Spring is on its' way!

Spring is definitely on its' way. Lots of bulbs and shoots pushing through in the garden -

 

It cheers you up so much to see Spring flowers, doesn't it?

 

 

 

 

Lovely and sunny here today, though it may not last. The waters have gone down, though, in the meadows at the end of our garden -

 

 

Off to the shop later to take some new stuff in, including this Lloyd Loom type linen box -

 

 

And some china, including these pretty cups -

 

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These fragrant flowers were bought for my 92 year old mother-in-law, who is in hospital recovering from a (5 1/2 hour) mouth cancer operation. She loves flowers, but sadly the hospital didn't allow them (because of Norovirus......), so they were brought home. Mum looks very battered and bruised, but is apparently doing very well.

 

 

 

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And, of course, I couldn't leave these little blue glass eggcups (my favourite colour!) behind in the charity / thrift shop earlier!

 

 

Have a good weekend!

 

Rain, rain go away................

OK, that's enough rain now, thank you................

Our garden overlooks meadows, which normally look something like this -

 

But currently look like this - (in fact, the water's gone down from where it was) -

 

 

Everything in the garden is a bit soggy, though I have some cheerful pots of colour -

 

 

Some bulbs peeping through in this pot -

 

 

These Fritillaries are so pretty, aren't they? -



 

Found a rather lovely, Spring-like bowl today in a charity (thrift) shop -

 

 

It's quite big - about 14 ins across -

 

 

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And a pic of Tilly enjoying her new plastic drill (well, actually I'm told it's a jack-hammer...). She enjoyed drilling my knees - thought it was hysterical! - 

 

 

Have a good - dry - week!

Flowers in the House - February

Joining in with Jane at smallbutcharming for February's Flowers in the house............

Although our garden is small, there are quite a few Hellebore plants, because I love them - magic at this cold, grey time of year. The flowers don't keep for long indoors (any tips?  I've tried hot water, iced water, heat sealing the stems....), but these lasted a day or two -

Hyacinths and tulips - the hyacinths smell delicious! -

Bought some pretty blue and white plates this week from a charity shop (op shop in USA?) -

Bought this turquoise jug too from a charity shop - very cheap! - it's the colour of the sea in the Med in high summer! -

I love this blue colour, as you can see! - the shell's from New Zealand, the photo is our 3 year-old grand-daughter, Ruby -

Snowdrops in the garden too - here, with some Rosemary -

I have a lovely painting of snowdrops too, by Kathy Lewis - a local artist -

This is a photo of our eldest grandchild (now 13!), in a flowery frame I bought ages ago, made of bits of china - I thought this would be easy to do myself and tried it, but it wasn't as easy as it looks! -

And some flowery plates in my cupboard (hutch in USA?) -

I've enjoyed putting this post together, as a respite from the torrential rain and cold weather here! 

Roll on Spring!

Shallow, that's me................

Felt pretty fed up first thing this morning - torrential rain, a leak in the back door of my car (I won't tell you the make of my car, but I went to Halfords recently and asked for "Some oil for my S****" - "Seems a fair swap to me" quipped the man....so yes it's one of those), just missed out on a couple of things I wanted at the Flea market...... :(  etc..

Then by mid-morning, things seemed better - because I'm so shallow, that little purchases cheer me up!  Went to Waitrose and bought two lovely mugs - stoneware, dipped glaze - astonishingly for Waitrose - £2 each! - they look like something you'd pay £10 for in Habitat -

 

Two new books too!!  Hurrah.

 

Then I found a tiny brown set of shelves in a charity shop - painted them blue this afternoon -

 

 

And a huge, Mexican-looking dish (it was from The Pier in a former life) for £2.99 :) -

 

 

And a sweet little pot -

 

 

And best of all, noticed two little irises in the garden, battling the elements - not very focused pic, as so windy! -

 

 

Anyway, off to see Holy Motors at the Film Society tonight - looks pretty bonkers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NWu9WjEcdbk

 

 

Have a good week!

Learning to crochet.................

Although I can knit (a bit) and sew (reasonably), I somehow never learned to crochet. Fancied doing something about this and so went on a 1 day workshop today at a lovely wool shop called  Lupin and Rose in a little market town called Bromyard in Herefordshire. The shop is run by Ruth Maddock - Ruth runs different courses, and has a good range of yarns.  Her pretty logo -

Ruth was exceptionally patient with me!  She provided excellent notes, for complete novices like me -

 



 

 

And I even managed - with a lot of help! - to make a Granny square and a little brooch -

 

 

 

But will I be able to carry on, on my own?!  I may be asking lots of silly questions of all you crochet queens! Hope I can master it - I love the results (well, not my results, but crocheted stuff in general)

 

 

I bought some gorgeous wool -

 

 

So wish me luck!

 

And - a bonus! - at lunchtime today, during the workshop, I 'did' the charity shops and found some good vintage glassware and china - and this lovely turquoise blue jug - (the light's terrible, bit it's basically the colour of the sea in Greece in midsummer!) -

 

 

 

Hope you're keeping dry and warm!