Recent Sewing

Before heading south to mums, I managed to get some sewing done, including this tea cosy and egg cosies for nana and grandad. The pattern for the tea cosy came from 'Sewing in No time' and the egg cosies from 'Sew - Cath Kidston', dont they look fab!
I also made some slippers for myself using the pattern in 'Sew pretty homestyle', but even though I enlarged the pattern a little they were still too small for my big feet, so they went to mum. I also embroidered a cafertier cosy for mum but forgot to take a pic, so will have to ask sis to take one for me to post.

1st Harvest at Lammas

Well seasons turn again and after having spent two weeks down south on the mainland at mum's, I arrived home to find the garden like a jungle, hey ho at least it hadn't turned into a desert.

Only a few days since the celebration of Lammas (or Lughnasadh) and the first harvesting is commencing. We haven't really been growing veg on a serious scale this year due to some much work being done on the cottage itself, but I have been using up my old seeds and getting some crops for free.

The raspberries, which grow everywhere in the garden due to them sowing themselves over the last decade, are producing a bumper crop. There are blackcurrants almost ready to pick, and a few gooseberries which have survived the sawfly attack.

Yesterday we harvested some of the veg for dinner, including carrots, turnip, peas and new potatoes. Also picked were some Edzel blue potatoes, radishes, shallots and also some radish seed pods from the radishes that had bolted, these are fab to snack on.

This year has given us a feel for how things grow up here, so that next year fingers crossed we shall be almost self sufficient in veg

Garden Round-up

Wow can't believe it has been a month since my last post, too much gardening to do while the weather is good, oh well. just a quick post with a few pics form the garden. The rose in the top two pics is called Rhapsody in Blue, isn't that the most gorgeous colour. I love unusual coloured flowers.

Yesnaby

While the weather was good last week, we managed to get up to Yesnaby clifs for a walk one evening hunting for the elusive 'Primula Scotia'. Unfortunately we didn't managed to find any, but we did see carpets of Thrift AKA Sea pinks.

And in the short clipped grassy fields, carpets of beautiful pale lilac coloured Sea Squil.

We also spotted a fairy ring of toadstools surounding this hummock of grass.

An if you want to know what a Primular Scotia looks like when you do find one:

More cushions

I seem to be getting a cushion cover addiction, not that i am buying them of course that would be a waste of money and unnecessary. I've been making them, it is so easy. For example the latest addictions were knocked up in the space of a couple of hours, and I'm really not a sewing expert. the design came from Cath kidson's Sew book,with my own fabric used. The blue panels were made from a fabric remnant I picked up in the fabric shop months ago for just 50p. And the blue background is from an old valance sheet, the blues work together so well.

Also my weekly trip to the big city yielded a few more charity shop bargains, anyone would think me a shopaholic, nevermind. Acquired a replacement Pyrex kenwood chef bowl for £1.50 to replace the one i broke just before i moved up here. And a stainless steel swan roasting tray which is funny because a few days ago whilst washing dishes and scrubbing my old roasting tray I was thinking to myself "i would never have another of these coated roasters that you cant give a really good scrub with a metal scourer, I will have a stainless steel one" and low and behold one turns up, for all of £1, psychic moment :)Also some bits for the spare room for when its finished, the vase and the candlestick were out of the 20p box, as was the glass bottle which will go in the bathroom, the french "room" sign will be for the spare room door most likely, and cost 50p, although the original price on the back is in euros so perhaps it was bought in France on someones holidays.