It's about time......

You know what I'm going to say.... it's about time I updated my blog! Summer has reached its peak and the season is due for a change! Last year was all about turning the jungle outside my back door back into a garden after almost 20 years of neglect. This year my handy handyman suggested the tumbledown shed could be cleared away and a new one built in its place. I quite liked the extremely "distressed" look of what was obviously once a wash-house but after a bit of persuasion I agreed.

And now its all but finished I have to admit I'm very pleased with it and am enjoying having a place to store all the junk that used to live outside my backdoor. And I really like the fact that its been cobbled together with a door found in a reclaim yard for £10, windows are second hand from someone who had had replacements,  the roof changed from corrugated iron to perspex to make the most of evening light, and the corrugated iron put to use as the back wall.

Someone sometime had painted this pretty floral decoration on the door - I would love to know where it came from.

I bought the gorgeous red geraniums from an NGS open garden we visited in July and have even bought some coloured solar lights after vowing I would never go in for garden lighting! But that's okay as they are inside the shed!

At the end of July I met up with my sister in Amsterdam for a short break. We took our lives in our hands walking about the city centre trying to avoid being run down by the bikes, scooters, cars and trams all vying for space on the busy streets.  Much more to my taste, we visited the great windmills at Zaanse Schans, a sort of open air museum, where we also watched clogs being made, resisted buying a pair (!) and bought cheese instead.

Then August has been all about gadding about with my sister visiting from Germany.  We managed a trip out on most days of her visit - we're very lucky to have many places worth visiting close enough for a half day trip. These are just a few.

A dash to the coast to watch the sunset. We found an escaped kite on the shoreline and got it into the sky again. We gave it to a passing family who after a bit of practice, also got it flying.

Port Sunlight in Cheshire was a lovely day out. So many beautiful houses to admire and a wander around the Lady Lever Art Gallery to admire some of my favourite Pre-Raphalite paintings.

And on a warm sunny afternoon we wandered about the beautiful garden at Nantclwyd y Dre, an ancient house restored and open to the public here in town. The garden is a work in progress being recreated by volunteers. Could have stayed there all day!

So with all this roaming around I haven't been that creative. However with Autumn on the way and Christmas looming in the distance I think I'd better start thinking about it!!!

But I haven't completely stayed away from my beloved sewing machine and my hooks. There are always gifts that need making. This one was for my new tablet that had to be bought after the BBC decided not to support iPlayer on my Kindle anymore. I can't manage without iPlayer in the evenings when I need to be at my Mother's house.

I made these two covered notebooks for my sister and her friend who both need to be planning for their retirements. It will be here before they know it - like it was for me!!

And I hooked this summery scarf for a friend's birthday. It was a total copy of one an Instagram friend posted on her feed. I just loved the style and yarn she had used so I'm hoping she thinks imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

And one more photo - I learned how to make these origami flowers and gave them as another birthday gift. Very easy but rather time consuming.

There have been other makes too of course since I last posted, but this will do for now. Its time to look forward not backward and there is much to do!

Hacking through the thicket!

I'm imagining myself as the prince in Sleeping Beauty while trying to cut back the brambles that are slowly taking over the bottom of the garden.  They have moved forward at least 6 feet in the last 2-3 years and I've just ignored their creeping intrusion as I love the blackberries in September.  But now the time has come to knock them back to the fence again.

And I am getting there very slowly and looking forward to a bonfire of all those horrible thorny stems.  But here are some more selective garden images from this sunny Eastertide.

And there are compensations for working until dusk - I get to see the sun setting!

Garden update

While digging the plot for my potatoes the other day I disturbed this poor mining bee who got really fed up with my filling in his burrow every few minutes.  I do hope he found somewhere else suitable nearby.

I'm sure lots of gardeners are behind with their jobs this year as its been so cold and wet.  I managed to get a few tasks out of the way this week but there's still lots to do.  Here are a some things that are looking their best half way through this disappointing May - usually my favourite month.

Another Papertrey Blog Hop Challenge

Another Papertrey Ink blog hop has arrived - can't believe how quickly the months are passing lately! I've put together this little gift set for my niece's 12th birthday in May, though the Starbucks card will be replaced with something more suitable. For the design I was inspired by this lovely card I saw on Pinterest and the coloured stripes of the inspiration photo Nichole gave us - turning the stripes of colour vertically rather than horizontally.

