Sunshine Would Make it Rosier!

I missed April...ing. Whoops! I have enjoyed reading other blogs this week but didn't quite seem to get round to putting my own words together.

Anyway, just to let you know we are eating well....

Loving work. A rare glimpse of my chaotic sewing space which is normally so tidy...

Finding the moments to walk the dog and fill my table vase. This is the last of my daffs, my blossoming orange broom which is the first time it has flowered in three years. I gathered some orange geums and then bluebells from my field. My flower grower friend Beth stepped in the following week with these incredible ranunculus and anenomes from her polytunnel. The colours were too strong for the brief of her wedding bouquet order so they ended up on my table. Lucky eh?

Loving the front bed of hot/warm colours and how this has come together from my original thought process.

The one thing the whole family has in common at the moment is watching our massive crab apple tree slowly unfurl. It changes day by day.

Finding joy in dancing with my Tribal dance friends even though it was pretty chilly at Upton Folk Festival.

Solving the little problems in life. Jeans I made which were too short once I stopped wearing my boots have had a little embroidaise anglais extension.

These are of course the good bits. Things are a bit here and there at the moment. Nothing too miserable just a teen doing GCSE's, another daughter having so many interrupted school weeks which really impacts on my work (snow days, teacher strikes, boiler breakdowns at school, an endless stream of bank holidays) and we currently have in-laws who need more help with day to day life. But hey, you're not here to listen to that, these are just life's ups and downs. If only the sun would bloody shine it would give everything a rosier glow.

Off to read some blogs my friends. Toodle hoo! Jo xxxx

Three Word Gardening - Slow To Start

 I am starting up my three word gardening posts again each month and this year I will start with Slow To Start. The weather has not been the greatest and living here on a high ridge has meant that it has been super windy. 

I will start with a little tour. This was the fruit cage after our snowfall, I just walked away from it with a very sad face but Bloke went out in the wind and put it all back together. Big Girl and I spent two hours weeding all of the strawberries. There is nothing worse than spotting a big red strawberry, then getting stung by a hidden nettle. I also moved a clump of raspberries from right in front of the entrance door. The fruit garden was planted up before I bought the cage so things were in a bit of a strange orientation once I realised where the door was going. Much better now.

First pick of the rhubarb will be this week too.

The front garden is raised and the soil in there is pretty weed free because it is new (3 years old) and I intend to keep it that way. The daffs have gone over now swiftly following are the orange hues of my tulips. The broom has flowered for the first time this year which compliments the border well.

I have lots of daffs but I like the later flowering ones like this white one Thalia which is beautifully fragranced which I place with the lighter foliage plants or pheasants eye which will be out soon.

I have all my veg seeds started off but it is still a bit too cold for them to really take off. Fingers crossed for the next few weeks.

My florist friend Beth grows her wedding flowers at our farm. It is such a bonus to look out on a piece of ground all neatly kept without me having to lift a finger.

The back garden is the one you see when I take a photo of the view. We have a 1.5m HaHa that makes the lawn seem infinite (but essentially stops the sheep getting on the patio!) This is a mix of shrubs and annual plants I grow from seed. This is more of a summer border in purple, blue and pink.

I will leave you with a few seasonal favourites: dwarf tulips in my belfast sinks and a new variety of grape hyacinth in my studio barrel.

What is your garden looking like? Slow to Start?

Joy

 

Hello there folks. I have been sewing for fun, not for work. My big girl is getting ready for her end of school prom. We didn't want to leave the dress shenanigans until the last minute hence a finished Prom dress in winter. Heidi chose a pattern where I gave the all clear but unfortunately I did not read the back of the packet properly and it turned out to be for stretch fabrics and we had already received a non-stretch satin. 

