Christmas Revisited and the Garden.... Again

Due to the total lack of any stitching being done - not even a token few stitches in the Weekly SAL piece, to keep me from going under the naughty chair yet again - I thought I'd show you the Christmas ornies that were revealed when I moved a stack of stuff off a table earlier today. It's amazing what you find lurking, ain't it? LOL

This first piece was stitched some time ago and I finally got around to finishing it towards the back end of last year... I just didn't keep the momentum going enough to actually post a pic of it at the time.

Design: Hardanger Christmas Tree

Designer: Lynda Bodkin - LoopyLou Designs

Fabric: Polstitches 28ct evenweave, Fairy Footprints

Threads: hand dyed, as supplied in kit

Finish: pillow style ornie with beaded edge

After checking in my stitching diary I've just discovered that this was actually stitched way back in 2005.... and I only got around to finishing it in 2009. Oops! > hangs head in shame< Mind, I do have an excuse: I was finishing phobic back then and it wasn't until the Monthly Challenge began on the JA/S&S Forum that I plucked up courage to actually start trying different types of finishes... and the rest is history, as they say. It just took me a while longer to rediscover this stitched piece in the back of the cupboard and do something with it. BTW, that's a piece of Kate's Kloth hand dyed felt backing the hardanger cutwork area..... my stock of that is slowly diminishing and Kate is no longer producing her lovely goodies, so I won't be able to replace it once it's all gone. Does that count towards making these pieces Heirloom standard, me wonders? LOL

Next up is an ornie that I stitched and finished in the same year, I'm pleased to say. In fact, it was stitched and finished on the same day (12th December 2009).... but only because I used a pre-finished tuck ornie that I was lucky enough to win on eBay. LOL

Design: Peace, internet freebie

Designer: Elizabeth's Designs

Fabric: Polstitches 28ct Jobelan, Ice Ltd Ed

Threads: Weeks Dye Works; Carrie's Creations; Wisper thread

Finish: Tuck style ornie, pre-finished

This one was a delight to stitch, as I Love ED pieces... several in my stash that I must dig out and stitch at some point. 

I also discovered some more Christmas ornies that I stitched last year but they are in a little heap, waiting for me to get into a finishing mood. Unfortunately that just hasn't happened recently... guess it's packed its bags and gone off on holiday along with my stitching mojo.  

Still, whilst the stitching mojo has declined the gardening mojo seems to have gone into overdrive. Why does it have to be either or? Why can't we have our cake and eat it? LOL Anyways, earlier this week DH and DS moved the other strawberry planter and removed some of the slabs from the greenhouse base area, then DH did a bit of weeding there, which left us with this:

DH then spent another evening removing the slabs you can see in the foreground and removing the rest of the weeds, then the two Pete's came round with the rotavator on Sunday and flattened the whole area for us. This is what it looks like now: 

We've left the slabs there because we need to re-lay some of them: a path at the end of the workshop, to allow access to the greenhouse door. The door will be at that end so we have all of the growing area within facing sunlight throughout most of the day. The other path will be at the side of it, in line with the one to the workshop. DH wasn't the only one who had been busy out there, as I'd been busy tackling the last area along the new fence, the closest section to the house... the most weed intensive and full of snowdrop and bluebell bulbs. So I did the weeding and went on a bulb rescue mission, whenever it was cool enough to be out there, as the area will end up covered by a patio. Here's what it looks like now:

The soakaway is a temporary measure - when the patio is laid there'll be a water butt in the corner to collect all the run off and that will be used to water the plants. And here's a pic of one of the self-set plants (snapdragon, I think - don't know the posh names) that I left in the border... it's just starting to come into flower now:

Other news: DS has got a part in the LTC's next production, which is An Inspector Calls. Lots of lines to learn, so he's going to be busy! He's also had an interview for a new job today (29th) - it's within the same company but at a different site. It's a big step up the ladder from what he's doing now, so will mean more money to go with the extra responsibility. Fingers and everything else crossed!

DH's Dad (86 years) is currently in hospital undergoing tests. He was getting extremely breathless and that was discovered to be caused by fluid build up in his chest cavity, which has since been drained off, but that has only just been done.... and it's almost two weeks later and we're still none the wiser as to what's actually causing it. So much for merging two smaller hospital's into a much larger, all-singing and all-dancing one.... there's a severe lack of organisation and a worrying lack of communication between all levels of the staff working there (he would have been injected with Warfarin the day before he was due to go for a biopsy if he hadn't queried it!). Thankfully he's been gradually improving during the enforced bed rest and the drainage has helped his breathing.

