Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone, but at the moment, only about 4 people (other than myself) even know about my blog! Now, I know that’s not exactly the point of having a blog but… You see, I decided I’d start blogging on the quiet at first, just while I was learning the basic ropes of this bright, shiny, new blog world. OK, I’ll admit it straight up: I’m a terrible perfectionist, and I couldn’t bear for people to see my blog before it was “ready” (whatever that means).

This last week, before the “world” knew about my blog, I thought I’d grab a few days away from the computer and do some much needed Spring, or should I say, Autumn Cleaning. For five days in a row I’ve been sorting and moving things and cleaning and tidying and rearranging. I’m not quite there yet (the house is in that horrible disheartening place where you’re nearly there, but it feels like it’s even more disorganised than it was when you started).

Anyway, the most exciting part of the Autumn Clean for me has been the claiming of the spare room / library as my own craft space. It feels so great to have my fabric collection properly organised. Just looking at these piles of sorted fabrics inspires me.

There’s quilting fabrics, printed and woven striped fabrics that I bought in South India, Japanese indigos and Rajasthani prints…

Ahhh, and then there’s my treasured vintage kimono collection. Here’s just a little taster. Don’t you love the quality of the colours? Dusky mauve, bright salmon, inky purple…

Here’s some of my vintage embroidery collection. The left-hand pile is mostly family heirloom pieces either embroidered by my grandmother or collected by her in Palestine when she lived there as a child in the 30s-40s. There’s also some pieces done by my mother and some I’ve picked up in op shops and flea markets.

The right-hand pile are pieces that we’ve bought on our travels in India, Pakistan and Thailand. Some of the Rajasthani work was old when we bought in 20 years ago. I love the contrast between the rich, colour-saturated Asian work, and the restrained, delicately coloured European work. Both beautiful. Both using a whole variety of different techniques.

Ah the simple pleasure of organising sewing threads and embroidery cottons into colours! The wooden tray that the sewing threads are in is an old nail and screw organiser that I bought at a garage sale.

I think it might be time to let the secret out. I’m a blogger! And I love it. Let me know if you like what I’m doing, I’d love to hear from you. It feels a little scary letting the proverbial cat out of the bag!