Freesias

My lovely next-door neighbour gave me some freesias.

So generous, so thoughtful.

They make me smile and I feel so grateful to have such a good friend.

The Yellow Phase

It's lovely and sunny - gorgeous blue skies - but still horribly cold.


At the moment the garden is in its yellow phase - soon it will be the blue phase when the bluebells come out - but at the moment yellow dominates.  Such a jolly scene, I had to take pictures.

Even the weeds are yellow!

Whilst taking these pictures and trying to be artistic! I was visited by the neighbourhood cat (known in our household as 'Demon Cat') so I thought I'd take some photos of the demon - the cat had other ideas!

Oops, missed!

Not quite!

Nearly!

Not the best angle!

Finally a picture I can publish.

And then, having had sufficient cuddles, it's off home

- and back into the warm house for me.

Gardening - If I Must

Gardening is one of those jobs I never look forward to doing, but once I'm out there I quite enjoy it.  With the changeable weather we have here in the UK, it's easy to find an excuse not to do it - it's too cold, it's too windy, it's raining!

Lately we have had glorious sunshine and it's been hot.  Too hot to do any gardening!

I'm waiting for the Goldilocks zone when it's not too hot and it's not too cold!

In an attempt to add some colour to the garden I bought some summer plants.

Obviously they needed potting up and I had put it off as long as I could.

Finally I made an effort (even though it's still too hot to garden) and completed the task.

Always a satisfying feeling when it's done.

Looking around the garden, it's not too bad - there are some colourful bits, although I think they are mostly a result of self-seeding rather than any effort on my part.

foxgloves

columbine

more columbine

yellow flowers!

purple flowers!

So long as they look pretty and don't require too much effort, I'm not bothered what comes up in the garden.

Sunny Coaster

Having made a little coaster for Eve, I couldn't resist making one for me.

It makes me feel sunny and happy and it looks good on my table.

The pattern is available free, here.  It's by Lis Chaong and it's so quick to make.

It would look really effective in many different colour combinations.  I may make some more.

I hope you all have a lovely sunny weekend.

Spring Blossom

On my early morning walk today, I noticed for the first time that the blossom on the trees was out. 

I'm sure it wasn't there yesterday

The Birthday Continues

I've just got back from a lovely weekend away with my DH as part of my birthday celebrations. We went to Conwy in North Wales. We visited the castle and walked around the town walls and enjoyed some lovely pubs. If you ever go to Conwy, I'd recommend the George and Dragon pub for its extremely friendly staff and great food - the homemade chips were delicious.

Here's some photos - but the cold damp weather doesn't show Conwy at its best.

For my birthday I like to give little gifts for my little darlings. This year I made my jolly little goody bags and filled them with surprises.

The bags were made with double knitting weight yarn. I added hearts to the ends of the ties for extra decoration. I used the pattern from my Sweetheart earrings but used double knitting yarn instead of thread weight yarn.

To add to our growing collection of woolly wall decorations I made 12 crocheted butterflies.

I originally planned on making 50 for my 50th birthday - but the other 38 will have to wait for another time.

These are based on the pattern by Lisa Hamblin, which is available free here. It's nice and easy to follow.

Just to finish off, here's photo of the pretty flowers my sister sent me for my birthday.

Once again - thank you Lyn.

Now it's time to concentrate on finishing all the surprises for Eve's birthday on Friday. I had suggested she moved her birthday to a more convenient month like June - but she wasn't interested!

Sunshine and Lovely Yellow Flowers.

The sun is shining - and it's not too hot today. A perfect day for wearing a nice lacy handknit cardi.

Here's a pic of some flowers from my garden - Halimium libanotis, apparently a member of the rock rose family!

Jolly yellow flowers to match my mood.

Comments, Doilies and Pansies!! a bit of everything

I love viewing my blog and discovering that I've got some new comments. One of the best things is when people tell you how creative, clever or inspiring you are!! I love having my ego massaged - let's face it, it's good to be appreciated.

My trinket boxes have generated some good comments... and quite a few about the doily I used in the photos! Here it is...

It's a bit faded now.

I've been trying to remember when I originally I made this - and I think I've pinned it down to 1983 when I bought my first house. I can't remember exactly where the pattern came from - a magazine belonging to a friend - but I had a photocopy of the pattern.

Unfortunately, last year, I had one of those zealous moments when clutter around the house just had to go - and of course the pattern went then. I didn't think I would ever get round to making the doily ever again so there was no point in keeping superfluous paper!

Sod's Law applies here - once it's gone you suddenly need it. Having featured in the trinket box photos, the doily pattern is now in demand. I've been asked by a number of you for the pattern.

I may have mentioned before (probably quite a few times actually) but I do like to rise to a challenge - so - I'm using the original doily as a template and reworking it so that I can write out the pattern.

Once I'd made up my mind to do this I was quiet eager to get started. I've completed the central motif and I've now started work on the pansies. I'm enjoying the task and hopefully it will be finished before too long.

So keep tuning in, and I'll keep you posted. In the meantime here are some photos of pansies from the garden.

Very inspiring.