Etched Behind Eyelids | December 2023

Home » Etched Behind Eyelids | December 2023
31.12.2023

We had our first hard frost at the end of November, and after that I put a sheet of thick black plastic over the oca plants and left them in the ground for one more week before harvesting them. In total, our harvest weighed 1kg. I am happy with that, as we planted 5 or 6 tiny pebble sized oca in mid spring, into poor first year soil. I have saved the biggest oca to replant, and I will start them off in pots in February on the balcony, bringing them indoors if we’re forecast to have sub zero temperatures. Fingers crossed for an even bigger oca harvest next year. I’ve heard that it’s tricky to grow oca in the UK, because they need a long growing season. That said, here in Birmingham with our first frost often falling in the last week of November or the first week of December, the season seems to be long enough.

Laying out my quilt before piecing the top together.

I strip pieced the quilt top, with the HST pressed open but the row seams nested in alternate directions. A sawtooth star quilt has a lot of seams, but this method kept everything as compact, flat and neat as possible.

The allotment fox, relaxing on our plot neighbour’s tarps.

Gustave loves watching me quilt. It’s one of his favourite activities. He watches me thread my needle and then weave it between the layers, always hopeful that he might catch the thread and play with it. I have to watch him closely and clear up after myself because he really can’t be trusted with tiny pieces of thread. The main ball is always left out of reach on a high shelf when I’m not actively quilting.

An end of year portrait of the three of us. On the whole, it’s been a good year. Here’s to hoping that 2024 is relatively simple, and has plenty of moments of happiness on a week to week and month to month basis.

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