Veg prep

 I'm in full vegetable garden planning, I want my two small beds full this winter, I have everything except onions, I have been looking for the same sets as last year. The small brassica plants have been put into bigger pots, I did the same last year and planted out much stronger plants. It will be a few weeks before I clear the beds, I am still getting harvest. 

I cleared the three tomato plants from the greenhouse, they really did fail, its now much better with a clear floor, I won't grow them inside next year. Some plants are coming back inside, these tender plants spend every winter in my unheated greenhouse. Soon it will be time to move my mini greenhouse into the centre and pop the plastic cover back on.

My one outside grown tomato plant has thrived and produced big tasty tomatoes, it will stay here in the raised veg bed for a bit longer. I will have 2 outside plants next year, I have a coupke of obelisk to use as supports, these are gardeners delight.

I saw this and loved it.

I do have a couple of note books, one is my scribble pad, where I work on plans to ensure things will work before the hard work starts, my second book is my record of what I grow in my beds, this helps me remember and ensure I rotate my produce. Yes I am working on a small change in my raspberry bed.

I am so pleased we left the fake grass around my raised veg beds, after all this rain the ground is very wet, but my paths drain, so its easy to get around. Every bed in both veg and flower section has been edged, most with the old decking planks, lots of neat lines which helps me keep plants in their beds. I am expecting loads of seedlings from my fleabane daisies in the top of the lawn next year, I will remove any whilst they are tiny.

It was our 39th wedding anniversary on Saturday, we got a nice M&S Chinese ready meal and red wine, we don't go out, get each other gifts, I didn't want flowers, it was dry so laundry was done, I spent some time outside, I try and get out if it's dry enough, getting the greenhouse sorted was a priority. Sadly I emptied my two bags of shallots, they were doing well, Lilly had sneaked in them and used them as her toilet, so the contents were unusable, I will have to purchase some grown ones, I promised hubby home made pickled onions. Sunday we went to daughters house for a lovely chicken roast dinner, we cut back her small tree in front garden whilst the children played. We came back to a quiet house, I sat and watched the wild birds at our feeders, a perfect couple of days. We heard the government phone alerts on our drive home, we both had a 'what the heck' moment.

Cushions

 I saw these cushions featured in a garden at Chelsea flower show earlier this year, and thought my hubby would love something similar featuring Welsh Guards, I have searched and could not find anything like this, these are for Chelsea Pensioners. 

I had trouble finding fabrics, saw one lot in a sale, which hubby said was not right, so I left it to him to find some. He finally managed to find authentic tunic fabric for sale, he had to purchase 2 meters running length, which was their minimum sale, I'm not telling what he paid for it, that's his choice, it is lovely material.

He already had buttons, for one style and with so much material, I said I could make at least 2, he ordered a badge and stripes. Here I'm working to ensure the buttons are placed right, the white marks (tailors chalk) will be buttonholes, which I will sew but not cut open, just place the buttons over them.

In a complete unabashed theft of the design into a Welsh Guard style of cushions, here are ours, hubby is very happy, I really enjoyed making them. The effort of making the five button holes is not reflected as they can't really be seen, but I know they are there. These are bigger and will look better on our new sofa, we will chose a bigger style.

And just because I could an extra cushion made for his best army buddy, who with his wife are popping in later this month for lunch and a catch up. This one is slightly smaller, I only had the smaller cuff buttons to use, 6 would have fitted on here better, but 5 is the correct number to have.

It is always great to get out my sewing machine, I get so much joy from sewing, often designing items myself, this time shamelessly stealing the look, with just a few small changes. Cushions are a very simple thing to make, I did pop zips along the bottom, but I could have hand sewn them together. I had red cotton fabric to line the cushions, but it was not necessary, the tunic fabric is very strong. 

I still have alot of the red fabric left, the black material was in my stash, hubby got the zips, black piping and the badges. I have used older cushion inserts in the bigger two, I will get new inserts just to make them look a bit neater. 

I would love to use my machine more often, years ago I made all my own dresses, tops and trousers, I have even made a couple suits, but I rarely wear that type of clothes, mainly I live in jeans and T shirts, much softer for my lifestyle. I also made wedding dresses for my daughters and various SIL's, as well as remodelling wedding dresses for friends and family, I am hoping Molly might take an interest as she gets older, it would be nice to pass on skills. I have made Molly some bits but again she loves leggings and soft T shirt dresses, which are so cheap to buy and the fabrics are so expensive, these days with clothes so cheap, it's never cost effective to make things.

