Another lovely sunny day...

 

This blanket is still slowly on the go. I have run out of grey and am considering the next border at the moment. Maybe some tiny granny squares of some sort?

More about the start of the blanket here.

Also finished this week were these curtains for our folding camper.
The first pair were one of my list of recent sewing disasters as they were completely the wrong colour to go with the green and cream of the canvas but these are much better.
Even better the main fabric was a remnant that was already in the cupboard and I managed to match in the pale green and white spots which I love.



The little red ties are made with the original fabric which was Cath Kidston

and there is plenty left for a few cushions, oh and a draft excluder I made for a friend!

 

 And this is our wisteria- after about 7 or 8 years it is finally starting to cover the pergola we made and looking and smelling gorgeous. That's the 'royal we' really, my husband and his uncle made it and I just made the tea!!! We were lucky enough to have some old telegraph poles to recycle and they form the corner posts. There is one white and one blue wisteria and I added a Clematis Montana last year which is doing a much quicker job of covering the other side.
 

Colour in the Garden

I love May.
The garden really starts coming to life and every day there is a new flower or shoot to see.



Anthemis Cupaniana (Sicilian chamomile) - known here as Carine's daisises. She gave me a sprig to root about 8 years ago and we now have 5 or 6 huge plants. They flower their socks off until summer time when they can be dead headed to leave the silver foliage.



Aquilegia or Granny's Bonnets are self seeded all over the place. I have tried growing some other varieties but they don't seem to do as well as the wild ones.



Chives. Again self seeded from one very small clump grown from seed and far too many really but I can't bring myself to dig them up because they look so pretty.



The wisteria has finally reached the top of our pergola after 7 years. My dream of sitting underneath shaded from the sun is still a way off but does now seem a possibility.



Osteospermum- an old favourite.



Valerian- planted on top of a wall to try and compete with the ivy and stingers. Doing well now that it has established.



Violas by the back door- planted last autumn and nearly given up on until we went away at Easter and they were tended by person with green fingers and lots of patience! (not me)



And finally for the flowers (yet more purple!!) the Centaurea montana Purpurea - or Mountain Cornflower. It spreads like wildfire but I figure anything that competes with the weeds and looks this good has got to be ok.



Cosy Stripe Blanket number two is coming on but more slowly due to the lure of the garden.



And this is another WIP - scraps bonded to some double sided sticky stuff ready to make a few more badges.



Tally is outside in her favourite spot again taking it easy!

Using up the yarn stash.

I can't quite decide on the next big project at the moment after finishing my  Cosy Blanket so I have been using up some of the leftovers and generally fiddling about.

Firstly our neighbour's sign to keep the cows off, still had a piece of Christmas yarn bombing on it so was in desperate need of updating. Holly leaves in March is taking things a bit far. That said, I am amazed that the stuff had lasted all that time outside in the wind and rain. This time we went for the spring look, with cosy colours and a sprinkling of teeny tiny flowers
 (the pattern for these is over at Attic24 here).
 

 

I am not even sure if they have been spotted yet as the weather has been fairly grim since I put it up!

 

Next up was a cushion cover.

Mainly made from leftover yarn from the blanket,

but with the addition of some Plum as the shop was out of Grape (Stylecraft DK Special).  

I'll give you a sneaky preview but I am waiting for a sunny day to get some better pictures and do the colours justice..



Do you have some favourite leftover projects to use up your yarn?
I am wondering about fingerless gloves next or maybe a beanie hat.

Spring continues to spring down here in Cornwall with lovely sploshes of colour and shoots coming up all over the place..
 

 

great big clumps of primroses in the hedgerow..
 

 

this sparkly blue clump of chionodoxa forbesii (I had to look that up!!) by the veg bed..

 

 

and these beautiful hellebore flowers from the garden which are floating in a glass dish on the kitchen window sill catching any fleeting rays of sunshine here today.

 

 

Home grown and foraged

 

As usual there have been some successes and some disasters in the garden this year.

 

The runner beans got off to a poor start as the first lot were eaten by rabbits but we managed to get a second lot going and keep the bunnies off with an old fire guard.

