Open Garden

Hello... Last week we went to visit a wonderful wildlife garden,  not too far from the Summerhouse

Some friends have been opening up there Studio and garden to raise funds for Cancer research over the past few weeks and my, the visitors to the garden have been in for a real treat. The garden is set out with lovely mown walkways, perfect to amble around on a Summers day.

With a beautiful wildflower meadow to one side of the garden.

Everywhere you looked was just picture perfect.

With wonderful art to look at in the Studio, music and poetry, I even took my guitar along and played a few songs, while enjoying a nice cuppa, yes there were refreshment too.

There were lots of places to sit in the garden, so it was perfect for me, as I could rest for a while.

With intriguing archways leading through to yet more wonderful planting, wild flowers and summer fruits. So much colour.

Just stunning

such a feast for the eyes.

I dread to think how much work this amount of wonderment takes, it for sure puts the Summerhouse garden to shame.

So pretty and wildlife must love it, a paradise for bee's and they for sure need all the help they can get these days.

Back on the patio surrounded by a huge variety of container veg and these wonderful hanging strawberries, there was just enough time for a few more songs and a lovely piece of chocolate cake, (which turned out to be dairy free, so perfect for me) before it was time to head home.

Music, Art, Poetry and a Wildlife garden what more could you want on a Summers afternoon.

Clare xx

Lately

Hello......... Today I thought I'd do a bit of a catch up post, of the last few weeks so .......

Lately there have been birthdays, this was a white chocolate and strawberry cake to celebrate my sister's birthday a couple of weekend ago, I just love the rice paper butterflies, we ordered a whole load of them for the cup cakes at my Birthday party, but sadly I didn't get a photo.

Lately....... I been working my way through this Audrey Hepburn box set, I'm really enjoyed watching these old movies.

Lately.... there was a magical star tomato here at the Summerhouse.

Thankfully Lately I seem to be coming out of relapse, so I've been trying to build up my yoga a bit, while trying to avoid over doing things and causing a set back it's a bit of a balancing act, even more so with my POTS diagnosis, if I'm standing my heart tends to be tachycardic, so I'm doing 3 minutes of very gentle yoga then resting flat for 5 minutes until my heart rate drops back down again, before doing another 3 minutes, in time I hope to build things up slowly.

 I'm still trying to sort out the Summerhouse and Lately it's been the turn of the yarn, I'd love to be able to display it out on shelves,

but seeing as the summerhouse is in the garden and basically just a big shed, there are way to many spiders, so I've opted for these plastic crates, that stack into draws.

There is even a new draw for all the sparkly yarn, love a bit of sparkle.

Lately........ we went on a trip to see a beautiful wildlife garden, created by some friends who've  opened up for a open garden/studio event, to raise funds for Cancer Research, there was music in the garden too and I took my guitar along and played a few tunes.

Lately......... We have had a poorly fellow here at the Summerhouse, Dylan's not doing so well and is getting so very thin, but we are loving him while he's still with us, he loves to snuggle up on the arms of Sofa and have a snooze and cuddle.

Lately as always there has been crochet, wishing you a wonderful week.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Midsummer's Butterfly

Hello........ Saturday afternoon in the Summerhouse and it was time for a new craft 'Decoupage'.

This little kit came with May 2013 Crafts Beautiful magazine, so it's been sitting around for a while now, waiting for me to get my 'Decoupage on'

I just love this paper soooo much, just my cup of tea, blues pinks and greens, it just sings summer to me, so it seemed like kismet to make my little butterfly in celebration of midsummer's day (this coming Wednesay) and tomorrows solstice (how can we be there already!!)

After watching this handy video I set too with the paper tearing.

It seems such a strange thing to tear up the pretty paper only to put it back together again, but hey ho, I guess that's Decoupage for you.

Then it was time for the gluing I thought I was going to get into a bit of a sticky mess with this, but thanks to the handy tips in the video it all went fairly smoothly and was actually quite relaxing.

In no time at all I'd covered the front of my Butterfly and it was time for a rest while the glue dried.

To cover the gaps left on the back I then cut some slightly narrower pieces

and glued them onto the reverse side of the butterfly.

Yay skippy happy, I just love this paper sooo much, (my brains a whirl thinking of what else I can cover with it)

I then added a few sparkles, once by butterfly was dry, I just couldn't resist !!!

The kit came with a pink ribbon, but I thought it might be a little too wide for such a dainty butterfly so I found a narrower ice blue ribbon from the Summerhouse ribbon draw, yay I love the ribbon draw nearly as much as the button tin.

 Ta-Dah

My Midsummer's Butterfly was complete.

Wishing you all a very happy peaceful midsummer/winter depending on hemisphere you are in.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Summer Ready..............

Hello........... Over the last few weeks we have being working on getting the Summerhouse garden Summer ready, with my health  being so poor over the last six months and 'P' injured things have slipped a bit.

So we've been planting up the hanging baskets

plus some new plants for the garden too, this is a replacement Clematis Montana, we used to have one that was stunning, covering one of the walls in the garden but we lost it a year so ago, so I'm really hoping this one is going to take,

mother nature has been quietly getting on without us and there are so many weeds, we don't really know where to start, there are some lovely treats too like this rose flowering amongst the forget me nots.

So it's time to reclaim the garden, even the Horse Chestnut tree beside the Summerhouse has had a bit of a trim, as the boughs were almost down to the ground.

Everything is just a bit out of control, although I am loving all the colour,

Even the weeds are pretty, not sure what this is but it's growing everywhere, walls, patio, pots and in the borders, it's a bit like the red weed from War of the World, only much prettier, think we might  leave it growing on the garden wall.

 We even have wild strawberries growing in the patio.

Some things are thriving on neglect, like the Roses

and Fuchsia

At least the Summerhouse border is now looking Summer ready, just ignore the broken trellis, I'm really not well enough to do anything about it at the moment.  Gardening with POTS  and ME/CFS is a tricky business, I've been sitting/lying on a blanket and doing two 5 minute sessions every few days, trying to keep my heart rate down and avoid a relapse.  It taken a few weeks but at least this border is now planted up.

I'm also working on getting the inside of the Summerhouse ready in 5 minutes slots,  tidying up the craft supplies but more on that another time.

I'm still having to spend the majority of the day in bed though, thankfully things are starting to improve, but it's slow going, at least the ice cream squares are a lovely yarny distraction, I'm trying not to think about everything else that needs doing.

Join in with five on friday

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Five on Friday

Hello....... It's five on a Friday time again. Today I thought I'd share with you a few Summerhouse happenings from the past week.

Finger crossed my energy levels are finally starting to pick up again, so I've been tackling the Summerhouse in ten minute slots.

I've also finally finished my first ever attempt at acrylics, I started this picture back in January before the relapse really kicked in and finished it off this week.

I've also started to learn a new musical instrument, I already play the guitar and mandolin and I really wanted to learn the banjo but with my joint pain I decided the banjo was going to be a bit of a struggle at the moment. We have a local Ukulele group in the town, which I went along to last week and a friend lent me her concert ukulele to see how I get on.

My Summertime wreath is back in town too, I've slowly been re pinning the flowers,

Talking of flowers I thought I'd share a mosaic of the magic Roses from our garden, I took a picture of the same rose each day as it transformed, I do love this Rose it's a Florabunda called Masquerade.

Well that's about it for this week, I'm so pleased that this relapse seems to be lifting after what was possibly the worst six months I've had with this illness, I see a local herbalist and at the moment it really seems to be helping, long may it continue.

Joining in with Amy  and KCCO

Happy Crafting

Clare xx