Sunny garden weekend

Daughter brought us some shopping and an extra special viewing, after she dropped off our shopping and got back in the car, we were able to see Will and George, no car windows were opened, it made our day on Saturday. Poor George is still covered in spots, she had the shopping delivered to her house. 

Bringing the boys for a quick hello was perfect for me, I had been feeling sorry for myself, not a place I want to linger. I have been reading alot, finished a couple of books recomended by Jo, both had enjoyable plots. Hubby has downloaded a couple more of her books for me to read.

We have spent loads of time in the garden, I have sown all my flower seeds, my greenhouse is full, but I should have colour this summer. Just a small walking path in here, but in a few weeks I will put loads into the garden. I found a packet of cucumber seeds with 4 in, they were out of date in 2018, let's hope one grows.

 Shed needs a paint, but I have not enough left, hubby is going on line to get some, I need to keep this covered so it does not rot.

 I have put my 2 hosta's in pots out, this is a shady spot in front of my shed, they can't be seen from the garden, but hubby is not a fan of them, I still get to see them when up this end, I have copper rings on them to stop the slugs. 

 Hubby's 1st garden task finished, I am loving the new colour, he is now doing the children's bench, the metal bits are now the same colour as these. 

 1st time this year, I love sandals, and can never get them out soon enough.

The sunshine has really helped, we have been out for both days over the weekend, doing normal for us things, I do feel for anyone who does not have an outside space, the sunshine has lifted my spirts.

I managed to do some knitting, the socks just need the ends stitching in, I am now going to pick up the stitches on my button band on the cardigan, it's all knitted in one piece, so hundreds of stitches on my circular needles. 

Stash check-in

These are 2 shelves at the back of my wardrobe, I don't have so many clothes, so I have sorted space for my fabric stash, it's great because I can see what I have, top shelf is Christmas fabric, felt squares and tea towels,  plus a beautiful white baby blanket, knitted for me by an elderly neighbour, I cherish it as she passed away as few years ago, bottom shelf has loads of cotton fabrics and my finished Christmas socks.

 Bottom shelf has 2 baskets with bits in, plus 2 plastic baskets with material in, in these I have loads of fabric for recycling. My bag next to the baskets have a store of fine yarn for weaving, my loom is behind. 

 In the spare bedroom, I had these shoe storage boxes, it's a handy hideaway between the wardrobe and the window wall, the curtains fall here and hides everything. I have now turned this into a yarn store, Lots of different types of yarns all together. Here bottom section.

 Top section, my yarn stash is not as big as my fabric stash. 

 Inside wardrobe I have 3 hanging bags, 2 for sock projects, which are ongoing this year, and the 3rd is a jumper I knitted, I have unpicked the sleeves to re-knit, they were to baggy. Under neath is the poppy yarn and my camera bag. 

 Top shelf in wardrobe is my hexagons, all tidy in 3 boxes, the bottom 2 boxes are handmade hexagons, I have used fat quarters, you can get a good number of hexagons from each fat quarter. Top box is my working box with templates and uncut fabrics in. 

 In my office on top of my sewing work box, (a man's big plastic tool box) I keep my knitting bag, bottom right, the yellow and black bag has all my sign class paperwork. Back left with the bag covering all my cross stitch projects, I have a few here to finish. 

 Lots of squares for my knitted blanket,
stored perfectly in this old candle box. 

 Yarn ready to start my Tunisian crochet blanket, 

I hope to start this next week. 

My last space is by my chair, this lovely basket (charity shop find) holds all the projects I am working on, so at the moment there are socks and my cardigan 'in' there. The basket is far too small, but I love it so it stays. 

I do have 2 under the bed plastic storage boxes in the attic, these have some larger amounts of fabrics, I have fabrics for 2 big projects, which who knows one day might be made. I also have old pairs of jeans.
I think I have too much time on my hands, we have been taking stock of things in the house. My stash is now around the house, rather than stuffed in bed drawers, I can see most of what I have, and hopefully use some of it.
I have glass fusion and card making, but these are all in drawers in our office space, we have a tall file storage unit, which we have had for years, the deep drawers are perfect for card craft.
I do love crafting, and it's good to have so much choice, but  I do need to use more of my stash.

