mad dogs and englishmen......................

last week was too hot to do much at all..........i don't like to moan but heatwaves are not for me !!
whilst relaxing in the garden........seriously that is all i could manage.....it gave me lots of thinking time......mainly creative thinking.......and i have some new crafty work in the pipeline....very exiting...amongst the relaxing and creative brainwaves i did manage to craft three new cushions for the sofa........all made from my stash of vintage fabrics, i love the 50's orange roses fabric, it was a great find 7 metres in total from a local charity shop...........
although.... without moaning though heatwaves are great for getting your washing dry (uk readers will understand this exitement!) i washed almost everything in the house......just because....i could !!
and i love to see clean washing hanging in the garden.....it's so pretty............................................

mary mary quite contrary how does your garden grow.....part 2.....

today the village that i live in had its annual open gardens.......being an extremely nosy person coupled with my new love of gardening.......(yes i think i am growing up.....well it's about time as i am 39) it was ideal for me....so.....armed with youngest child my friend and her youngest child we set off....... 4 hrs we walked around our village and a lovely time we had......it is so fascinating to me as i often walk past some houses (whilst walking matilda) and fall in love with them and their front gardens and always wonder what their gardens look like at the back....well i was so exited when 2 of them had their gardens open......and let me tell you they were just as magical has i expected them to be...if not better.......i took lots of pics with the kind permission of the owners, but i won't post any here...as that is probably invading their privacy.....but i have taken away some fantastic ideas and lots of advice......in fact me and my friend are thinking of joining the gardening club !!! wonders never cease........

we rounded off our afternoon at the local band hall (which is where they hold the gardening club)

we had tea and cake.......very much needed !! it is a fantastic old little hall which is victorian built and has not been touched since the 1950's seriously i was in heaven..... this i have taken pics off for your perusal.......i wish i had taken one of the outside.....in fact i will and i will post the pics.....

and lastly i will leave you wth some more up-to-date pics of our little veggie patch..............

mary mary quite contrary how does your garden grow

again i have fallen off the 'i will try and blog on a more regular basis' ladder.........but eh.......i think i'm the only one who is beating myself up over this......we are our own greatest critics........ so i have taken the attitude that i will blog as and when i have time (and time.... i do so wish i had more of that ).....

but on to more exiting things.........the garden......these pics were taken a few weeks ago now with the intention to share them with you then, but eh.... better late than never !

it is so exiting growing your own vegetables......i feel like neil from the young ones !! does anyone else remember that ?.....i plant the seeds, nature grows the seeds, then we eat the seeds.......so funny, a tv must for 80's teenagers......getting back to the growing of veg. ( i do ramble on, go of subject and can't remember what i was talking about !) every morning i take a walk down the garden, matilda hot on my heels... tending to our little patch, we are growing...potatoes( which are in flower right now , and getting extremely out of hand )...carrots...parsnips...brussels....cabbages...peas...green beans....onions....beetroot...lettuces...and in our little makeshift green house we have tomato plants and lots of chilli plants (24 in total !!?? yes i said alot ) we also have gooseberry bushes which were kindly donated to me by my aunt, a blackberry bush....and 9 raspberry bushes... well raspberry canes..... which surprisingly all have some raspberries growing on them !!.....strawberry plants...garlic and last but not least pumpkins which have been lovingly reared by our youngest ( whom might i add has flown the nest this week...she is on a school pgl holiday... take care our little one, your presence is greatly missed ) and to add to that list our little herb garden.... which has been going for a few years now..... to add to this 'good life' all we need now are chickens.... which have been on the back burner for sometime now... although we are needing a house move and will probably wait till then.......

looking at what i have wrote i feel rather proud of what we have acheived in the last few months....and hats off to my man who has contructed the raised beds and lovinly tends to the veges every night !!

p.s. looking back at these pics..... i really must take some more upto date ones, as they have grown so much........

and finally i couldn't post without a pic of miss matilda...........

two birthday girls.............

it has been a while since i blogged...................not sure where the time goes........but another birthday has been and gone 2 in fact but the first it was a biggy .......18.......and the lovely girl had a great day, it is so hard to believe that i now have an adult child, a strange feeling..........
we are so very proud of her and the amazing young woman she has grown into ................

for her birthday she went to new york to stay with our friend (thanks josh for looking after her.....i can't wait to visit myself)........... i made her a 'i heart NY' bag for the occasion, which was greatly loved........

i love the other side of the bag which i embroided the big apple, it gives me a great idea for a new bag design.............

and of course no birthday would be complete in our house without a homemade cake.....

and yes the icing was quite perfect this time..............

myself i had the most perfect birthday.......i am 1 year off being 40 yikes

the weather was so beautiful and i had lovely gifts and a lovely meal, i forgot to take any pics.......

only this one of my birthday dress.........it is so yellow and flowery a combination that you cannot go wrong with........

vera................

i am so exhausted i have been a whirling dervish today.................spring cleaning the house...............and gardening, the veggies are starting to really come on now..........

so due to my extreme need to rest........... it is mainly a picture post !!!!!

.....meet vera, i made her a few weeks ago now, using some of my much loved vintage fabric collection, i will get around to putting her on etsy sometime this week..............................

birthday girl...................

within a space of 3 weeks..........it is both my daughters and my own birthday, yes may is an expensive month for our families !!this is my youngest daughters birthday..............the pic is a little blurry.....but i just love the expression on her face when she sees all of her gifts..........on her birthday day she had friends round after school for a tea party and games..........i just love that she is so much into my eclectic china taste, to her it is quite normal to have tea and cakes on fancy china..................her friends thought it a real novelty............

not sure why but my frosting was runny................never mind it still tasted good !!!!and at the weekend she had a camping sleepover in the back garden....... matilda joined in too !!!

much to the girls amusement..........................................

and then i got this lovely card made by her to say thankyou for making her feel so special...........

i love tea..............i love cake !!!!!

i really do love a good ole cuppa and who doesn't love cake ???? so i have made some hanging kitchen (or anywhere) art..................with binding that took forever to sew by hand onto the back and front..............and people hand sew binding onto a whole quilt ??!!

and i made this cushion last year..................mr flowery jack...............but he was made and taken to a few craft fairs, he was greatly loved by some folk, but some folk didn't want to pay £25. for him...............but it is a one off piece i told them, nobody else will have a cushion the same as yours !! i don't know about you my fellow crafters out there, but do you suffer with this same maddening crowd of people who seem to think they can give you what they think is the right price for your handmade goods...........this greatly puts me off craft fairs.....................................

yes dear readers that was an unexpected rant.............just had to get that off my chest, i think mr flowery jack will be heading over to etsy, where i think i will price him at £20-