Gardens and Bunting

At the weekend I dragged my gang off to look around a garden open for the NGS.
I love this scheme !! You pay a small amount to look around a private garden (children are free ), all the profits go to charity and there's usually teas and homemade cakes to buy, oh ,and plants too.

Well ,this one was a stunner and I took loads of photos to share with you lovelies .But thinking about it since, I realised I should maybe have asked the owners permission as it was a private garden.


Here are a few close ups of plants instead...........





The lady owner had such a great eye ,and there were lots of fun touches like this..



Definitely one to copy . Another lovely feature was a stunning summer house,how I would love one of those !! It was pale blue and she had attached bunting . There's loads of outdoor bunting in blog land at the moment like this lovely example .

So, not one to let the lack of a summer house put me off ,I decided to make some for our shed.
I collected some of the little peoples outgrown shirts....



Cut out triangles using a paper template and my new pinking shears (purchased from Amazon)



Hand stitched the two layers of fabric together with a large running stitch ( suppose I could have made them out of a single layer only)




Attached them to some bias binding at regular intervals.....








Machine stitched the bias binding over the top of the triangles using my ancient Singer ........




Finished.

Here's a before...........



And after......










The cute little bird house was todays top charity shop find.
I'm pleased with the bunting even though my husband and the little people think I'm a bit mad !!
That's why It's great to share things with you lovely people.
Hopefully some of you will think it's pretty too !!



To finish today I thought I would share some wide angle shots of our garden.You will see it's definately a family space .........





I feel sorry for Mr BM who has to move all this stuff when he wants to mow the lawn!

It's no show garden but we love it and it's so nice to be able to get out and enjoy it after being stuck indoors all winter !!

Jacquie x

Crochet Embellished Bag

Hello ,
I've got another F.O. to share with you lovelies!!!!
This one was a super quick makeover ,and I'm so pleased how it's turned out .....

Yesterday I found this shopping bag in a local charity shop.....



Nice turquoise colour (one of my favourites ) .Shame about the design on the front :0(

Never mind , I thought I would be able to do something in , say , patchwork to cover that. As it only cost .....




I thought it had to be worth a try.

I started getting inspiration by looking at patchwork bags on flickr .I found some lovely examples Here and here

When I was pondering the best way to attach fabric I realised the bag was reversible,and looked just as good inside out!!!

Oooooooooohhhhh maybe I could just add some crochet embellishment instead, something quick and colourful.

I headed back to Flickr and checked my favourites..........this is what I chose to make...



This is my interpretation of a flower made by Lucy at Attic 24.Here's her version .So colourful any very much her lovely style . There's no pattern as it was from her pre-bloging days ,so I just tried to copy from the photo.
My version ended up with 7 petals instead of 6. I'm very pleased with them though!!
I chose yarn in her colours too...........



Here's how it turned out..looking lovely in the garden......



And in my crochet chair...you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.....




Here's me modeling it..sorry about the quality of this pic ,but it's not easy to take a decent photo over your your shoulder with your camera upside down!!! At least you can see what size it is.....




It could do with lining to cover up the buses on the inside but I'm very pleased with it . Should make a great beach bag ......How long till my holidays!?!

I would be happy to share the pattern if anyone would like it ,and I'd love to here your comments.

Have a great weekend
Jacquie x

On my morning walk..........

Hello ,
we woke to bright sunshine this morning ,and I was soooooooooooooo glad!!
After 2 days at work where I can't even look out of the window I was definitely ready for some fresh air.
And fresh air is so much nicer with added sunshine.....so as soon as the little people were dropped off at school I headed out for a walk around our village.


I love to do this on my days off,for several reasons.
Firstly ,and the main reason is because I think it's a great form of exercise.No special equipment(except comfortable shoes),no cost or pre booking required,just lock the door and go.
I walk quickly most of the time and when I'm on a health walk I really try to power walk.
That is when I'm not stopping to take photos of flowers. This is a great time of year for flowers,so I walk along with my camera in my hand and take photos when I hope no one is looking !
Loving these Marsh Marigolds shining in the sunshine...........



Next I stop to take a photo of the lambs,getting bigger..........



Then some more flowers...Grape hyacinths,forget-me-nots and Elephants ears(great name!)






At the top of the hill there's this little footpath.
Being originally from Yorkshire I call this a Snicket ,or a Ginnel.
People from around here call it a Jitty or a Twitchel !! So many names for the same thing..........


On the way back down I spot some flowering Quince and this stunning coloured Wallflower...





Colourful flowers and front gardens , the second reason I love getting out for a walk........



On the way back home I stop at the shop for some essentials.....Another reason to love walking,not using the car today.

So I'm back home by 10am and my step counter says.........



I saw the website you can see on my pedometer mentioned in a magazine at work.
getwalking.org.uk
You just fill in a form on their site ,and they send you a get walking pack, which includes this pedometer, free .

