In my hands

32 pattern rows completed, I'm still enjoying knitting this blanket, first row is my mixed coloured yarns, second row is plain coloured yarns, I've kept going in the cycle. The bottom still curls, hope I can sort that. I'm getting to the length I require if it is going to be used as a lap blanket, it's not wide enough for anything else.

My yarn stash is shrinking, this container is not so packed, I've been using all my small hand dyed shanks, this was the point of making this design. I'm still on my first 100grms of black yarn, all 4ply. The paper separates the yarns used in each row, ensuring I spread the colours throughout my knitting. 

There are loads of ends to sew in, I use a tiny rug latch hook, much easier and quicker, no threading yarn through needle eyes.

I have felt something was missing from my days, I do enjoy knitting and reading, my real passion is for cross stitch, last year I found a huge piece of linen, which I had forgotten about. I won't stitch it all, plans are forming for another mash up of designs, I love the challenge mixing everything up gives me, as always my starting plans are very loose, I adore this edging design, I already have made some changes to incorporate the flower motif I love, it will form the outer border, maybe a bit bigger that the original design and then have fun filling the middle. The original design can be seen here. 

I love this author, so far every book I have read has been great, a very different plot, she wakes up in a strange room, trying to piece the past few days, except to everyone else she is in a coma after an accident. I adore how she gives you all the answers in plain sight, and not until the end does all the bits fall into place. Book 31 read this year

I've had a couple of quiet days, I sat with the boys on Friday after school, whilst Molly had her swimming lesson, later daughter went out for tea with a few old work mates, both little ones went to bed and settled quickly. Saturday we had a day at home together, I did a bit in the garden, keeping on top of everything, later we both drove to daughters and shared a Chinese for tea, all three children ate well. Later at home another relaxing evening. Today I'm  doing nothing.

I'm in hubby's bad books, do you remember the fun the little ones had with the confetti balloons, they loved them when they popped over the Easter weekend, it's rained since then and now we have predominantly red and blue dots on the paving. Me saying I thought it looked pretty did not help at all, I suppose they should fade in time.

Christmas cake

 I've used the same cake recipe since the late 70's, the only change I make is to leave out the almonds, thus allowing me to eat some. Here is the 3 main components, mixed fruit and peel soaked overnight in the zest and juice of three oranges, the brown looking sludge is dark brown sugar, butter and eggs, the dry ingredients are plain flour various spices and halved glacé cherries, all stirred together, the flour mixture stops the sticky cherries clumping together. 

Everything is popped into the huge bowl and mixed together ensuring there are no white flour left showing, this makes a huge cake, both hubby and I love Christmas cake. Into a double lined cake tin, with a wet tin wrap on the outside to stop it over cooking, years ago I would have wrapped newspaper around the outside of the tin. Bake for 120ºfor 3 hours. 

Once cooked I turn the cake upside down so the top is flat and start to add brandy, I do not put brandy in the dried fruit soak, I prefer the citrus flavours in the fruit. Cakes need 3 drinks of brandy before they are marzipan and iced, which I leave as late as possible, so the almond paste does not seep to far into the cake. I always trim my slice of cake never eating the edges.

Every year I get this sheet of paper with the recipe typed by me, originally it came from a magazine, I do have a copy on my computer, but it's rewarding to see my messy sheet, things have been spilt on it. I have made notes for cooking times, these have changed over the years as our ovens get better at their job.

The tip of putting the cherries into the flour was given to me by my mum, in senior school there was a baking competition we had to make cherry cake, I followed mum's instructions and won first prize, my cake was the only cake where the cherries did not sink. My prize a huge cookbook, called Colour Cooking by Good Housekeeping, which I still own, sadly it's rarely used, it's falling apart at the seams.

This is my domain, hubby bakes all through the year, but I always make the Christmas cake, infact I make 3, second for daughter and third for brother. Last year I started making mincemeat, which is easy and taste much better, I also want to make puddings, which won't be ate this year, I will do the same as my mum and store them for a year to infuse flavours.

