Growing inside

My house plants are looking good, this African Violet often has flowers, it does do well sat on our kitchen windowsill. 

I managed to get one flower on this Orchid, I broke the tip of the stem last month, half my Christmas cactus now lives here, just behind the sofa in a bare corner. On the floor are a couple more plants, just waiting for flowers to form. 

The other half of my Christmas cactus is still on my bathroom windowsill, this is next to the kitchen and gets loads of afternoon and evening sun. 

I had to move this pot, Will loves these plants and would often touch them and pearls drop off, not good when we have baby George and a couple of cats, it's now safely higher up. 

Betty's hair is growing, she sits on my desk, by another sunny window, I mist her most days, it's a slow process, but I am hoping it will be worth the wait. 

Also in my office my pineapple plant, I have a few of these, and swap the plants from the greenhouse to here, they are getting much bigger, not sure how far I can take these. 

Coffee anyone, again another lovely plant, the leaves shine, this was a tiny plant purchased in a coffee mug, it loves this spot, but I will have to move it once the heating is turned on.

Not yet in the house, this is last years Amaryllis, I pulled out loads of Cyclamen corns and found this bulb with a tiny leaf tip, for now it's in the greenhouse, but soon I will bring it inside. 

I do have more houseplants, and one huge glass pot with cactus inside safely from tiny hands, I would have more, but hubby not keen on plants inside, and I not about to overpower him. I have a few Orchids on the floor behind our sofa, it's a spot where they do well, once the buds reform they are placed where we can see them. I don't have plants in either of our bedrooms, but I do love to have plants to cherish in the winter months.

I did not sell my Olive, my youngest daughter changed her mind and decided to have it, she is going to purchase a big pot, which I will plant up for her. I am really pleased she is having it, I can watch it grow bigger. 

Garden changes

My sister gifted me these pots, I did not think they would be this large, I had an idea to use them in the greenhouse, but they fit better in this corner of the garden where very little grows. 

Most of the plants I already had, I just purchased the top right pot. I will thin these pot down and use the plants. 

I'm really pleased, and I hope they all root and grow, this spot in the garden has never looked good, everything I have planted here has died, it's just heavy clay. 

My sister was given this log from a huge tree being removed from the village where we grew up, she has a few pieces, we are hoping my friend will be able to turn this into a pot, I have a couple of his hand made pots. 

I have had this Olive since 2014, it's roots got damaged and I cut it back, now it's just too big for the pot, I don't have anywhere to plant it in the garden, and I don't want another huge pot, so I have listed it for sell. I have used the pot it was removed from for my pomegranate. 

The weather is changing, it's cooler each morning, even when we are having sunny days it's feel much cooler, and any warmth is gone by about 4pm, I am closing our patio doors much earlier. It gets dark about 8pm, and again cool at night. On the plus we are both sleeping much better in the cool nights and I get to see my solar lights in the garden working. Shorts are not being worn, I still wear my sandals most days, but I have worn socks a couple of days as well. Some of the leaves are changing colour so it's fair to say Autumn is coming early this year, I do love to watch the changes in our gardens all through the year. Spring is my favorite time of year followed by Summer, I love being outside in the garden, it's healing, I would not have coped without our garden this year, my greenhouse does extend my gardening time by a couple of months, and through the winter days I pop in most days to check and water plants. 

I have been reading, I have a new book and doing more crochet on my blanket, I must pick up and knit the baby dress again. I did promise I would get my sewing machine out, but so many visitors stopped me, I will try and get it out this coming week, but we have a few busy days. I have also pulled out some threads to do some cross stitch, Jo at Through the keyhole has a design she has suggested we all try together. 

Will is due for a sleep over today, mummy has an early morning appointment with George tomorrow , so it's much easier if we take one son away from her morning routine, plus we get loads of fun with Will and cuddles with George later on Monday morning. 

Thank you for your comments regarding baby Georges video, he is getting really vocal, Will was always quiet, we can't get enough of either of these grandsons. 

Today is our 34th wedding anniversary, it's Opal in modern and Food in traditional, we stopped giving gifts years ago, and I have not missed out I have a beautiful opal ring given on a previous birthday.

Growing and shrinking

I am getting on with this, it's really quick to grow and the colours in the yarn do all the work. The blue colour-way has slightly less yarn, as I had used some on my loom. I will use the green again after another row of black. 

All nice and neat,

 the 4ply makes this a really light blanket, 

it drapes lovely. 

All 3 colours together. 

 My title is a bit misleading, the blanket is growing but I've not shrunk much at all in the past few weeks, having visitors and a BBQ, plus hubby's birthday has had me eating richer foods and a possibility of a few glasses of red wine, so as they say the scales don't lie, and my weight went a couple of pounds the wrong way. Having said that, I do feel so much better and I do feel slimmer.

Just the best video ever,

 George watching himself in the TV unit glass, 

I can't watch it often enough. 

New start.

I have started another blanket, just one huge square, I am using 4ply again so this is a fine blanket, I have used my 1st ball, I had 5 and a part ball, I have 3 different colourways.  

I do love the shades in this yarn, it's Debbie Bliss, Rialto Luxury sock, superwash wool, 100 grms balls, I find it a bit too fluffy for socks, I had purchased it for my loom. 

Lovely neat rows, the two colours separated by a row of black. 

This is my second sock, I have unpicked the heel a couple of times, knitting whilst tired and my brother visiting is not good. I am leaving it for this week and will aim to pick it up next week and finish. I have done nothing on the babies dress, just too tired.

We had a family BBQ and we invited our daughters husbands parents, Will does love it when we are all together. First time to be together this year, MIL gave me these flowers, it is nice to have fresh flowers in the house, I have not purchased any for months. 

We have been eating leftovers for rest of the weekend, I found the Spanish omelet in the fridge after everyone had left, luckily I had only purchased a small one. We shared a rich chocolate cake for a birthday cake, so we are having a few days free before we do any more baking. My brother got home safely, the roads were much quieter on the Sunday, he then was able to ensure his younger daughter was OK, she lives local to him. 

My sister and her partner have called and they are popped over for a stay this week, typical, don't see anyone for ages then 2 visits close together, they arrive later today. We have no plans, but will wait to see what my sister would like to do, often when we go to stay with friends or family they pack loads of things to do, but after a long drive all we want to do is relax and spend time together. 

We did catch up on some TV, I watched Gardeners World on Sunday afternoon, I do like looking at viewers gardens and hope they keep the segment in the future programs. I have done a bit in my greenhouse, I cut back the cucumber plant, I am hoping it will grow a new shoot and I can get a couple of late harvest. My seedlings are not growing as fast as I want, so I am busy covering them each night, just to get a growth spurt on.