It was well worth . . .

. . . digging up the front garden. It is a riot of green at the moment . . .

. . . outdoors. . .

. . . and indoors . . . yummy yummyBut where these (below) came from we have no idea! Funny, times when I think out carefully what to grow where, go and buy it, get it planted in just the right place etc etc, the stuff doesn't always grow. Other times things just appear, don't know where from, in places you would never choose, and flourish amazingly. Is there a life message there somewhere??? If you think you know what it is, please tell me! Meanwhile they brighten up the bed with the brussel sprout plants in.I'd like really to have these poppies in the back garden alongside these . . . a pink geranium that survived from last year, an unusual geranium-type plant from the local garden centre and fuchsias bought at a sales table at church.
If your local allotment waiting list is too long, an alternative is to find an elderly person who is willing for you tidy a bit of their garden by digging a veg patch in return for some of the produce. Derek has been able to do this and as well as strawberries, peas and broad beans we have had these . . .
. . . and these come from our own greenhouse, doing a bit better than last year. Red and green again, but perhaps a bit more attention to the background when taking pix might be a good idea!

Nice printed batik though, from Togo in West Africa, bought at a craft village when we visited friends doing linguistic, literacy and Bible translation work there, in 1994.

Two UFO's done, 999+ to go . . .

A few months back we did this Banjara-style stitching with Tiggy Rawling at West Country Embroiderers. I've now finished my bit and have made it into this bag, with dangling elephants and cords made of twisted sari threads. And these are my folder covers, not given pages yet (I'm still figuring out how to organise the holes), done with Wendy Jackson.

The outer fabric is a piece of batik done at a workshop at Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire several years ago. The inside fabric was done one day dyeing with a friend. It is a bog standard Dylon dye, bronze rose, and has separated out into interesting bits of colour, adding nicely and unexpectedly to the intended splodgy effect of crumpling into a jar.

The embroidery is a slip that was added on. It has knotted cretan stitch, wrapped to make more textural.

Autumn sewing . . . .

Well I have been doing some sewing, not just touring the countryside and chasing squirrels. I've joined the Poole group of West Country Embroiderers and this week we did Redwork. It is all stem, chain or back stitch in stranded cotton, and I chose to use an old damask tablecloth. The tutor brought pictures of the 12 days of Christmas, and instructions for making a string of the little blocks to hang across a mantelpiece or such. I think I'll probably make a small quilt with them as we don't have a mantelpiece. The red/white check is for edging and backing. 4 blocks to go. Watch this space.

Because of the pattern woven into the fabric I did a sample before the meeting to see if the stitching would work on it ok. Then I couldn't resist finishing it off with seeding and kantha-type quilting. Sometimes a stitch gets a bit swallowed by threads in the weave but overall it is fine, and the fabric has a nice substantial feel to it as well as being really white. As for the beads, well, something had to go in the centre.

And there's been time for a quick shop too, Fabricland in Poole, with a friend. How could anyone resist this batik, ony £2.99 metre?