The house smells of Christmas spices, it's warm with the oven on, I cook our big cake first and on the next day the two smaller ones. 

Now to decide how to decorate them, I make all the decorations, daughter and I did a course a few years ago, nothing too fancy. I always use fondant icing, which I purchase ready to roll.

Still blooming

Through the cooler months I do have some colour in my flowering section, a few summer blooms which should not be, and my winter chosen ones. Bulbs are starting to show, I think these are yellow crocus. 

Also in the greenhouse.

Inside my hyacinths, whilst not that tall are pretty blooms, they should be 2 bright pink and 2 white blooms, another Amaryllis bud is opening, this one is white, I have planted the red bulb. 

Friday we popped to Lidl for bread, milk and fresh bits, we had planned to go on Monday, but with the weather forecast so dire, we took advantage of the sunny dry morning. My eldest grandson popped in with his girlfriend in the afternoon, they enjoyed the cake hubby made, we chatted for hours, he is 19 and such a caring young man.

Saturday Lilly had visitors, Molly, George and Will played with her, we spent time chatting to mummy, we all enjoyed the cake, Will loves red velvet cake, we walked to the village, and got more food for Lilly, had the afternoon reading. Lilly crashed out, we are so pleased she has settled. The day was cold and dry, I had to again break ice on my wildlife pond and the drinking spots for the birds.

Sunday was a day at home together, we woke up to rain thankfully, it was a dull and much warmer day, daughter went out for a meal with friends and stayed over, ex was home with the children, she woke up late morning, something which is difficult to do when you have 3 young children. It's grey and very wet again here, I hope if you have snow you are all OK.

On a different note, I have not been able to comment on your post other than anonymous on my tablet, asked daughter why, she found I was not using Google as my browser, so my tablet did not recognise me, she set Google as my default browser and I can comment as poppypatchwork, most of you would know this, but I do get a few anonymous comments.

Saving

My lovely willow hurdles around the veg beds are exactly what I imagined, BUT, they are a hiding place for slugs and snails, I planted my runner beans very close to them, and therefore my beans are being munched, I'm out the every day picking off the pest. The willow stays but I will have to think of a different plan next year.

I only ever drink black coffee when I want a hot drink, I always make a filter pot, on a normal day making 3 pots, the used ground coffee is always used in the garden, I keep some of the used filters to use in the bottom of pots, I find it works better than anything else, plus it's reusing them rather than throwing them away. I have been throwing some away, until I got the bright idea of seeing if I could make small pots for seedlings, I have used my pot maker wooden shaper, I'm using an elastic band to hold the filter in place, once dry the filter should hold its new shape. I had to staple the wings to hold it together, I'm using this one to see if they work.

As a gardener your mind is always on the next season, more so if you grow veg, I started thinking about my growing section and decided to draw out a plan, looking at the space I have, I'm not about to suggest any changes, hubby would do me in and bury me in one of the beds. This is to focus on filling spaces as they empty, I am thinking of trying a butternut squash plant in the second potato bag, once I've dug the spuds out, they are flowering.

Northside Dave made a comment recently about being more self sufficient, he is a great gardener and tries successfully to reuse many items, he also grows to sell to help with the cost of growing, the question was would I have enough propagated plants to sell to pay for my compost and seeds, it's a good point. 

Over the years I have added to our gardening process, a hotbit composter, which makes compost faster, and is fully contained, so no smells, flies and rats can't get in, rats are a problem here. I dig out two bags of wonderful compost a year, I have also two dustbins which each autumn I fill with leaves and get lovely leaf mulch. These were started after our local council said they intended to charge for garden waste collections, and we have to purchase our bins, since the system has been in place we have saved enough to recover the cost of the bins, composter and a shredder. 

