Nurture…

A while back, I bought a collection of scented pelegoniums. Celia had tweeted about them and I couldn't resist. I was giddy on the success of the cuttings I had taken last year on my cutting garden course.




From three tiny bits of well established plants, I now have three fabulously healthy plants. One is in my conservatory and has loved the year-round warmth. It flowered in about March and I'm loving the scent that gets released whenever you brush past it. The ones in the garden have only been flowering the last couple of months.




The flowers are just delightful. The leaves smell of Turkish Delight. Seriously!




I digress. My plug plants duly arrived and I potted them on as instructed, tucking them in a sheltered spot so they could begin their journey into lovely healthy plants. Then I went away on holiday and that was the week when Britain got its summer and the mercury whizzed towards the 30° marker on the thermometer. Unfortunately, my sheltered spot went unnoticed by my Mum who was doing my watering and on my return my poor tiny plants looked as though they had reached the point of no return. I could have cried. First aid measures had to be acted upon so I decided to bring them all in to the conservatory and see if the constant warmth could do it's magic. I lost 3 out of the original 12.




Fast forward on four weeks and my careful nurturing and words of encouragement seem to be working. I have some delicate flowers on a couple…








…and lots of tiny new leaves on all but one of my charges.




You can read about Celia's success here and her quirky display, which I think looks fabulous and would love to have outside my back door.

Six weeks, six things...

• Oof! Time slipped away for a while there, as is its wont.  I went on holiday and loved having the Mediterranean outside my back door.

We wore our TeamGB bracelets with pride, although I have to confess that I was one of the few who wasn't glued to the box throughout the two weeks. I loved the Opening Ceremony, was slightly disappointed with the Closing Ceremony and got way too excited over the 10m platform diving events. I blame my sister. My niece and nephews are the diving stars in the family and it all got a bit contagious!

• My garden has been my obsession this summer and I am reaping the rewards of the many hours of pottering around out there. I think these mosaics give some idea of what's been happening. The colour is just glorious.

I've been unlucky again with Mr Fox but have just bought another small flock of hens. I cannot bear the garden without them; it just seems empty. They aren't quite used to me yet and tend to scarper as soon as approach but I spend a little time each day having a chat (as you do) and I know they will soon settle in. I'm thrilled to have finally got some that will (hopefully) lay me some blue eggs.

• My cutting patch is a complete success and I have had my own cut flowers around the house for over 3 months now. At one point, I counted 14 jars, jugs and vases in the house. Admittedly, some only had one stem in, but still! It feels very indulgent to have fresh flowers in my bedroom! I found this pretty coloured vase in the charity shop in my town centre this week - I love the way it highlights the pink flowers.

• I am looking forward to a small harvest of tomatoes again this year. Other than some herbs, they are the only edible crop I have grown. Apart from some golden cherry tomatoes which are in a hanging basket, the rest are in the greenhouse and are in desperate need of some sun to ripen them up. This is a black cherry variety.

• I have been lucky enough to have had a couple of days out over the summer too. A fruit-picking trip resulted in some yummy blackcurrant jam being made, a disaster in the red currant jelly area and a couple of bags of red and white currants in the freezer for later.

• Finally, the bad news. I have a prolapsed cervical disc and have been in agony for over four weeks now. I can't sew or knit or, well, do anything much really. Even the jam-making was tricky! For the last couple of days, I've been trying to get this post written as well as tidying up my blog (what do you think? better? worse?) but sitting at the computer isn't the best position and it makes my shoulders scream after a little while so I have to wander off and come back to it. I'm finding the hammock a comfortable place to be, so life is tolerable!

I am on a scary amount of pain-killers and am anxiously waiting to see my consultant again next Wednesday to decide on a plan of treatment. In the meantime, No2 has become proficient with the hoover and I am just taking it slowly. The hammock is calling ...

Brightening up my day...

Are you as bored of the grey as I am?

Shall I share with you what is brightening my day? In spite of it now being tucked away in my spare bedroom...

It began life way back in April with the making of my first block and had me all pleased with myself at the precision I had achieved. Only another 48 blocks to go then...

I showed a sneak peak back here when I was interrupted due to running out of fabric.


I had already found some vintage-like fabric in Ikea that I knew would be great on the back.

Then there was mention of my sore arms here, when I was about to machine-quilt it. There was also a fair bit of unpicking to be done because of some unwelcome puckering. Bah!

I used some brightly coloured voile from my stash for the binding (always one of my favourite bits of quilt-making, choosing the binding).

