I had a wonderful Easter weekend planned. The weather forecast looked great. Perfect weather for breakdown printing. And so I soda soaked a big pile of fabric and made up some screens to get me started. Brilliant.

But things don’t always go to plan. On Wednesday afternoon I had a massive hayfever attack that just kept on going into the weekend. I have had hayfever since I was a child although it has become less severe as I’ve got older. And (you will not be surprised) I plan for it. I start taking antihistamines each day from 1st March and these are normally enough to keep it at the ‘snuffly’ nose level through the spring and early summer. This year I got caught out with my first attack in late February so will start taking antihistamines from the beginning of February next year. But even taking extra antihistamines this weekend didn’t help. Which has been very annoying!

Some people might just take time out but I have an exhibition to get ready for. I knew that it would be hopeless trying to print but I always have a Plan B. That is the joy of working in series and of working on multiple pieces at once. So, in between spells lying down in dark room calming my nose and my breathing down, I have been doing what I call ‘quiet’ work on one quilt. Sat down, drawing out shapes then fusing on hundreds and hundreds of circles. And have been stitching down facings on another quilt. I track my time in the studio and can see that I lost 13 hours compared with the previous week but at least I have achieved some things by switching from Plan A to Plan B! Hooray for Plan B!