spring green

On Sunday afternoon, the garden was like this

one cat keeping watch at the top of the walk

the fattening hydrangea leaves, swollen with rain and freshly visible after their spring haircut

  the sun shone through daffodils and violets

  

Wol was happy in his world

  the hazel was in blossom - I'm not sure I've ever managed to notice the flowers before, they are so tiny, yet the catkin sheds its pollen to fertilize them with a caress of breeze

 another cat guards the pagoda

 while the old dears chat to each other in the sunshine 

and up in the rooftops (now there's another grid!)

the starling suns his iridescent chest 

the sun shone in his blue blue sky 

and it was very very warm and peaceful 

then in the evening I stitched, then stitched some more yesterday and a final few today

Counterchange

I deliberately played with the regular counterchange of the squares, by allowing the beads and French knots to expand away from the centre, floating out towards the edges and challenging all that serious stability.

Today I also had an exhausting trip to London for work. 

Still not feeling quite up to scratch

Foxy Mum perhaps?

Sshhh, who's there?

Who are you looking at?

me ? ....

do I look bothered?

Elsewhere in the garden

the gravity fed water collection system is in full working order - a masterpiece of urban technology, note the precision positioning of hose at top, that takes the overflow from the water butt at the top of the garden and brings it down to the vegetable garden - there's also a water butt to take overflow for the roof and a galvanized tank for the water from the shed - the Man is very serious about his water!

the slugs are slugging

the ferns are unfurling

the vegetable beds are filling up and the greenhouse is overflowing!

Rum is drinking puddles

whilst yesterday Rasin was looking pensive

Over the weekend we had a Small Boy to stay, along with with his Mum. They sat at the bottom of the garden waiting for baby foxes

One was kind enough to oblige, much to my and Brody's delight.

We  lunched in Bistro 45, spent time at the Jack in the Green, Hastings,which was as ever very crowded. At one point a rather bewildered looking lady said to me distractedly, "oh .... we only wanted to look at the shops in the High Street, we didn't know this was on  .... it's all rather Pagan isn't it? Absolutely!!!
Here's the start of the parade, courtesy of YouTube, down by the net huts with the cliffs behind ... close your eyes, turn up the volume and imagine the thrum of the drums vibrating in your chest!

Brodie also had a little piece of stitchery created, just for him. We had great fun, with me stitching while he told me, very definitely,  what to put where - it was very bling!

Another piece is still on the go - stitching finished I think, now to work out how to embellish the corners - something with organza stitched around the circle I think - here just thrown about the stitchery to get an idea of what and where

and another tryout just to see what if ..... layers and stitching and a little bit of batting to give contour

It looks curious in the flat light of the camera flash and is a "concept demonstrator"!


Outside in the night the rain is falling, falling, falling beyond my window

C&G update

One of the things that has been adding to my stress has been the City and Guilds work. Not work actually, because it is all so interesting, but I do have to turn all this

into something coherent and presentable. I am woefully behind in comparison to my more experienced fellow stitchers. But I have been having fun. One of the bits I've been working on stems from one of the colour exercises.

I wanted to see if I could stitch in a way that echoed the marks on paper.

I'm really rather pleased with the way it's come out, though not strictly to the given remit, it does exploit fly stitch, detached chain, cross, straight and french knots. It's only 3 inches square, references the old fashioned nine patch and is worked using the smallest of my between needles and a single strand of embroidery floss.  A certain amount of squinting went on. Now, do I work a boundary between the squares or leave them to blend into each other the way the pen drawing does?

And here are my efforts to date, all put together waiting to go in my folder of works. I now have to learn about bullion, raised chain band, whipped stem, guilloche, seeding and something else I've forgotten. Then I have to learn about blackwork, canvas work and cross stitch.

All watched over by my trusty needle case; a Primary school project I made for Mum more years ago than I can remember, though I do remember being worried that the satin stitch was too long and that it would pull crooked when used. It seems to have been treated gently by time. The snail shell gave me some trouble as well and the R for Rosemary doesn't quite pull off that casual lean into the bottom corner!

Meanwhile the garden is dipping towards winter. The silver silhouette of the walnut is starting to shine up from the bottom of the garden, a few yellow leaves still clinging to its branches.

the maple I planted in the spring is showing great promise

the honeysuckle and jasmine twining round their framework of leafless conifer branches is also giving a sketchy hint of how it may look once fully clothed with a dressing of leaf and stem.

and certain inhabitants are sure that it's now nicer inside than out

A closer look will reveal another cat in the basket .......