Hello............. I'm so far behind with everything lately but I'm determined to share my April Patchwork before we hit June tomorrow.
Despite feeling really poorly for a lot of April, I did manage some crafting, mostly granny squares and a little bit of water colour painting, in preparation for my trip to the Ceramics Cafe. I also shared a post about some Festival bunting I made in March, but I had to wait to tell you all about until April as it was a gift for a friend.
Out in the garden, it was pretty darn lovely, I love this time of year, so much colour to be found.
talking of the festival bunting.........
Well it's been on it's first adventure....
Well that's about it, fingers crossed I'll be a bit quicker with my May Patchwork. My energy levels have improved a little since re starting some Antivirals, so fingers crossed things are on the up again.
Hello it's pick and mix time again, so help yourself to a chocolate as here are this months little bits and bobs of Summerhouse living.
The view from the window:
This month the view is looking very wintry with frosty rooftop, yet the gorgeous Autumnal colours are still hanging in there, oh how those trees cheer my heart.
Things I made and things I love
December means it's time to unpack all things Christmassy, some things I've made over the past year like these crocheted snowflake decorations made for the tree and as gifts last year
and my little felt Strawbug not a fully a Christmas decoration, but I think there will be space for it on the tree, you can read about how I made it 'here'
and then some things that I just love and treasure, like this gorgeous angel candle that I just bare to light it's so serene
and this little angel, who holds a very dear place in my heart, she's only tiny and one of a pair, (she was originally a earring) but now she spends every Christmas time hanging on my dressing table mirror. She and her twin were bought to decorate my Dad 's little Christmas tree when he was terminally ill in hospital. It was a tiny little real tree and of course it needed a angel for the top and this little angle was the perfect size for the job.
It's hard to believe, this is the forth year since we lost Dad, so December has it's sad times too here at the Summerhouse, so we lit a candle on Tuesday, talked about our memories of you and ate Walnut Whips (his favourite) to remember you Dad.
Then of course there is the wire work fairy, who I love so much she hangs on the blossom tree in my room all year round, but is at her most magical at Christmas time.
Out in the garden:
Just look at the colour hard to believe all this is flowering still, it cheers the heart on a winters day, see I told you the other week, we still had roses in bloom, I'm not going to say anymore just let them speak for themselves.
There is winteriness too, I gathered some of this in on the solstice last weekend.
Fairy Things:
Here at the Summerhouse there are fearie things afoot, yes all the supply are sitting together ready for my next make, just waiting for a little bit of time to begin things, can you guess what it's going to be?
Another recent make is this cute little felt birdie that I made last week for the wintertime wreath. I simply cute out a little bird shape and a tiny fabric wing and then added a cute button eye, (that was upcycled from a old pair of PJ's) Then all I had to do was add a little stuffing and blanket stitch my birdie together.
Now I'm think I need to make a whole heap of these birds in different colours to hang on my blossom tree. How cute would they look amongst the blossom. Maybe a project for the new year.
Tiny Tabbies:
Over the past week the Summerhouse craft supplies and breakables have been pack away as some very special Christmas guests are coming to stay. Yep these two little cuties will be coming to stay over the holiday. They are however slightly larger now than in this picture which was taken for a calender I made for there owner, when they were kittens, but I'm so looking forward to seeing them again. Not long to wait now, for tabbies as well as Santa to visit.
Just before I go I thought I share with you this little joke gift I got for 'P's' stocking tee hee
Hello........ It's time for Novembers Summerhouse pick and Mix, the little bits and bobs of Summerhouse living.
The view from the window:
This month I have two images for you. This one how I wish the month had mostly been, bright breezy and sunny and don't get me wrong we have had a few of these days
but..........
Mostly it has been like this November grey, and as for last week here at the Summerhouse house the weather was truly miserable. All it did was plip plip plip with rain and blow a gale straight off the North sea.
While the rest of UK seemed to fair much better with it's weather, with tales of blue skies, crisp morning and frosts. How I longed to see those things, thankfully this week has proved much better with blue skies aplenty. At least all that rain means the field are turning green again.
So what's to be done on a rainy grey November day? Well it calls for hunkering measures
candles to be lit
and chocolaty treats.
Have you come across these Winter Wonderland bars yet, they come in very handy to ward off the November grey.
Plus of course a splash of colour helps,
my orchid now has five gorgeous blooms on it, with one more bud still to open.
It makes me smiley happy to see it.