In an unexpected dry spell, I even managed to lay it out on the deck to get the, ahem, full-frontal shot.

May I present the making of My First Queen Size Quilt:

I'll be making a couple of pillow cases with the scrap and then I will do the full reveal in situ.  If these grey skies persist, that will happen some time soon because if they have brought anything positive at all, it is my sewing mojo firmly back in charge.

The beauty of wood...

Kew Gardens in July - Part Two

I'd been looking forward to seeing the David Nash sculptures in situ since we happened upon the set-up a couple of months ago.

I absolutely love the Ent-like nature of these branches striding through his wood quarry.

As imposing as the larger sculptures look outside in the gardens:

 I think they really come into their own inside the glasshouses, nestled in amongst the ferns and foliage:

Off the beaten track...

Kew Gardens in July - Part One

Isn't it always the way? In spite of having become a bit of a sporadic blogger, the minute my broadband goes down, my head gets full to bursting with blog posts. Five whole days we've been offline. It felt like going cold turkey and my eyes are strained from peering at my phone which gave me 3G to feed my internet addiction! The lack of xBox hasn't been pretty either for a certain someone. Just saying'...

All up and raring to go again as of a couple of hours ago - woohoo!

So, Nancy and I went to Kew on Monday determined to have a proper look at the wonderful David Nash sculptures, but more of that in Part Two.

I've been a member at Kew for just over two years now and I am pretty certain that on every visit I've made I have discovered myself in a part of the gardens that I have never been in before. This time, we found ourselves off the main paths and in a shady woodland area that was over by the badger sett. The paths were soft underfoot from the natural leaf mould rather than the tarmac paths that we usually walk.

It was hard to believe that we were in the carefully planted Kew that we both love and know. The area had been left to grow naturally and there were lots of tree stumps that were the habitat for stag beetles. It would have made my day had we spotted one.

As we strolled and chatted, we came across these stunning wild lilies. Using the wild flower identifier app on my phone, we soon discovered what they are: Martagon Lilies.

They were much smaller than cultivated lilies, probably about the size of a golf ball, but they had the distinct lily fragrance and the tell-tale pollen.

Further along the path, we then saw this pretty yellow wildflower trailing through the bigger bushes. Out came the app again and voila! Big Root!

It had some impressive tendril spiralling going on but I failed to capture it clearly so you'll have to take my word for it or ask Nancy nicely to post her photos ; )


Another little gem within Kew is this walled garden below. It's not always open but I was hoping it would be this time as I knew the borders would be breathtaking. I was right and came home full of big ideas for my own pesky back border. A girl can dream...

Right now...

• I am enjoying this tiny bit of sunshine we have had in the last couple of days and the way it make the colour of the flowers in the garden more intense.

• I am making room in my day for a little meditative knitting and my new shawl is coming on very nicely.

• I am reading this, as recommended by Nancy, and am loving it already and I'm only a couple of chapters in. It fits in beautifully with Sue's post about the very same subject.

• I am embracing new colours on my feet.

• I am machine-quilting my first queen-sized quilt. My arms are killing me.

• I am rewarding myself with jugfuls of daisies that have mysteriously appeared all over my front garden. Thank you Mother Nature.

On and off the sticks...

I find I enjoy knitting so much more in summer than I do in the colder months. Maybe because it is more portable and I can take it out in to the garden or sit in the conservatory where the light is so much better. I don't ever really knit anything substantial in size so I never need worry about heavy woollen WIP's draping over my lap.




This is LaLa's Simple Shawl and was my last challenge from when Kristina, Nancy and I last visited Kew together. We have decided to use our regular wanderings as a sort of mentoring session to encourage each other on projects or ideas that we are working on or ruminating over. It seems to be a successful way of ticking things off The List.





It looks quite generous draped over Mrs Jennings, my trusty model, but I really would've liked it a little bigger. I have worn it though, and it is just right for adding a little bit of warmth to these chilly days of so-called summer. The linen is soft and supple and I believe it will become butter-soft when I wash it.






As ever, there is another project lined up and this time I needed very little persuasion to purchase some Alice sock yarn. I don't think I have ever felt a yarn so beautifully soft. It is divine. After some deliberation over colour combinations, I went with this warm salmony coral colour paired with a natural cream. Bright summery colours that will give me that much needed yarn-y cuddle around my shoulders.

I seem to have a slight fixation with shawls at the moment and know I am not alone (you know who you all are!).





From tiny beginnings, come forth bigger and softer things. All details over on Ravelry.