Beautiful weekend, beautiful week coming up!

What a glorious weather we are having!

Roses and lavenders (not yet fully out) in our front garden are loving it.

I have been working on the "Hygge"  shawl over the weekend and I now I have only the one edge to finish.
I will have to decide on a fabric for the lining soon.

This weekend baking was probably my favourite summer cake,
not ony because it is quick and easy, but it also brings back memories of childhood.

"Bublanina" in Czech, "bubble cake" in rough translation, and traditionally made with cherries.

In fact, it can be made with any summer fruit, providing it is not too wet. I have made it with blueberries before, but I prefer fresh apricots, now in the shops.

A small envelope arrived in the post from  Tambani Embroidery Project , (about which I have written on several occasions before, for instance here ), 

a present to say "thank you" for my support.

Thank you, Ina!

May be it will find its way onto my blue summer "play cloth", 

or I will think of a project on its own for it. 

And now back to the garden, it would be a shame to miss all that sunshine!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2018

just catching up

I am spending very little time indoors, making most of the wonderful weather we have been having (with some rain occasionally, which is welcome by our garden).

Hands are hot, so not much stitching, but I have been getting on with the Hygge shawl, 

and I am nearly there!

Some more pictures from our garden.

Lytes Cary - revisited

Last week was a half term and DD and I took the grandchildren for a picnic and a long walk around the grounds.

Just a few picture to show you how much the garden is changing in just a short time.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2018

FNwF

A new month and another get together at Cheryll's

 for Friday Night with Friends. 

Cheryl wasn't in, but she let us use her place anyway.

Thanks Cheryll, we enjoyed the evening.

I will do the rounds later to see what the rest of the group was up to last night.

What was I doing?

This week I have been concentrating on my "Hygge", Scheepjes CAL 2017 (rather neglected during the winter). 

I am really enjoying it at the moment, so I just carried on last night. 

This afternoon I took my crochet in the garden with me - we are having a beautiful warm weekend -  crochet is just the right project for outside. 

I am now coming to the mid point of this beautiful design, a crochet and embroidered shawl.

A pair of doves were keeping me a company - 

they seemed to have "adopted" us and are visiting most days.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2018

it is April after all

Last week we had our breakfast outside,

but this week has been a very different one; the very brief summer spell has gone. 

It is very much a typical April weather now; not very warm, short spells of sunshine and showers, some quite heavy, even a thunderstorm and hailstorm. Yes, this week we had it all.

But despite of that, the spring will not be stopped. 

The crab apple in our garden is covered in blossom,

and violas in their pots just can't wait to show off.

Last week I was in a hurry to look for projects to take outside;

crochet is so portable.

I did some more work on the Mystical Lanterns blanket.

The individual motifs are joined into strips (and strips joined into blanket) -

this is strip no 11 (4 more to go).

The crochet Hygge shawl, which was Scheepjes CAL 2017 (combination of crochet and embroidery) 

has also "seen some light" this week, 

with just a little progress.

Another easy project to take outside -

I started to "build" another house for "Santa's Village" series.

But it is back to indoors - for now anyway.......

Have a good week!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2018

A long weekend here in UK; we had some rain (yes, it would come over the weekend), very welcome, our garden took a deep breath and soaked up as much as it could,
because the rest of the week will probably be dry again 😞.

I had a productive weekend - four more Courthouse Steps blocks, some hexies and yoyo's, both for Calling All Birds quilt.

And at last I have started working on the Scheepjes CAL 2017 - 

the first week, well behind, of course.

It took me a little while to workout how to make the bobbles to "pop", but I got there in the end.

Earlier today was jut the right morning for a walk in the local park.

I don't know if anyone of you here in UK watched recent TV "Spring Watch"  program, this time from Japan, all about the "cherry flowers" season, spectacular pictures.

In our old garden we also had a flowering Japanese cherry tree, so it was very tempting, watching the programme, to get another one for our new garden. Unfortunately our tiny garden just can't accommodate another large tree, but not all is lost. 

Few days ago a new addition arrived into our garden, 

a dwarf variety, more a shrub then a tree - "Kojo-no-mai"; if not pruned, it will grow only up to about 2 meters.  It has found a new home in our shrub corner.  

It has masses of tiny flowers, and a spectacular autumn leaf colours.

This very healthy plant arrived from Ashwood Nurseries ( a regular Chelsea exhibitor).

It is worth mentioning here, that I feel very confident about buying plants on-line these days.

I find that local nurseries are good for the run of the mill stuff, but if I am looking for something specific, I look for it on the Internet.

Most of our larger plants, including new trees, have come from on-line shops, places like, Trees On-line , Ornamental Trees , Keepers Nursery , to name just few.

Even some perennials, and annuals, I buy from Sarah Raven , violas from Wildegoose Nursery .

There are many more, of course, but the above are the ones I can recommend personally.

They all supplied very healthy plants; in the rare event of a problem, it was put right very quickly. After some initial teething problems, the packaging now is first rate, sturdy and recyclable, and all our plants (and trees) have arrived quickly and in a good condition.  

Many of the above are regular Chelsea exhibitors, and they have their reputation to protect.

There is one nursery, another Chelsea regular, which we are lucky to have within a driving distance - 

Kelways Nursery  in Langport, on the Somerset Levels. They specialise in peonies and irises; when looking for ornamental grasses for our garden, we also found a large selection at Kelways. 

I wish you all a very productive week; here in UK we might at last get some warmer weather, to be enjoyed outside.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017