This year I intend to save seeds on anything and everything, I purchased three packs of marigold seeds and had very poor germination, seeds are bloody expensive these days, I have potted on some hellebores which have self seeded, and I have a few plants I need to cut back, therefore making plants to sell, I have dug out a canna lily twice, I noticed more shoots, so they are now in a pot. I already like to buy from local growers, we only have one here in the village, so I won't be a problem to anyone, Facebook market place is a great way to sell anything. 

So yes Dave I hope to make a tiny bit to help with the cost of gardening, and I have everything crossed my perennials come back next year and save me loads.  

New this season

We are both extremely happy with our water feature, both in the look and the cost, we did not want to run electric to a pump, preferring not to see wires. This was sold as a firepit, I thought it would look good with water in, the stones I already had, pre-used on pots as a decorative top layer. The pump has black net around it and is tied underneath, with a stone placed to anchor it to the middle spot.

I saw this idea from a gardener I follow on Instagram, his pot was bigger than this, I wanted to use a pot we already had, already the middle plant is giving off babies, hubby loves these succulents, this pot is on our metal table, which allows good drainage, and will stay outside all summer.  

I got theses plant frames online, they were not as sturdy as I expected, hubby has tied them together, there are three here, this should give extra support for this climbing rose. In front is my pomegranate plant grown from a pip, I cut it back last year as it was getting woody, now it looks fantastic.  

Why are cloches so expensive, I have been looking for metal ones, but won't pay the ridiculous prices, I have nets but it's can be a bit of a faf to get them into place. In B&M this week I saw these, food protectors, 2 for £4,  not as tall as I would like but they work, I have a smaller one protecting my french bean plant. 

I have a few huge pots which needs digging out, I struggle to loose the sides from the pot, my garden knife is neither long or strong enough for the task. I have been hankering after one of these Hori hori knives for a couple of years, hubby went online and sneakily got the one I wanted, I am one happy wife and gardener. 

Everywhere feels so good when the sun is shining, I'm outside most days, I have potted on all my seedlings, mainly flowers and a few herbs, other plants are in the ground, I have re-sown my peas, the pigeons nibbled them back to the ground, I have used a different pot, and placed in an area we can see. In the other pot I will plant a courgette, not my favourite veg, hopefully home grown will make me love them again. I moved both hosta's down to our seating area, I have a spot which is in shade most of the day, once the flowers are over I will move them to the back of the garden and put a begonia there. 

We popped to our local town, just a few decent shops left, TK Max, Next, B&M and Waterstones, we don't normally go on a wander around and get bits and pieces, but it was fun for a change, we had lunch out, very brave after our last 10 days. I dropped off a birthday gift to a friend, we had a lovely drive along the water front, Stokes bay and Lee on the Solent, beautiful blue skies, it was nice just to slowly drive through, we do live in a wonderful part of the country. 

Thank you for all your recent comments, May is a challenging month, 1st Monday of month, we said goodbye to Grace, 2nd Monday sat talking to doctor, hubby's kidney failure, very scary, 3rd Monday, sat in garden in sunshine, wondering what the hell we have been through. I've always bounced back, I hear my mum's voice in my head, 'get on with it', but for once I needed time to reflect and process everything. 

Repurpose

 I have spend loads of money finishing off our new layout garden getting the veg section sorted,  normally when in the garden I do like to reuse bits, I also save stuff, just in case. I have had some small black fencing left over from around my butlers sink with my grasses in, having stored these for ages, I am now using here in the front of this rhubarb bed.

I had these bigger loops in the bed, I purchased them for the back of my now rhubarb bed 3 years ago and then used them in my tall raised bed, I then put them in the front of my rhubarb bed, but they did not look right, too tall. Sunday I used hubby's hacksaw and cut off the loops, I can now use these as cloche frames, I was going to purchase some to make a run, I already have netting or fleece, these are the perfect height to protect my seedlings and will make a nice run.

I love lights in the garden, neither of these lamps were cheap, both are years old and I've had good service from them, but the solar tops have gone, rather than purchase new lamps, I have got these smaller ones and popped them inside a very cheap way to prolong the lives of the lamps. 

