…. that’s an old pig hut right at the back - that was in amongst the dead apple trees and brambles…

O.K. I’ve posted a few photographs on flickr but that’s because it’s just such a good way of sharing phtographs with people that you can’t drag entice take over to our corner of a field.

We’ve had our successes and our failures and we’ve still loads to learn, perfect and get right. But, then this was always intended as a way of getting some perfect ‘downtime’, when your mind isn’t buzzing with ‘work’ and all the other traumas of life.

We struggled to get some beds sorted out in time to grow anything this year and we made a decision not to define all the beds with boards or edging or to do anything about creating proper pathways until we discovered whether we’d put the beds in the best places. Whether the beds were too long, too narrow, too wide, in the best places to make the most use of the light …..

…does it look like a geological dig to you…? So, that’s all to do beginning this autumn and next spirng.

We don’t have any of the really nasty weeds such as mares tail but do have a great deal of this;

…. and nettles and something called fat hen. Now, I’m told that you can eat both of these….. ummmmm! Well, the nettles I’m prepared to give some space to around the edges ‘cos they’re good for all kind of wildlife and that’s fine with me. The fat hen is probably good for wildlife, certainly the ladybird larvae seem to love it. But, in salads…. me? ‘Fraid not - I can’t get away from the fact that they’re weeds not food…. I used to feed them to hens as a child, but maybe you’ve tried them?

I’ve planted these around the perimeter;

…and these amongst my broad beans…

… I’m experimenting with a bit of companion planting.

Despite my resistance to neetle and fat hen eating, I have cooked and tried turnip tops, which I confess was completely new to me. They’re delicious! Someone’s been keeping secrets! Admittedly, you start off with a cauldron of greens, a bit like spinach and once you’ve cooked/wilted it, you end up with something that wouldn’t fill an egg cup but my goodness! with a little bit of seasoning and a dribble of olive oil they were gorgeous! Even my daughter ate them and that is saying something.

We’ve had radishes, turnips, potatoes (We’re pretty much self-sufficient in potatoes at the moment. We thought they’d help work the soil as this is its first year growing anything other than nettles and brambles in at least 50 years.). We’ve beetroot, which just melt in your mouth. Broad beans….

….peas

We’ve courgettes, pumpkins and butternut squashes to look forward to as well as sweetcorn, garlic, onions, and chard. There’s jerusalem artichokes, salsify, kohlrabi, broccolli, runner beans, dwarf beans ….. all kinds. (We were sad enough to cut our first runner bean into quarters the other night - well we all had to try it.) When it comes to actually eating some of them I’m going to have to consult a cookery book. Sad but true. It’s a fascinating journey.

Our biggest failure or mistake was to feel that our cabbages grown so beautifully from seed would be o.k. There don’t seem to be any rabbits, probably due to the fact that a lady runs a fox sanctuary nearby. But, they obviously don’t hunt pigeons (Probably too full of rabbit!) ….. they wreaked death, destruction and complete havoc upon our beautiful cabbages. We tried to rescue them but it was no good and we’ve had to rootle them out again.

We’ve probably gone a little bit mad with some things and not sewn enough of others. We’ve a lot more to learn about ’succession’, and potential yields per plant, but my neighbours are happy helping out with our ‘gluts’ . If all the leeks and celeriac we have growing succeed, we’ll be living on various vegetable soups and stews all winter but hey, next year we’ll understand so much more. It’s all lovely and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

So, this is the good thing that the happened last week. The arrival of our hens. We’ve three of them. Dahlia, Henoria and Masie.

…Masie….

…the delightful and haughty Henoria…

I’m afraid that Dahlia will never stand still enough for a photograph.. but I’ll get her soon. They’re still behind bars at the moment, but the plan is that once they’ve settled and I think they are pretty settled, then they can venture into the garden. (I’m just a bit terrified of this - their wings are clipped but even so….)

We’ve had them just five days and Henoria has just laid her first egg …

… those are big hands by the way….

My son’s face when he found it was an absolute ‘beaming’ picture full of pride… Aw! Rosie sits out on the grass talking to them and they both sit out on the grass feeding them - grapes ! Yes, I did say grapes.

