I have been busy – honestly!!

Well, here we are again!  Time to show you  some shots of our garden.  I have been spending quite a bit of time pottering around it and the flowers are now coming out a treat!

The strawberry pots are blooming and producing our first crop of strawberries.

The irises are very majestic and magnificent.

The foxgloves are home to the bumble bees.

The peony flowers are so big and blousey.

And the canterbury bells are the tallest I have ever seen them!

So  from pots…

to paths…

to rocky areas…

and golden birds…

to hooking!

The backs have been carefully sewn.

The flowers positioned and embellished.

But why so many brooches?

I am making them to raise some money for the Sun Shine School in Israel.  This is a small Christian school in the Arab area just outside Jerusalem.  The teachers have 59 children from 14 different nationalities all aged between 2 and 6 years.  The children are taught in English and are very bright and cheery, despite the physical size of the school.  It is in the ground floor flat of a small building.  The newest teacher has just graduated from Cambridge and she looks after 6 little 3 year olds in what was the stock cupboard!  If I had been living out there I would have helped in the school, but I am not, so all I can do to help is fund raise and that is what I am doing!  I am very grateful to Lucy of Attic 24, who has let me use her posy pattern.  Sun Shine goodies will soon be packaged and ready to go to their first venue.  Brooches, cards, note-lets, sewing kits and eventually a series of little books where a bear visits the sites of Israel!  Now where did that idea come from………??

The Grand Old Duke of..

Yes, we have been to York!  A few days in the sun shine, soaking up the heat (and a little bit of rain!) and relaxing with friends.  We have done this every year for the past 15 years – relaxing with friends that is – visiting different places as long as they are within 2 hours driving time.  It is good to get together for a laugh and a chat and some quality time.  So where did we go…

well into York and a visit to the Minster.  We stood here to watch a noisy, colourful short parade.

The National Railway Museum.  I liked the way the light was catching this very old engine.  Contrast it to the gleaming one beside it.

Then in the Shambles we met this colourful character…

and a window full of smiles!

Put them together and you have my favourite flower, a purple Pansy.

This one is reminds me of Georgia O’Keefe.

At the entrance to our camp site we oooooooooooooed and aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhed over these lovelies.

There must have been 6 or 7 foals.

I’m not really a horsey person, but you have to oooooo and aaaaaahhh, don’t you?!

The relaxation took the form of a magazine…

and lots of hooking…

Flowers in red, and

yellow and green, and

blue.

A primary colour spectrum.  Very satisfying!!

Relaxing!

I have had a few days relaxing at home with my Mum…  some quality time… some me time!  We have been chatting and hooking and sewing, and watching the Chelsea flower show. Dreaming  of beautiful gardens while looking out at a jungle!  If only it would stop raining long enough to dry the grass up so I can cut it!!!!

Flowers and bright colours have featured a lot.  The six little gnomes have been delivered to six little people.  Tiny hands clutching tiny bodies and having a cuddle.  I even spied one of the Mums stroking the yellow one while cuddling her little bundle of joy!  Shhhh!  Your secret is safe with me!! and you, of course!  But you want to see some pictures of the highs.

Close ups of long standing favourites.

Unusual seed heads.  Interspersed with fun and laughter from Joe and Alan!

Methodical rippling.  Watching the hook going in and out.  Very therapeutic!  I am about half way now.

Browsing and oohing and ahhing at the beautiful things inside. Flowers again!

I have sooO many ideas for No.4, but sooO little time to make them happen at the moment,  But I will!

I just love these storage boxes.

Like I love these buttons.  I have been looking for these for ages.  Sadly Mr Heath didn’t have a full range, but I will keep my eyes open when we visit York soon!

Then Lucy of Attic24 said ‘Yes’!!  I was thrilled when she agreed to my using her posy pattern for a very important project.  One that is close to my heart at the moment.  (More of that later).  So last night I started..

and finished up with 18 tiny little florets!  Thank you Lucy, you are a gem!

Catching breath!!

That’s the only thing when you have been away, it is difficult to find the time to catch your breath when there is washing and ironing, cleaning and dusting, sorting and tidying to be done!   It is now a week since we arrived home and I am still washing and ironing, cleaning and dusting, sorting and tidying!!  Trying to make the time to sit and craft has been  - well – impossible!  So what have I been doing in my spare time? LOL!!  Sunday I walked around the garden.  Another area for me to sort and tidy – but no. Look…

The Jacobs Ladder has appeared.  I love the little droplets.

The Piris is just as delicate…

and the white Clematis is full of blossom..

Four pots of green…

a hosta..

strawberries..

a fern and geraniums beginning to grow.

A change of colour..

a pink Hebe and then..

purple Borage and Rosemary too..

And I have no idea what I planted in this pot, but it is very unusual!

The crafting?  Well my 86 year old Mum has been knitting and hooking on my behalf.  A duck..

and two little chicks for my Easter box.

Thank you Mum!

Sharing!

Over the past few weeks my blog buddies(!) have been sharing their photos of Amaryllises (or is that Amaryllisi??).  The courtyard pots at Christ Church in Jerusalem are full of these beautiful blooms.

They are very delicate, with the stems being slightly thinner, but they bloom in abundance outside.

