First Paddle

I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter break - its been wonderful here in the UK, even though the garden is in desperate need of rain. We need a few heavy downpours to please the gardeners and farmers. But on Friday, the last day of my sister's visit, we wanted the good weather and got it. We had a lovely time at Porthmadoc and Borth-y-Guest. I was determined to get my feet wet and enjoyed a paddle with my nephew in the large pools on Borth beach.
Borth is a favourite with us as no matter when you go there, even if its a Bank Holiday and the sun is shining, there is plenty of space for everyone. So we stayed late and only ominous clouds and a rumble of thunder in the mountains persuaded us to leave.
So there were a few downpours somewhere in the distance but we didn't see any of them - and neither did my garden!

Quick Crafty Easter

Just realised I haven't posted for over a week! So I'd better get a quick post in before we set off for a day out at the seaside - hurray... we're having a heatwave here in the UK! A couple of years ago it was snowing at Easter! What a strange climate we have - but always interesting!
We spent most of yesterday on my Mother's shady front porch watching the children play on the grass. Here is the youngest with the Purl Bee fingerpuppet bunnies I made her from this pattern. Quick, easy and very cute! And for the older girls I made some more bunny brooches from Jenny's cute pattern here.

And a few cards using the Papertrey Friendship Jar Spring Fillers - love that set!
Don't you think my little silver hen and chick is cute - a lovely charity shop find. Its a little box and the chick is the head of a tiny silver spoon. To hold salt for your soft boiled Easter breakfast egg perhaps? Not sure - but when I saw her I grabbed her quickly as I have a passion for hens and would love my own little flock one day.

My Father's birthday

Dad would have been 100 today - 13th April. If the weather is fine we'll have a day out to Llanrwst in the Conwy Valley - Dad's birthplace and childhood home - to celebrate the occasion.

Dad's early years were happy, though he experienced great family tragedies during the long years of WWII. But once he met Mum and settled down he was able to enjoy family life again. We, his four daughters, came along between 1948 and 1956 and in 1957 a musical comedy film about a troupe of dancers was released and ever after we became "Les Girls" to Mum and Dad's friends - Dad was known as Les to all except my Grandmother, who always used his full name, Leslie!

Having watched the trailer for this film on YouTube I'm not sure it was a very suitable name for four small girls and their young mother! But Mum was and still is a great fan of musicals - and I do love Gene Kelly films.

I created these two digital pages using templates from Designs by Anita at TwoPeasinaBucket.

Glorious Friday!

Well if you are in the UK you have to admit today was one of those perfect spring days we might remember from our younger days. There is something about sunlight shining through leafless trees that shouts Springtime in the garden to me. So I spent a few hours tidying, pruning, planting and butterfly chasing this afternoon. This perfect Orange Tip butterfly eventually co-operated and posed prettily on a daffodil for me.

Everything is bursting into life plant-wise (including the weeds of course) and in just a week the ground I had cleared of dead stuff and weeds is disappearing under re-emerging perennials and new weed seedlings. Luckily in this lovely patch of my biggest flower bed the spring flowers are crowding out - or at least hiding - those "plants in the wrong place".

And before the sun disappeared completely it threw these lovely rainbows on my wall by shining through the old chandelier drops I have hanging in the window.

Happy Mothering Sunday to all

Good wishes to all Mothers out there - I hope we all enjoy our day where ever it is spent.

I like to give my Mum and the other Mothers in my family - my sisters and niece - a little something to mark the day and this year made these little button cards as a remembrance. I've used Papertrey's Button Boutique stamp set and dies. I resized and printed some old photos to fit the cards before cutting them out with the die.

Stitching projects

I'm a big fan of Kajsa Wikman's lovely book Scandinavian Stitches and have been busy stitching these little birds/chicks for Easter. My idea is to find a tree branch to hang them on. You know, painted white and stuck in a flowerpot - but a suitable one hasn't turned up yet, which is amazing really as there is so much fallen wood in the garden. So in the meantime they are "perching" on a wire coathanger attached with wooden clothespegs decorated with toadstools.

And I wanted to make some different lavender bag shapes as a change from my usual square sachets, so I've been trying hearts and this strawberry shape. I had the idea of using fruit teabags to scent the strawberry but the fragrance is rather faint so I'll be adding a few drops of strawberry oil to the next version.

I'll be adding these to the March Make a Month gallery if I'm not too late!

Garden diary for March

I hear there is still snow falling in the US this week but we've been lucky here in Wales and enjoyed some lovely sunny and warmish days in which to carry on with the great garden tidy-up. And of course I had to take a few pictures along the way.

Pulmonaria - love the way the flowers change colour as they age and those gorgeous spotty leaves. Its also known as Lungwort and in olden times was used to treat pulmonary ailments as the leaves were thought to resemble diseased lungs!

The beautifully furry buds of the Pasque Flower herald the approach of Easter - the flowers open so fast you can almost see them moving. But I was rather alarmed to learn through googling tonight that these beauties are highly toxic!

Lots of Primulas have appeared in odd corners around the garden over the years. Most probably through cross pollination by the many bees buzzing around the garden . This pretty one pushes its way through the undergrowth below some beech trees every year.
There's so much to do to keep everything under control that I often don't know where to go next, but one day this week my great niece wanted to help and we managed to clear a huge pile of leaves together before she got bored. Now how can I encourage this helpfulness again I wonder - apart from resorting to bribery of course!