July :: Pick and Mix

It's pick and mix time again, so here are July's little bits and pieces of Summer house living and what a hot and sunny month July has been here in the UK. So why not help yourself to a sweetie from the bowl.

The view from the window

It's hard to believe this is the seventh view from the window for the year, the months seem to be flying by. I took this picture early in morning, we have been having such hot weather, so I thought I'd take a picture early in the day when everything is looking fresh and the sky is still blue before the sea haze creeps in. As you can see the windmill has been turned so the sails face north and they have stayed that way since this mini heatwave  began with no wind to make the sails go around.

Out in the garden:

As you can see this months out in the garden section is in snazzy mosaic form, There's been lots going on outside in the last month, so much colour everywhere the Roses have all been particularly stunning this year, so July was a month of Roses, very late flower Elderflower, and water Iris flowering in the pond.  

Over in the Summerhouse border everything has sprung to life with Scabious, Penstemons, Jasmine and Orange blossom flowering again, the scent from the Orange blossom is divine.  All the bedding plants are coming along to. 

 The Friday before last I gave the Sweet peas a ultimatum that I hoped they would be flowering by last Friday, as so many other people's have been blooming for a few weeks now.  Thankfully they were in bud by Friday and have started to flower over the weekend, to late to make the mosaic, but I might take some pics later for the end of this post.  We're just waiting on the geraniums in the window boxes now, although some of them are now have buds so hopefully it won't be long.

WIP:

Above are some of the works in progress ongoing at the moment.

 Top left:  Is some seaside pastel shades Attic24 granny bunting pennants that I have been making for the summerhouse, I'm planning on edging them and adding a flower, but more on that another time.

Top right: is my Purple Leaf cushion that I first blogged about way back in February, yep it's still on the needles, I'm struggling a little with this make as I find knitting so much more physically demanding, I can only do a couple of rows before my joints and muscles start complaining, but I'm determined I'll get there eventually. I had a few afternoons last week where I sat out in the garden and managed a couple of rows.

Bottom left : I couldn't resist I had to make another Summer Granny Square just to see if I could remember how I made the last one, honest !!!! I'm not taking on another major project until I've finished one of these WIP's

Bottom right : Are my felt birdies for my birdie bunting over the month I've managed to finish sewing on the the little fabric wings and have started to sew on the button eyes. You can read more about them 'here'

 So that's where I am with my larger WIP's, I really suppose I shouldn't have so many things ongoing at once, but I find I get bored sticking to one thing, with my ten minutes of health related pacing time for crafting I tend to rotate what I do each day, knitting one day, sewing the next, and then crochet on the third day with a bit of card making thrown in if I need a card for someone.

Does anyone else have a lists of ongoing makes like me or do you tend to do one project at a time? I'd love to know what you are all making at the moment, why not leave a comment? I'd love to read about them.

Summer Living:

Over the last month, we've been getting into the swing of summer living here at the Summerhouse, doors and windows flung open, flowers blooming, it been quite lovely.

Dilly's been lounging about in the early morning sunshine, he loves a bit of sun, before he disappears off into the shade for a siesta. Then he and Merlin are back outside snoozing in the evening, soaking up the warmth from the stones or lounging about on the garden furniture. It's a tough life being a Summerhouse by the Sea cat.

I've been spending a lot of time resting in the shade in my floppy sun hat, it gets way to hot in the house, so I've been escaping the heat by sitting in the shade of the Horse Chestnut tree in the garden.

We've been eating lots of summer fruits Strawbugs Cherries and Nectarines and Melon, of all of them I think I love the cherries the most.  Nothing like local Cherries, well I do live in the 'garden of England'

Crafting has been relocated to the cool of the garden too.

Knitting, crochet and I've even done a little bit of colouring.  

It's taken me a while but I've finally finished my first garden scene from my lovely Secret Garden colouring book.  The pictures are so detailed it's a lovely little book to escape into.  I'm off away on holiday at the end of the month and this is one book that will be coming along with a some colours, a perfect low energy summer activity.

We've also been eating lots of salads outside on the patio, this one with a yummy hummus dressing, tomorrows offering I think it's going to avocado and walnut.  It strangely lit as I took the photo under our zesty green parasol.

Over in the wildlife strip:

Early in the year we scattered four packets of different mixed meadow and wild flowers seed onto the wildlife strip at the bottom of the garden and July has seen them all starting to flower, I loved this little part of the garden every time you go down there something else has started to flower and the bees are loving it too, which was the point of the exercise.

I think all these wildflower are so lovely, unlike 'P' who keeps referring to them as weeds, but I won't have a barr of it, just look how pretty they are.  We've had some fun trying to identify them with some help from some Facebook friends along the way. There are lots of cornflowers and daisy's scabious a iris that seeded itself, we also had a lot of the beautiful scorpion weeds, which the bee really loved.  If anyone can identify any of the others, please leave a comment as I dearly love to know there names.

I have a bit of confession to make, I love all thing stationary notebooks, pens, writing paper, don't get me started on post its !!  July saw a new additional of this years mid year diary,  I love to used these academic diaries  for my pacing as they tend to have lots of timetable space and also time slots for each day which is perfect for  my pacing program to manage my illness.  I basically balance activities with rest throughout each day.  I loved this diary when I saw it on amazon  the design is just my cup of tea with the lovely flowery tree.

Just before I go here's a quick shot as promised of the first of my sweet peas strangely the first group of blooms are all white with a hint of  inky purple on the edge, which are lovely but I'm secretly hoping for some more sweet pea hues a splash of colour as they continue to bloom pink, blues purples. Perfect.

Well that's all the pick and mix for this month. Sorry no music again in this months post, but I did do a separate post earlier in the month all about the Maverick Americana festival here if you fancy a read.

Happy Crafting
Clare xx