Finished Projects

Before I begin, I'd just like to say a big 'thank you' to everyone for your lovely, positive comments about my shed.  I must admit I do keep pinching myself to check that it's real and I keep popping out there to pootle about, finding it hard to drag myself back indoors again.
B and J have been home for Easter but are going back for their summer terms now. I've been back at work this week, so it spurred me on to finish a couple of projects which have been hanging around for a while. Both are for J who, you will recall, started at university this year. I'd planned to have both things ready for him to take with him when he started, but for various reasons I've been really slow in getting them done. At least I've finished them before the end of his first year!

The first was relatively quick to make and it was the first thing I've made in my shed on my sewing machine, as I've never had electricity out there before.

Here it is, a cushion for his student room. He is a bit of a scientist, so I found this lovely insect-covered fabric and made it into an envelope-style cushion cover with a Velcro fastening at the back.



A bigger project is his crocheted blanket - yes, I have actually finished it! It's taken me months and I'm not sure why. Lots of smaller projects have come and gone while I've been doing it and there have been whole weeks at a time when I didn't even pick it up, but I worked hard on it darning in ends this weekend, and here it is.

I used 13 colours of acrylic yarn crocheted in 49 granny squares which consisted of 6 rounds each.

When I'd crocheted them together I added a border of 7 rows of double crochet. I kept it fairly plain without any fancy edges because that's how J wanted it.

It's not a huge blanket, more of a throw really, a good size for picnics and keeping warm under on cooler days.

And of course the obligatory washing-line shot. Hooray! I'm so glad I've finished it!

I even made him a pen pot to match - it's a tin can covered in a snug-fitting sleeve of double crochet rows. I made sure that there are no sharp edges, of course.

While I'm at it, I thought I'd show you the one I made for B when she started at university almost 3 years ago. I was far more organised then and actually finished it before she went., so she was able to take it with her.

It's similar in size, but consists of 36 larger squares with 7 rounds each and a granny-stripe border.

I also made her some lacy bunting from net curtain fabric, some fabric-covered pen-pots, a fabric bag and some lavender bags. Please excuse the rather dark photos!

D's only just started her GCSEs but with my recent track-record I'm wondering if I should start her blanket fairly soon? No, I think I'll take a break from bigger projects for a while. My next project is a present for a friend who's going on maternity leave. I'll show you what I've made after I've given it to her. Better get on with it now - see you soon!

A Spring Walk

Today was another warm, sunny, blue-skied day - hazy at times but absolutely glorious. J and I had planned to go for a walk today as he will be heading back to university before long and I am back at work next week (sigh), so we pulled on our walking boots and headed out into the deliciously warm air. Our walk took us along the local network of cycle paths which are criss-crossed by lots of smaller footpaths. J knows these paths very well from cycling out and about with his friends over the years, so I let him decide where we went.

I'm always surprised at the speed with which everything starts to grow at this time of year. The greenery everywhere is quite astounding in its, well, green-ness. I love new hawthorn leaves for their freshness and the pretty shape of their leaves. My dad (who will be 90 this month) tells me that when he was a child he and his friends would eat the new leaves straight from the tree and knew them as 'bread and cheese'.

All around us the trees were in bud and starting to turn quite green.

A little way from the path I saw these lovely cowslips, and was reminded of cowslip wine. I must try it some time ...I wonder if it tastes very flowery?

As we walked I looked out for violets, as I've seen that some other bloggers have spotted some already. Just as I was beginning to give up I spotted a patch of delicate little white violets.

I walked along here at the beginning of March and photographed it in this post. It's certainly looking greener now.

These incredibly sunshiney daffodils caught my eye, and made me smile.

They looked like an Easter card - only some lambs/chicks/bunnies were missing from this scene.

The cycle path took us into the centre of a little town and we stopped for a lunch of toasted sandwiches at a coffee shop. After a coffee each we headed back again along the cycle track, but soon took a detour up a grassy hill.

Once at the top of the field, we carried on climbing up this enchanting little path lined on either side by incredibly bright celandines.

