The first of the blackberries have been picked ...

 

There are three or four blackberry bushes on my allotment, and the first of the berries to ripen and be ready to eat were picked today.  Served with fat free natural yoghurt and a meringue nest, completely delicious.  Lots of the hedgerows locally have blackberries growing in them, and I'll be out - with my freezer bags and plastic tubs - collecting berries in a few weeks time when they're at their peak of sweetness.  

I was on my allotment today, making the most of the sunshine, and doing my best to tidy things up.  I've not been spending enough time down there this year.  A combination of cold, rainy weather and having other things to occupy myself with has kept me away.  Consequently, yesterday I received one of those official 'tidy your plot or we'll kick you off' letters.  Ooops!  I've nearly four weeks to get my act together, which is do-able, and I've made a good start.  Pulling up weeds and flowers that've gone to seed, cutting back unruly plants like the mint that's grown at supersonic speed, spreading itself far and way too wide.  I should've planted mint in a container, not stuck it in the ground.  That lesson will be well and truly learnt as in days to come I try and pull out a sizeable amount of its roots to make room for other plants.  

Back at home, I've finished reading this, about an extraordinary woman who spied for the Soviet Union, passing herself off as an ordinary wife and mother, all the time being one of the U.S.S.R's most skilful agents.  After this weighty read, I galloped through Robert Galbraith's 'The Running Grave'.  I love the series of Strike novels, and this was a real page turner.  It's odd with books how I often seem to go from one book to another, choosing them randomly, but coincidentally either specific themes or historical figures appear in both.  I read C.J Sansom's 'Revelation' which featured Katherine Parr, then she was the main character in Elizabeth Fremantle's 'Queen's Gambit'.  There were a couple of novels where Thomas Cromwell featured in both.  With 'Agent Sonya' there's the theme of espionage.  Infiltrating organisations, gathering information, reporting it back, being at constant risk of discovery.  In 'The Running Grave' one of the detectives infiltrates a religious cult, becomes immersed in it, gathers information but all the time is at risk of being exposed as working undercover.  

The next book I've randomly chosen is Janice Hallett's 'The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels'.  Never read this author before, and when I looked at the blurb on the back cover - oh, there you go! - it's about a notorious cult led by a charismatic leader, and dark secrets at the heart of it.  Weird, huh?  

Moving away from fiction, here are three books of a different kind.  The one on the left is another journal made up of gell printed pages.  I wanted to use up pretty much all of my A4 sheets of gell prints, so made this.  Not sure what I'll use it for.  Maybe an ideas book.  To stick scraps of paper in with scribbled notes about things to make or swatches of fabric or images torn from magazines and stuck on the pages with washi tape.  

The other two are repurposed babies board books.  I filmed myself flicking through them, which isn't easy when you've a phone in one hand and the other's trying to turn the thick, sturdy pages.  I should in theory be able to insert the video here, but my limited technical skills means I'm being an eejit and can't work out how!  So the video's on Instagram as a reel, and the link is here.  

I'm still playing about with simple doll shapes, and this was finished this morning.  I'm not sure about the gal's face though.  

She looks slightly unhinged.  Or is that my over-active imagination?  

The last image I'll show you today is of the sewing wrap I recently completed.  Only it turns out it wasn't complete as I've added a few more details, including a teeny pocket which is the pale pink rectangle above the swirl of shocking pink applique.  The whole thing's getting increasingly over-the-top, and I'm liking it even more.  On that note - thanks for stopping by my blog, and I hope the sun's shining wherever you are.  Bye for now.