A December Day

It is not cold here in the UK but it is wet and muddy. Entering the garden is somewhat squelchy, especially through the entrance.

No sunshine but not to wet to work.

I spent my time cutting back perenniel growth in the middle flower bed. The rampant watermint was easy to pull out. I love it and so do the bees but it has to be kept in control. The roots do not go on the compost heap so they go in the brown bin to be taken away. It will spread and root anywhere.

My next job was to take out the smaller weeds round the new lavender hedge. Steve had removed big ones. I used my brilliant new tool from Temu.

It deals with deep rooted things such as fennel which sometimes grows where its not needed.

I am happy with the lavender after its first year.

Steve continued to work on the last compost heap. The sides, made of old pallets, collapsed. The fence at the back needs a bit of work, possibly replacing. It is just posts and wire. We have been wondering about another dead hedge.

Steve spotted these bulbs sprouting on the compost so I potted them up. I think they may have been discarded accidently when we emptied a pot. 

My last job was to strip the dead strap-like leaves from the yucca, watching my eyes with the sharp points.

We harvested what we think may be the last carrots. Not too happy with the sprouts. They look awful. No photos.

 

It is very hard to get a decent photo of this winter honeysuckle but the perfume is divine.

For those of you who visit in the summer, some very different views of the garden today.

 

 

And I had an opportunist close by most of the morning.

 

 

 

Nine Eager Wreathers

I was awake at 4 a.m listening to the wind blowing a hooley, rain beating on the window and wondering what it would be like in the Valley View yurt. But I need not have worried. The rain eased off, the sun tried to come out and the yurt was warm and welcoming with fairy lights and the heating on.

Paula and I waded through the very wet garden to collect fir and willow wreaths from the polytunnel. Then we spread everything out and everyone began to arrive. We were 9 eager wreathers raring to go. 

The table was loaded down with all sorts .... fir, holly picked from the farmyard, bay from the garden, a basket of goodies from Fran which included contorted hazel, and eucalyptus gunni from Jane.

There was plenty to choose from.

To start with we covered our willow rings with a base layer of a type of Leylandii, wired on. After that we bunched up different greenery into small contrasting sprays and attached to the rings in an overlapping ring. This gave our wreaths a more loose and open look.

When you use this method, a good test of the stability of the wreath is to lift it and see what stays in place. You might find at this stage that extra invisible wiring could be needed.

 

Donald made his first appearance at wreath making and was duly handed round. Sorry to say I missed out but I was trying to complete two wreaths.
 

Donald is a very special baby born at 30 weeks. His birthday should be 26th. December!!

He wasn`t too happy to be the centre of attention.

And just wanted to be with his mum Hollie.

 

When most wreaths were greened up, we had a break for soup made by Jan and Julie.

 

Yummy.

Followed up by mince pies (Paula) fruit bread (Fran) and gingerbread biscuits from Finland (Lizzie)

Also yummy.
 

Then the tables were loaded down with all the fripperies, ribbons, baubles, pine cones.

Interestingly most people were happy with a very natural look.

Here are the results. An incredible range of beautiful wreaths.

 

This is Julie`s first wreath .... amazing.

Fran, Donald, Jan and Julie.

Jane

 

Paula. 

Me 

 

Fran

The tidying up was quick with lots of us helping.

Spot the difference.

 

 

Hope all these fab wreaths are up on doors and gates.

Well done all.

Happiness and Knitted Toys

I was busy making tiny crochet teddies, when I was reminded of a most enduring memory, which is, I believe the start of my long crafting journey.

It is a wet afternoon back in the 1950`s. The fire is lit. We three girls are involved with our own pursuits such as drawing, probably on the backs of old birthday cards, colouring, playing with toys. Mum is sitting in her armchair knitting. At some point in this restful afternoon a little toy dog is completed by her and she gives it to us. I am enthralled. Here is a toy made entirely by her. 

It is a very clear memory of happiness, homeliness and cosiness and I believe it is the reason I love making toys for children.

This is a similar design. Very simple yet effective.

Here is that armchair with Mum and us three girls at about this time. In the background is my very first piano.

(Incidently this photo was taken by my Aunty Pauline using the first flashbulbs we had ever seen. Up til then it had been very difficult to take photos indoors unless you were near a window.)