 They looked as if they'd been sprinkled there - Wordsworth thought them 'bright as the sun himself'. I love their reflective, waxy petals.

At the top of the hill we walked between wide green fields, and I felt very happy indeed to be out on such a lovely day. Above our heads skylarks were flying and we were surrounded by their sweet, warbling song. Their singing was continuous as we walked and we strained to see them above us. Eventually J spotted one - a tiny brown bird rising into the blue high above our heads.

Beautiful views appeared through every gate and opening.

In the hedgerows nettles were beginning to flower, attracting lots of butterflies none of which stayed still long enough for me to photograph.

The blue sky deepened as the afternoon wore on, a fabulous azure with a few wispy white clouds.

 

We passed a house and growing in the verge was this amazing double daffodil. I stooped to take a photo and caught the sun as it shone through its petals.

On up the hill we went, and looking out across the fields and town I realised we'd reached quite a vantage point.

Soon it was time to turn towards home down a long, steep footpath. J told me that he had once found a lost cow down here!

After a stop for an ice lolly we headed through a very familiar stile and up steps we've walked up many times. When we got home J worked out that we'd been on a 5.6 mile walk. 

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We'd had a wonderfully amiable day together walking and chatting, but also looking around us and listening to the sights and sounds of spring. A day I'll treasure for a long time.

My Creative Space

Hello again! I've been very excited at the prospect of making this post as it's about something dear to my heart which I've never mentioned before - my shed. It's popped up in the background of many of my garden photos over the last year. Here it is last May looking jaunty and blue in the sunshine, bunting gaily hanging along its windows. What you can't see and what I didn't mention is that inside it was a rather different story. I'll explain...

I used to make and sell jewellery and textile items at occasional craft fairs and online. All my craft equipment was stored in rooms around the house (mainly our bedroom and the dining room) and I when I wanted to make something I got everything out onto the dining-table and then cleared it away before we ate meals. With three children/teenagers in a busy house it wasn't ideal and I longed for a space of my own where I could keep and leave everything out without having to pack and unpack. 

The idea gradually came about that I would have a shed in the garden, a place where I could store my things and have everything to hand when I needed it. So we bought a shed with windows and a workbench along one side, tucked away in a corner of the garden that had been a rather dark patio behind the garage. I painted the walls bright blue, added some unused shelves, an old chest-of-drawers and a couple of chairs. I hung up bunting and had a lovely summer sitting in my little creative space making things (sadly no photos exist of it back then as it never occurred to me to take any!). However, as autumn arrived the shed became cooler and damper, so we decided to move some things back indoors - it would have to be a summer work space.

When the spring came I moved my things back in but after some stormy weather, water started to drip from the ceiling. Over time my shed became a mildewy, damp and leaky storage area and reluctantly we had to put it 'on hold'. With three youngsters growing up fast, it had become a low priority. However, this month we have finally had my shed repaired, re-roofed, vented and insulated. We've also had electricity put in, and a little heater which will help to reduce condensation. Here it is after all the repairs and insulation, dry at last!

You can see my tins of paint lined up, ready to be used.

I couldn't wait to get some colour on the walls and three coats of paint later I'm very happy with the result - a lovely pale blue. The colour's called 'Sky', and I find it so uplifting; definitely a happy colour for me. It's a much lighter shade than the one I originally painted it, and I think that most things go with it. I also found a carpet off-cut which we've had for a while and I tacked it into place, cutting it to fit.

I moved the shelves, chest-of-drawers and chairs back into place. Then bit by bit I carried everything back in again from the four corners of our house. The weather has been wonderful this week with warm sunshine and very blue skies, and it's been a pleasure to be out in the garden working on my shed transformation. At long last it's ready to use. Without further ado, here it is - ta dah! 

I am delighted to have my creative space back again and am so, so pleased that everything is in one place. I do feel very lucky indeed. I took these photos this morning in wonderfully warm sunshine, and have put up a swooshy, dangly door-curtain which keeps out bees and other flying visitors. The shelves now house my craft materials and equipment, and on the wall is a home-made gingham notice-board.