We are due to go on our annual holiday at the weekend, going to the same cottage in the Langdale Valley, Cumbria, that we stayed in last year. We are hoping that FIL will be OK so we can actually go.... especially as we don't have Cancellation Insurance... mainly because DH doesn't think it's necessary. I sometimes find it really hard to bite my lip.... I'm sure every woman out there will know exactly what I mean. LOL

Thank you for visiting and for all your lovely comments - I really do appreciate it and they really do make my day. Hope you're all enjoying the same lovely weather we've been having. :0)

Poor Neglected Blog!

Yes, this seems to have become a poor neglected blog of late and you can blame it all on the garden, as I've been out there whenever the opportunity has arisen, often only coming back inside when it's got too dark to see what I'm doing. Of course, that means that there's been a minimum of stitching progress.... and without much stitching progress to show you all there didn't seem much point in blogging.

There has been a little progress on the tiger since my last post though, so I thought I'd pop in to share that:

He's looking like the master of all he surveys now, isn't he? There's still a fair bit to go, as there's his neck area to stitch in, as well as a fancy border down the left side. Unfortunately the stitching mojo has decided to get the hump because the gardening mojo has taken over the evenings, so even when it was raining and I was stuck inside a couple of evenings last week the needles stayed in the case and I had to go find something else to do. Annoying that, ain't it? LOL

Still, the garden is slowly starting to take shape... or, rather, parts of it are. ;0) DH and I spent a little time figuring out what size of greenhouse we would like and doing some measuring out, to get an idea of how much of the garden it would take up. The sticks are placed where the corners of the various sizes would end up being:

We finally decided on a 6'3 x 6'4 layout. The roof will be aligned to face the same way as the workshop, with the door facing the back of the workshop, where we'll be laying a few slabs first to make a small path. So it will be the back of the workshop, then some slabs laid to make the path (about as wide as the slab that the smaller green strawberry pot is on), then the greenhouse. So that means the existing path at the back of the workshop (you can just see it beyond the grass) has to come up and a few things had to be moved. 

So, one evening, DH and I moved the large strawberry pot and the slab it's on to a new spot on the opposite side of the garden and moved the composter and all of its contents into a new home too:

The pipes show the final choice for the position of the greenhouse and that dictated where the composter had to go. All that area has to be weeded, rotavated and flattened. That should, hopefully, get done this coming Saturday (26th). There's a four week wait for delivery, so we will hopefully order it on the Sunday... then we're on our holiday for two weeks, so there should only be another week to wait after that. Perfect timing. :0)

Can you see just how tidy the garden looks to the left of the composter? Well, that's all down to little ole me. During the latter half of last week I felt the need to really connect with Mother Earth, so decided it was time to tackle the weeding in that bed.... and the fact that I've managed to put on half a stone in weight since my operation and want it back off again was an added incentive because while I'm out in the garden I'm not tempted to eat and it's giving me some exercise! LOL I opted for the old fashioned way of working: a hand trowel, a pair of gloves and a plastic seat to sit on, to avoid the worst of the bending, with regular forays to the recycling bin to empty the weed bucket and forays up the garden to empty the stone bucket into the gaps between the path to the workshop. Starting at the end nearest the house I gradually worked my way along, with the aim being to eventually reach the composter, taking out all the weeds and as many stones as I could along the way. I realised if I thought about just how long that piece of garden is it would get really daunting.... so I concentrated on the little patch of earth in front of me at all times and ignored the rest, only stopping when my back told me it needed a rest or when it just got too dark to see. I reached the composter by Saturday tea time and here's what it looked like when I'd done:

Just a few plants got left in, along with the bluebell and tulip bulbs that will hopefully flower again next Spring. The plant in the old tub is waiting expectantly to go back in the bed somewhere.

It was a good end to the week, as it didn't start off too good, as my DH was unwell and had to have three days off work. The first day and a half he spent in bed, gradually picking up as he was able to eat light meals on Tuesday (more exercise, as I was up and down those stairs so often I started to feel like a flippin' yo-yo! LOL)... so it was a relief when he came down on Tuesday afternoon and for all day Wednesday. He went back to work on Thursday. He's feeling much better now. :0)

As he was feeling OK and in the mood for helping out we went back out into the garden tonight (Monday 21st - Litha/Summer Solstice) and he planted out the plant in the tub (you guessed it... I've absolutely no idea what it is! LOL) and two shrubs that my Dad gave us before he passed away. They were being very patient too. ;0) One is a Hebe and the other... well, that's another one that remains nameless. So here's what it looks like now:

