Show and tell

As many of you know the weather here is the "pits", but one consolation is that our hosepipe ban has now been lifted.  I think it has rained every day since the ban came into place, and that was about 2 months ago...... need I say more about the weather...I don't think so.

I will show you a couple of things that have been doing well in the garden.

Strawberries and cream

This poor Weigela spent the first couple of years of its life just knocking about the garden in a tiny pot as I couldn't make up my mind as to where it should live, so I think once it got planted it decided to show me how beautiful it could be if its roots were allowed to spread....

Black lace

 Now this Sambucus I was told has to be pruned almost to its roots each year, but it only ever had one or two flowerheads, so last year I decided only to trim it...........Voila!!  This year its covered in these stunning sprays.  It does grow quickly, so I think it will need a trim once these flowers have gone.

My foxgloves last year have worked their magic and multiplied  ......good job, because they are another favourite.  Do you like my collage???? I have been playing with 'pic-monkey', its a free site where you can play around with your photos, its easy to use and if you have the time I think you could get some great results.  Go  here to play,  I would suggest you make a copy of your photo, and take the copy to the site, then you have no fear of spoiling anything just play to your "hearts content".

I have finally finished my Birdie Stitches Quilt.  This quilt was created by this talented lady
Little miss Shabby last year, and each month produced a new block. She still has the quilt blocks and tutorial on her site if you fancy making it.  I did change a couple of the months, July my daughter and family came for a holiday from South Africa, so I made up my own holiday block, and August Mr D was seriously ill but made a miraculous recovery, so both months had to be celebrated.

Completed with blocks

Unfortunately I didn't think to take pics of each block as I finished them, and now they are quilted you can't really see them very well.  May be if you click on the pic it might show up a bit better, but see......... I have been playing with pic-monkey again.

Completed Quilt

I quilted in the embroidery blocks with (is it called) 'vermicelli', then where the 2" blocks are, I did  bigger squiggles, straight lines down the green, and in the borders (that you can't really see) I scrolled down and added five petal flowers.  All practice ..... hopefully to get near perfect, but not there yet.

The other thing I have been playing with is this.  You see I am supposed to come up with some thing to work on when our group have an 'all day' session, and this coming Monday I thought a sewing machine cover might be a good idea, but for those that already have one, the mat could be a second choice. 

Very Smart 

 I thought I should have a trial run at making these if I am going to try to help the ladies, and Mr D had a couple of shirts that he no longer needed.  The pale blue one was a bit worn on the collar, so lots of strips from that one.  The  darker blue stripe was the one that was cut off at the hospital (had to be kept as a reminder), and as they had cut through the sleeves, I had a few less strips of that, but now both have a new job in life.  I now just have to repaint the room to match my new cover and mat...... that's not happening any time soon....tooooooo much stuff to move in that room.