Happy birthday.

I love this old photo,

 I was always so close to my mum

I will never stop missing my mum, I love the photo's above with my daughters, they too loved her, she shaped so many lives for the better. 

Colour all around

Kirk leading the way, his hair is looking good, I moved him to this cooler spot as he was getting really hot in the sunshine. The black cable is tacked to the wall behind and nothing to do with Kirk, my Jasmine  behind which I cut back is now a deep green of new growth. 

Just some of the many flowers in the garden, 

so much colour and loads grown from seed. 

Pot's will always be loved in my garden

The herb bed is done, the poles are there until they grow bigger, for protection. I moved the smaller round hoops to the left of the bed, and popped a bigger round hoop on the front right, to be able to grow a mixture of tender herbs. My pomegranate in the big clay pot I will move once the fruit net is packed away. The Rosemary is at the back, I did cut it back and now I can see new growth.  

My raised bed, not looking so great, but I am watching for new growth on the replanted climbers. I am not planting much in here this summer, I have a plan for next year, but for now I want to be able to watch the climbers come back. I also want to plant a honeysuckle when I have created a new plant.  

These became a main meal for bugs when planted in the garden, so they are back in pots, each is showing tiny signs of new growth. 

This makes me chuckle, carnivorous plants all together in a water bath (they love their roots in rain water)  with a fine spiders webb, mainly around the pitcher plant. 

I treated myself to another planter, this is bronze, I love the handle, and had been watching it on a facebook selling page, once the price came down to a level I felt happy with, I got it. It will have to be placed out of direct all day sunlight as it can become hot, now the fun of deciding what to plant in it. 

We did get a visit from daughter, Will and George, on Friday afternoon, just long enough for Will to eat most of our fruit, typical growing lad, 'hello Nanna, I'm hungry', I do love he is always looking for fruit and never asks for crisp and sweets, I know it will change as he gets older. 

Most of the weekend has been sat outside, watching and listening to the small birds in the garden, they are very entertaining, the warmth of the sun is great again, Saturday we had more cloud, but still warm, Sunday was a beautiful day. It does feel good to be able to sit and enjoy the space we have created, it's full of life and colour, and for a change, I can sit and not see anything which needs sorting, both hubby and I love a chat over coffee and a small treat, home made cake or biscuits.

Hubby has started working on 2 benches, one child's size and a full size, he's not so good at sitting and doing nothing, again purchased second hand, so he has plenty to keep him busy.

I have not done any knitting or crochet, I have been reading, the heat makes me tired in the evenings, which is not a great thing when crafting. I have been thinking about  designs for a glass fusion, I hope to be able to make it soon, I am hoping I can make one good enough for a gift for my sister. 

Just another lazy weekend, no desire to pop anywhere, it's peaceful and safe at home together, 

In the mix

I don't normally purchase plants online, I always prefer to choose a plant by it's health myself, but these are strange times and this plant looks beautiful, it's called Clematis Little Lemon and it came in 7" pot from Groupon. As you can see from the photo it's a shrub type with masses of lemon flowers, it arrives in good condition, the roots in the pot were still damp, the main photo is the day after I potted it on, looking good. The site did show how the plant would look when it arrived, so I knew it would be a small strong plant, the instructions are to keep it in a pot for first season, for now mine is in my greenhouse. 

I have finished another 3 books, I am enjoying these books, it an easier read when the same people are featured, in this case a police team in Newcastle. There are another 7 books in this set, these are free to read on my kindle, in truth I don't think I would pay to read them. I have now read 49 books this year. 

It's been the slowest of weeks, after a busy Monday we have done very little, we sat inside and watched the rain on our garden, it has still been windy, but nothing has been damaged in the garden. I have had some harvest, picked my 1st cucumber, I'm having a few ripe tomatoes. The blackcurrants are now finished, I picked the last on Friday, we have a huge dish for hubby to use ( I don't like the taste), I also picked an even bigger dish of blueberries, both bushes were protects by a net cage from the birds, it worked really well, I have a second bush with unripe berries, more promise to come. 

After all our hard work we have nothing to do outside, hubby went online and purchased an old child's bench, similar to the one we have, it's his next project, he enjoyed doing our furniture and will keep him busy most of next week. I have been watching the garden seeing if anywhere needs improvement, but I can find nothing to do, a first for me, after 11 years here both inside and outside are how we want them. 

I am busy knitting my orange top, we are promised another heat wave next week, so I would like it finished so I can wear it, here in southern England we have to take our summer days when we get them. After I have finished I will do the edging on my lap blanket. I am looking for my next projects, I love both knitting and crochet, I would love a big knitting project to work along side a new crochet project, I am wanting the lift my crochet skills. 

I have not spoke regarding my weight for a while, I have lost a few pounds since my last post in June, but I have stalled, I'm not bothered, I can relax for a few weeks and then start again, as long as I am not putting weight back on. Hubby has reached his target, his BMI is now in the green healthy section, which is really pleasing, he can now add back a few nice things into his eating plan. 

Both of us are feeling better after the back aches of over doing things in the garden, the wet days gave us time to relax and rest, we are hoping to go for a long walk today, we have not walked too far for days, so it will be nice to get out. 

Stage 1 done

The Tunisian crochet is done, 

this is a perfect size for a lap blanket, 

I have most of the joins at the back to sew in,

I have done a row of single crochet around the outside of the blanket in a new contrast colour.

I decided to make a knitted edge for this blanket, I used this style on my hand made cardigan seen here, it's a lovely neat finish which looks good on the reverse, it's a fiddly thing to do, but worth the effort. I have just started, so still loads to do. 

Lovely neat lines

I have 360grms of left over yarn, I purchased 100grms of the edging yarn, so I will have some of that to add to this pile, that's enough to make myself a colourful summer top. 

I have done the main body of this top, reaching 16", I now have to divide for the armholes, but first I am trying to work out how much yarn I need to finish the top, I am happy with the length, but if I am going to have yarn left over, I would rather use it now and length it by a few rows. If I get it wrong and run out of yarn, it will mean unpicking, but it's a risk worth taking. 

I did start the edging on my blanket and made good progress, but it was not neat enough, so I unpicked and decided to make a row of chains before knitting the edging, I am still not sure if this is going to work, if it does not work I have no idea how to finish it. I will have to speak to my niece who is a whizz at all things crochet.

It's raining again, all good for the garden, I managed to get the herb bed finished yesterday, I have also been reading, so plans for a couple days inside, only plan is to pop to greenhouse a few times to potter and smile, I love it in there. 

My lower back is sore again, not too bad, but enough for me to slow down, I have to learn I am not able to do the heavy work outside any more, starting to dig the passion flower out was too much for me, hubby did finish the task but I already had pulled it again. 

Hubby had an eye test yesterday, so I popped to town with him, I looked in TK Max and Wilkinson's, where I got loads of seeds for next year, they already had some reduced. I also got a lovely fake eucalyptus for £3 for my flowers vase, it looks perfect and finishes the display. We also managed to get hand soap, I have very sensitive skin and can't use loads of brands. Town was very quiet, each shop asked you to cleanse your hands before entering, I did not wear my mask, I always carry my homemade one with me, but it felt safe, most places were empty, it was early, but no plans to pop back.