Dare to show your stash.....

Waking up

We still have loads of colour in the garden,

 it's a bit dull today so the tulips have not fully opened.

 Top row, left my very old Peony coming back and right a new plant for this year

Bottom left a new daisy plant, and right my lemongrass planted. 

 Fruit with loads of buds and flowers, bottom right my pink blueberries should have some fruit for the 1st year. 

 Trees, Kiwi, Acer, Twisted Willow and Magnolia. 

 My pots at the side of the house are all dead, dried up, they will have to stay until the bedding plants are ready, my eucalyptus are both doing well. 

 In the greenhouse, my Japanese blood grass is starting to grow, with new red leaves. The small olive tree is coming back, we damaged the roots last year. 

Just a photo visit to the garden, I am loving how our natural world just carries on whilst humans are suffering this pandemic. We have loads of birds visiting the garden, not seen anything of our regular hedgehog, still a bit early for them. Spring is marching on, hopefully with warmer weather, everywhere will bloom for us to enjoy.
Family members have coughs and colds, nothing drastic, plus hay fever is starting for both daughters. Will is clear of chickenpox, but baby George is covered in them, at 4 months mummy is keeping his hands covered so no scratching. I so want to go and help support them, but we have to stay away, it's so hard, a video call just increases the desire to drive to their's, don't worry I won't, but I so want too.

Different crafts.

The floor is the only place I can work, this project it bigger. I am cutting down a king-size quilt cover to make 2 cot covers for George. The cot covers were so expensive, the knig-size cover was just £5 more and I can make 2 cot covers. 

 I measured and cut from the bottom, so I could use the opening and buttons already on the cover. I cut the front the full size I needed, which was more than half the existing cover. 

 The back on each cot cover were not wide enough, so I had to insert a panel, I could only do this with the fabric a different way, hence this will be the back. 

 Once all stitched together, they look like normal covers, I am very pleased with the results, I did not use the pillow cases, and I have more fabric left over, as yet daughter does not want anything else for his room. She purchased a window blind in the same design, to tie it all together. 

 I also decided it was time to finish this bag, all I had to do was make the strap and join the innner and outer bags. I started putting this bag together back in September last year, post here. The decorative flap I stitched loads of french knots, post here, taking most of last year to make it. 

 Neat join for the strap to the bag, just a tiny bit of gathering. 

Front leather outer stitched to fabric front inner. 

Back decorative flap stitched to back inner, this is for strength. 

 I just need to attach the back half of the flap, this will not open and is just for decoration, most of the final stitching will be done by hand, I am toying with the idea of sticking the back flap on, but undecided. 

 Huge pocket on back section.

 Full sized zip pocket in middle, making 2 inside pockets. 

 Large deep inner's.

 In a small break from knitting my cardigan, I have done more to these socks for SIL, they will be a Christmas gift. 

 I have to pop to the post office, my fitbit is not fully working, it is recording, but it's display will only show the time. Not a problem to get a new one sent out, but I have to send the faulty one back. I would rather get to our local post office sooner rather than in a couple of weeks time. 

Being at home doing very little can be boring, I needed to do something different for a couple of days, it's been too cold to be outside in the garden, but I do pop to the greenhouse most days, just to check and water if needed. This afternoon, I plan to pick up a book to read, I have a few here.
Hubby has a few jobs to do, I have asked him to slow down, he has always been a get the job done man, but now he needs to take his time, make things last. He has gone back to his blog, he has the time to build and grow it now.
We still have our daily walk, now walking a bit further, it does fell good to be out, yesterday we saw young families in our park, lots of football and laughter, all staying within their family groups. Hampshire is the 3rd highest hot-spot in the UK, and I think we are all being extra careful, especially after the tragic death of the young boy aged 13.