I have the underside of our old outside round table as half hoops, the chains holding up the nets are from cheap hanging baskets, the baskets I cut the outer ring off and use them upside down to protect my young plants, purchased from B&Q years ago, again much cheaper than cloches.

All my raised beds were made from our decking planks, which only had been down a few years, hubby used wood from the frame to join every bit together, he even reused the screws. he made more into raised beds for our neighbours, the rest of the planks are beside my greenhouse, just in case.

My ponds were made reusing containers and pebbles I already had, sadly I did waste money on a pond liner, which did not work. I am always looking at what I have, as much as I can spend loads in the garden, I do love a bargain or a recycle and as I have said, I throw very little away. 

The one main thing I now do is when purchasing new I buy quality, for years I got cheap obelisks, which maybe lasted 2 years, this time we paid much more for ours and they are solid and will last years. I tried to save money going for a bargain, but it's not cheap over time. 

My biggest savings is to purchase off Facebook market place, I have had many bargains over the years, I prefer second hand bits to new stuff outside. I got most of my clay pots from one person who was clearing their grans greenhouse, I also love old chimneys, which I reuse as planters.

What's you best garden recycle. 

I've got a body

This is the 3rd time of knitting this design, it's using Aran yarn, the finished item is really warm to wear. I am making changes here, as I often do, I decided I did not need this to be so long, it comes to just below my waist. I've clipped these seams together and will sew them up soon, I do like to use these plastic clips purchased for sewing, they hold both seams flat.

The front matches, it's is easier when you have a pattern, where you can record each point you start the shaping. This design is simple and looks very neat, unlike my photo where the cardi is skew whiff. 

Because I shortened the body length, the pockets are much smaller, but other than a tissue, I don't put anything in my pockets.

Again with the shoulder shaping, instead of casting off, I left the stitches on the needles, once the front and back were finished, I knitted a stitch from each side together and cast off, it's much neater and quicker than following the directions on the pattern. 

I am making my green cardi with a collar, which I am going to pickup more stitches and make it bigger, if I button it up on my purple one, the collar does not sit well. These days I prefer to wear thinner jumpers and a cardigan, I feel much warmer. 

I am really enjoying knitting as the evenings are getting darker, I have the two arms, the button bands and the collar to finish here, but for now I will take another break and go back to knitting the squares for my Christmas blanket. 

It's been a quiet week, sign group was fun, I did a half day in the craft shop on Wednesday, market day, it was busy. Thursday we popped to Tesco looking for a few bits and a Christmas jumper each, rest of the very wet day was spent at home. 

Today is the start of a busy weekend,  doing something different for us.

Finished

 My 1st Aran cardi is finished, I used sewing clips to hold the sides together whilst sewing up, the clips made it much easier as nothing moved, I will use them always when sewing together. I used Aztec from James Brett and was happy not to have any knots in the balls, this is 90% Acrylic and 10% Alpaca, machine washable, so I should not have any issues with itching. The yarn is purple as seen in the smaller photo.

I decided to reuse the silver buttons, I cut them from my scruffy cardi, which is now in the bin. George loves these buttons, and rubs them each time I'm wearing them. I did check to see if there were any other buttons in my local shop, but they had nothing I liked. These are metal and will outlast this garment. I am very pleased with this cardi, it feels warm, it's a bit snug, but will relax as I wear and laundry it, I enjoyed the design, and I am very pleased with the collar, it will perfectly replace my scruffy one. I will wear this one when out from our home, which is a bonus as my scruffy one was only worn inside.

I am now back working on my brown fleck one, I am not sure if I will make a collar on this one, I don't have to decide until the very end, so I have time to think. I did have a struggle matching the shoulder designs together on the purple cardi, so I unpicked the last few rows on the back of this one and reknitted without casting off and doing the same on the front as well. I knitted a stitch from the back and front together until the whole section was done, then I caste off, it looks much better and has a flexibility which will be good to wear.