And going back to the use of cards for drawing ... we were always desperate for more paper. In those days greeting cards were folded into four and it was possible to open them right out for extra blank paper. Dad sometimes brought home old used carbon papers which were fascinating to us. We used them to make double drawings. Cereal packets were a great source of card and often had masks or puppets printed on them. The hard toilet paper was used for tracing. Oh we were most ingenius with our crafting. Glue was made out of flour and water but it sometimes `went off.` We also used a bought glue called Gloy but when it ran out we resorted to the flour mix. 

When I see the craft items that are available for children today, I am in wonder at the choice .... pipecleaners, lolly sticks, glues of all kinds, bottles of paint, glitter, gems, feathers. We would have been in seventh heaven. When I go into The Works or Hobbycraft, I am a child again.

But I think we managed very well with what we had. 

Here are those two tiny crochet teds mentioned at the beginning of my post, for my great niece Hollie.

Baubles, Teds and Stockings

Anyone who crafts, knows that for Christmas projects we have to start early. It only seems a short while ago that I didn`t want to even think about Christmas, but now here we are in the midst of these early preparations.

On Thursday this week we are doing the Five Villages Xmas Fair. So I am looking forward to this as my friend lives there and I know other people who live there too. It is a nice cosy, friendly venue with a good Xmas vibe. 

I have been busy with my Xmas makes. I started pretty early with some clay stars. This is self-drying clay. It was grey and I had to give it several coats of white paint. I had no idea how I would finish them and to be honest I found them a bit boring until I wound the glittery thread around the points. Then I was happy.

 

I am always keen to use up my tiny scraps of Xmas fabric and so I made some patchwork lavender bags. Something I like to do every year.

 

These baubles have been made in two halves with a plastic ball in the centre. I debated whether to add any glittery  thread  .... in the end I decided they worked well without.

These tiny teds were inspired by the lovely wool. Such a joy to use in crochet. An arm tube of 5 stitches is just about on the limit of what I can tackle.

For the school Xmas fair, I have made stockings which we usually fill with all kinds of bits and pieces.
 

And I experimented with Grinch stockings.

And Grinch decorations.

The worry worms always go down well.

 

And some gnomes made from recycled childrens` pyjamas.

And finally some mini-wreaths made from a climbing shrub in our garden called akebia or chocolate vine, because of the  amazing smell of the flowers. Steve pruned it and suggested I could use them for the wreaths. They are not flexible enough to make the points of stars but are perfect for rings. 

After coming in early from the garden, lighting the fire and plonking myself right in front, I spent a happy hour with that last project.

We had the first frost today. The remaining dahlias were black. They are now all cut down and covered over.

Fiery Spires and Christmas Trees

The garden has changed. Its decidedly wintry. Its wet and its muddy.

 It was so quiet that we could hear the footballers in the next village of Icklesham.

But the biggest surprise awaited us.

What triggers a corm to decide to flower now. Amazing.

There is some colder weather coming so with that in mind I wanted to get the dahlias prepared.

They were looking very sorry for themselves.

 

But I did pick what I think, has to be the very last bunch.

The flowers are very pale in comparison to earlier in the season ... running out of steam .

I only managed one bed. There was an incredible amount of top growth. I was glad that we had empty compost heaps.

For those of you who follow this blog, you might remember that for the past few years we have left the tubers in the ground.  They were getting so big that I couldn`t lift them without assistance. And then one year after storing them in the polytunnel, we lifted the covers to reveal ..... well absolutely nothing left. Who knows what ate them all!

After cutting them down and clearing the surrounding surfaces, we covered them in carpet, held down by fence pieces and bricks. This has always worked in the past.
 

I still have the bed behind to do. And a few patches elsewhere in the garden. The frost will be here this week.

Steve harvested the very last peppers. The crops have been fantastic.

 

My last job was to clear half of this path, matted with Michaelnus daisies.

Paula also joined us and cleared quite a few dahlias herself.

Elsewhere round the garden there is some very interesting fungi appearing.

 

I`m not very good at identifying them.

My brother`s little potted Christmas tree has been well looked after by Steve who has watered it all summer. We have decided it needs to be repotted before it goes indoors.

 

And may I just leave you with this .... such a special sight in mid-November.

 

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