Happy Summer!

Its been a while - my last post had the title Happy Spring and now we are in July and it is apparently Summer. We are enjoying sunny days and blue skies (as on this day in May at Llandudno) but also many grey days and lots and lots of rain.

I've been busy making of course and trying to keep the garden in some sort of order, as well as working part time, volunteering in the charity shop and sharing the care of my frail 92 year old mother. I've also been keeping in touch on line via my social media accounts - my Facebook page is up to date, I occasionally "do" Twitter and when I inherited a smartphone from my nephew I was finally able to have an Instagram account - something I'd been wanting for some time.  However my blog has been neglected and I'm sorry but I have been determined to catch up with myself before Autumn sets in!!!!!!! Today is that day.

I'm thinking I can't possibly update on everything so here are just a few things I've made. I made this little quilt for a friend's first baby. I actually started and blogged the little embroidered patches in January though the quilt was't put together and sent off until May. I hadn't made a quilt in years so this small project was just right. And apparently baby Mai and Mum in Hawaii love it.

And this little pin tray says it all where my crafting time is concerned - embroidery, hand and machine has been my love over the last few months. 

I've been practising my machine 'handwriting' a lot and have been able to use some of my stamps and dies for applique.

I gained a new stitching hero too - Minki Kim at Minki's Work Table. I've found so much inspiration on her blog and excitingly there's a book due for publication in September - can't wait!

The other time consumer is the garden of course. With all the rain the garden has been growing apace and is rather turning into a green jungle - apparently its the same all over the country at the moment. Turn your back on a weed for five minutes and it will always take advantage. But my old faithfuls still seem to fight their way through - like the verbascum and David Austin rose above.

The other big thing at the moment is the raising from the dead of my own small back garden. Over the last 15 or so years (yes YEARS!) I've completely ignored it in favour of my Mum's large garden. But this spring I found a strong and reliable friend of a friend who was willing to take on the task clearing and reviving this small patch.  Work is still in progress and although I didn't take any "before" photos through shame, I have taken a few along the way to this interim stage.

And I'm delighted to see the birds and some beautiful plants have been hiding away all this time and have now come into the light so to speak.

There haven't been many days out or excursions but my sister arrived at the weekend for a month's stay at my Mum's so if the weather behaves I hope we can be out and about a bit. I'll be putting my camera in my bag to record anything photogenic along the way but in the meantime if you have stuck with me and have occasionally wondered where I was you might like to take a look at either my crafty facebook page or my Instagram feed. And there's a link to my personal Facebook at the top of this page.

See you soon!!! I promise!