May Day Catchup

Well April flew by and was surely a month of contrasts! We did have a few sunny days for walking on the beach and even a visit to the local nature reserve.

But there have been plenty of dull, cold and wet days just right for staying in and sewing. I discovered flex frames and gave them a go. I've always wanted to make little coin purses but have been put off those snap frames as they looked rather difficult and I didn't fancy all that glueing.

The flex frame is much easier and suitable for straightforward flat purses or the boxed corner kind. I found a nice pattern in this gorgeous Japanese craft book (don't worry it's the English version).

Anyway, it seems I missed Easter altogether here on the blog but I did enjoy making a few Eastery bits and bobs when I found Manuela's Etsy shop and her cute felties. These chickens were my favourites. I managed to machine stitch them rather than hand stitching as recommended in the pattern.

Okay, I know snails aren't normally an Easter image but they were so cute I couldn't resist! Could you!

The garden has come to life again and is demanding my attention.... rather more attention than I've been able to give and there's a lot of weeding to catch up on!

The trouble with leaving the blog for a month is there is much to catch up on - I think rather more than will fit into one blog post. So I'll finish now and hopefully write a bit more later.

But one more photo from the garden. These little creatures demand feeding every day now as they are busy with courting, nest building, egg laying and brood feeding. They are costing me a small fortune but they give so much pleasure I don't begrudge them one shilling! 

November in the Garden

Well November passed in a flash! We had some gorgeous days and some wet ones but luckily I was able to rake up the leaves in front of my mother's house before they got too wet and soggy. As you can see there were rather a lot - this picture shows them during mid-rake. There seemed to be more than ever this year and believe me there were a lot more than shown here.

As well as the grass in front of the house there's the drive and the border to clear too. I did have company though - the birds really enjoyed mooching around picking out little tidbits as I raked and of course my most helpful companions were these two. Don't know what I'd do without them!

Blue plastic rake is much better at leaf raking than a metal one which just gets clogged up with the leaves, and Red snow scoop is her perfect partner.

Whilst I was raking a flash of gold caught the corner of my eye. When I went to investigate I found a beech leaf on the path caught in a ray of sunshine. It really did look like it was coated in gold leaf (no pun intended!!) November 2016 has certainly been a good one for catching autumn's beauty in the camera lens.

Can't resist sharing a few more photos.....

September's Song

September is ending and its been mostly sunny and warm here in North Wales. Its a month for gathering in what you can from garden and hedgerows and stashing the bounty away for winter. The ancient pear tree in my mother's garden still produces fruit but much of it looks uninviting as the skins are scabby and mottled but underneath the flesh is sweety and juicy. Perfect for a fruit crumble pudding or two.

As I mentioned in my August post, my little garden is being resurected and is now almost finished. Its rather bare of plants at the moment but I'm hoping next Spring perennials and bulbs I put in many years ago will stir into life and I will see exactly which patches of earth need filling.

There's slightly more paving than I would have planned myself (I let my handyman have a bit of a freehand as there was so much to do) but I have space for plenty of things in pots now! And I've a sunny spot for sitting with my crochet if weather and time permits. I'm joining in the 60 Million Trebles project and am currently on my third blanket.

I'm hoping that Mr Handyman will return next year to put up a bit of trellis along the boundary to make my space a bit more private and there's an old shed that could do with a bit of work!

 

I'm still enjoying the sewing illustration style of applique and recently stitched a small thankyou for Mr Handyman's birthday using Altenew's Garden Grow stamp set for inspriation. 

 And there have been a few more birthday gifts needed - September is a busy birthday month for our family!

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!

Happy Spring!

There are Spring flowers to be found in every corner of the garden this week - you just need to seek them out amongst the newly emerging weeds and the dead stuff from last year waiting to be cleared away. These violets grow in the corners of some stone steps and through the cracks in concrete paths so are easily missed.

The Snakeshead Fritillary is, as always, gorgeous and still manages to push through the rough grass. But of course it is a meadow flower so maybe my neglect is just what it needs.

I started some much needed cutting back and pruning this weekend as well as weeding. The willows I grew from twigs have been left far too much to their own devices and some drastic reduction was needed. I feel bad about cutting down so many catkins but there are still plenty left for the bees - though only the large solitary bumble bees seem to be out and about so far.

It is still cold - the mountains were white this morning - but the snow soon disappeared and the sun feels quite warm when you are in it. I did see a butterfly high up on the laurel last week fluttering from flower to flower. I think it was a Peacock wakened from its hibernation by the sun. I hope it survived the cold nights we've had the last couple of days.

Spring is also the start of the craft fair season and I've signed up for one the middle of next month so really need to start creating. I've a bit more time at the moment as I've given up one of my part time jobs and until I find something else there are two more days a week I can sew or hook or stamp.

Inspired by that Peacock butterfly I have made a start on some stock. I even tried a bit of free-motion embroidery - its been so long since I've done any I couldn't even remember how to set my machine up. Thank goodness for Pinterest! Methinks much practice is in order, but luckily this technique is very forgiving. :o)

Summery Outdoors Stitching

 

We're enjoying a rather changeable July here in the UK. Sunshiny hot days, the odd heavy thundery shower, and days when the breeze is just too cool to sit out.  But on evenings when I can I like to sit on my Mum's front porch with a bit of stitching, watching the birds and the hedgehogs gobble up the bird seed I've just scattered on the lawn.

This week I've been busy with a small patchwork project from that talented duo at A Spoonful of Sugar.  Who doesn't need a small sewing kit to take on travels - either when holidaying or crafting away from home.  The pattern is an instant PDF download here.

I'm on my third kit already - the first two being gifts for my traveling sewing sisters and the third will be for me.  Such small scale patchwork comes together very quickly and if you enjoy a bit of hand sewing the whole project can be put together without a sewing machine if you choose.  I did resort to my machine for the outside quilting and stitching on the binding but its really not needed.

And sitting out at this time of year I cannot ignore the lovely sweet scent of the Mock Orange (Philadelphus). One boundary of the garden is lined with the shrub and its in full bloom at the moment. It doesn't last very long and soon there will be a shower of confetti-like petals every time the breeze blows. So I'm making the most of it.

Signs of Springing?

OK, I admit it - I'm a Radio 4 listener - I have it on permanently almost 24/7 - and all week there has been talk of early signs of Spring, even though its officially still winter.  In fact listeners were this morning invited to message, tweet or whatever you will signs from their own gardens.  Anyway, unable to join in myself as I was working, I did get up a bit earlier and went to have a look - with my camera.

 

Admittedly the Jasmine was in flower, there were catkins on my cobnut bushes and there was one rose on my David Austin bush (probably the last rose of last summer not the first of next!)

..... but looking back at previous years' photos, I don't think we are much more forward than usual.  There is sign of blossom bud on the cherry tree at the bottom of the garden but this is always the first of the year to burst forth.

There are still berries on the Ivy - which the birds might yet need as it was March before the big freeze came last year.

However, on my way down the hill to work I spied these daffodils in a neighbour's driveway, much farther forward than those in our garden.  Just shows what an effect altitude has. 

Yet on the radio I hear stories of snowdrops and daffs in flower already and even butterflies in flight (though I'm sure those must be hibernaters waking in a spot of warmth).  Perhaps its all happening 'down south'!

There is one sign of Spring I'm aware of though..... the birds are singing again!