Hexies and Buzzy Bees

I've had a lovely piece of post curtesy of my wonderful husband. It arrived very nicely packaged

It always makes it enjoyable when you can see how much trouble the seller has gone to to make it look so pretty, it feels so much more personal.

It was a very cute sewing box that looks like a bee hive

Little embroidered bees, honeycomb and pretty flowers.

 Andrew says I need it for storage and actually it's a bit smaller than he thought it was going to be but I love it when I 'need' things, heheh.

I've put it to very good use already. I've been wanting to do some English paper piecing for quite a long time, just never got round to it (so many crafts, so little time). I don't have a big project on the go at the moment, so it seemed a good idea to get started on one. I have done paper piecing before, but it was decades ago, so I refreshed myself with this book.

I had lots of paper hexagons that had been free gifts with magazines. Popped a small table up in the conservatory (lots of natural daylight), pinched some of Imogen's paperclips, found some white basic cotton for basting...

there's lots of pretty fabric to be used

I was ready to start. I cut lots of pieces of fabric and clipped it round my little hexies, then basted the hexie careful not to sew through the paper. I found the whole process to be very relaxing, quite therapeutic.

I'm quite pleased with my little hexie, it looks quite pretty.

I'm onto a different fabric now. I plan to make a big quilt, so envision this to be a long term project, one I can dip back in and out of while still doing my crochet and felting.

Everything fits very nicely into my new crafting box (though I don't think it will once I start putting all the hexies together) and it's easy to transport to whichever room I want to sit in.

 It's Mother'sDay tomorrow here in the UK, so happy mother's day to all the mums out there.

Take care
xxx

It's a Boy!!! And some Worm Farming

Hello lovely people. Thank you to those who pointed out to me that I was looking at Camellias not Roses, I really had no clue! I shall endeavour to recognise them in future, though it may take a while. Perhaps while we're talking flowers and Roses in particular, I could ask for some advice from the green thumbed amongst you. I'd like to buy a climbing rose for the pergola arch in our garden, ideally scented too. Any advice would be very appreciated.

My big news for today as you probably realised in the title, is that our grandchild is going to be a boy! Adam and girlfriend went for their scan yesterday afternoon and surprised us with a visit afterwards and their exciting news. I can't believe my baby boy is having a baby boy, I couldn't be anymore thrilled.

We've been thinking about getting some worms to do our composting for a while. We decided at the end of last autumn that we'd get a worm farm, but wait until winter had passed. The weather seems much better and it is officially spring, so we bought one... with everything included.

It was so easy to set up, all we needed was some newspaper to line the bottom tray with. Andrew emptied the supplied coir after wetting it.

Then more pieces of newspaper were shredded and added to help it not get too wet

Two bags of tiger worms were supplied and added to their new home

I hope they're nice and comfortable there and we don't have too many escape artists on our hands. A little bit of kitchen waste was added to one corner to start things off.

Here it is all set up and in the garden. There are 4 trays so hopefully once things get going we'll always have some compost being made. There's a tap at the bottom to drain the compost every fortnight or so and apparently it should make amazing liquid feed for us to water down. The first tray of compost may be a few months away, I'm quite excited about it

I also think it looks rather nice, only small, no nasty niffs and a great way to dispose of our kitchen waste.

Take care
xxx

Quick Visit to the Park

Thank you for the kind comments about my little bird, I did enjoy making him and I'm looking forward to making a little friend for him.

Yesterday we were out and about after doing some shopping with a little time to spare before we were going to pick Imogen up from school. Normally she would walk home, but as we were already out and she has a bit of a cold at the moment, we thought we'd surprise her with a lift home. As we would have been about 10 or 15 minutes too early, we went for a quick wheel around the park.

There were flocks of seagulls around, this one above had wandered off by himself looking for some juicy worms I imagine.

The only other birds we saw were crows. I do like crows, such clever birds and they can be quite imposing looking.... not this one though, he was concentrating on finding a nibble or two.

There were patches of Snowdrops all over the place, perhaps past their best, but still beautiful.

Lots of Daffodils too, crops of vibrant yellow on a green carpet.

Rose bushes, looking a bit scruffy as they can, but still with the most beautiful blooms and scents.

Lastly, a few patches with bright, white crocuses

 We weren't there long, but saw so many beautiful flowers, it'll be blossom on the trees next.

Take care
xxx

Little Robin Red Breast

Thank you for all your lovely comments. I can understand why Hyacinths would give some of you a migraine, it is a very heady smell. I take them out of the living room when my son comes with his pregnant girlfriend. She's been having such rough time with sickness that I certainly don't want to risk making it any worse with the scent from such strong flowers. Poor thing is having quite a bit of pain too on either side other growing bump, she 's putting it down to growing pains and had a similar experience with her other pregnancy. Second scan in a couple of weeks, they're hoping to find out the babies gender too. I must admit to being quite excited to know if I'm going to have a grandson or granddaughter!

This is a little felting kit I've had put away for a while

It's a sweet little Robin like Kirsty Allsopp made in one of her crafting programmes. Everything was included, perhaps enough to make 2 birds even.

I stabbed away, using the white wool then building the colour over the top.

I found the hardest, and most fiddly, part to be the beak. I need beak practise!

He is a cute little fellow though and will look good with a little cotton loop through his head so I can hang him on this years Christmas tree.

After the beautiful white Hyacinth, I had to pick up this blue one, it's so pretty

and these lovely Daffodils, though they are a bit tall and floppy!

I've changed the mantle for spring, there's rather a lot on it, but I never really was one for minimalism and it does look rather nice with bunnies and sheep bounding about

The house has candles that are lit in an evening, looking very cosy.

I so need spring to arrive this year. I think we've had quite a mild winter really, but I'm yearning for some warmth and better weather, daydreaming about sitting in the garden surrounded by flowers, doing some crochet or reading a book with the sun warming me. I keep seeing signs here in peoples lovely blogs and on IG, lots of Snowdrops and Crocuses.

Have a lovely weekend
Take care
xxx