Oh dear!  Annnnyways... I made I work and we did a few adaptations. It already had an elasticated waist so we got away with the waist fit and simply cut two bodice pieces and lined the bodice to finish the armholes and neckline. The biggest hack was to add a slit to the back to enable her to get it over her head. Heidi made a lot of the main dress herself and I made the beaded overskirt. This is removable by a hook and eye with the bow covering the join so that she can wear the dress for different events. She absolutely loves it and of course so do I, especially the hem. Five hours of bead unpicking along the seams was not fun but I have almost forgotten that now!  We had a little photo session (in the snow!) because I was sponsored the fabric from Minerva where there is a full write up of the materials used. Here for you folks are simply some eye candy photos. Enjoy!

Thanks for dropping by. Jo xxx

March...ing along into early Spring with all of the weather. It is time for fun, florals and a clear out.

Baking - Scones for mothering Sunday and continuing my table vase challenge this week with more daffodils.

 

Having - a spring clean in the wardrobe department. The doors would not close so I knew it was time for a sort out. There is only one way to do this in my opinion and that is to empty it completely and only put back what I really want. I did a charity shop run and some homemade gifting to friends.

Loving - the snow fall. We are a family of sledgers! We are very fortunate/unfortunate, depends how you look at it, to live on a high ridge. There is always good snowfall and plenty of slopes.

Considering - what to do with my fruit cage. I am really disappointed. How can something so holey that cost £500 collapse in a flurry of snow! Bloke says he can fix it.

Looking - at another rainbow. With so much varied weather in March we have been looking at a lot of rainbows.

Disliking - Thursday. Had an oestoepath appointment and then a flat tyre. I couldn't get the spare off the back door of my Jimny and had to ring the nearest tyre place to come and rescue me. I was filthy by the time the guy arrived and he did it in 10 mins. He looked at my dusty clothes after I apologised for not changing it myself and said, "God loves a trier!"

Crocheting - with my youngest. She is making a crochet jumper for herself and I have been sewing in the ends.

Finishing - our community bunting. My girls, and a few peeps at the craft club I run, have been making bunting....loads of it. It has totally cleared up my scrap fabric pile which is a joy to me. My part was to attach it all to the tape.

Ta Dah!

Making - a start on those mini skeins by learning to fade. OK, so my first green fade wasn't great but the next purple to blue one is awesome. Always happy to learn something new.

Finally the view on our second smaller snowfall.

I am off to check out your blogs, I am more of a reader these days than a commenter but be assured I am still checking in. Jo xxxx

 

End of Winter

Am I right in assuming if you live in the UK you have had enough of Winter? I have. I always feel like this around the end of February or beginning of March because I like to get into my garden and greenhouse to plant some seeds and look forward to the growing season. We don't have lambing to deal with this year so I don't even have a distraction.

I have squeezed in another knit before the lighter nights when my evenings consist more of dog walking and gardening rather than sitting on my backside knitting. I always feel at my most unhealthy at this time of year.

This is a bit of an mash up wool wise but I wanted something to knit straight away. The pattern is a simple tank from Erika Knight which I picked up in Ippikin for £1. The yarn was in a sale bin in the same shop but there was not enough to make a single colour version.

Anyway that didn't stop me and I managed to get 4 grey and 3 purple to make a randomly striped one. The back is all grey and the front is worked in such a manner that the random stripes worked up until I ran out of grey. The yarn is an exceptionally smooth merino. It is called Adriafil Bucaneve. I had it for £2:50 a ball!

I managed to sort the flipping hem issue on this top because the pattern is structured so that you pick up the ribbing at the end rather than starting with it. I dyed my chewing gum grey white shirt purple but the jury is still out on whether this is a good combo.

My mind is definitely turning to warmer weather. I bought a pack of mini skeins last year at Wonderwool Wales - it was one of those pretty purchases that happens on a whim but the brain power needed to actually decide what to make with it almost outweighs the joy I had at the point of buying it. You can't help making these kinds of choices; you are a slave to them if you love wool. The pack was reduced from £44 to £10 - that is what did it!

Anyway, I sorted out my wool basket and found a few balls of Drops yarn in a neutral colourway and deciced to try my hand at some colour fading. The pattern I landed on was a simple summer vest from The Knitter magazine. Not sure how it is going to work out yet but you know me, I will just keep knitting. 

Are you ready to get outside? Jo xxx