Evening at the Park

 Hello Lovelies,
today I just thought I would share a few photos taken one gorgeously warm evening last week.
The boys and I  had been hiding from the heat for most of the day. Mr BM had been working in it, but he was  happy to head out to the park with us, bless him.

This country park is a regular destination for us and I love to see it changing with the seasons..........

The marginal plants around the lake were beautifully lush and the Purple Loostrife added a splash of colour to all the green.

It's a relatively new park. Back in the 1990's, when we first visited, it was all very open and had no large trees. It's wonderful to see it looking so established (and very well cared for by staff and many willing volunteers )  these days....

 Love the wild Scabious under the fir trees.

There are so many lovely wild flowers this year, more than I can remember seeing before.......

Ragwort, Dock flowers and Wild Carrot

Here come the Swans gliding gracefully trough the water towards us......

The Cygnets are getting big............

 I wish we had  some food for them , but I'm sure they must be well fed by other visitors......

We leave the lake and I wander about looking for the perfect Wild carrot flower........

 this one is lovely and you can clearly see the single pink flower in the flower heads centre. Not all of them have this , but apparently it's to attract pollinating insects.

When the wild carrot has finished flowering  the heads turn in on themselves, making what looks like a little birds nest..........

It was still very warm,and while I was slowly pottering among the flowers  Mr BM was playing football with the boys. It made me feel tired just to look at them ...........

 When the game  was over, we headed back towards the lake and were treated the a glimpse of the setting sun below the clouds..........

I loved the pink reflections in the water and I loved our simple family outing on such a perfect summers evening........

Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments about my skirt, they really made my day.
Jacquie x

Sewing a Skirt

Hello Lovelies, 

I've got a different sort of ta-dah to share with you today . As I mentioned in my previous post I've been inspired by this lovely blog to do a bit of dressmaking..............

When I ordered this pattern I thought I would make the dress , but when I sat down and studied the instructions I realised it was quite a tricksy project that may end in frustration . I needed a do-able project, that would not end up half finished, to satisfy my garment making goal.

Another reason for making the skirt on this occasion was lack of fabric. I wanted to use up something from my stash and the skirt only required one and a half yards of fabric.......there was just enough of this pretty floral design I picked up in a charity shop ages ago..........

I don't have a lot of modern sewing gadgets like cutting wheels , but I do like this air erasable pen I bought after seeing one used by the supremely talented  Fiona at Marmalade Rose...........

My sewing skills are pretty rusty. I learnt at school , and then carried on making my own clothes at home in my teenage years and early twenties. In those days it was a good way of saving money as shop bought items were relatively expensive in comparison. These days the opposite is probably true. Fabric is expensive as are all the extras like patterns and thread etc.
But still I think there is something lovely about wearing a garment made by yourself, or making a garment for a loved one.
Though I would of liked more shop bought clothes when I was growing up I'm glad that necessity made me learn how to cope with the basics of dressmaking.........

I really enjoyed making this skirt. Any bits of hand sewing I did in the garden.........

Here is the finished object, Ta- dah.....

It took me quite a long time for such a simple project, I needed to use my brain a lot to remember skills that have not been needed for many years .
 I read and re-read the pattern instructions many times to try and avoid any mistakes. I stitched slooowly on mums old sewing machine to try and get a neat finish.
I'm especially proud of my stitching " in the ditch" where the waistband meets the skirt, you can barely see it at all.........

And the zipper turned out ok considering I didn't have a zipper foot for the machine.......

the pattern actually called for an invisible zip placed in the side seam , but I had no idea how to do that so I modified the pattern it include a back seam and placed the zip there ( to avoid the pockets )

Here is the inside hem and side seam.........

One of the things I liked most about this pattern were the roomy pockets . I used some pretty contrasting fabric for the lining .........

Sorry , there does seem to be rather a lot of close ups :0)... this is the waistband fastener...........

And finally ( phew ) I had a bit of fun adding an exclusive designer label :0)

I've had these labels  lying around for ages.

Here it is being modelled by me ( photos courtesy of Mr BM ) .........

It's very comfortable to wear and I think ( hope ) it looks flattering.......

Love those pockets......

I enjoyed making this skirt and I'm happy and relieved that it will actually get worn  . I'm even tempted to make another , now I'm familiar with the pattern. But then again maybe I ought to get back to one of my  crochet WIP's .
Jacquie x

♥ 52 Weeks of Happy ♥ 30/52

Hello lovelies,

 hope you are enjoying the hot weather if you are in the U.K. It's been another gloriously summery week. Perhaps a bit hot and sweaty in the middle of the day at times, but the mornings and evenings have been wonderful.

Here are my small joys in the week the boys finally broke up for six weeks summer break from school.....no packed lunches to make or homework to worry about for a bit ....yay.

1.My purple Buddlia is looking so lovely this year and it's already attracting loads of butterflies.........

They are fluttery things , it took my ages to get the wonky shot, but I still love the way it shows this lovely Peacock butterflies beautiful iridescent colours.........

2. Harvesting homegrown veg. The carrots and potatoes were yummy with last weeks Sunday dinner......

the peas were a bit disappointing........many pods were empty .....but the boys still enjoyed popping open the pods and a cheer went up when they found a full one.......

 I think they must have needed more water.

3. Looking at old holiday photos. This picture was taken in 2003 when my eldest two were toddlers . This year, ten years on , we are heading back to the same resort, can't wait......