Its been hard to get anything done in the garden in the last couple of weeks.  Everything is soggy and muddy with all the rain we've been having and the spring flowers and fruit trees' blossom has been well and truly battered by the frequent showers of hailstones.  The Lilac tree is just about to bloom and scent the air with its lovely perfume so I do hope the hailstone showers will stop soon.  And my current seed packet papercrafting craze keeps reminding me I haven't sown a single seed yet. I wish I didn't feel so guilty about it because it really doesn't matter to anyone except myself!

Supplies: PTI Simple Sunflower stamp set & Flower Fusion #10

Oh no - not another sunset

I can hear you groaning from here.... I really did hesitate to post yet another sunset but when I looked up from my unending task of clearing dead stuff from the garden, this sunset caused an intake of breath.  A thin layer of cloud had turned the sun into a golden ball my camera lens was able to capture and the crows flying home to roost added some detail and scale to the scene. 

I've only just started spring cleaning my untidy patch but lots of emerging shoots are buried under the remains of last year's beauties.  However I did feel a bit guilty disturbing hibernating creatures like this ladybird and I quickly covered this one up again in case there is frost tonight.

I was pleased to see a few catkins on the hazel bushes I have grown from cob nuts.  They are about 5 years old now and this is the first time they have flowered - I'm sure you remember from school nature table lessons that the tiny red tassel above the male catkin is the female flower.  Fingers crossed there might just be a few nuts in the autumn.

The daffodils are in their prime right now but I have a real liking for the little pulmonarias dotted about here and there.  Their flowers are quite small but I love how they start out pink and turn to blue when fully open - but almost better than the flowers are those wonderful spotty leaves.

Signs of Spring

A cold but sunny Saturday morning brings thoughts of a change in the season and signs of Spring on its way in the garden.  To celebrate I bought these seeds at our local bargain basement shop yesterday.  There are lots of disadvantages to being a gardener - wet feet, all that back-breaking toil and those slimy garden pests! - but we are an optimistic lot, planting and sowing in the hope of good things to come.

I may not quite get the results shown on the front of these seed packets but for a small outlay I can look forward to sowing the seeds on some warm Spring day not too distant, and dream of a carpet of blooms in the garden this summer.

And while surfing the net this morning I found a new to me stamp shop, Make the Day Special.  I fear I may be spending much time and money here in the future!  However today I was restrained and ordered just one stamp set from Flourishes.  I just love these realistic looking bees and when they arrive can create some summery projects at my craft desk whilst I wait to hear that friendly buzzing in the garden again.

Gloomy November?

Another month and another charming image from Children Month by Month.  We don't often have foggy weather here - except when the clouds are low on the hills and we have to travel through them.  However it really doesn't seem like November - I can still walk out without a coat and the garden really doesn't know what season it is......

The hollies think its already the festive season and are covered in bright red berries.........

but underneath there are fragrant pink sweet peas still flowering!

The leaves on the young maple are coloured ready to drop.............

but there are still alpine strawberries everywhere if you look carefully - and still some flowers!

But there's no escaping the long shadows mid afternoon and dusk by teatime when lights need switching on and the curtains have to be drawn.  Oh well, I'll just enjoy the last signs of summer and get on with my Christmas crafting!

Wild Flower Meadow?

In early summer I bought a packet of "Wild Flower Meadow" seeds from our local bargain basement shop. It was late to be sowing annual seeds but I had nothing to lose - well only 50p anyway - so I scattered them in a small patch that was bare apart from a few self-sown daisies and alyssum. 

And now in early Autumn I've a patch filled with Cornflowers, Californian Poppies, Love-in-a-Mist, Pot Marigolds.....

.......a few things I know but can't name, and a couple of plants that are new to me.  Like this lovely blue flower I've been trying to identify on line - it could be Stickseed - a plant from the USA! 

 And with the Californian Poppies too I'm starting to think that's where the seed packet came from!

Its not really what I was expecting a wild flower meadow to look like - but never mind, its very pretty anyway and I'll enjoy watching what appears next year.

I'll collect some of the seeds to scatter again next spring and I'm hoping some will self-seed too...

....but I'm tempted to pick these Love-in-a-Mist seed pods to have in the house!

If the forecast is correct, we're in for an Indian Summer this week so I may even see something new flowering.