Getting them in the first evening was entertaining but now they trot off to bed at dusk and it’s a very easy task. More than can be said of our children. Obviously we’re better ‘chicken parents’ than parents. Oh well!

I hope you’ve survived all those pictures….

But, I’m not going to launch into one almighty rant… I need to fight the urge to stamp, scream and shout. (It would look rather silly!) Nor am I going to describe how it felt to arrive at my children’s school on Friday afternoon to find Fire engines everywhere….. I’m just going to move onto more pleasant things - the ‘giveaway’.

With everything ‘computery’ that was going on I wasn’t able to post any results. The server where both the shop and my blog are hosted kept crashing, so for huge chunks of time I couldn’t see orders, process orders, see or post to my blog…. It is indescribably frustrating when everything is completely out of your hands like that.

So I’m moving on from all that anguish into a new week and with hopefully some postive high spots. (There were some nice bits last week but I’ll show you some pictures of those soon.)

Thank you to everyone who joined in with the ‘Giveaway’.

….remember these… pretties

So, I wonder what number is going to ‘come’ out of the Random Number Generator thingy. It’s always hard isn’t it - all that anticipation….

…and number 20 refers to;

VintageViolet

All rather appropriate seeing as how Vintage has just had a birthday! So, if you’d like to e-mail me your address I’ll send these pretty little fabrics off to you. I’m sure you’ll find something lovely to do with them.

She loved the fabric as individual patterns and designs but was struggling to get her head around how to mix and match the prints together. We had a lovely conversation about this, but later I was thinking that that’s an issue with fabric collections from any designer isn’t it when you really get down to it. Which fabric designs are the ‘neutral’ designs that most easily mix and tie all the other patterns together?

I guess as always, sometimes in a sewing project that just isn’t an issue, big, bold prints can look very happy together and some beautiful patchwork quilts and clothes result from that happy combining. But on other occasions you may want to use fewer fabrics - just one or two perhaps in a skirt of dress so you want some colour and pattern harmony. So, the question was how do you do this? Are Pop Garden and Bijoux completely different?

Obviously, I’m only able to give my point of view but I have added a little bit of ‘fact’ that I’ve gleaned from a fabric brochure and from Heather’s own website; blog and shop. Check out the Flickr sites too, because how other ‘crafters’ are mixing and matching fabrics is always inspiring and a great way to get the fabric taste buds working overtime!

Basically, Pop Garden and Bijoux are ‘designed’ to go together. To quote the brochure they are “sister collections to mix and match”. Bijoux is defined as “jewel or trinket”, “anything small and of elegant workmanship” so the designs in this collections are just that, small and elegant. The ‘Swirly bud’ designs are floral.

The ‘Tiled primrose’ is a pretty geomtric print with little dashes of accenting colour …

and then there’s the ‘mod beads… again a colour rimmed ‘bead’ with a central colour, small and pretty.

All those patterns work alone in just the same way that other ‘neutral’ type patterns such as ‘polka’ dots’ do but they also work beautifully with the larger floral patterns.
….…Pop Daisy in Rose - very modern looking design….

… or

…Rose Bouquet in Ice - a softer vintage style floral design…

or the Sway type designs with quite a stenciled look…

and not forgetting the dramatic, bold and beautiful…

zig-zag stripe …

….
or the paisley style designs of Pop Garden. Just as all the fabrics work together within each distinclty named collection …..

Two fabrics from Pop Garden. Just look at the drama in this combination.

They work beautifully across both ranges, marrying up the ‘Pop Garden’ with the small and delicate patterns of Bijoux.

.. I quite like this - Switly Buds in lime and Pop Daisy in Rose.

When it comes to colour, the combined collections consist of “three playful palettes” , which if you look at Heather’s own shop are; Poppy Leaf, Butterrose and Sugar Mallow. Fabrics from both collections are organised into those three colour palettes. Useful information when trying to decide which colours may or may not go together….which pinks, yellows, golden yellows are going to ‘fit’ nicely.

These are fabrics from my own shop which form part of the ‘Poppy Leaf’, palette.

… and from the Butter Rose palette;

Pretty soft peaches, pinks, mossy and lime greens with hints of red… glorious!

And the Sugar Mallow Palette;

with it’s intense feisty pinks as well as the softer pinks of Rose bouquet in Ice and Mod beads.

