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Rain fell for a sizeable part of the day, so gardening and allotmenting were put aside.  I did venture out to take a few photos of the garden.  These Mexican daisies are everywhere, blooming away like crazy.  The lemon verbena is doing well, and smells heavenly.  Such a fresh sharp scent.  You can't resist brushing your hand against the leaves as you pass by.   The thyme's covered in little flowers attracting busy bees, the purple of the verbena looks wonderful against the mustardy yellow of the dill with its plentiful umbels.  There's the vibrant sunshine yellow of the rudbeckia, the flagrant orange of crocosmia ... a garden, however imperfect, is a blessing, isn't it?   I popped into town for some groceries, and managed a quick rummage in a charity shop too.  Picked up this signed copy of 'Tidelands' by Philippa Gregory - I do love a hefty hardback book with a nice dust jacket- as well as a few crafty supples.  Four rolls of ...

Sunday evening has rolled around again, and is it me or is there an autumnal feel in the air?  Maybe it's the grey sky and intermittent rain that's making me think this way.  After all, there's still plenty of summer left ... isn't there?   Over the last few days I've been deadheading and tidying the allotment and garden, and sewing a few more blocks for my second Chris English style scrappy quilt.  I managed the odd trawl around a charity shop, and picked up a couple of books, including this handsome hardback of 'The City of Tears'.  Only to later realise I already had the paperback version sat on my bookshelf.  Never mind, I'm sure I can easily find another home for one of the two copies.   I used some of my gelli printed papers to make seed packets.  All ready for the seeds I've been collecting while deadheading the astrantia, catananche and assorted flowers.  I printed a few more pieces of mainly A5 sized paper today.  They...

  I've been playing with gelli printing again today.  The photos show various experiments with mark making and layering colours.  I'm hoping to use most of these as covers for small, simply made notebooks.   I used a dried poppy seed head as a kind of stamp, as well as using more bubble wrap.  Doesn't the seed head make a pretty shape?   I managed to pick up several copies of today's free Metro newspaper while I was out buying groceries, so that'll come in handy as printing is a mucky old business.  It also makes you look at everything anew.  I was rummaging through the recycling bag in the kitchen, thinking I can use an empty yoghurt pot to make a circular pattern on the gelli plate.  Also, things like cardboard - the sort that looks corrugated - will be useful for linear patterns.   It's been a busy day, what with shopping and a spell on the allotment, and I still need to wrap some birthday presents, pay the credit card ...

Guess what I bought myself recently?  Yup, a gelli printing pad.  One of those flexible jelly-like squidgy oblongs that provides a really good surface from which to print.  I bought a brayer too - a roller that you use to spread out the paint - and some inexpensive tubes of acrylics.  I've watched two or three YouTube videos about how to spread the paint - thinly - and about how to add texture to your prints and layer on the colour and pattern.   I've discovered the joys of bubble wrap!  It creates a very effective pattern, almost like a honeycomb.   I'm on the look-out for other things I can use to add texture - sage leaves, ferns, flower heads - even scrunched up paper or a natural sponge.  Sewing is taking a back seat right now.  I'm enjoying playing with my new toys too much!!!  

My first visit to Tatton Park Flower Show was on Saturday, and it was a great day out.  Despite at times heavy rain and mud underfoot.  There were plenty of clued up people at the show who'd arrived prepared, presumably having visited before, and I envied their sensible wellies and waterproofs.  But it didn't matter as there were lots of floral displays undercover to admire and covet.   The show cemented in my mind how much I love the English cottage garden look, a seemingly artless but actually highly accomplished mix of colours and scents.  Lots of white, pink, pale purples.  Tall salvias and exuberant echinacea.  Eye catching eremurus, the perfect spheres of aliums.   I tried to concentrate on taking pictures of what I liked and what I intend to grow myself, though didn't always manage to get the label with the plant's name included in the shot.   If I'd money to spare I'd have bought masses of plants.  As it was I'm ma...

I thought I'd do some book reviews, specifically of craft books as they're often expensive to buy, being full of colour illustrations and usually unlikely to trouble the bestseller lists or turn up on supermarket shelves at cut prices.  So having a feel for whether you want to spend your hard earned money on a book is needed, and I always appreciate an honest review.   I've quite a collection of craft books, some bought second hand but many new.  Treats for myself or ones I've been given as presents.  But I'll start with one that's borrowed from the library.  It's 'Visible Mending' by Arounna Khounnoraj.  It's subtitled 'Repair, reuse, renew the clothes you love' which gives you a pretty good idea of where this book's going.   The book's divided into sections on what sewing tools to use, how to do basic mending techniques using applique, sashiko, darning, dyeing, printing... and more.  Also, a decent sized section on projects, wit...

The hollyhocks are blooming lovely.  Sugary pink petals and big fat bees who've even taken to sleeping inside a flower to ensure they can feed the moment they wake up.   The butterflies are loving the marjoram.  I think this is a Small Tortoiseshell.   In the last few days I've managed another jaunt to the charity shop.  I bought an L K Bennet dress and an ASOS top.  The dress is too tight for me, it's a tailored size 10 so not surprising.  It's headed for my fabric stash.  However, the top I'll wear.  Weirdly, it's a size 14 and - despite the baggy kind of style - it's tight on me, especially around the wrists.  Fashion brands need to standardise sizing, don't they?   Anyway, on to crafty stuff.  I've been making a bag recently.  Just a big roomy shopper.  I've pieced the outer part of the bag, and am still stitching the handle, then I'll find a suitable material for the lining.   It's a mix ...

The last of the binding has been attached and I finally get to call this improv quilt finished.  It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but making it taught me a lot about making curves in patchwork, and about applique.  Also, about being brave / reckless and being prepared to do something drastic if a quilt just isn't 'working'.  In this case I literally chopped the thing up and rearranged it as I wasn't satisfied with how I'd put it together.  Rearranging the pieces left me with a smaller quilt than I'd originally planned, but a better quilt, for all its faults.   The material I chose for the backing fabric was a wee bit too small, so had to be patched up to make it fit. The extra section in a similar grey isn't so noticeable, but the bright green is!  I like the randomness of adding that little square.   When I wasn't occupied with sewing I managed an hour on the allotment, collecting raspberries and deadheading the calendula,...

I had to start with this picture of a handsome butterfly as the marjoram on the allotment was positively alive with bees and butterflies today.  Masses of them happily feeding away in the sunshine.  The ground is beautifully damp after recent rainfall, and I did an hour's pottering around before picking more raspberries and heading home, back aching.   Having dead headed some flowers in the front garden I got on with a slow stitch Sunday project.   I'd recently borrowed a book called 'Creative Collage' by Clare Youngs from the local library, and love the artist's bold graphic style.  She shows how to make various paper & card collages, including one idea for creating gift tags.  I wanted to try translating that into fabric.  I chose neutral colours.  White and different shades of grey, and made sure I used different textures for extra interest.   At first I thought I'd cut out label shaped pieces of white card, then glue th...