Below you can see Miss Blossom, my dress-maker's mannequin who used to display my crocheted brooches at craft fairs. I named her after Cassandra's mannequin in I Capture the Castle, my favourite novel.

The view from the window takes in the garden and bird feeders hanging on the cherry tree.

Here it is against that halcyon sky - what a perfect day! It makes me very happy to think that my shed is back in working order and that the spring and summer still lie ahead. I can't wait to sit out there with a nice cup of tea, pootling about and being creative.

Clover certainly seems to approve.

 I hope you've had the chance to enjoy some sunshine and find some creative space of your own this week x

Happy Easter!

Just dropping by to say 'Happy Easter' to you. I hope that you're enjoying some spring sunshine,

 seasonal flowers,

oh, and not forgetting the chocolate of course!

Hope you find the time to do some relaxing too x

A Good Friday Afternoon Out

Today is a Bank Holiday, and we had planned to have a lovely day out - the seaside perhaps or somewhere a bit further afield. However, we were all more tired than we thought and had a lie-in this morning. One peek out of the windows told us that it was not the sunshiny day we'd been hoping for, oh no. Very grey skies and drizzle greeted us and we knew that we needed to adapt our plans. B and D were busy so that left P, J and I - so we decided to use our National Trust membership again to go to one of our old haunts, Stourhead.

It's not too far from here and we've been many times since the children were little. Although the house itself is well worth a visit, it's the garden that we always head for as it's a fabulous 18th-century landscape garden with a lake, grotto, temples, and all sorts of interesting features. We arrived in time to have a late lunch in the lovely cafe there, and then headed off into the garden. As you can see, it was a pretty gloomy afternoon.

As always, my attention was instantly drawn to any flowers which I could find, and I wasn't disappointed - just look at all of these primroses.

They're such sweet little plants, neat and cheerful with their nodding pale yellow flowers and soft green leaves. They really make me smile!

These gorgeous dark hellebores called me to them.

I bent and lifted the flowers and marvelled at their deep, rich colour. I really must get a dark one for our garden one day!

In spring the gardens at Stourhead are full of rhododendrons, and despite the low light levels they were very bright today. I'm not a huge fan of them but really did enjoy their exuberance.

These pale sugar-pink ones are delicate and frilly.

And these red ones instantly reminded me of the 'fifty-foot-high' rhododendrons in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca:

'on either side of us was a wall of colour, blood red, reaching far above our heads... they started me with their crimson faces, massed one upon the other in incredible red, luscious and fantastic'. 

In the novel they are sinister and intimidating, but on this almost monochrome day I welcomed their intensity.

What a shot of colour on a dull, wet day!

I spotted this gorgeous delicately striped camelia, so well set off by its glossy green leaves.

Around the next bend a wonderful view of the lake came into view with one of the estate's temples high on the hill and a lovely magnolia in bloom below us.

A sugary pink magnolia was growing nearby next to a red rhodoendron.

A more delicate relative of the rhododendron, this azalea looked more graceful than its cousin, and was a very pretty shade of pink.

 Compared with all of that bright colour, this pure white magnolia looked very striking. When I see magnolias I'm always reminded that they are apparently pollinated by beetles - not sure why I remember that fact.

By now the rain was coming down in quite a heavy drizzle and it was pretty squelchy underfoot (by the way I don't have mismatched walking boots - one of our youngsters borrowed them for a Duke of Edinburgh expedition a few years ago and as a result one boot ended up very faded!).

Looking across the lake, the rain fell harder and the colours of the landscape became more subdued.

I never fail to enjoy the elegance of this view, but we enjoyed it fairly quickly because it was definitely time to walk back. I'll show you the rest of the lake and gardens another time on a drier day.

As we walked back up the hill we passed some sheep and were enchanted by two lambs. They were doing that thing that lambs do, gamboling and springing around - it really was very sweet indeed.

As you know, I'm not great at capturing photos of wildlife but I had to include a couple of fuzzy close-ups of the lambs - aaaah!

Afterwards we went home and dried off, finishing the day with hot cross buns for tea. I would show you a photo, but they were eaten fairly quickly! Hope you had a good Good Friday too x