April update

And it is May.....bluebell season.

May Day today, if you celebrate it.

I can't say that this spring has been was very memorable so far, wet and cold......

But despite that, it is very green in our garden, with apple blossom,

the nature doing its own thing anyway,

with a promise of warmer weather on the way.

I moved into my new space at last, more space, more light - wonderful!

It didn't take long to make that "lived in" look 😉

Mary Jane teddy bear is very smug in her new place ("better than on the top of the book shelves", she says). 

She is one of those who survived the move, not being shunted off to a charity shop as were some of her less favourite cohabiters of the book shelves. 

Still - recycle, recycle - I am sure they find new homes to go to.  

Somewhere in the middle of all that upheaval I managed to do some sewing;

 this is part 3 of the Butterfly's  Ball applique border,

but I forgot to take a picture of part 4 before I attached it to the centre piece,

it is the one on the right in the picture below.

I need to finish the corners yet.

 So, this is were I got to. 

The next border is suppose to be "Octagon", but I decided to skip that one,

and move on to "Hexie flower" border, because including Octagon border would make the quilt larger than I want it, and also because to be honest, it is not doing anything for me.

I think I would prefer to make a final border with some nice flower fabric. We shall see.....

It is one of the things I like about this design, it gives you the freedom to change it. 

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2023

nothing to see here!

Well, nothing which would involve any sewing!

I am moving! 

The "committee" has come to a conclusion that I really need a larger sewing room, 

so I am in the process of swapping my box room for a larger of the spare rooms. 

A HUGE task, as we decided that it needs to be repainted first.

All very tiring - who's idea was this? 😅

So, there is no sewing to show, I am just doing little crochet downstairs in the evenings, for now.

But - I can show you some pictures from our garden, where SPRING has arrived!

 

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2023

It is the time of cow parsley and pink and red campion - 

they are everywhere at the moment.

More time being spent out than in (watching my garden grow)  - 

but I am keeping up with small applique and reverse applique blocks for Blooming Springtime quilt.

Today was a perfect "stitching in the garden" weather, 

but I didn't take any pictures 😒 - next time.......

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2022

HAPPY EASTER

     Favourites coming out,

Ester bread for the family.

We are having wonderful warm spring/summer weather, the garden is loving it!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2022

                                          Stourhead Gardens in March

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2022

spring is coming

The sun is shining as I am writing this and I am quite excited about being able to post this year's first spring pictures from our garden.

I took these pictures yesterday, when it was windy, but some of them have come out OK.

at last there is some colour around

       striking anemone 

                miniature Japanese cherry

                                                            primulas and hellebores  

                                                       even the first sign of aubrieta 

and camellia in the pot is ready to pop open too

 Last night I finished another small block for Blooming Springtime.

I wish you all good week with lost of crafting!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2022

April in May

or at least that's how it feels; we are having all the rain we missed out on last month.

At last the night frosts have stopped, and everything in the garden is getting greener 

and buds are ready to burst open.

Our golden birch tree we planted last year is in leaf and looking so pretty.

I love the beautiful leaves and delicate flower of epimidiums:

A trip to the garden centre -

I planted out boxes for some summer colour by the kitchen door.

                                                  Steady progress on Barn Dance quilt too:

I have made enough 6" border blocks for two sides of the quilt.

So, 20 more leaf blocks to make, 

but just for some change I am now making 4 corner blocks.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Wet one here 😒

Here in UK we are looking forward to more relaxed rules from Monday,

when we will be able to meet indoors and we should be able to give our grandchildren a HUG!

But, BUT - the new Covid Indian variant is rapidly spreading in the country (faster than any previous ones), which could seriously undermine government's Roadmap for easing most of restrictions in June.

I am angry with our authorities for not stopping travelling to and from India sooner;

we also know that many people returning from India, in order to avoid quarantine on their return to UK, travelled back via and  breaking their journey in Turkey, which at that time wasn't on UK's Red list.

We know this because these people boasted about it on the social media, how they beat the system.

Why is is that there is always a section of a society, which thinks that the rules do not apply to them?

I am angry, because we all worked very hard for the past year to keep ourselves and everyone around us safe. There are thousands of families around the world which haven't seen each other for over a year, doing the right thing.

I apologize for going on about this, but it does get to me, when making post Brexit trade deals become more important than the health of the country, because that is what we are talking about here.

I have always tried hard to keep politics out of my blog, because that is not what my blog is for; but sometimes I feel I have to say something.

I am afraid for those under 50 who have not yet been vaccinated. Also it is not clear at this point if vaccinations we had will be able to stop the Indian variant.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2021