two gardens

What a change in weather! Wednesday was the last hot, hot day and the day after the temperature dropped by 10C at least; on Friday night the much wanted rain arrived. 

But of course - it is Glastonbury weekend!

Still, my garden is loving it!

On Friday we visited Stourhead - little disappointing;

 not very much colour here in June;

 the dry hot spell made it even drier.

Little colour here and there.

new arrivals

There is lots more colour in our garden; 

the waste water from the kitchen helped to keep it alive during the hot weather.

Lavender in the front of the house loved the heat,

and a new rose bed, planted last winter, is doing well too.

This is "Noble Anthony" .

The weather here is back to normal for June; not too warm, with some rain. 

Unfortunately not warm enough for stitching in the garden today, 

so it has been "baking Sunday",

supply of bread for the freezer

 and rather indulgent cookies.

My house smells of chocolate 😀.

Have a wonderful week!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017

Calling All Birds

Suddenly our summer arrived, pulling the hot air from the continental part of Europe. It is HOT, 31C today in my part of the world (yes, I know, it is probably much hotter where you are, but for us - it's just hot). 

It is too hot to sew, my fingers just don't want to hold a needle of any kind.  

I am spending my days looking for a shade; good time to catch up with some reading.

But last week, before the thermometer went wild, it was just right, 

a proper "in the garden stitching weather", 

and I finished the binding on my quilt.

It has been ready to blog about for a week now, but I felt my quilt is rather insignificant; I felt and feel a great sadness about so many lives lost - in Manchester bombing, Grenfell Tower fire in London, forest fires in Portugal............

So here it is, "Calling All Birds", designed by Linda Guy, published in Quiltmania's "Simply Moderne"" magazine.

I really enjoyed making this one; easy and not too large to be get tired of.

I love the bright fabrics, and of course, I love applique.

I hand quilted it, using Finca cotton thread no16.

I loved stitching the birds and I was tempted to put some more on, 

but in the end I decided that Linda got it just right.

It is hot sitting here in front of the computer, so I am going back outside to the shade of the tree.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017

FNwF

Big THANK YOU to Cheryll for letting us use her blog again for our monthly "get together" on Friday night! 

I am sure everyone had a good time.

Last week I "sandwiched" the "Calling All Birds" quilt and started to hand quilt, 

and I continued on Friday night.

And just to keep the garden theme going, some pictures from our tiny garden.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017

the last instalment

Our short holiday was coming to an end; one last look at the view of Malvern, 

in the early morning mist; time to go home.

But there was one more stop to make, one more place to visit, while we were passing so close anyway - 

Hidcote Manor Garden .

The weather changed again, cold and dull, getting worse my the minute.

By the time we arrived at Hidcote, out car thermometer was showing just 12C outside, it was wet and windy.

Not an ideal day to visit a famous garden, but despite the weather, the car park was filling up fast and, with cars and coaches.

To the left of the Manor House is a small entrance to something wonderful,

one of the best known Arts & Crafts gardens in Britain.

Hidcote was bought by an American, Gertrude Winthrop, in 1907, but it was her son, Lawrence Johnston, who took 30 years to create the "garden of rooms", and then in 1948 he gave it to the National Trust .

This is a real treat for any gardener, and I spent a couple of hours juggling my umbrella with my camera, hands red and blue with cold, but I was determined to take as many pictures as I could. Sometimes I had to wait few minutes for groups of people to move on, to get a clear shot.
And I know I did not see everything.
Later at home I spent some time editing them, adding more light; the day was so dull.

The planting at Hidcote is seasonal, so as to have plenty of interest at any time of year.

Right now it is a transition between spring and summer.

I want to come back here again, hopefully on a better day...

Enough of that; I hope you will enjoy the pictures.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017