There are no rules so just enjoy yourself combining the patterns and the colours….. one combination I’ve seen recently is this….

think frothy ra-ra skirt type of combination ….. hot colours… gorgeous skirt - definitely not for a shirnking violet!

Which colours and patterns would you combine?

So, because it’s HOT…. and when Wimbledon is finished I just know that you’re going to need to get sewing again plus, if you’ve waded through all of the above then you absolutely deserve an award, I’ve decided to have a giveaway of a set of fat quarters from the Sugar Mallow palette.

That’s these ones…..

So, if you’d like to join in, just leave a comment on this post….. you may come from anywhere, the post seems to reach most parts of the globe quite successfully. I’ll consult the random number generator on Friday 10th July…. which should give time for a whole weeks sewing before you get too involved with the childrens summer holidays from school

Speak soon and Stay cool….

O.K so maybe this is a little odd but I’m having fun folding fat quarters….

I came across this blog kootoyou. She’s made a video about folding fat quarters. I love what she says about creating a ‘little pocket to put a gift in…’ so, next time you join in a swap which involves a fat quarter…. there’s a different idea of something to do. Somewhere to hide a button or two or some pretty braid perhaps.

Are you suprised it appeals to me? I love seeing fabric nicely folded and stacked. It looks dashed attractive (You have to say that in your best ‘Jeeves and Wooster‘ voice.). You can see the colours, some of the pattern. They just beg to be used. Unlike fabric that’s become all tatty, scrunched up and looks as if it’s destined for the rag bag! That’s just so sad!

Kootoyou’s post lead me on further down the rabbit hole that is the internet, to here, another blog Badskirt, with more ‘Fat Quarter’ folding fun.

What else could I do join in and have a little fun of my own…..

A few attempts of my own....

I’ve one or two more to do……

….eeek! I still need to get those Account done!

What a pretty little badge. Ladybirds are one of those little creatures with charisma don’t you think… they make fantastic little embroidieries (Well - no they don’t embroider - but their ‘beetle’ body shape is easy to reproduce as an embroidery, applique etc) They are also fantastic little munchers of garden pests….

…. set them on your greenfly and see what happens…!

Murder and mayhem that’s what!

The rules of this award are to link back to the person who gave you the award and then;

*Nominate 10 other blogs.

*Put a link to their blogs.

*Leave a message for your nominees.

So, I’d like to pass this award on to;

Incy of Incy Wincy Stitches

VintageViolet of Maximum Rabbit Designs

SewlovetoSew

Sew Christine

Blotted of ‘Adventures of a lady in Training’

Kitty of Kitty’s Bloggy Bits’- Who I know is taking a bloggy break but is around somewhere….

Spans’ Stitchin’

Dotty of DottieCookie

Ragged Roses

CraftMatters

Phew! That was a lot of linking…. have fun passing it on ….

…pure fabriccy gorgeousness !

I know I didn’t get to return all the e-mails but thank you for joining in with this litle bit of fun.

Well the winner is, courtesy of the random number generator;

….. Number 28

… which is and I’ve counted very carefully; Lacehearts.

Congratulations, I’m sure you’ll get some sewing fun out of these. So, please e-mail me your address and I’ll send these off to you.

It’s been sitting on my sewing table for an age. For no particular reason apart from issues with the handles. I wanted to do something a little different with the handles so I added the ‘o’ rings and then I went on to make some plaited handles…..

I did sooooo want a pair of plaited handles but it wasn’t to be…… they just didn’t look right.

As you can see, the bag is made up (on the outside) with fabrics from the Daisy Chain collection. Four of them repeated in strips along the bag… (and gently quilted) with a fifth fabric … in the band at the top. I selected three of the fabrics to plait into a handle. I worked out the widths I’d need to end up with an inch wide handle and added a tab to the handle ends so that I could attached then neatly to the ‘o’ rings.

So far, so good…… but when I came to complete the handle it was obvious that it wasn’t right for this bag…. it looked too flimsy and light for one thing. The colours although very pretty, when united with the bag made the whole thing much too bright, a bit of an argumentative, blue/green colour riot. There was definitely far too much going on… so I abandoned the ‘fancy’ handles for ordinary style strap ones which simply looped through the rings, and in the same colour (Daisy Bouquet in Indigo) as the top band.

