In spite of the fact that I’m counting down the days until the end of term (19 left!) and starting my summer job of staring blankly at flowers until my brain stops whirling madly, I’m already starting to plan a list of things I want to do this summer. I am headed off for a few days in Yorkshire with the lovely Miranda and her equally lovely mum, Penny; I’m joining friends for a few days at Loncon and exploring the docks and East End of London; and will hopefully manage to sort out a few days at the beach, staring at waves and squishing my toes in moss. I have an epic book list ready to order from Amazon, several new recipes to try, and a few schemes of work to write for next year’s classes. But more than that, I’m so looking forward to making things again. My Mitford sweater is about halfway done, and while I haven’t whipped it off the needles to try it on, it looks like it will fit (lazy knitter these days). I have all the prints I need for my quilt, a stack of patterns I brought home from the states, and some lovely fabric to turn into Things and Stuff. The only thing I’m missing is the sewing machine. 19 days…

So it was doubly serendipitous to see my friend Rachel, who is over from Canada, not once but twice this past week, and to spend a good part of yesterday afternoon wandering around London with her. Rachel is probably the most advanced sewer I know, and she knew where to find the lovely fabrics. We ended up wandering in and out of fabric stores, all stuffed full with the most beautiful dress fabrics. I had to work very hard to resist a yellow lace that looked exactly like a kicking Jackie-O dress my mother had in the 60s, and several cottons from the outrageously beautiful Cloth House.

In the end, I did buy a small piece of fabric, a very light and delicate piece of navy blue and black poplin with a beautiful sheen to it. It knew immediately what it wanted to be, and I have just enough meterage to make a fitted tank with a deep dip and a formal soft ruffled edging to soften the severe pinstripes. Now, just need to get through the next 19 days…