My neighbour, Garden Pete, is going to get me some well rotted horse manure and that should also be getting dug in on Saturday, ready to improve the bed for the fruit trees going in this Autumn. Oh, and that old washing line is there for me to tweak, until I get the right curvy look for the edge of the bed. :0)

We had a trip to my DSis's on Sunday. A lovely day, catching up on gossip, indulging in some retail therapy and doing some jobs for her. She now has a flat screen monitor for her computer (no internet connection yet though) and a whole lot less stuff in her loft. Boy, was our Dad a hoarder! LOL Some items were only fit for the bin but I've brought several things back with me and put them up on Freegle, so someone can have the benefit of them. Unfortunately we arrived back home on Sunday night to the news that FIL is in hospital at the moment, undergoing tests. He's 86 so it's a bit of a worry, though I am staying calm in an effort to keep DH calm. Getting him into the garden tonight was a good distraction. Hopefully the results from the tests and today's (Tuesday) biopsy will be back so MIL will be able to tell us more when we phone her tonight. Fingers crossed it's good news.

And to end on a better note, I thought I'd share another pic from my garden. Remeber the new metal scrollwork planter I got for the back wall? Well this is what it looks like now everything is a little better established:

I think they're happy in their new home, don't you? LOL

Hope you're all having and enjoying the same lovely weather we're having in my neck of the woods. Thank you for visiting. :0)

More Garden Progress

Our neighbour, Garden Pete, came round on Tuesday 11th to do the work on the garden that I'd booked him for - and it wasn't a moment too soon, as the garden had taken advantage of our two-week holiday absence and had a major growth spurt. Boy, can that fella graft....... I want to know what he's on, then maybe I can give DH some of it when he's less than enthusiastic about doing jobs! ROFL

First of all he dug out a bush in the front garden that was in totally the wrong place for the size of it - whilst the bees loved the flowers it produced in profusion it kept obscuring DH's view of the gatepost (not good when he's reversing out onto the road) so it had to go. When we redo the front garden we'll be putting something less boisterous in its place. Then it was the turn of the back garden and he started by giving the privet hedge a really good short back and sides, which it was in desperate need of, and then set to strimming, trimming, digging bits out and digging and weeding.

Here's a view of the neat and tidy hedge and the freshly dug border:

He dug out a couple of rotten stumps; dug out a lot of the big yellow daisy type flowers that had reached weed proportions (I don't do alot of flower names, especially Latin ones. LOL) and thoroughly weeded it. It all looks a bit bare at the moment but that isn't why all the pots are there - they are stuck there to keep them safely out of the way so we have a clear run of the path (you'll understand why later). He also unearthed the fuchsia that my Dad gave me and that's now making up for lost time by budding all over the place:


Plus there's another baby fuchsia bush behind this one and I've no idea where that one appeared from - perhaps the larger bush is its Mommy?

Lots of long grass on the bonfire heap and round the compost bins got strimmed and the end of the garden got a real fettling. Yes, folks, those triffids at the bottom of the garden have finally been tamed - no more grand ideas about world domination from them. Yay! Just look at this:

There's still plenty of cover to keep the birdies happy and plenty there for privacy to keep us happy too. Now it's under control I can keep it that way by snipping it when needed, especially any bits that grow below the level of the lowest branches - now I can dig the area below and put in some suitable plants. By the time Garden Pete had done all that lot, around 12.30pm, everything was looking a darned sight tidier - in fact, as my DS commented that night, it's the best it's ever looked. :0)

For the rest of that week I kept on popping out into the garden to potter around, snipping a bit here and weeding a bit there....... and finding odd bits of things that could go in one or other of the bins. It's been more of a pleasure than usual to be out there and my mood has improved as a result - the post-holiday funk is now officially over. :0) Seeing the improvements seemed to inspire DH and he and DS spent one night between them taking out the remaining edging strips the previous owner had put in everywhere (it looks like corrugated bonded asbestos) while I put it in bags and hefted them down the side of the house, ready to go to the special skip at the amenities site.

Saturday came around and DH seemed almost as keen as me to go do even more sorting out there. See those blue panels in two of the above pics? Well they're supposed to go together to make a huge metal shed - one of DH's projects that never got done, then we had the workshop put up and there was no longer any need for them...... they've just sat there, rusting away and being a huge eyesore for years. Well DH finally decided it was time for them to go. Yay! Double and triple Yay! Boy, do I feel like throwing a party! LMAO
To make them easier to handle, and so they'll fit in the back of The Tank, they have to be cut in half. It would be less effort just to haul them, one at a time, onto the front and let the local gypsies help themselves but DS has requested that any scrap metal we want rid of goes to where he works. Why? Well, there's a scrap skip in the yard and every year, just before Christmas, the scrap gets cashed in and the money made from it pays for their Christmas "do". Last year there was enough money to pay for everyone's meals, all their beers and a few quid each as a Christmas gift. This year, thanks to the recession, things are looking a bit sparse - it needs all the help going to fill it to give them a decent works "do".