The cost was only £27.00 for the purple yarn, 8 x 100 grm balls, and £3.50 for a set of knitting needles, my local shop gives me a 10% discount on certain purchases as a loyal customer, we don't have a card, the till is very modern and works it all out, very clever. Before when I purchase yarn on line I always get an extra ball and I never return it if unused, it's good to be shopping local and return full balls, she will keep a couple of balls aside if I don't want to purchase them. It did take a week to sew on the buttons and finish this, I have history of not sewing on buttons, I don't know why, it's just so fiddly. 

Whilst emptying the spare room and moving all my yarn stash, I went through all my yarns, I had so many odd full and part balls, mainly 4ply and a bit of double knitting, I popped them on our local Facebook page and they were collected the same day, I do see people trying to sell their left overs, but I was happy to pass them on for free. 

I am working on my cross stitch, the design I had sorted, was too big, so I am putting in skeletons of bits of designs to work around. I have been sketching on my calendar wheel, I want to embroider some more on it,  April is catch up month.

PS. I hate that photo, what face am I pulling.

Doing it my way

Online I found the details of my Albuca Spiralis Frizzle Sizzle, it says they produce a vanilla smell, which is lovely, as I sit by my desk, the scent is beautiful. I will be sorry once these blooms go over.

My Orchid is still good, the taller bud is starting to open, so I should have flowers for another week or more. 

Happy to have finished knitting the back it's the same as the brown back, I always mark the row at each decrease row, so the front and back all matches. I also never cast off the final middle stitches, as always they then ask you to pick them up for the neck band, so I just leave mine on a stitch holder.

 Making a start on the front, just as always I am changing how I attach the front pockets, I have knitted to the top of the pocket, I then picked up the 26 stitches required for the insert, these were taken from a row of my work, in this case the top of the rib row, doing this keeps the bottom flat, I much prefer not to have to stitch in the bottom of the pockets. 

I have so many projects on the go, my big cross stitch, my calendar wheel embroidery, I have started a book, I still have not finished the badges on the blanket, and as April gets closer, I have new bunting to make for our garden, just colourful, not coronation fabrics. So I'm knitting a second cardi, I am enjoying knitting at the moment, and I will need a couple of warm cardi's for the evenings outside in May. 

I am still planning what to do in the garden, I want to move some tall daffs, which are in the wrong place, they can go into the red rose bed, I have loads of teta a teta need thinning out in the side bed, these will go into the raised bed. I have one shrub which is getting bigger I want to move, I have another to replace it, but as yet, I can't decide where to move it to, it might be in a pot for this summer. Hubby has stated he would like a water feature with running water, our huge pebbles in the dish are always green and horrible looking, our tasted differ hugely, so it might take a while to find something, it also needs to be solar to stay in the same position.

Saturday was a lazy day, morning with Molly, whilst George and Will did their sponsor walk around the local woods, I knitted in the afternoon. Saturday we lost an hour in the night and I had the worse night sleep, I got up late and tired, it rained all day, so more knitting time. 

Molly spots look like chickenpox but we are not sure, they are going around again, so I won't be going to sign group this Tuesday, as I am one of the youngest, and I don't want to risk infecting anyone, I will have Molly and George on Tuesday, as daughter won't be able to take them out. Wednesday we are popping to Ikea, we don't need any furniture, but just a few smaller bits. 

 

Little girls bedroom.

I finally got the sewing done, I do love using my sewing machine, in this case I was cutting up the 2 quilt covers and the quilt, we recently purchased to make things for Molly's room, here a floor mat and 2 cushions. I have made a play mat and cushions for each of the children's bedroom, both the boys still use theirs, so these need to be well made. 

