Spring is Springing

How wonderful is the weather today? It is glorious sunshine here in the Lake District. We lived in Germany for five years and they have a lovely expression for this time of year – ‘grün’ is german for green and they say ‘es grünt’ ie ‘it greens’. Here’s some Cumbrian ‘greening’ in our garden today.

The snowdrops and crocuses are just going over, while the daffodils and camelias are coming out.

‘Spring is sooner recognised by plants than by men’ says the Chinese proverb. But we are certainly recognising it now with the official start of Spring on 20th March. Clocks go forward the next weekend, Sunday 28 March when we move to British Summertime (BST). So, we lose an hour in bed but have longer daylight hours.

The idea of BST also known as Daylight Saving Time was introduced in 1907 by William Willett who was keen to prevent people wasting vital hours of sunshine in the mornings! It was adopted in 1916 because it would reduce domestic coal consumption and increase supplies for the war effort. William Willett was the great-great-grandfather of the lead singer of Coldplay. ’Clocks’ is one of Coldplay’s signature songs and is about our obsession with time contrasted with the desire to enjoy the present moment.

As you change your clocks on 28th (I love the’ Spring Forward and Fall Back’ saying to help remember) spare a thought for the Horological Conservators who have to change 450 at Windsor Castle, 600 at Buckingham Palace and 50 at Holyroodhouse!

So, with the start of BST or ‘Better Stitching Time, as I like to call it here are some great Seasonal stitching ideas.

Happy Stitching!

Kate x