for the future occupants of the house, rather than for ourselves.  If I told you that this task involves 14 doors and painted wood panelling, from dado downwards throughout, you might get some idea of the size of the task (and why we haven't got around to it before!)  Who ever said that you take retirement for a rest?

On another subject, the Bespoke Bra Making course that my lovely colleagues bought me for my leaving present started this week at Morley College in London.  The first class was mainly admin, scene setting and basics so there isn't anything to report yet, but I will keep you posted on how things progress. I love sewing and learning new things, so this is very exciting for me. More soon...