So Saturday morning the first panel was almost cut through when the cutter died - changing the fuse didn't work, nor did jiggling the wires around a bit, or anything else...... then it started raining, so we grabbed everything electrical and took temporary refuge in the workshop, until it eased off enough to dash up to the house. One lunch later and not only had it stopped raining but DS arrived back home with some extra cutting blades to keep DH going, once he'd found another power tool for the job. DS and I headed off out to start sorting through things and DH followed a bit later, found something suitable and set to cutting the second panel in two.

See the pile of bricks and wood in front of the shed in the first pic? We started going through all of that, throwing any metal we found as we went onto a heap on the lawn, sweeping up all the accumulated privet debris we hadn't been able to get at previously, as we went. Next I attacked the big bushy thing with the loppers, taking off all the bits that were in the way, so we could stack more bricks on the pile and get at the wood stack. After that we went through the wood, throwing all the rotten and worm-eaten stuff onto the bonfire area - again adding to the metal heap and sweeping up as we went. There was a very invasive vine thing coming through from next door and, as we've already got waaaay more of that kinda thing in here already, lopped it all back. Then we neatly restacked the remaining wood back against the front of the shed, returning the metal storage bins and old bbq to their temporary resting places. This was the result of that effort:

The result: a much tidier area and enough scrap wood to satisfy DH's tendencies to arson for a while. ;0) The reason? To make getting to that blue panel a whole lot easier, so it can come down and be replaced with a fence whenever our neighbours that side give the go ahead for the job (need to have a word with them now they're back off their holiday).

The same area, slightly different angle:

The blue panel had to be put up there as the previous neighbours wouldn't put a proper fence in the gap - despite the fact that the scumbag/s who burgled our house got into our garden through that gap. Yes, it was (and is) an eyesore but what else could we do when it's their fence and they wouldn't do anything and we couldn't afford to? So looking forward to that being sorted. :0)

Whilst we were busy DH had got kitted up and had cut the second panel in half. DS helped him to get a third panel from the stack that's leaning on the side of the old shed (see bottom three pics above) and he cut that in half as well. We stacked all the halved panels further up the garden, against the privet hedge and closer to the house, so they'll be to hand when it's time to take them to the scrap skip at DS's work (the reason for all the pots staying on the garden). We also raved a pair of grotty old kitchen stools out of the shed and took them apart - the backs and seats went in a bag to go to the amenities site and the metal frames on the pile to go to the scrap skip. Then DS went through the metal heap on the lawn and divided it up into a pile of usable pieces and a pile of those bits that weren't - DH had a look and was OK with it, so the smaller bits were bagged up, the larger bits tied into bundles and the usable bits were stacked inside the back of the workshop. I walked my little legs off, I can tell you, but it was so worth it!

DS took all the bagged up metal and the stool frames to work today, so that's more cr*p gone. Some time this week DH will take the panels and bundles and a few other odd bits of metal to the scrap skip for DS and also have an amenities site run to dispose of the bags of asbestos stuff and quite a few other larger bits of unwanted bits that were too big to go in the bin. And see the rusty cupboard frame in the 4th and 5th pics? DH announced tonight that that can go as well. Woot! Woot! So it's gradually starting to look less like a scrapyard out there and more like a proper garden now!

There are still a couple of areas that need a tidy up though: the garden along the fence needs sorting, rotavating and some manure spreading on it (the weeds really took hold there while we were away) and the old air raid shelter needs a serious trim. Here's the back view of it so you can see what I mean:

Looks like something out of the Hair Bear Bunch, doesn't it? All that greenery is a mix of ivy, honeysuckle and winter flowering jasmine. The inside of the shelter is the next thing that DS fancies tackling: I have my fingers crossed that the reasonable weather holds for the rest of this week so it can get done - clearing junk out of there means that all the car and caravan cleaning things that are currently stored around the house will, at last, go in there instead. :0)

It wasn't all work over the weekend though but more of that in another post.

Thank you greatly for all the lovely comments about Night Watchman - I can't tell you how much I appreciate them. Hope you all had a great weekend and a good start to the week. :0)