Last but not least I find a bit of magazine indulgence is also great to remedy the rainy grey.
Yep all the hunkering essentials.
Out in the garden :
There is still colour to found if you look, with even Roses in bud and a few geraniums hanging in there. As well as the winter Jasmine that is now out. Lots of pinks and purples about still, my favourites.
I had to look hard but I even found one lone flower in the wildflower border.
As this relapse seems to have set in for the long haul I've been doing a bit of reading up and have decided to make some changes in the New Year. I already eat a fairly healthy organic wholefood diet (except for the odd bit of chocolate) I mostly eat dairy and yeast free.
Lately I've been reading a lot about anti imflammatory diets for Lyme disease and seeing as a lot of my symptoms are inflammatory based I think I'm going to give it a go. I'm already a lot of the way there, but I do need to cut out sugar and other inflammation causing foods. eek.
There's no way I'll be able to start this before Christmas so it's a plan for the New year.
Wish me luck !!!
Has anyone tried a anti imflamatory diet, if so I'd love to here how you got on?
November's four seasons:
Out in the Summerhouse garden things have become a little confused, with evidence of
Autumn
Winter
The hope of Spring
and even Summer thanks to this determined Geranium that is in bud.
All to be found this passed month.
Crafting Assistants:
Spending lots of time in bed I find that especially now the weather has turned colder, crafting assistants are never far away. On Monday firstly Merlin hopped up on the bed and snuggled down to keep a close eye on some Ribbons
Followed not long after by the lovely Dylan. I'd not had my craft supplies out long before they both appeared. Does anyone else have handy crafting assistants like these?
They truly are a blessing !!!!!!
I did get some crafting done though.
Ta-Dah
Here's what I was making.
Ribbon flowers for my Wintertime wreath.
Well I guess that's all the pick and mix for this month.
Hello it's pick and mix time again, so here's this months little bits and bobs of Summerhouse living.
The view from the window:
October sure has been a month of mists and mellow fruitfulness, as Keats once said. It not the clearest of photo's but it kinda sums up this misty month well. I just love the crow perched on telegraph pole.
Stash busting:
Last week I told you about my new yarn purchase, well these colours were ordered to add to the colour palette, for a new major stash busting project.
Here are the other colours, I'm going to be using. I ordered them a few years ago when I first learnt to crochet. At the time the plan was to make the 'The Spring time throw from 'Nicki Tench's' Cute and Easy crochet book, but to tell the truth I never did get very far with it.
As you can see there is a lot of stash to be busted, that has sat in a box for far too long. So what's the plan. well for a while now I have been admiring all the stunning ripple blankets you see around blogland. Jennifer over at thistlebear posted about a beautiful blanket she had made the other week.It really is gorgeous.
So I thought why not, lets go for it, so the plan is to make the blanket over the cold winter months, with the blanket hopefully growing as the winter weather sets in. My energy levels and crafting time is limited, so I'm hoping to manage 10 minutes of lovely rippleness each day. So I know it's going to take me a while but it feel great to be starting this huge project. I'll keep you posted as to how it's going.
Out in the garden:
There is still plenty of colour out in the garden with Cyclamen and Chrysanthemum taking over from the summer planting, which is still hanging in there too, with the mild weather. The wild Flower border has just about finished now, but I can already see next years Forget Me Nots coming up and hopefully lots of the other wild flowers will have reseeded too.
New Project:
Today I started a new seasidie stitching
project, 'The seaside' is another of my local craft clubs exhibition themes. I've decided I'm going to make some bunting. I found this fab Maritime fabric in Dunelm Mill, isn't it cute?
I've been cutting out the little seaside images today and I'm going to attached them to colourful bunting pennants and decorate them with a bit of hand stitching, well that's the plan anyway. I have all these great plans in my head, but not much energy at the moment to accomplish them.
I'm really tempted to try and make a cushion if there is any spare fabric, but I've very new to sewing so we'll see how it goes.
Autumnal Bliss
It really has been the most beautiful Autumn this year, here's just a few shots from the Summerhouse garden. Need I say more......
Well I guess that's all the pick and Mix for this month, Happy Autumn everyone.
It's pick and mix time again here at the Summerhouse, Summer's still hanging on but the nights are starting to draw in and there is a nip of Autumn in the air. It been a mixed month with the highs of a holiday and the subsequent crash of a relapse of my ME/Lymes, yes it would seem the bugs have got the better of me for now.