Inside the bag, I used a band of fabric in yet another Daisy Chain fabric - Daisy bouquet in Mist…. gorgeous soft aqua type blue colour with the rest of the lining in something called ‘Blue Raspberry‘ (Is there such a fruit as a blue raspberry?), which matches the background colour of the daisy bouquet really well.

I added a slip pocket, which I always find useful and a magnetic snap, to ensure that the bag contents stay securely tucked inside. This is a slimline magnetic snap, which I added in the usual way. It may be slim and neat looking but it’s strong ….. it really does have a wish to be with it’s opposite number.(Link)

This is where it gets complicated again!

As it’s for me, I added a little flower brooch, made out of a fabric flower combined with a yo-yo and a small self-cover button as a centre - I thought it might set the whole thing off a little.

…a little flower brooch…

…the bag and the brooch together…

But is it too much? I’m not convinced it’s the right kind of flower for the bag or even if it not just a little too loud in the colour department but I’m living with it! What do you think? Do you think it’s too much?

So, plaited handles….. I’m thinking that I’m going to need a bag for some summer parties that are coming up. Something, a little more dressy. Perhaps, that’ll provide another opportunity to use plaited handles. The ones I made for this one, were quite narrow and didn’t have any interlining added to the strips so maybe if I made then wider and used perhaps some fairly low-loft fleece it may make something with more of an impact….. have you every tried plaited handles? Any advice to share?

It was good to have the chldren at home, although I haven’t adjusted to the ‘quiet’ of the house now they’re back at school. It’s really weird to be hearing ’silence’ again during the day. The weather was brilliant for the half term break and we spent quite a bit of it outside.

To add to the chaos of the week some new custom built shelves were installed for the shop and they’re just brilliant in a shelf organising kind of way. They make much better use of the space and distribute the weight of the fabric in a much better way. Making it easier for me to get the fabric out and put it back. (Hooray!) The downside is …… that I can see all the fabric side by side and it can beg even louder to become something else…. all those colours and patterns interacting…. It’s quite distracting actually.

A positive side effect of the new shelving has been to force a bit of a look at some of the fabric that no longer lives on a ‘bolt’, either because they’ve been cut as fat quarters or because they’re the end bits that I always seem to get left as I near the end of a 6.85 metre (What kind of measure is that, when the way you cut fabric is based on metres or half metres?), nine or thriteen metres bolts. The carboard inners get recycled either as compost…… or as fantastically useful ‘kneeling’ pads at the allottment. One doesn’t appreciate muddy knees you know…..!

So, as I don’t seem to have had a giveaway for a while I wondered if one of you might find these useful? Some of them are fat quarters other pieces are a little smaller. Definitely useful for patchwork….

Definitely pretty…

I really like that fabric by Heather Bailey (the one with the large yellow flower ) - it’s so fresh looking and just gorgeous. then there’s some Woodland Bloom by Lila Tueller and some of Amy’s fabrics from the Daisy Chain range.

Everyone is welcome to join in, just drop me a comment and say hello. I (the computer ) will randomly generate a number on the 10th June (6.00p.m. BST), which will be the day after my daughters twelth birthday……. so I’m unlikely to forget.

Which reminds me, I need to get hold of some edible glitter ….. she wants a cake like the ones on Kirstie Allsop’s Handmade Home. Looks good and potentially very messy, I wonder how that crafty endeavour will go!

The irony is that at the moment there are all kinds of problems if you try to checkout your shopping cart or access any other secure pages on the site.

The company that hosts us is very good and responsive, and I know they’re working hard to fix the problems. So, I’m apologising if you’ve encountered difficulties on the shop. I know it’s really frustrating! If it’s any consolation at least any ’shopping carts’, that you may have created will be preserved until your next visit and I do hope that you’ll visit again.

It’s really frustrating for me to have some new (to me!) Heather Bailey and Amy Butler fabrics, which I can’t share with you. It’s extremely frustrating that for the very first time the shop and been listed in a new national magazine and then ‘poof’, my little bubble of happiness gets burst by ‘Technical difficulties beyond my control’. Is that the term folk use……

So, whatever improved security and improved performance I’m supposed to expect I wish it would hurry up and materialise!

I’ll post an update once things are sorted out…