This pot was my favourite. Each stem had three or four blooms.  Can you see how the managers have put in a small palm?

From now on I shall plant more than one in a pot and see what happens!

Phew!

We have had  a busy weekend in the sunshine, visiting Chatsworth House with my very special people!!  We have been to Chatsworth quite a few times, and each time we visit I latch onto some new angle.  This time it was the curtain tassels and the patterns around the home.  But the gardens were also captured, as too were the views across the park land.  In fact there was so much I wanted to photo that the batteries in my camera ran out!!  Again!! Never mind, I have lots to play around with and  develop further.  Things that I want to sew and crochet and stitch and draw and expand and generally have fun with, but that is for later installments!!  Today is sneak preview day, so….

greetings from Chatsworth!

Basking in the sun…

to cooling our feet!

Viewed near….

and afar.

From the sumptuous…

to the ordinary.

Breath taking beauty…

to geometric wonder.

I could go on, but this is a sneak preview so you will have to wait!!

However, seeing as it is still Easter week I couldn’t resist this little wonder from their Easter Egg Hunt set amongst the china!

Treats.

Today has been a day of treats!  Beautiful, colourful goodies!  It started with this….

a little bundle, followed on by this..

little bundle!  They went up to be….

and…

They will hopefully bloom until the end of May and bring a bit of happiness!

But then I spotted this bundle of colour.

Not quite the stripes I was looking for but they will still make me smile!

But this makes me grin!!

Purple gardening gloves!!

Purple patches.

I was stood looking out of the window yesterday when I got the call!  The flowers in the garden are really coming together now and a lot of them are purple!!  Now you know how I love purple and these little beauties were shouting ‘take me, take me!’  Not literally but pictorially.  So I gave in and with my camera in my hand I ventured out into the cold stiff breeze.  If anyone saw me they would think I was mad.  It was really blowing a gale, but between the gusts these pictures emerged.  I hope you like them!

I love the way the grape hyacinth poke their heads between the dense foliage.

These little clumps are everywhere.  Completely wild but oh so pretty!

This photo doesn’t do  this little polyanthus justice.  The flower is a really deep purple.

All the flowers on this hyacinth have not come out, but I rather like the fact that it looks like blue bells.

The aubretia deorates the edge of the rockery.  I love the way it cascades like little rivulets between the rocks.

And lastly the peirwinkle.  The gust caught me out with this one!!

“And so I tell you not to worry….. Look at the birds flying around: they do not sow seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them!  Aren’t you worth much more than birds?  Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?

And why worry about clothes?  Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves.  But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers.”  Matthew 6. v26 – 29

Yes,  God is good!

Inside, outside.

We have had a beautiful weekend with the sun shining and the garden really blossoming.  It has been a weekend for being inside and outside.  We have decided to grow some fruit this year.  The rhubarb is well accustomed to our garden and grows a good crop.  The first sticks are nearly ready to pull

and the new sticks are budding underneath the leaves.

I love the crinkles on the brand new leaves!  Look how shiny the stalk is!

Something else that is shiny in the garden are our brand new strawberry pots.  ’A’ carefully set the plants around the holes and we wait for the plants to fill out.  We are told that the first lot of flowers need to be taken off so there will probably be no fruit this year!  But we can dreammmmmmm!

It was good to work together in the garden. ‘ A’ gave the lawn its first cut, while I hoed the boarders, which brings me to our last fruit – blackberries.  I have planted one cane but the area for the other one needs digging out, so that will be a nice job for ‘A’ perhaps next weekend!

Inside, the house plants and flowers needed some tender loving care.  The tulips are now at the stage when I need to decide, ‘does it stay or does it go?’  The yellow ones are open fully and at that papery stage, but I can’t take them out yet.  I just love the shapes they make with the pointed leaves.

The conservatory plants are beginning to spring into life.    The room faces north east so gets the early morning sunshine and it is a place I like to take my coffee and relax.

Can you see the tiny new leaves coming?

Phew!  The time came to sit down and relax with a film and my hook and wool.

Oh this was a beautiful flim.  It made me laugh.  It made me cry.  I just love Morgan Freeman.  I love his voice.  I love his stature .  I love the underplay of his lines.  He has a presence that is both elegant and imposing, but truely calming.  And while I watched  I hooked.

It grew and grew,

and then grew some more!

What is it?  Well that would be telling, but I do love this bit!!

A Bunch of Thank Yous!

The simple act of giving a bunch of flowers can say and mean such a lot, and Saturday I received the most gorgeous bunch of tulips and freesias.  And while they were a thank you for the invitation, I can give them back to J and J in a list of thank yous!

As I looked at them this morning they said ‘thank you for friends’

‘thank you for the shared laughter’

‘thank you for the shared moments’

‘thank you for the colour and smell….mmmmm’

‘thank you for brightening up this dreary Monday morning’

And now I have spread that ‘thank you’ around the house so I can see it wherever I am.

Coming down the stairs….

as I walk into the lounge….

and as I sit relaxing with my crocheting.

So what am I crocheting?  Well my bag is complete and my Ripple rests within it!

But in contrast to this..

I have these vibrant stripes ready for a new quilt top.  So another ‘thank you for the inspiration’.

So many thank yous from one bunch of flowers!