I signed up to Worldcon in time to get the Hugo voting packet for the first time. I don't know how to class the Books In as there's over 60 and I won't read them all in 3 months. Maybe add them to In as I work through the voting categories.

Looking back on April the only craft thing I finished was a 20cm sampler square of crochet, and that's with the ends still loose. I've brought the next thing into the garden. It was supposed to be a small cherry with thin yarn but it's too fiddly for me so it will be a huge apple in chunky.

Got my first ID check double take with the new haircut. Or maybe they were just taking their job Very Seriously and scrutinising.

I went to Shepreth Wildlife Park yesterday on the train. Door to dinosaur in 42 minutes!

Today in the garden everything's purple.

April books: Books in: 12 (7 physical (2 bought, 5 loan), 5 ebooks) Books read: 0 Books unread: 522 (354 physical, 168 ebooks) Last month Books unread: 510 (347 physical, 163 ebooks) I was reading the New Yorker instead - 15 issues (but no books). Picked up some library books though.

Admin: got a message from fuel provider saying "Your direct debit is £x, we will increase it to £x+25" which is way too high as we come into solar panel and no heating season. I went to my account to change it back to £x, but it didn't let me as it's not a change. So I set it to £x-1.

I'm having suuuuch a slow brain day today. Finally made an tiny list of tiny things to do, on the level of "open the package from the quilting shop". Which is why I'm now distracted by graph paper. Maybe I'll just read for the rest of the day and start tomorrow in a more alert mode.

I am enjoying my new graph paper. 12" sheets in a 1/4" grid as that's what we use for patchwork; a 4" and 8" square are subtly highlighted as that's a common overall block size.

Crochet class 3: magic ring and reading a pattern to make a coaster.

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On the bus home from Toby's and looking at my week. DIY class, crochet class, getting the sewing machine back from its service, then look at the sewing projects...

Carousel mode

DIY practice. I call this piece "Ducklings".

Did my DIY class homework. I have a long list of questions and things I found difficult.

I scrolled too fast and thought someone was offering spray tans for dogs.

Got a taxi to crochet class as I was also dropping off my sewing machine for a service. Nice chatty driver: "Is that a sewing machine? My mum had one [...happy family reminiscences], it was hand cranked, when she got ill she got an electric one with a foot pedal" "Stop! I forgot my foot pedal!"

DIY practice: very energetic for me, but I don't need to leave the house till Saturday so I have plenty of recovery time. Practiced sawing skills and turned this old shed roof that didn't fit in mum's car for the tip, into four smaller bits which I hope to be able to dispose of at some point.

Crochet class 2: granny squares. Made a couple of off by one errors and needed to unravel all the way round twice, but understanding it more now. Homework: finish the edge; try another edge with a different colour; try another square from the beginning but much tighter, I'm very loose.

"But what about when there was only one set of footprints?" "Ah, that was when my Fitbit was charging."

Last minute crochet class homework finishing, I've managed to keep the same number of stitches on the top and bottom row, and I'll ask why my edges are wobbly. Tomorrow I think we learn to change colours.

I can hear a lot of cheering. Either there's a sporting event, or my neighbours are very excited about the Hugo Award shortlist.

10 years ago I was posting to Twitter. Now I'm posting to Bluesky.

DIY class: tutor knows about ME and was quick to understand and accept my limitations and pacing, and the workshop is a little low building just off the main street where there's somewhere to sit while I wait for a cab home. Good class, good teaching, she flies around giving individual attention.

Suddenly wide awake thinking "Why do I have a skeleton!"

I have spotted a flaw in my plan to walk into town for cinema then DIY every Monday: "You will finish with two final pieces – a small stud wall model, and a wood frame of the joints you have learned." which presumably are too heavy/awkward to carry and will need to go home and come back every week.

On Monday I start a 10 week DIY course - I'm a bit nervous as it's both a bit further away, more physically demanding and later in the evening than quilting classes. I plan to go into town earlier in the day and watch something at the Picturehouse, to rest and make for a shorter walk to class.

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Quilt workshop today: improv trees with Helen Howes. Such a variety of interpretations, different fabrics and sizes and branch patterns. Mine are the four on the bottom left.

When we do show and tell at Quilt Club we have to lift things quite high up so people at the back can see them. So next time I'll make - pompoms! Yeah I can be a cheerleader age 55.

A daft thing I wasted some time on. My partner pointed out that it'll have a 'Kids Club' screening at the weekend.

Crochet class 1 of 4, at Sew Knit Craft in town. I do like an in person class to get me started. We covered double, treble and half treble (UK terms), I alternated between rattling along confidently and blanking on what goes through where now? Homework is a square without dropping stitches.

Between the silver hair free coffee and the silver haired lady who came over to me in a cafe as she thought I was her friend, I feel like I've slipped through a crack in the mirror to a new identity or accreted another layer of Matryoshka doll.

The cinema assumed I was in Silver Screen (with my new hair) and explained about the free coffee which I'm not eligible for but ended up giving me a free coffee because of the embarrassment. But I was not embarrassed! And got free coffee.

There's a couple of high up signs in John Lewis. "Happy feet!" "Free measuring and fitting!" And I thought "That doesn't look like the shoe department." It was the carpet department.

They dug a narrow trench in the road, laid a cable, filled it in, and repainted the road markings where they'd resurfaced. Compliance with the letter but not the spirit...

Tuesday plan: undignified routine healthcare appointment (completed), while I'm in town Father, Mother, Sister, Brother at Picturehouse, home for some admin, then The Drama at the Light cinema.

Glad to see the apple tree happy - planted last year, this is its first spring in the garden.

I'm pleased to say that everything I'm doing to raise awareness of this new collection has not only generated some pre-orders (thank you!) but also prompted a bump in sales for the previous two. This supports my theory that the best way to promote older work is to keep creating new stuff.

Getting the bus to Saffron Walden and enjoying the front gardens. Lots of cherry blossom.

Time to put the SPF50 stick back into the handbag!

I looked up the fabric I used for the bag, to see if I could get more of it - and found it has a range with lots of fruit and food names, which gives me ideas for a delicious quilt: who could resist apple, mint, marmalade, olive, chestnut, cherry, rhubarb? (Me, I can resist, I have enough fabric)

How have I done so little this last week? Oh, I've watched 35 Eastercon programme items...

Sigh as you sing the song of clearing the papers from the living room to the study shelves and wonder if you will ever sort them into useful archives and recycling.

When I scrubbed the bench it left some whitish puddles on the patio which dried to residue. "That's alright," I thought, "they'll come to do the fence and jet wash tomorrow." But they came 5 days later and didn't do the wash and I've scrubbed that end myself so I can put things back.

New haircut, new profile pic, blue sky.

A good day in this small corner of Bridgetland. The fence got mended (but they forgot I'd asked for a patio wash), the bin cleaners accidentally cleaned both bins and brought them right back to the porch, and new hairdresser gave me a good cut suited to my low energy lifestyle.

The fence is done! After three postponements three people turned up with a sharp pole and whacked the ground so hard that sparks flew. 20 minutes later the fugly support post was in place, and with only a brief grumble about Making Tax Digital they were gone (before the parking restrictions began).