Post Comment Love 15 - 17 August

Hello there, and welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed, and if you see older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

My impromptu and unplanned online break has continued, and I’m not sad about it. There’s definitely something about August where things are a bit more relaxed and laissez faire, isn’t there?

We’ve had a bit of a roadtrip this past week though visiting MOH’s family at the weekend and then straight onto Norfolk to visit my parents. It was great to see everyone as always, but both MOH and I think we’ve had two weekends, and so have been shocked to discover it’s actually two days later than we think!

My photo this week is the last of my tomatoes, which I thought looked great together and made for a rather striking photo. They taste pretty good too.

Have a great week.

red and black homegrown tomatoes in a white pasta bowl on a wooden chopping board

Making my Mystery Block of the Month: June 2025

You’ll have seen that I plan to complete Sherri’s mystery block a month quilt and in my last post I shared the test blocks which I made into my eighth charity quilt, today I’m sharing the centre block I made for my own quilt.

And yes, this is June’s block in August - I’m still catching up with myself and a more relaxed blogging approach this month is also contributing. But that’s life, hey.

We’re also back on the stars, this month’s is a Happy Friendship Star and the star also means we’re back on the navy blue fabrics, which I’m using for alternate blocks.

Learning from my test blocks

The purpose of my ‘stretch project’ is to up my skills, and this month that clearly also includes reading all of the instructions. Somehow I missed trimming my Half Square Triangles (HSTs) in the Raspberry Plus quilt which also probably explains why I wasn’t overly happy with my joins.

This time though I’ve learnt.

Trimming my HSTs - something I'd missed previously

And my points were much better, but still not perfect - though good enough!

Assembling the Happy Friendship star - and pressing those seams

I spent more time than I should have working out which borders were required for this month’s block - and that was even after many looks at and double checking my handy drawing. But I got there, and the right borders are in the right place.

The borders added to the central block - green on the upper corners, light florals on the lower corner

It’s turned out ok, hasn’t it?

The completed block hanging on my bookcase with the previous months blocks

I even spent some time ‘fussy cutting’ the centre square to get the pattern centred, and I think that was definitely worth the time it took. So that’s six months in on this mystery block quilt, six months of blocks left - and then there’s the assembling. I think it’s going to look really special, but there’s a while to go yet!

Post Comment Love 8 - 10 August

Hello there, and welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed, and if you see older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

It’s been another relaxed and easy going week here, both in real life and and on my blog with planned schedules taking a back seat. That said it feels like we’ve still accomplished much. I was at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham last Saturday - and wow! - my first visit, and definitely not my last, but so many amazing quilts!

And while I ponder those and all the posts I’m planning to share, I’ll leave you with this more serene and calm view from our village post box. I’d popped out Monday evening to post an impromptu letter, and couldn’t help but stop and admire - and snap - this view. Even though it looks as if one of the trees may have experienced some damage in the recent winds, it’s still a pretty perfect view isn’t it?

Have a great week.

A group of trees, one of which looks to have had some damage in the recent winds