Broken Fences and New Tracks

Oh it was a lovely day. 

I hesitate to call it the first day of spring .... you never know what`s coming next.

But when these beauties greet me in my own garden, 

I can`t help it.

 

After walking to and from the mobile library in glorious sunshine, we decided it was a day for the garden.

We loaded up the car with our old bedroom carpet which we had conveniently rolled up into useful lengths.

Later I was able to use it to cover ground that I`d weeded.

But we started off with moving the gooseberry bushes.

I was glad to be able to do the light digging, as I had twisted my knee last week, when I fell out of the apple tree at home....I`d climbed up to prune it. 

All of my weeding was done bending over however.

Now the  tortoise run can be enlarged.

Anne`s efforts with the rabbit tunnel have now been turfed with rough grass. They are going to love it.

 The new track through the barn is looking good, but I might start to feel a bit embarassed by the nettles that grow alongside in spring.

New ideas brewing here I think. 

One job that will need thinking about soon is our pallet fence at the entrance to the garden. It fell over in the gales 

and now needs an over-haul. 

Another area for a re-think, is our compost area.

After discussion, we decided to have a large dumping area as well as four heaps, using pallets, so we are actively looking for them.

Anne found us one straight away.

The pink pussy willow is in flower .... so delicate.

The pond is full and needs a trim here and there.

The brave rhubarb showing its red knubs.

Acid-yellow

spurge and daffodil buds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some shy violets.

I am well aware of the repetitious nature of this type of blog, but it is important to remind ourselves about the great joy we find in seeing those things for the first time each year.

If ever I don`t see the joy in them, it would probably be time for me to shed this mortal coil.

 When I got home I planted six pots of garlic.

But the sun disappeared for a while,+ so it was back to loft clearing.

Bunting Bonanza

I am on my annual stash busting quest.

I am one of those people who can`t bear to throw the smallest scrap of fabric away. I actually have four boxes of scraps!!

My first effort was with the mini-patchwork which I have already blogged.

My next project was bunting.

I have had a lot of fun choosing fabrics that match or clash as the case may be.

Here is the first stage .... fronts and linings.

The next stage is pinning the two pieces together.

And finally they are sewn onto ribbon or braid.

After the marathon of cutting out .... thank goodness 

for my trusty Fiskars ....  my stash had been reduced by quite a bit and I was ready for a change.

So it`s on to my felt.

As before I never throw a scrap away.

I saw this lovely idea on Pinterest.

I cut literally hundreds of strips of the same size and strung them on strong thread.

They will make garlands or hangings.

The very tiny pieces have been bagged up for local nurseries.

I shall be spending the rest of the evening making up the next three lots of bunting.

Oh, and the owl pockets were completed today.

January Bouquet

This is a blog entry to cheer myself up on this dark, wet, dismal January day and I hope it cheers you up as well.

This blog entry is for you Mary.

Scones and Raspberry Jam

What a strange January this has been so far ..... hardly any visits to the garden and not much work done in our own either.

But ... we have decorated one room in our house 

so that is great news.

If truth be told, it is the only time in the year that we would want to be indoors doing it. 

I`ve honed down my piano music collection and we.re trying hard to keep the room uncluttered.

Today we had a lovely walk at Rye Harbour .... a great place to visit if you stay at Freshwinds Camping. The bird life is amazing. 

We saw a seal swimming up the river gulley.

We think the seals hear our voices and they are curious enough to come up and have a good look round.

I am doing my annual fabric review.

The system I put in place a few years ago is still working well.

The fabric is folded into regular folds and is stored upright in lidded bins.

The scrap bins were rather full so I did some mini-patchwork.

Using old denim jeans, I made some small simple bags with a patchwork strip down one side.

 After I had cut the rectangles, there was quite a lot of pretty fabric left over so I made rather a pile of tiny hearts.

And even then there were useful pieces left so I cut tiny hearts to sew on various projects throughout the year.

The very tiny scraps go in a bag and they are taken to the local nurseries for children to use in collage work.

Bigger scraps are being made into bunting.

I began these 4 sets today.

 

Yesterday was such a miserable day, it seemed a good idea to make a batch of fruit scones so we lit the fire early and sat close by, scoffing scones and raspberry jam, reminding ourselves 

of summer days.