So before I get started I just thought I'd do a quick public service announcement and just warn anyone that's out and about in the countryside or even the local park to please be tick aware. Lyme Disease is not fun, it's a world of pain, heartache and exhaustion, Right so that's the serious bit over with, on with the Pick and Mix. Who like me wants to disappear off over the horizon on the stunning sail boat picture above?
The view from the window:
The fields were looking so golden the day I took this picture, I kept thinking I really must take a photo and then forgetting to bring the camera upstairs. So it's a good job I finally remember last week as I caught the view just on the cusp of Summer as that very night they started the harvesting.
So by the next morning, it looked like this, very Autumnal, as I said earlier there has been a feeling of Autumn in the air for about a couple of weeks now, just every now and then, like it's lurking around the corner. The harvest is a sure sign of this, yes the next day when I looked out the window, it looked like someone had been playing a giant game
of jenga or a giant toddler had scattered there building blocks across the field.
Even the Horse Chestnut tree by the Summerhouse is showing signs of the season turning from Summer to Autumn
I don't mind so very much though, as Autumns one of my favourite seasons, with leaves changing, bonfires and snugly blankets, so many Autumnal things to look forward to.
Yarniness
I've not really manage that much crafting this month with my health so bad, but I did manage to have a sit out the other afternoon and do a little bit more of my latest crochet project. It's taken four days so far but I've nearly finished this little make. ( you could probably make one in about half an hour, it's just my energy levels are so poor right now) It's for craft club, can you guess what it is ? think summer meadows and remembrance, and you'll be on the right track. I'll post a pic once it finished
Out in the garden :
Yes out in the garden the flowers are blooming, it cheers my heart so to see them, I've been snapping away over the month and had enough pics to make two mosaic's, so much colour everywhere.
Such a wonderful feast for the eyes, they speak for themselves, I don't think I need to say much more.
Buttonbag Birdie :
Seeing as I rebelled a bit the other day while making my Little Gingham Bird
and went off piste on a creative little Clare wander. I thought I should maybe make another bird to show you all what the birides turn out like if you follow the instructions that come with the kit. I still think I prefer the raw edges not be visible on the little birds but I think it turn out OK, I made this birdie purely with the contents of the kit, see I can be a good girl, no adding of buttons or beaks, strictly following the kit instructions (but boy was that a struggle though !!!)
Over in the wildlife strip :
Yes I know what you're thinking, this pick and mix has gone a bit overly floral, but you can never have too many flowers even if like me you have hay fever and besides come the winter we'll all be longing for flowers and summer days.
August has been a bumper month in the Summerhouse garden. I'm so glad that we planted the wildflower border or as 'P' calls it the weed patch !! How can you possibly call these little beauties weeds, I just love them, as do the butterflies insects and bees. I'd love to be able to identify a few more of them, so if you know what any of them are please leave a comment.
Just two more and I'm done for this months pick and mix, I promise, there were just too many for one mosaic again.
Lady bug :
All this wild life gardening has certainly encouraged some little critters to the Summerhouse garden. Seeing as I had the red yarn out, I spent a little time making this cute little Ladybird. It another fab pattern created by Lucy over at Attic24 A perfect low energy make, I even learnt how to make french knots for the spots and I stuck some tiny pearls beads on for eyes.
I managed to make this over a day, (slow coach me again) I'm thinking it would make a great brooch or as a friend suggested a fab fridge magnet, which I think is what I going to make this little ladybird into, it's a tiny 5cm, so I think it'll make a perfect magnet. They would be great on the radiators and metal bed frames in a child's bedroom.
Music corner :
Just before I go I thought I share with you a little bit of music. I've not been up to much musically this month with feeling so ill and a slight guitar tragedy, yes my guitars is broken and needs to go in for repair No I didn't go all rock and roll !! and smash it up, I just discovered a big piece of wood has come loose and was rattling around inside the body of the guitar one morning. So I'm not really sure what happened
The above clip 'Hey There Sunshine' is the debut single from the talented Dani Nicholls's first album 'A little redemption' a wonderful mix of Country, Folk and Americana. I saw this clip on Facebook last week and was singing it for the rest of the day, I've put a link 'here' to her website if you want to find out more.
I hope you've had a wonderful Sunshine filled month. Before I go I just wanted to say a warm welcome to all the new readers that have been stopping by lately and a big thank you too, for all the wonderful comments that have been left, I love to read them all.
Linking this post up with Frontier Dreams Keep Calm craft on and Made by Hand so why not check out what everyone's been up too.
