Acorn Caps and Scrappy Bits

Christmas is over. I enjoyed it all ... from all the preparation, all the crafting and all the very lovely family days.

Now I am well into the usual decluttering and reassessment of my fabrics and crafts. The only trouble with this is, that I get a hundred and one ideas about using stuff up. In February of 2024, my craft room was created. My promise to myself for 2025 was to really hone down my fabric stash. This is not easy but I gave myself a few rules and it seems to have worked. I took all the fabric folds out and for each one I asked myself did I like it and what would I use it for.  

The scrappy bits got used up first. I went through them all and cut out squares about 10 cm. There were enough to make a mini-quilt but this is still being created so photos will come later.

Next I cut out oblongs .... half a post-it note. These I sewed together in strips of 30, separating into dark and light.

 

After pressing I cut them right down the middle and top and tailed them.

I am making these into shoulder bags. More later.

I have had a great deal of flesh coloured felt off-cuts for years and I thought it was about time to use it up.

So I cut out 10 pigs. I ran out of bubble gum coloured felt so I had to wait to finish until I could buy some. Still loads left!!!

 I also used a lot of felt scraps for these bright flowers. I think they need faces. 

After going through my box labelled MODELS, I found a lot of discoloured paper balls so I painted them in a flesh colour, after initially thinking of throwing them out. I`m glad I didn`t. There were a lot.

So into my head comes the idea of wool-wound fairies. Here they are .... all 27.

They have bendy limbs and acorn hats.

I loved making these.

These little drawstring bags are made from recycled baby clothes. Small and soft.
 

 Then there are the inevitable fingerless mittens in quite thick wool. Looks like we might be needing them because its snowing.

 

I always have a few tiny teds on the go.

 

My favourite because it is so small.

Interestingly the one on the right is knitted ... not keen on the pattern.
 

And finally, bunting made from old trousers and dresses, all stretchy fabric so I sandwiched cotton in between.

 

 So far a very productive January. The weather has been foul so plenty of afternoons near the fire.

 

 

2024 REVIEW Part 2

 July

By July the craft trolley was going great guns. The children camping and yurting, love the little toys.

The garden was in full flow ....... so lovely to see in the dull days of this wintertime.

The towering hollyhocks were particularly good. And many more new ones are planted for 2025.
 

Harvesting continued but all in all, our tomato crop was well down on previous years.

August

The flowerbeds were bursting with colour. The roses were very good.

Harvesting continued.

September

September gave us glorious blue skies.

We made a start on the over-flowing compost heaps. It was quite a job.

The sunflowers went on endlessly, enough for vases and vases at home. 

October

The peppers and aubergines also went on and on, a real bonus for us as one of our favourite meals  is ..... stuffed peppers.

And we were still picking lovely bunches of dahlias. There were enough for the autumn coffee mornings.

November

In November I made a start on the barn path which has been like a jungle all summer. It is already sprinkled with germinating seedlings.

Boogie Woogie was a total star. I cannot begin to count the number of flowers it has borne.

We began pruning the willow and I started the willow rings in preparation for the wreath making workshop.

There were many delightfully warm days in November.

Eventually we had to harvest the contents of the polytunnel.

 We cut back all the dahlias and covered them over with carpet and held it down with old fencing. This year all of the garden dahlias have been left in the ground after last years disaster when we tried to store them.

December

The wreath making day was brilliant .... lots of fun, lovely goodies, plenty of laughs. And beautiful wreaths made.

The very same evening over £500 was raised for Farm Africa at Carols in the Barn.

And finally a lovely late afternoon carriage drive, not without some drama.

The last day of 2024 has arrived. We spent the morning at the garden clearing the polytunnel and wondering what 2025 will bring.

More of the same I hope.

Best wishes from us, to all of you who read this blog and a very happy new year.

 

 

2024 REVIEW Part 1

My review is going to be heavy on the photos. 

Looking back I can see that in the first half of the year we made quite a few changes around the garden and in the second part there only seems to be time for maintaining and reaping the rewards. 

It was a good year and we enjoyed 105 visits. We had two great yurting weekends with different family members. The Fairy and Dinosaur day, Carols in the Barn and wreath making days were all immensely enjoyed by lots of different people.                        The garden gives us a lot of pleasure and hopefully many other people enjoy it as much as we do.   

January  

Mabel got a make-over and one of the pear trees had to come out due to a poor root system which left it rocking and looking very unhealthy.

                                             February 

Tim brought us a lovely load of well-rotted manure and we also got a huge pile of chippings from tree work around the farm. Both most welcome.

I made a new set of pockets for the polytunnel.

March

I redid the fairy garden layout. It had become very over-grown.

We created a brand-new Gandalf.

A new set of elves for the fernery.

And the separate gnome garden was set up.

April

 

Just a beautiful April teabreak.

 

We used water and lemonade bottles to protect new seedlings and it proved very successful. 

May

The nine beautiful baby guinea pigs moved into their orchard home.

The woodland shower curtain blended nicely into the background.

The fairy garden was in full bloom.

June

The cob shed had its Hobbit door repaired. It nearly blew off in winter gales.

 

And here ends the first part of Freshwinds Garden review.