DM has been peering into the dining room over the last week or so with a worried look on his face. I’ve been in there, with Tamla Mowtown blaring out, dancing and singing while making my little mosaic panels in our fire surround. They “look like nothing” when they’re in the panel, without the grouting. In fact, you can’t even distinguish the green of the flower stem and leaves from the purple background colour.

Today, I grouted three of the five panels (the other two don’t yet have dry adhesive) and all of a sudden the design has popped out of the surround and looks like a cohesive thing, rather than a load of broken glass stuck to a wall.

I know you would say they’re crudely done, which I don’t in any sense deny, but they’re MY design, MY first attempt at mosaic-ing and MY project. I’m thrilled to bits with them.

They glimmer and shimmer as you walk around the room and whereas the surround used to look like a big, incongruous shape in the room, it’s now part of the design and it works for me.

I called DM down from his office and he was amazed and thrilled that this little amateur project has taken on a quality that he’d not expected.

Yes, it’s crude, yes, it’s basic, yes, I probably made a mistake by using such dark green glass but I am still immensely happy with my project for this week.

La la la.

Thanks to all for the love and good wishes on my announcement of a few days ago. I'm sorry I've not yet responded to people but as you might imagine, things are rather "full-on" at the moment.