 4. Sewing , inspired by Tilly and the Buttons blog ( particularly this dress )  I ordered a  pattern from Amazon on impulse.....

when It arrived I got a bit doubtful about my dressmaking abilities and decided to make the skirt instead. I'm wearing it now.....and I love it........will do a proper post about it very soon :0)
Thank you so much for the thoughtful comments about Mums paintings , she really appreciated them.
Jacquie x

My Garden :: July....featuring Mums Paintings

Hello Lovelies ,

Here is my fourth monthly mosaic of what is currently looking lovely in our garden.

There is so much colour at the moment , though the heatwave has meant lots of watering has been needed to prevent the garden drying up completely . 

top to bottom L to R 

1. Calendula or French Marigolds. 2. Cistus or Rock Rose. 3. Lily

4. Tomato plants reaching the roof in my little green house. 5. Sparkle. 6. Trailing lobelia and African Marigolds.

7. Another Lily. 8. Carnations. 9. Crocosmia  Lucifer.

My Roses are also looking lovely at the moment but I've shared some  here before and the others are bright red and do not photograph well.

Here is my favourite border for comparison with previous months , APRIL, MAY  and JUNE.

again it's just very green and my project for next year will be to revamp it so it's hopefully got more flowers throughout the season.........

A couple of weeks ago , when Mum was still quite weak I brought her to my house for the day , and she sat in the shade to do the first painting she had attempted since before her operation........

This is how it turned out.........

I love it and mum said it was great therapy , concentrating on the subject and taking her mind off other things. 

Then last Wednesday she did another watercolour of this view........

The day was sooooo hot and humid with not the slightest breeze . Even sitting in the shade there was not much relief from the heat. The paint was drying as soon as it touched the paper , but mum persevered and this is her finished painting........

Isn't it gorgeous. It just captures these hot summer days to me. Days that I've longed for through all the cold dark winter .

And I like the way she has added a few more flowers :0)

Jacquie x

♥ 52 Weeks of Happy ♥ 29/52

Hello Lovelies, 

this week has been rather lovely, with much less pressure on my time than previous weeks. I really appreciate having a bit of time in my day to slow down and do nothing much. 

Mum's health continues to improve so a lot of the worry has lifted and school is almost over for the summer.

Here are my happy things from another hot and sultry summer week

1. watching my Zinnias begin to flower.They are a new flower in my garden and I've grown these from seed ( inspired by Claire ). They looked pretty feeble up till a couple of weeks ago , but this hot weather has made them happy flowers.

The way the blooms open up has fascinated me this week, the petals emerge as rolled up "tubes" before unfurling. Then when you think they are fully developed a circle of yellow stars appear .....lovely....

2. Fields of Gold.....Barley crops looking gorgeous ...........

3. fruit and Greek yogurt, perfect in the garden on a hot day.........

4. Seaside dreams. I've treated myself to the August edition of Coast magazine. Yes , it's not long till we will be at the seaside again and I can't wait. 

This feature on Porthveven in Cornwall caught my eye. My most favourite artist blogger has been painting there recently . Haidee-Jo's blog is a lovely place to visit , not only to see her stunning paintings, but also  she is such a positive person who tells you abut the highs and lows of painting outdoors. The best place to see her paintings of Portleven clearly is HERE.

Back to the magazine, I loved this article  on Bournemouth and this artwork that went with it.........

And for a pretty fix how about this fabulous vintage beach hut ..........

This feature is about a mother and daughter who own a vintage ice cream van...expect they are doing good business right now :0)

You may have noticed my much neglected seaside patches blanket in the background of these photos. It caught my eye peeking out of the project bag it's been stuffed in for ages now and the colours seemed so appealing once more. It must be this time of year. Can you remember I was working with similar colours last summer. I think it will be coming on holiday with us this year.
 I'm so looking forward to looking at the sea and enjoying some crochet time.
Jacquie x

Delivering the Mail

Hello Lovelies, 

when the weather is perfect, like it is at the moment, I would love to be a post woman. Pottering around on my bike delivering the mail. But I know I would not be able to cope with the freezing conditions this job entails in the winter. 

I'm definitely a fair weather cyclist , I'm happiest cycling in a skirt or summer dress and  I love the cooling breeze created as you travel along . When it's really hot I stick to short , flat rides that don't make you sweat.

This morning I hopped on my bike to take a parcel to the post office.

I wasn't in a hurry so I stopped at the gap in the hedge.........

 And, avoiding the nettles and thorny hedge, gazed at the summer landscape for a moment or two........

 Wonderful.

I zoomed in on the distance ( because I could :0)  )............

And noticed the grasses are looking really dry now.........

I looked up when I heard a helicopter overhead and noticed the cloudless sky was a perfect shade of blue.....

 The same colour as my bike.

I chatted with a gentleman who was busy watering his allotment ..........

 Further along I loved cycling through the dappled shade.........

What was I delivering to the post office ?

My Yarndale bunting of course :0)

You can read about it in THIS post.

You can see what other lovelies have come up with HERE

How about you , have you made any yet ? if so have you already sent it off ?

Lucy has extended the deadline for these super happy, easy triangles till the end of August so there is still plenty of time to join in the fun. I think they would make a great holiday project .
The address to send them to is HERE 
And in case this is all a mystery to you ( but I'm fairly sure it's wont be ) Lucy's original post is HERE.
Jacquie x