 

 

 

The Dahlias have been good and are still providing flowers to bring inside as are the sweet peas.

 

 

 

Blackberries in the fields round us have been brilliant this year

 and I have already made two batches of jelly.

 

This time I was aiming for something for the grownups..
 

 

Blackberry vodka and sloe gin!

I have made sloe gin before but the blackberry vodka is a new one for me so I will let you know how it turns out. After a bit of reading on the internet, I have opted for the

 "alcohol and fruit only to start with"

method.

Supposedly this gets more flavour from the fruit before adding the sugar later on.

We'll see.
 

 

And if I pan out you can see this fab table made from a recycled pallet

 that all the produce is sitting on.

Child number two made it and it kept him busy for a whole afternoon.

I just love it!

If you haven't already,
 it is worth looking at recycled pallet furniture on the net as it is amazing I think.
Here's just some.

 

 

And finally, a little quilted table mat which I made for the top of a wooden box.

It stops all the mug marks and the other mat needs a wash.

Any excuse to make a quick and easy quilt!
 

Two Dragons

In the garden..

 

 

well actually in a vase on the windowsill but just picked.

These are Dhalia 'Purple Gem'.

 

 

A bee diving into the artichoke flower.

 

 

The last few flowers on a beautiful red snap dragon by the lavender-

that reminds me I need to pick some lavender for drying soon.  

 

 

And finally the red geraniums by our new red front door.

I love it.

 

No sewing in the last two weeks but I have been crocheting .. 

 

The Black Sail that I started back in April has finally been transformed into a Dragon's Tail as intended.

 

The pattern is by Andrea Delhey and is called Dragon's Tail and was found over at Ravelry.

I used a back four ply Wool/Nylon mix by King Cole called Zig Zag.
I bought 2 x 100g balls and just needed to start the second to finish it.

I love the way it drapes but the spines still poke out.
 

It is definitely the most complicated pattern I have crocheted and it needed lots of counting but I am really pleased with the result.

 

 

You can see the pattern better in this picture
 but it looks like some sort of traditional costume I think..
I prefer random draping!!

 

Brown Paper Packages..

This lovely little package arrived in the post last week.

 

I have been experimenting with shirts recently

and as yet haven't got anything successful to show you.  

When I have, I will show you some of the failures too!

 

One of my main problems seems to be picking the wrong fabric so I sent off for these samples for some inspiration.

 



They come from the Organic Textile Company
 (and no, I'm not sponsored in any way, this is just my own opinion)

 and I ordered 3 sample packs:

 

1.Fair trade and organic coloured, patterned and plain

2. Speakeasy 

3. Artists Valley.

 

Here are some of my favourites..




 

Ann's Flowers - black on green

 

Blue Gingham small check (stones to stop them blowing away!)

 

Rosefinch and Heather- bamboo and cotton mix

 

Gabrielle's collection - Bikes on white, natural..

 

and red cotton (maybe not for a shirt but so cute!).

The scrappy triangles are still expanding..
 

 

 And on the flower front, this blue beauty is giving off the most amazing scent..

 

   
And finally, I have been attempting gluten free blueberry muffins (below right).. 

 

 

and they were actually edible.

Not quite as tasty as the ones with gluten but not bad.

Evidenced by the fact that they are all gone!

Brightening up my day..

 

 

I planted this amaryllis back in November I think, and if I was organized I would have kept the name to share but I'm not!

 

 

 

Even when the sun isn't out, it is brightening up the living room and it never fails to amaze me how quickly they grow from one little bulb.

 

 

 

This is my current WIP

and the thing I cut out from that purple linen/cotton that I showed you last time.

 

Nearly finished and ready to share so I will go and get on with it!

A Brood of chickens

 

I started this picture this time last year and it has been sitting around waiting to be backed and edged for many months.

I just couldn't decide how to do it.

 

I love the pieces of work by Sue Spargo which was where I got the inspiration for this really, but unfortunately her book isn't out over here yet and Ohio is a long way to go for a workshop!
 

