Summer time

Thank you for the cushion love on my last post, I did sell 9 of them that weekend & a couple more since. I will be selling online hopefully soon, I've set up a Folksy shop but that's as far as I've got. As well as our normal 3rd Saturday of the month Craft/Produce market we will also be having a market every Wednesday during August so I now have to have a cushion making frenzy as stocks are very low.

I was given this picture by a little girl who had bought a Lavender sachet off me, the fabric was a cat one, so cute!

Other than sewing we've been busy on the allotment everything is growing brilliantly this year, we've now picked 29 courgettes & haven't wasted any. I've started making preserves, not for sale just for the storecupboard, using courgettes, rhubarb & blackcurrants so far, it'll be marrow next.

We went to Eden to see the Summer flowers, which didn't disappoint.

We've been finding lots of creatures there's lots of grasshoppers & slo worms in the field and the chrysallis is just under the rim of the shed roof.

Obviously a lot of time is spent watching & talking to this pair :)

And we managed a bit of kite flying on the moors.

I happened to find some lovely Woods ware :)

and a few bits of rosey china.

So that's about it really a condensed 2 weeks, now I'm going to continue looking for courgette recipes, what a way to spend a Friday night!

Plodding along ...

and not getting anywhere very fast! As per usual there always seems to be so much to do & so little time if only we had a few more hours in the day :) I think when the sun comes out time just goes fast forward. I've been trying to get more cushions finished each one probably takes about 4 hours or more! Some friends and I have started a quilting group as well, meeting fortnightly & having a laugh. I've decided to hand sew a Grandmother's flower garden quilt, which is made completely of small hexagons, it may take some time!

Of course in the sunshine you also have to spend time at the beach.

Going for walks.

And waste a lot of time watching the hens having dust baths,

Maude is more dignified with hers.

And then hours & hours of gardening & watering.

Of course a fair bit of time has to be spent thrifting.

The recipe book is full of recipes which 2 friends have sent to each other & magazine newspaper cuttings including this from January 21st 1945.

I also helped a couple move into one of the most gorgeous houses I've ever been in and she gave me these curtains, originally from Liberty. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, there are 4 curtains probably 7ft in length & double lined so they weigh a ton!

Some more linen found at a car boot

along with this tray,

lovely & big bowl,

a shaving brush to put with my collection of mugs,

yet another cake stand & some plates.

And finally a laundry basket to be painted & covered ...... one day!

And today it's back to the sewing machine & the cushions. I've also got to do some walking as next week I'm doing a sponsored 11 mile moonlight walk for Marie Curie/ Macmillan cancer charities & haven't really done any practising yet :0

A month's crafting.

Haven't done a sewing post for a while so thought I'd do a little catch up. I recently bought a whole load of duck feather cushion inserts and came up with these appliqued cushions, the beach huts & the cottage sold straight away. I've since had orders for more of these 2, some camper van ones a wedding one and some to supply a new Bistro that is opening nearby. So the past couple of days I've sat outside and designed a dozen cushions all of them themed around a line of bunting.

Now the sun is out I've also been busy on the pegbag making front this one is made from a Laura Ashley fabric.

I made this cute bag for myself in my 20 minuters time. I thought it would be great for summer and I do have an awful lot of lace that I need to use up. It came from a tutorial that I can't find now, if I find it I'll add it.

This string of hearts were made for a mother of a bride to add to the wedding gift that she had bought.

I've also added these bits to my craft stall - hanging strawberries scented with strawberries & cream.

A mini lavender cushion made from some really sweet vintage fabric.

More lavender hearts.

Some elephants with

crochet flowers at the top of their tails.

Some yoyo brooches again trying to use up some lace.

And some lavender filled hanging fish.

I usually put photos of my makes in a facebook album but I've now spent over a month trying to add photos and it doesn't seem to work anymore getting very frustrated with it.

I'll end this post with some sad news, my sweet little Silkie hen Flossie has died. We don't know why she died it could've been the stress of being somewhere new she was only with us for 2 weeks and in that time she wasn't very lively & didn't lay, so she could've been egg bound or it may well have been old age. We do miss her lots though :(

Meet the girls at long last.

For years I have wanted chickens but have never got any because of worrying about the neighbors complaining, which is really silly as we live in the country and have sheep, cows etc all around us not to mention a gazzillion barking dogs! We also have a small garden but last year we got our piece of field enabling us to make an allotment there thus freeing up space in the garden. I did a lot of research and found out about the allotment act of 1950, which put my mind at rest, to a degree, about the neighbours. Anyway last Sunday we collected them a black Maran which, I've named Maude, a light Sussex named Delilah and a Silkie named Flossie.

We shut them in their house when we got them home, Mr CB had made it on legs to discourage rats, so they have a ladder to climb down. Maude was out first then Delilah eventually after a little nudge Flossie looked out and there she stood for 1/2 hr or so! She has the hang of it now and is straight out in the mornings.

Maude is quite noisy she seems to be the announcer of any eggs being laid by her or Delilah.

Flossie is such a cute little thing but I don't expect her to lay many eggs, I had to have her as I do love Silkies.

And Delila is definately Mrs bossy boots and the greedy one she goes inside to lay her egg Maude starts cackling I go to quieten her, which makes Delilah come out to see if I have some food for her, this makes the egg laying process quite a long one.

Maude laid the first egg within 2 hrs of coming home and her and Delilah have laid each day.

As they are on bark in their pen I've put a shallow flower pot of soil in there for them to have a dust bath it's quite hard to see in the picture but they love this.

They didn't think much of yesterdays rain though.

Once they've settled in, had their wings clipped and I've moved all my seedlings down to the allotment they'll be able to rummage around the garden I and I'm sure they can't wait!