No. I didn’t mean it, and it has nothing to do with the house being 30degreesC either. But since the solstice has been and gone I’ve got that odd feeling I have every year: relishing the sun, with a tinge of sadness borrowed from September, specifically from that first evening when you step outside the shop, house, pub and notice that it’s darker than you are used to, and that you might need to go back for a cardigan. But I also get a thrill of optimism on that first autumnal evening, with images of fiery swirling leaves, and the feel of cold-nipped noses, and the smell of mulled wine rushing at me from the past and the future simultaneously. There are boons to all seasons*.

Winter this year can come on at its usual pace – I think I’ll have this quilt finished for us all to snuggle under. There’s something very relaxing about sewing long straight seams, though I’ve discovered that accuracy must be in abundance at all times if you’re not going to give yourself a headache. Any tiny deviation in the seam allowance across the strip can multiply into a near half inch by the end, and this happened even with a 1/4″ presser foot, which is probably just haste and great excitement on my part. The presser foot is so essential by the way. Just get one. You might start measuring everything in inches because it’s just easier, and faster, but inches are nice and mostly friendly. And you might as well get a walking foot while you’re at it.

I still have to sew on the border, which shouldn’t take an age, and then nip to Ikea for a duvet for the back, which also shouldn’t take long, but then there comes the matter of the actual quilting. I haven’t thought about the mechanics of getting a largeish quilt through my little machine, in my little room, and it’s best I don’t start now. I’ve decided to stitch in the ditch. It’s a recommended method for beginners, but it does mean quilting in straight lines, and that again means accuracy, and also not finding a cat has decided to sit on your quilt under the desk.

And after that comes the matter of binding. Naturally I want the lovely Liberty bias from Clothkits but I’m considering making my own from the left over strips in the jellyroll, which would be the greener thing to do. Also more time consuming and therefore more likely to sit on the back burner for a couple of months, but hey, it’ll come together eventually. Unless I wig out and buy the good stuff instead… Other questions plague me while I’m trying to sleep: does it have to be bias binding, should I hand sew the binding, why did I decide to do a white quilt when it means I can’t eat chocolate while I sew? Important stuff like that.

• Oh yes and there may be boons to all seasons but there are hazards too: my pinky toenail and a shopping trolley had a fight today and the nail lost. Mr J was at pains to point out that it wouldn’t have happened if  I didn’t do crazy things like wear flipflops continually through the summer (he is opposed, generally, to open-toed footwear), but I can only reply that the injury was worth it, compared to the pain of wearing socks. This footwear thing has been raging for over a decade, and I can’t see us ever agreeing. How about you? Socks or no socks?