Changes

Boys first day back on Today, they do not go to the same school, Will's school is fantastic, but not the best place for George, Will did not want to change school and leave his friends and daughter is happy to go to 2 locations every day, Will now is not walked to his classroom, but left at the school gates (school rules for his age group). Molly will go to George's school, her start along with all the new intake is delayed for 2 weeks. Typically it poured with rain on their morning trip.

Another birthday for hubby, he spent the morning at our local hospital having a few more test, he should be getting final results soon, later daughter and little ones popped in to see him, I made party food with a dairy free cake, so everyone ate the same, these days 'free from' food taste so much better. We are loving the cards made by Molly and George, little hands always make the best designs.

Queen by Candlelight on Wednesday evening at our local venue, part of hubby's birthday, another great show, perfectly timed just a day after his celebrations, Queen has always been his favourite group. This group Candlelight are not a full tribute band, they do not imitate the group members, it would be hard to sing like Freddie, they do a great show, we both enjoyed the night as did everyone else in the full venue. We saw them last year do a Elton John show, seen here. 

  We drove to an British garden centre, way the other side of Portsmouth, I had been earlier in the year when it had just reopened and decided our favourite one was better. BUT this centre sells veg plants, so worth a trip, I got the 3 winter veg I wanted for £12, they will go into the raised beds soon. Hubby suggested we get our flowering winter plants as they were on offer and good quality.  The tulip bulbs just launched themselves into our trolley, and were too pretty to put back. We did not stop for coffee, we had a homemade ginger cake at home, really moist and definitely less people. 

It's been a busy week so far for everyone, hospital visits, school days, very much a normal life for us, I am sad the school holidays have ended, we have had so much fun together. I have no memories of my grandparents, my mum's mum was the last to pass when I was a young toddler, so I do feel strongly about making memories with them, I love to hear my daughter reminiscing about my mum, she was a very hands on Nan, we have loads of lovely photos to keep her memory alive.

The weather has completely changed and we are having storm after storm, my mum's words sound in my head, 'be careful what you wish for' The winds on Wednesday had trees in neighbours property rocking like mad, all stayed standing, we are pleased our Magnolia is now much smaller. I have started wearing socks again, and often my fleece, it's cooler, I'm not ready for Autumn, so I am hoping for another warm spell sometime in September.

Rain changed play

 A quick visit to our favourite garden centre to look at spring bulbs, less variety this year, I could not resist these tulips, China Town with 7 bulbs, aren't they pretty. I have placed an online order for some other bulbs, I have been looking for different varieties. The cyclamen hubby choose, he liked the colours.

I've started my new season pots, earlier this year I moved loads of bulbs around the garden, with the knowledge I would need to purchase more for pots. I already had one cyclamen plant its very similar to the new plant, the crocus bulbs are around the plants, this is by my patio doors, the summer pot is now back in my greenhouse. 

I needed some long plastic covered metal poles for a small change around in my raspberry bed, I was really chuffed to find what I required both sizes half price all are over two meters tall. Saved just over £10 on these.

I have been busy with my sewing machine, all the hems have been stitched on Will's school trousers, the hems always fail, so I stitch the new ones and avoid the issue. I also had the blanket from our neighbours son, he is a Boy Scout, and loves his blanket, he has collected more badges from his travels, another quick task.

This book was clever, it started with 3 women's stories, building to how they link together with a good twist, how revenge turns into helping another, I loved the plot. Book 64 read this year.

We are finally having the rain the garden requires, good steady rain, we have had some rain for the last 5 days, 3 days heavy, it has stopped us going outside, I don't have much to do, I have been forming a couple small plans, which include using the poles shown above, once the raspberries have finished I want to move the blueberries in the big tub and redo the structure for the raspberries to grow up. I have removed the nets from inside the greenhouse, so the light can get in and for the first time in months I have shut the door, I have an automatic window opener, so it should be OK. 

Being inside I am getting jobs done, only little things, bits I have ignored whilst being outside in the glorious sunshine. We have finished watching Destination X and loved it, neither of us like Josh, so we were happy he had his perceived victory snatched away from him, I have also been watching Fortune Hotel, I did not watch the first series, and I'm still unsure about it, hubby did not enjoy it at all. We both love Sewing Bee, again there are some talented people, we refuse to watch Masterchef, I have never liked Greg Wallace, but liked John Torode and felt uncomfortable with how he was treated. Soon it will be Bake off and Strickly, I'm watching The Inheritance with Rob Rinder, new on channel 4, I do like him and of course Traitors, Ireland and celebrities.