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  I thought I'd start with a round-up of what's growing on the allotment and in the garden.  These hollyhocks have suddenly bloomed, and isn't that a glorious pink?  The leaves do tend to get rust spots, which is a shame when the flowers are so beautiful.   Also on the allotment are evening primrose, dotted around where they've self-seeded, growing here among a sea of seed pods.   The marjoram's flowering too, and will be a bee magnet.  They love it.   I think these white flowers are mallows.   The apple tree's going to provide plenty of fruit.   Should be lots of blackberries too.  I know I can gather them from the hedgerows, but cultivated ones tend to be more productive than their wild counterparts.   Redcurrants are ripening.  Blackcurrants too.  Gooseberries too, or goose-gogs as we always called them.   In my front garden the valerian is everywhere, another favourite with the bees.   Astrantia, also known as Hattie's pin cushion, mixing with the vivid

It's morning.   The hot weather's supposedly due to break today, and the sky is a moody greyish-blue.  On the allotment the foxgloves have almost finished flowering, and all the strawberries have gone.  I've still got plenty ripening in my garden as it's shadier in places compared to the openness of the allotment plot.  For a fortnight now I've been enjoying the novelty of wandering outside first thing, pyjamas on and sometimes in bare feet, rummaging among the flower beds for berries.  They're planted everywhere I could squeeze a strawberry plant in, so I keep seeing flashes of scarlet nestling among the Love-in-a-mist and Crocosmia.   The photo above is of a project that's going to be a small-scale thing, something that trundles on in the background.  An embroidered fabric book.  I've been seeing lots of them online, and wanted to make my own.  Something I could stitch into every now and again, to be picked up and put down as the mood takes me.   There

  A bit of a frustrating morning.  I was attempting to make coin purses with the idea of selling them at a craft fair, but I couldn't get them quite right.  My efforts were too clumsy, and I doubted anyone would part with their hard-earned cash for them.  Also, they looked ... dull.  Nothing original about them at all.  I gave up in the end.  I seem to be having false starts with a number of crafty things right now.  But that's the way it goes sometimes.  So I accept it and move on ... I did get this finished today.  It's a needlepoint needle-case, and no, your eyes don't deceive you, I have used a boot lace as a fastening for it!  Waste not, want not.  The needlepoint was originally going to be a spectacle case, but if you've ever tried needlepoint you'll know how easy it is for the canvas to become distorted during the stitching process.  Sometimes you can 'block' the stitched canvas, ie: dampen it and stretch it back into shape.  But this piece defied

  It's early on Sunday afternoon and I'm all caught up with The Archers, along with several political podcasts, not that either are filling me with much joy at the moment.  Anyhow, I thought I'd show you how this heart shaped sewing case turned out.  If you recall from my last post, it's based on a pattern by StitchWitch, picked up in a charity shop for 50p.  First off, I'll say I'm impressed by anyone who tackles the tricky art of writing instructions.  They're not easy to do, and on the whole these are pretty good.   This is the sewing case closed up, with a button and ribbon loop fastening.   Here is it opened out.  There's a pocket at the top, and on the left is a section for storing scissors in.  The original design has fabric strips glued in, intended to push your needles & pins into.  I substituted a flat rectangle of pale brown felt, blanket stitched into place.   My small Fiskars scissors aren't quite small enough to neatly fit inside, a

Yup, we're over halfway through June, but finally the Great British Summer has put in an appearance.  It's been blissfully warm - even dare I say it, hot! - for the last couple of days, and let's hope that carries on over the weekend.  The photos above and below were taken at St Aidans RSPB reserve which is within walking distance for me, and I think that purple flower is a Common Orchid.  There are lots of them dotted around, among a sea of white daisies and mauve thistles, along with all the beautiful seed heads of the grasses.   It's the ideal place to go for a quiet early evening stroll, with just a few twitchers and dog walkers for company.  Apart from hundreds of birds that is, squawking away and occasionally giving you the Evil Eye and a hiss if you come too near their babies.   It's not been the weather to stay inside, so I haven't got much crafty stuff done.  I tacked a layer of polyester wadding on to the back of this patchwork, something that's be

  I'm going to start off by blathering about charity shop buys, which isn't unusual for me, is it?  The photo above shows recent finds - a copy of 'Dominion', found the day after Vintage Vix mentioned reading it.  (If you've not stumbled across her blog, please follow the link for fabulous clothes and a handsome feline.)  I also bought yet another Phillipa Gregory book and 'Emily's Ghost' by Denise Giardina.  Not an author I've heard of, but it's described on the cover as ' A convincing imagining of the Bronte story, perfect for Bronte fans ',  One reviewer described it as ' Haunting and beautifully written '.  The books have found a new home in the towering To-Be-Read pile that's threatening to topple over.  I'm currently a few chapters into Maggie O'Farrell's 'This Must be the Place', which I'm enjoying.  Also from the charity shop came three mens shirts, to add to my fabric stash.  Once they've

This is a picture of me as a little girl, in my swimming costume and plastic sunglasses.  Probably at Weston-super-Mare or Barry Island.  I was bought up in a landlocked county, so going to the seaside was - and still is - a great pleasure.  I'm showing you this photo as I was remembering being a kid and getting sunburnt.  Red hair, freckles, pale skin, I burnt to a crisp on a hot day, and this was the late sixties/early seventies when nobody knew what S.P.F. stood for or bothered with sun protection.  Why were these memories coming to mind?  Because I had a mini-health-scare the other day.  I was getting undressed to have a shower and was trying to look at my back in the bathroom mirror.  You see, my back had been itchy, and wondered if I'd got a heat rash or insect bite that was causing it.  Anyway, I saw a little mark that looked odd, and the surface of it was rough to touch.  Those adverts urging us to keep an eye out for possible skin cancer came to mind.  Reluctantly but