Hope you can get some fresh air too

Jacquie x

Perfect Gardening Weather

Hello,
How's your weekend been? Too Short? Mine has, definitely !! Especially as the weather has been so kind again this weekend .
It's so lovely to be able to wander around our village and admire all the spring gardens in the sunshine .
I've noticed a lot of this looking stunning recently......



It's Aubrieta and I was really pleased to find some in out local florists on Saturday morning.
This year I am trying to improve our borders as a lot of the plants I planted B.C.(before children) have vanished over the years and we are left with a few shrubs and not much else.
We usually have a good display of annuals in pots and baskets.
But they are so high maintenance,lots of watering and feeding.I've decided to scale them back this year and plant more perennials instead.
In march I dug up and divided our old faithfuls like crocosmia and hardy geranium.
Today I've planted these beauties...........





There's Aubretia,as I mentioned earlier.
Also a candelabra primula , heather , snow-in-summer and geum "marnalade".
The weather was so perfect for gardening today I even did a few of the boring weeding,tiding jobs as it seemed a shame to be inside.


I can show you some crochet though,that I finished a few days ago...
My mini hexagon cushion. This is the darker of its' two sides in my crochet chair.....




and here's the other,paler side...........



I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, though I can't say I'm in love with it at the moment.Hopefully it will grow on me.

To join the two sides I did a couple of rounds of single crochet,with some half double crochet in the "valleys" between the hexagons to straighten up the edges .Then I sewed the two sides together and inserted my custom made hexagon shaped pad. Simples!!

Did you notice a new Dress in that last picture? Well here it is......





It's my latest charity shop find.
This one is originally Tesco and still had all its tags,so I know its never been worn. I think it looks quite retro,maybe 1940's.

It definitely made me think of the mum in the latest Nanny McPhee film....
I just hope I manage to break out of the T.Shirt and jeans thing, and wear it!!!


Jacquie x

Mini Hexagon Pattern

Well here's my first attempt at writing at pattern....
Let me know if you encounter any problems and I will try to help.

When you get to my description of a bobble stitch please try not to panic,it's not as difficult as it looks written down !! it's just 2 incomplete double crochet joined at the top . There are video tutorials on the web,but be aware some are for a bobble made of 3 stitches ,mine's made of only 2 ( hope this makes sense)
Here goes....

Mini Crochet Hexagons
Pattern is written in U.S. terms (sorry I know I'm not in the U.S. but I read so many U.S. patterns I find it easier to work this way )
U.S. half double crochet = U.K.half treble crochet

To start chain 4....



Join with slip stitch to form a ring




Round 1 ....
Chain 2





1 double crochet(U.K. treble) into ring ,chain 2






work 1 bobble stitch into ring
(bobble stitch= yarn over,insert hook into ring,yarn over,pull back through ring...3 loops on hook....
yarn over, pull through 2 loops....2 loops on hook....
yarn over,insert hook through ring again , yarn over , pull back through ring...4 loops on hook.....
yarn over , pull through 2 loops ....3 loops on hook....
yarn over , pull through all 3 loops,bobble complete)



chain 2



work bobble stitch , chain 2 , into ring 4 more times then join with a slip stitch into top of first double crochet( 6 clusters in total)





Round 2 ....
slip stitch into next 2 chain space





chain 2 , 1 half double crochet into 2 chain space of round 1....( half double crochet is,yarn over,insert hook into 2 chain space of round 1,yarn over,pull back through chain space...3 loops on hook.... yarn over,pull through all 3 loops)

Chain 1 ,2 half double crochet into same 2 chain space




into the next 2 chain space work...(2 half double crochet,chain 1,2 half double crochet)





repeat 4 more times....

slip stitch into second chain at beginning of round 2





You have completed your first mini hexagon.....




When you get the hang of these they really are quick and simple.Honestly!!!
I can make 1 in 3 minutes.
Another thing you might like to consider hook size.I've made mine with double knitting (u.k. term) yarn and a 4mm hook.This makes the motif quite stiff ,which is great for a cushion cover. If you wanted it to be softer,you could go up a hook size or 2 to ,say, a 5mm hook. This will make the motif a bit bigger but also more flexible.Changing the weight or type of yarn will also create differing effects. Play around a bit till you get the effect you need for your project.
Here's two hexagons made with different sized hooks.....




4mm and 5mm .
A 1mm change in hook size makes a 1cm change in motif size .The larger size is also more open and less stiff.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've joined mine by sewing them together as this makes the shape more definite. You hold two hexagons together ,right sides facing , and whip stitch,catching only the outer part of corresponding stitches...



when you find yourself at the wrong place to start attaching the next hexagon ,I simply threaded my needle through the wrong side of the motif and came out in the desired spot...



And continue stitching as before...




I expect you could join them by crocheting them together with slip stitch,though I haven't tried it myself


I'll stop waffleing on now and leave you to give it a try...have fun !!


Jacquie x