The Basil Garden marathon continues. I've now got more than enough 4" blocks for two twins. I'm only planning to finish one twin in the next few days and later on make a double for moi me me! (something my brother Ron used to say).

The only trouble i'm having at this stage is keeping the blocks organized to sew them in the proper order. If you're chain piecing, you can't just sew the blocks in their rows consecutively, so you can easily get confused about the order, especially if your multitasking extends beyond the sewing machine as well (I've been listening to Fresh Air and other NPR archives the last few days so my head is full of interviews with all manner of interesting people).

My lovely and talented cousin Norma just sent me two boxes full of beautiful fabrics intended for 4-5 different projects. They're spin drying as i type. Tomorrow, i'll probably start working with a few of them (it's way past bedtime for bears here).

This evening, my friend Sophie and i finished up our Pride and Prejudice marathon. We watched the 1995 BBC version--the last four hours tonight. I hadn't seen this earlier one in many years and now i have to agree with others who've been disappointed by the 2005 Joe Wright version. Though Matthew Mc Fayden smoulders beautifully, no one beats Colin Firth for a subtle and enigmatic Darcy. Generally the 95 version is far truer to the book and this generally makes for a better film altho not always. The 2005 version probably has more appeal for people who weren't already Austen fans. It seems as if Wright is trying to make it accessible even to the MTV generation. But as Sophie and i kept reminding ourselves, a lot of the difference is in the sheer length of the earlier version, which allowed for a more leisurely pace.