Sewing and Sowing

I've been so busy the past couple of weeks, hence the lack of updates. First priority was to finish the remaining show costumes in time for this weekends dress rehearsal. I had to make 6 swirl skirts in black satin and they were not fun. I was convinced I wouldn't be able to do them but when I showed my first attempt to the woman organising the costume making she said it was fine. I set to on the others and to my astonishment managed quite well! So I spent all of last Sunday and a big part of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday finishing them off.  Hopefully they fitted as I didn't hear anything when Emily returned last night. She had been at the rehearsal all day 9.30-7pm, so was very tired. The show is next weekend!!

The rest of us were equally tired after two busy days in the garden. I finished preparing the veg beds for planting by adding manure, fertilizer and soil conditioner where necessary. I have now covered them with black polythene to help them warm the soil ready for planting.

Isaac helped me plant a couple of rows of onions, not much but it is really all we have the space for. We also added a row of late raspberries, yum! The ones we have are a early variety so it would be nice to get some more eventually that fruit around abouts July.

I  did a little  more sowing, this time mainly flower seeds  for my soon-to-be cutting patch. Lots and lots of sweet peas, cosmos, and rudbekia. For the time being, however, we are enjoying plenty of these...



The seeds I planted in Feb are looking good, the only failure were the peppers. I only sowed 4 seeds as last year all the seeds germinated and I ended up with too many plants. Not sure what went wrong this time, old seed maybe? I'll try again and if no success i'll probably just buy a couple of plants from the garden centre.

The frogs in our little pondhave finally woken up and there was much excitement from Isaac last weekend when he spotted one on our patio. Or as it subsequently turned out to be, two frogs mating!

Feeling Springy!

 

I know it's still a little too early to get excited about spring but I can't help myself. It happens every year once we get the first spell of milder weather and a bit of sunshine.

As the weather has been kind I've been spending a bit of time in the garden. I have my potatoes chitting and they are coming along nicely, ready for planting next month.  I did my first lot of sowing last week -  corn salad, peppers, tomatoes, leeks, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and chillis. So I have made a small dent in the 130 (no joke!) seed packets I have. The cabbage seedlings are already up. 

We have a lot to do in the garden this year. Our old New Zealand  boxes for composting have had it, they are completely rotten. I can't decide what to go for next but I know I definitely don't want wooden bins, lovely as they might look. I've been thinking about

• Link-a-bord   + It the same size as one of our current boxes and should be durable.

                                          - I  worry it would be too awkward to empty or turn.

•   Earthmakers +It makes compost in as little as 12 weeks (allegedly)

                                           -It is very small , so i'd need more than 2 and not exactly pretty.

•  Komp 800      + We can buy this through the council, it's a reasonable size, should be easy to get to the compost

                                          -   Again not pretty but at least it would be camouflaged? The shape of it is not ideal for fitting neatly in the corner.

If anyone has any experience using  any of the above do let me know.

 

On a crafty note here's what i've been up to the past few Sundays



 

It's Dorothy's costume for the dance show next month.  This is for one of the older girls so thankfully fitted my dress form perfectly, but of course now Millie wants one too - no surprise there.

She'll have to wait though, I'll be spending this Sunday making several swishy skirts in very slippery-not-nice-to-sew fabric, wish me luck!

Considering we hadn't much planned this week, we seem to have filled it nicely.

On Tuesday we spent the afternoon at a local nature reserve with friends. We looked around the information centre (which has been closed for ages due to flooding) and Isaac had a great time playing with the microscope, looking at the various specimens. We then walked around the lake in the sunshine/dark theatening clouds but managed to escape with just a trickle of rain.

Yesterday our parcel from Harrod Horticultural arrived which was a new watering can and container set for the children. We have a veggie garden but i thought success was more likely if they could view their crops from the kitchen, we'll see! So after lunch we went into the garden to fill the containers, but ended up planting up a some flowers to go on the patio. Meanwhile, Emily got chatting (bellowing) to the children 2 doors down (over nextdoors garden!) and got invited over there which was nice, she had a lovely time. She sort of knows the girl from when she was at Rainbows but never got to know her that well so i was pleased for her. It would be nice if they become friends - very handy.

This morning Isaac and I had the house to ourselves as Emily was doing a jewellery workshop with her friend, Polly. They each made a lovely necklace and bracelet. P is sleeping over here tonight so we are expecting a couple of tired girls in the morning, judging by the chattering that's going on still.





Oh, does anyone know if you can merge flickr accounts (a free with a pro) cos i just discovered we have a pro account we didn't know about - for nearly two years!!! (comes with bt apparently, probably should read emails).

Considering we hadn't much planned this week, we seem to have filled it nicely.

On Tuesday we spent the afternoon at a local nature reserve with friends. We looked around the information centre (which has been closed for ages due to flooding) and Isaac had a great time playing with the microscope, looking at the various specimens. We then walked around the lake in the sunshine/dark theatening clouds but managed to escape with just a trickle of rain.

Yesterday our parcel from Harrod Horticultural arrived which was a new watering can and container set for the children. We have a veggie garden but i thought success was more likely if they could view their crops from the kitchen, we'll see! So after lunch we went into the garden to fill the containers, but ended up planting up a some flowers to go on the patio. Meanwhile, Emily got chatting (bellowing) to the children 2 doors down (over nextdoors garden!) and got invited over there which was nice, she had a lovely time. She sort of knows the girl from when she was at Rainbows but never got to know her that well so i was pleased for her. It would be nice if they become friends - very handy.

This morning Isaac and I had the house to ourselves as Emily was doing a jewellery workshop with her friend, Polly. They each made a lovely necklace and bracelet. P is sleeping over here tonight so we are expecting a couple of tired girls in the morning, judging by the chattering that's going on still.

Oh, does anyone know if you can merge flickr accounts (a free with a pro) cos i just discovered we have a pro account we didn't know about - for nearly two years!!! (comes with bt apparently, probably should read emails).

What a Difference a Day (or two) Makes

Friday was so lovely, sunny and warm that we decided to have our family drawing time out in the garden and sketch a few of the spring flowers. Can't show you any pictures though as the scanner is playing up for some reason.


"Emily's Tulip and Grape Hyacinth"

Much fun was also had when not one, but two snails were discovered and both Emily and Isaac spent a long time observing them and fetching cans full of water to keep the snails happy!



We also checked on the tadpoles and they seem to be doing great...



The first part of Saturday was also spent in the garden but the weather soon changed from sunny to rainy, not to mention bitingly cold! Still we did manage to get some seeds sown (to raise indoors) and tidy up the remaining parts of the garden that were crying out for attention.

This morning Isaac dragged me out of bed hideously early to take him to the toilet. When we got in the bathroom he squealed "it's snowing!" and it was, not only that but it had settled.



This was the first time in over a year that we had had snow to play out in, so of course we had to make the most of it.