Come for a walk

European cushion is coming along well

 I have started the final design at the bottom, there are large blue flowers and yellow (or brown) birds to be added to this panel, but I will finish all this colour first. The design is so pretty, no other word for it.

 After work I took a walk around the back garden, it has been warm and sunny today, after yesterdays rain the garden looks good. We are promised another two days of rain, so we are having a very English Summer.

 Tennis is over, but not my strawberries, loads of flowers and fruits forming. Talking of Tennis, the gentleman's final was the best match in ages, it was a shame to have a winner. 

The dahlia is new this year another from the bargain bucket, 

I love the colour of the flowers.

The herb patch is looking good, I have cleared a couple of huge plants, so there is room for the thyme's to grow, my onions are coming along well, I have both red and white onions planted.
My Acer and Twisted Willow are growing well, the Willow has tripled it's size in the last few months.

 The veg patch, looks overgrown, tomato plants are almost the same height as me, everything is so close to harvest time. We have had some nice little gem lettuce. In the front long tub are Saliva grown from seed, it took 3 goes but finally I have plants.

 These four plants are from my bargain pack, the middle plant is the one I want for my front bed, I can see new growth on each plant. The cutting from the box plants are looking good, all stood up and looking fresh, fingers crossed Monty was right and they are easy to grow.

 And finally, my window sill is looking a bit strange, the window gets sun for most of the day and is a perfect place to watch things grow. In the square glass I have an avocado stone, in the round glass I have a peach stone, both sat on kitchen paper which I am keeping wet. In the third pot my lime shoot has doubled in size, I have also added two lemon pips. Just a bit of fun, but if I am lucky I might have a few more plants.
Work is good, missing Ann in the office, and the boss spoke to the other lady who is leaving and she is now much better, still very outspoken, but I am able to avoid her most of the time.
Home is fun, both daughters are happy, Josh has been cheering Germany since England and France went out, he is very happy they are in the final of the World Cup.
I will use my sewing machine tonight I have three pairs of jeans to take up. Later I will stitch more on European Cushion.

Digging the dirt

I have been shopping, just a few plants came home with me, the box plants at the back came from our market in Fareham, they are healthy good sized plants. The Chocolate Cosmos, is already planted, very late but the was a nice bud on the root and half price.

 These six shrubs came from B&Q, they were in a pack of six reduced to £3.50, there was on dead plant in the pack, so like every one else I swapped it for a live plant. I have only one plant I want to use, the spiky one will go well in my front raised bed, but for now I have repotted four of them to get them to a better size. Two I will pass on to a friend who has a new garden.

 The box is already in the ground, I have snipped the longer branches back, my hope is have a low box hedge, shaped to fit the front garden, I have had to add pebbles here to keep the cats out. 

I have planted some of the cuttings to see if I can grow a few more plants. Monty Don on Gardeners World makes it look easy to do. 

 The Dahlia is in my front garden, I have it here just for the summer, later I hope my spiky plant will be big enough to place here, on the right is a rose bush and on the left is a Lupin.

 After I had finished the garden, I had a local come and check my work, we had two hedgehogs on the lawn, one saw me and ran away ( I have that effect), this little fellow stayed and smiled for me. Hubby feeds dried worms to the birds, but he scatters a few on the lawn for these guys.

 I am back stitching, just one photo, I have just one large panel below these, I love the way the designer uses the same colour. It's complicated and easy to stitch, but great fun.

I have had a couple of lazy mornings over the weekend

This week at work has been hectic, the lady reapplying for the new role, had disrupted the office all week, She had her interview on Thursday, but Friday morning she was full of herself, I had the afternoon off and found out by phone she had failed and would finish at the end of August. I have to admit, I was glad not to be in the office.
Friday was the last day I worked with Ann, she is on holiday for the next two weeks, I have never met such a great lady, working with her for the past year has been a joy.
Yesterday Fliss popped in, and stayed for tea, we had a nice catch up, Su and David are at Silverstone watching the F1, they have camped on site for 3 days.
Lazy day at home today, friend popping in this afternoon.

Stitching

I have stitched last night, most of the progress on this was done before we went on holiday.

 I have run out of the green, will have to get to a shop. I want to start on the next pattern row, after that just a huge pattern for the bottom and then the boarders. I will do the infilling once I have done some of the next two designs, I want to see how it looks before deciding which colours to use as the filler stitches.

 Today is beautiful, they promised us the hottest day of the year, 

I'm not sure if it was, but a quick walk in the garden.

 Flowers are looking good, this plant below is huge, the second plant curled up and died, such a shame, this is their second year, I grew them from seed. This end of my new garden is the better looking part.

 This lily is new this year, I am hoping for a few more flowers. 

 My cucamelons are growing, can you see two forming. The plants are getting big, I have one in the greenhouse and one in the garden, to compare how well they grow, this one in the greenhouse is winning at this point.

All my veg is doing well, I have been cutting lettuce and herbs, the carrots should be ready to pull some this weekend. Tomato and cucumbers are forming and will be ready soon, my courgette plant has loads of flowers and forming fruit. Strawberries are coming along well and the raspberries are getting high, these are late croppers. I am having to water every evening, but I do enjoy being in the garden as it gets cool each evening. Over the weekend I want to weed and dig out some of the bigger plants in my herb garden, I have three which are now far to big.
No big plans for the weekend, a trip on the motorbike if it is dry enough, I would like to watch Dolly Parton from Glastonbury, it's on for two hours should be fun, I am not normally a fan, but her reviews were great and it should be a fun performance.

Stitching and free flowers

I did manage to do some stitching whilst in France, I took sleeping cats but found I wanted a simpler design, so I found a shop, I could only get 18dpi, which is very big for me.

 This is my design, I did the diamond first and then decided to make a heart, it's just two colours, the random yellow and a grey. I will put the pattern in my free pattern file, I just have to finish the outer sections. 

 Free flowers

 I love my white Orchids, the one above has been flowering since March, the plant below has buds forming, so promise of beautiful blooms to come. The Orchid flower is just perfect.

 This was a pip from lime, still a small single leaf, but it's the first time I have succeeded to grow from pip. I looked tips up from the internet, and found someone having success, who washed the pip until all everything from the lime had washed away and then planted it, I have kept the compost wet.

Hubby is away tonight so I am having a simple tea, I have french bread with garlic, tomato puree and mozzarella cheese heated in the oven, served with a salad and french ham. Lettuce, basil are from our garden, still waiting for cucumbers, tomatoes and garlic. First time for growing garlic, when do I know it's ready to pull?

Not sure what I will do tonight, probably catch up on some recorded programmes on TV from the past few weeks, and another early night.