...busy bee-ing

• I've been sticking to my 100 day project and completing a 2.5" square fabric painting every evening. I think it's been really good for me to do this, even though I sometimes struggle for inspiration or don't really like the finished square. I've learned so much about handling the fabric paint, and now have lots of ideas for different ways to incorporate fabric painting into other projects. I even appreciate the fact that I'm getting a little bored/frustrated by the limitations I've set myself - it's good to feel like "I can't wait to do something bigger/on paper/canvas!"  

• I made another Extra Pocket Bag for a friend's birthday - this time in green and purple, with a larger patchwork panel on one side. Following a suggestion from my daughter, I'm going to experiment with adding a zip to the next one I make, to provide a little more security for valuables.

• This morning I spent a happy half hour reviving a little bee I'd found, looking rather bedraggled, on my kitchen floor. When I took him outside I realised that he could barely move, never mind fly away, so I put a little drop of honey on a saucer for him, and then watched in absolute fascination as he started literally slurping it down with his proboscis/tongue. 

I really wasn't sure he would recover, as he'd seemed so weak, but after about 15 minutes he began crawling away across the saucer, so I moved it next to a little clump of violas, and was thrilled to see him start clambering from flower to flower and then take flight (with a trademark buzz) to a neighbouring hyacinth. Saving the planet, one bee at a time!