 

So eventually I made a sandwich with some wadding and backed it all with cotton fabric before binding it with the orange spotted cotton.
 

The background is a dyed woolen blanket that I have had for years and the chickens are various scraps of blanket and felted jumpers.
 

 

The embroidery is done using perle threads. 

 

 

I am still pondering on whether it needs some background quilting on the black to give it more texture?

 

Meanwhile, when I went out to get a photo this evening, I saw these two sleepy bees on a sunflower..

 

 

soaking up the last of the days sunshine.

A Little bit of French camping..

 

I love camping.

Lots of excitement and planning and packing.
 

Lots of this..

And this

And some of these..

 

And lots of these..

 

 And then lots of this..
 

Before returning home to a nice comfy bed.

 

And already dreaming of next year.

Bringing some outdoors in

 

I couldn't resist bringing some of this into the house to look at.

 The shrub is a deutzia longifolia (just had to look that up!) and is one inherited with the garden.
 It is just beautiful but only for a week or two.
 Unfortunately it has no scent but it makes up for that in looks I think.
 It just happens to go perfectly with a peony that is also out at just the right time.

 

This is the first dahlia of the year with some astrantia.












 

 

I have been making some elderflower cordial this week.
 

Off to sew now!

I hope you have a good weekend.

More summer colours

 

These are some blocks made using a tutorial on a brilliant blog that I have just found

 called Film in the Fridge.

The blog is full of ideas and I will be trying out other ideas I'm sure.

There is also a great section on handmade clothes which I think is really useful to see how different fabrics look when used for clothes, something I am struggling with at the moment.
She has used some really lovely fabrics and great patterns.

 I particularly like this dress here.

 

 

These four squares are destined to be a pot holder and I will show you the result hopefully soon. 

 

 

The granny squares are growing slowly.
 

 

And I have finished another shoulder bag.. 

 

 

 

This time made from recycled jeans, some Kaffe Fassett fabric and a plain pocket with flowers appliqued onto it.

The flower pattern is the one from Poppy Treffry's book that I have used before here.

And finally, a picture of some lupins which I grew from seed 3 years ago and are just flowering their socks off at the moment.
 

Bluebells, Blue sky and a Blue top

The apple blossom is beautiful at the moment especially when the backdrop is blue sky.

I have been refashioning a top given to me.

The shirt was about a size 16 and too big but the fabric is so pretty I wanted to try and reuse it.
I took it appart completely (using scissors not a seam ripper) but left the buttoned front.

I used pattern 7b from the book Simple Modern Sewing, and managed to amend the neck and keep the original buttoned front as part of the new shirt (if that makes sense!). 

This is the result.

Sorry about the picture quality but the mirror was obviously a bit dusty
(dusting is not my strong point!!)
but I think you get the gist.
 

 

And here is a clearer picture with no me.

 

 

And a close up of the lovely fabric. A really fine soft cotton. 

 

And finally the prettiest blue of all at this time of year..

bluebells

carpeting the floor of the wood.

 

Tulips and a Pink Present!

I love tulips.

These are my Mum's but I watered them for her and sneaked a picture or two.

 

The colours are fantastic, one of my favourite combinations of pink and orange. 

I have been making a pink present for one of my neices this week too and taking the photos noticed that the orange/pink combination has snuck in there too.
Funny how that happens.

A pink lunchbox with some simple decoration..

A cushion for her room..

And a skirt blogged here and a pair of pink leggings to go with it.

 

I am struggling to quilt my Cartwheel quilt today so wish me luck.

(I have already had the seam ripper out!)

Spring has sprung

Busy around here at the moment with one thing and another, I love this time of year.

 

The woods and the garden are taking off now that Spring has finally sprung..

The primroses are amazing this year.

The ferns are unfurling.

The tulips mentioned here are now out..

And this beauty too.

 

The artichoke is growing like mad.

The rosemary is covered in flowers.

These four chicks have joined the family..

and this new visitor is less welcome in the middle of my newly planted potatoes!!

Why can't the rabbit go and live in the field where they are planting thousands of potatoes rather than in our little plot.

 

Must go and do some sewing.

Skirts to make.