Daffy Dillies And Other Flowers

My friend's baby boy arrived late on thursday night :-) but in my haste and excitement I forgot to photograph goodies before wrapping. Hopefully will be able to get a pic of him modelling them when I go and see him in the morning. Don't like him not having a name yet, feels odd refering to him as 'him' when that's what we have been doing for ages!!

Spring seems to have sprung in the corner of my garden, the girls spotted this when they were out on their bicycles this afternnon;



And while they were out I managed to have a go at this tutoral using some off cuts from my old jeans;



I scanned the tute very quickly when I spotted it and I really should have paid more attention to measurements. I kind of made it up as I went along (as usual) and have made the tiniest cuff in the world! Francesca had to wear it for the photo. I did make two more flowers though so can have a go at a bigger cuff when I get chance. I also thought the flowers would look nice a little bigger with a ribbon loop and stuffed with lavender? I am now on the hunt for some dainty floral fabric and will try out the scented flowers for my mother-in-law's birthday.

Daisie xxx

Beads, Flowers and Peacocks

I have made some more beads this morning (I might add here that we are not yet dressed and to be honest it's not long until bedtime so we may not bother).

My poor Father-In-Law popped over this morning to bring me some coloured carrier bags (for exciting plarn knit-wit flowers, keep watching) and was greeted by me in my knickers and yesterday's t-shirt, very nice am sure (NOT)! He didn't seem overly bothered as no one else was dressed either!! He also gave me this wonderful book he picked up in the Rossendale Hospice Charity shop;



It is full of some wonderful projects; embroidery, applique, quilting, and there is a knitting pattern for this;

Don't worry Nathaniel, Mummy wouldn't be that mean......or maybe she would.....?

The children and I made a lovely box picture for our new bedroom (when it's ready). I drew around their hands onto some card and cut them out, they then drew around the shapes onto papers that they picked from my stash. I have layered the hands up with foam pads so it has a wonderful 3D effect that you just can't see on the photo;

Another reason for not being dressed (apart from being really lazy and far too busy knitting beads) is that I spent alot of yesterday out in the garden. I have dug a huge flowerbed where once there was just concrete, into it I have planted lots of daffodil bulbs so it'll be really colourful in the spring, some ferns for all year round colour, Elizabeth's lavender bush (it didn't like it in the pot and I'm hoping that it will be better in the open ground) for fragrance and lots of random bits of ivy that will hopefully cover the garden wall and then Simon and I will not have to scrape it and paint it every other summer for the rest of our lives!

There are still some stone flags that need to be cut and put in place before it is finished but the children and I took advantage of the sunshine (while it lasted) yesterday afternoon and played ball. Nathaniel loves to be outside and I think it will encourage him to walk, he doesn't like the feel of the stone under his knees. He has taken lots of small steps and managed six steps across the dining room before he fell down the other day. Everyone is asking "Is he walking yet?" and it really annoys me! Both his sisters were 18 months before they walked and there is nothing wrong with taking your time, it means you fall down less when you do walk! Anyway, I digress, backache is why I am not dressed. There will not be pics of the garden until it is ready. So for now I will show you how well Francesca's flowers are growing;

My knitting needles are calling me.....

Daisie xxx

Look What I Got!!!

Gil's garden was lovely yesterday, a little wet and a lot muddy but the sun shone for a little while and the children managed to play outside. They took lots and lots of pictures and these were the two that were in focus;




The played near the pond and we kept our fingers crossed that nobody would drown, and no one did, hurrah!! They dug for worms and found three, one was reportedly very fat. They spied green tomatoes and green strawberries and yellow courgettes. Gil and I had trouble spotting the children at the end of the day as they were brown all over. They stripped off in the garden and while Gil hosed the wellies I scrubbed the small people. I ended up bringing my girls home in their knickers as everything else was so wet and muddy!

The post man brought me a parcel yesterday morning. I thought at first it was something for Elizabeth and my excitement grew when I saw my name on the front. Look what I got;




Jenny posted a pic of her son Will wearing some lovely grandma designed trousers and I noticed that the curtain behind him was a match for my new lampshades. So what did the lovely Jenny do? She found the off cuts of material and sent them to me!! How lovely!? I will make some cushions I think for my new bedroom! Also there were some lovely sparkles and shapes for cards and a badge each for the girls. Thanks Jen, you're a star!!