This was a new design for me, I've never made a round cushion like this, no pattern, just an idea. I started by cutting 4 rounds of firm wadding for the cushion, this time I have not made an inner cover. I used one of the long sides from the quilt cover, I measured the circumference of the round inner, cut the long bit sewing the ends together making a tube. I then fitted it over the padding and started to stitch the inner raw edge, it went well, but then I decided to make a hem to allow a stronger ribbon to be threaded through to hold middle together, this worked well. I now need to decide how to cover the centre, I have a few choices, but will check with daughter.   

I cut the king size quilt down to cot size, and did the same with both covers, it's a simple task once you have the sizes, I resized the quilt first, once finished I lay it on top of the covers and cut around, having just enough extra for the sewing line. I ensured I cut from the middle incorporating the button band at the bottom.  The rest of the quilt and covers were used in the making of other items. 

I have seen this tip on the Internet, when sewing bulky things pop the bendy bit of a straw over your foot to help feed in this case, the floor mat. Well for me it works, much easier sewing, I don't have a quilting foot, I don't do much quilting so it's not worth me spending money on a foot, but this bit of plastic is now in my sewing machine kit. (I don't purchase straws anymore, this one was free with a drink purchased on our last long journey, I keep everything.)

We had Molly most of Monday, daughter spoke to doctors, she took George in, he has tonsillitis and they suggested daughter take him to A&E for a full check up. Our local QA hospital is brilliant, they ran loads of test ensuring everything was checked, but it meant daughter and George was there most of the day. With George having Downs Syndrome, his chest is vulnerable, so they are extra vigilant, Molly and I got to play all day. George is feeling much better today, but mummy is staying at home to give him time to gain his strength. 

Tuesday was wet, so another day inside, we did pop to Lidl for shopping for the Easter weekend, they had loads of gaps on their shelves, we got most of what we required. Then it was another sewing day, finishing the round cushion, and making my cushion covers for our bedroom, photo's when they are all finished.

I have binged watched the final series of The Split, I normally watch weekly and enjoy the story, but after the 1st episode of this 3rd series, which ended in a huge way, I have wanted to know how their lives pan out. No giving away the plot, it's a fantastic, well made story, I loved the actors, everything about this was just so good. Shame there will be no more. 

With sunshine....

Comes motivation to get things done, we have been outside again most days, this little raised bed is looking good, full of bulbs from a birthday gift a few years ago. 

I loves these little folk, there are Grancha and his pet mouse, nan and grandad T with their hedgehog, these are just outside our back door, greeting us every time we come out. 

I pulled everything away from the wall a couple of weeks ago as the wall was wet, it has dried out, so I pulled everything out and gave my shed a good clean, hubby will spray the outside as soon as the warmer weather arrives. 

The greenhouse is very tidy, and full, the staging on the right is full of plants which need to be outside once again when it's warmer. My nasties on the left are all doing well. 

Plenty of colour and new shoots in pots around the decking, just where we can see them from the house, I have also popped out my solar lights. 

Seating area ready for when we can gather in the garden again, already hubby and I have sat outside for our morning or afternoon drink, we have loads of birdsong around us, this spring feels very special. 

Money saving, I have loads of these types of lights, the solar panels had failed, so I went online to purchase replacements, why are they so expensive, almost the cost of purchasing a whole new unit, whilst walking around shop, I saw these units, sold on a thin metal pole, I removed the metal pole, popped them into the top of the pot, a bit small, but it works and much cheaper. The rain can get into the jar, but there is a hole at the bottom for it to drain out.

I keep saying it, but being outside is so healing, we always have loads of birdsong when we are outside, and the feeders are always busy, my new bird bath is very popular, seen here, I ensure the water is fresh along will filling the water chain, using rainwater. I have popped all my birds along the shelf above the side garden, it's looking very colourful, I also popped a big pot in the space where the worms had been, I have some trailing begonias to plant, should make the end of the garden look much better, I only had to purchase the corns, everything else I had.

We have put the wind chimes and gong back out, I love to hear them, on a sunny day it adds to the whole sounds of outside living. Roll on summer, we are ready for you.