After dark - after eight

I think I can happily say I've got the black background quilt out of my system. Goodness it was hard going on my poor eyes. I do like the effect but - never again!

The back of the quilt is as bright. 

The trouble is I'm not that keen on quilt as you go blocks. It seems like a good idea at the time but then when you try to match them up it never quite goes to plan, no matter how identical they are when you trim them. This was going to be a four by four quilt but I ran out of the black fabric - probably had enough for twelve blocks but nine was as far as I could bear.  Marilyn at the quilt class felt the same.  The photo doesn't do the quilt justice colour wise - her background is deep rich purple and looks gorgeous.   She is a very neat worker too.

The other lady that is doing the same project is doing twelve blocks - her colour scheme is totally different - I'll  post that when she's done.

I had an urge for after eight mints this week so decided to do some mint choc cupcakes.

It's probably not my favourite combination but I run out of ideas sometimes (well quite a lot of the time really) and I haven't done this before.  I thought I might go on a sweet shop cupcake theme, although the time for pumpkin pie is looming - should it be pumpkin pie flavoured cupcakes or pumpkin pie itself?

I'm trying to make the most of the light as the nights draw in - I know we get an hour of light at the end of October but that eats into my morning time more.  It's time to get the crochet out which is a little easier on the eyes.

Steph is in full wedding planning mode at the moment.  They have booked a villa in Spain in June.  At the moment though my mind is on stitcheries and all things 'seasonal'.  I have so many things floating around in my head that it's a real skill to just choose one or two and do them.  Sometimes I end up doing lots of thinking and no doing.  There's just not enough time is there?  At the moment I just feel exhausted and am looking forward to a week off work at the beginning of November. Apart from the Easter bank holidays and May days I haven't had a day off since Christmas last year. A week will seem like a long time.