Hoping that the rain will clear soon so I can go and dig my new flowerbed and plant some daffodils for the spring and put the poor ivy in the ground that has been sitting in it's pot far too long!!

Daisie xxx

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well, it was past 1am on Tuesday morning when we finally got to bed. Walls and ceilings all gone!

Window men arrived at half eight yesterday morning and we had two new windows by ten! Thanks Padiham Windows!

We filled the first skip within an hour and so I had to ring and order another (there goes the budget). The floors through my house are BLACK! I seem to have been sweeping and mopping for days and it never looks cleaner. Poor Nathaniel not yet walking looks like we've been sending him up chimneys!!

Flags in the 'garden' up yesterday (well some of them, we got a little disheartened in the pouring rain and went to bed) and the rest came up this morning. Not so hot today so work was easier.

This is the view from the gate;



This was the view from the back door;



The new slabs were delivered but the man couldn't get the lorry down the side of the house as the skip man hadn't been to collect so he dropped them at the front of the house and Simon and I have carried them round to the back. I have muscles like Popeye and am sure my arms are longer than they were when I woke this morning!! Flags are in place but they need a little tweaking. Dark now so pics tomorrow.

Children all settled naked in their beds, blimey it's really warm, expecting it to chuck it down later, can feel it in the air.

Simon and I are carrying the last of the plasterboard up to the bedroom before we get washed and climb into bed with a Cornish pastie I found in the freezer. Am looking forward to a proper meal tomorrow, on a plate with vegetables!

My Oak tree is covered in greenfly and it's attracting flies (not a good thing in a garden the size of ours). I have done a little surfing and I either have to plant nettles or buy poisonous sprays. From the depths of my memory I seem to remember Sister Josephine ( a very green fingered nun) saying to spray the leaves with very soapy water. I have done this thinking that if the flies are still there tomorrow at least I'll have a lovely clean tree. Any top tips for dealing with aphids?

Daisie xxx

Green Fingers

Can't believe it's Thursday already, where has this week gone?

My friend Claire and her son Li-Bau (will show you a photo when I get one) and Nathaniel and I went to a local breastfeeding group this morning (you get a free coffee, that's why we go!). There were so many boobies that it had this effect on Nathaniel;



After a lazy morning we decided after lunch to venture into the 'garden' and pot on the seeds that the girls planted on mother's day! Elizabeth's Bizzie Lizzies are doing really well and will go straight into the hanging basket at the weekend but Francesca's were looking a little sorry for themselves;



We thought they might do better like this but only time will tell!

All this gardening made Francesca quite tired so she had a sit down;

You will have noticed that I always type 'garden' like this; 'garden' because it isn't really and we have ideas far above our station but it will always be referred to as the garden. It is technically a yard as it is a hard standing of about 5m by 3m. It is big enough for our sandpit, a small slide and the paddling pool when the British summertime allows. It truly is a garden, we have an oak tree (all be it in a pot), a twisted hazel and the beginnings of a privet hedge! The plants have a long history with us and when I have time I'll tell the tale of why I have an oak tree and have done for nearly 14 years.

Daisie xxx

My Shed Window

Here is my shed window! We've been out in the 'garden' today as the sun has been shining and it's so warm, think summer may have arrived...? The pansies that I planted in this basket about seven years ago come up year after year and look rather good and the tiny scrap of ivy I nicked from my mother-in-law's front garden is coming on rather well too. And tell me this, how many other people do you know that have gingham curtains in their shed!?




We made it to Lancaster Castle yesterday and had a wonderful time. It's very exciting and a bit scary being so near all those prisoners (one of which was being released (we think) as I took this photo);





We set off after our tour of the castle into town to have some lunch and we trawled the charity shops. Not much to be had really; the girls got a goodie bag of hair accessories each, I bought a tiny Vincent Van Gogh jigsaw which will be made into something interesting when I think of something interesting.....suggestions on a postcard please. We did the book shops (surprise) and we all were a little tired and fed up when Simon was trying to spend his birthday money in Waterstones so the children and I went back to the car so that I could feed Nathaniel. Well, Nathaniel had a boobie, we had a drink and we talked about coroners and hanging people and played I-spy for a bit. We got bored and opened the goodie bags. Sorry Nathaniel......





Here are some cards I made this afternoon with the lovely new pens I bought at Aintree the other weekend;

Another picture from the 'garden' Nathaniel standing all by himself just before he gave us all a heart attack when he climbed up the steps to find his Mummy in the kitchen, argh;

Daisie xxx