What a difference Eight Weeks Makes!

Its been a while I know since I posted an update. And what you see here is all to the hard work of my hubby.  After I set too in Spring and over did things. So I have kept to lighter duties on the gardening front. If you hover your mouse pointer over each image it will tell you what is planted. 

Poppies and wild flower seeds we planted along the edge to attract bees

Onions Grown From Seed

Lettuce and Kidney Beans

Apple Tree and Dahlias. We planted the Dahlias this year between the apple trees.

Greenhouse Tomatoes

View half way down plot

Dwarf beans two varieties and Sweetcorn in distance

Courgettes between the strawberries and butterbeans

Tomatoes and 3 Lemon Cucumbers

Sweetcorn

Red Onions & Shallots

Potatoes earlier and late

Long view of Plot

Loganberries and Raspberries

Winter Cabbage, Broccoli Cauliflower and Summer Cabbage, and sprout.

Two Rows of Parsnips and a row of Lettuce

Peas set at intervals to stagger harvest

Last years Chard which has been in abundance and so tasty and Peas

Spring Onions row 1, Carrots row 2, 3,Beetroot row 4,5

So while  Hubby has been busy planting and keeping the weeds down, I completed my knitting projects and also finished a painting which seems ages ago now that now hangs on our granddaughters bedroom wall when she comes to stay.

Eagle and chicks

Short sleeve top

This Short-sleeve top on the right  was completed, and no sooner was it finished than I was itching to start another as I came across some more bargain wool

This short sleeve top I did to add as a short top to the cardigan I knitted.

The colours are the same, its just my camera and the lighting that makes them look different.

I then set about wanting to knit a summer light jumper which I was hoping to take on holiday, but I didn’t finish that in time, I completed it when we came back  home

Summer Jumper,

The colour of this is a turquoise but again the light and my camera do not do it justice.

The back of the jumper pattern in close up here

The Pattern on the back on the jumper in close up

 

 

 

 

 

Now I am working upon a thicker Aran Wool Sweater. I have already done the back and working on the front 

Aran Sweater

The Home garden has been where I have been working, and getting my Begonias which have been stored over winter into pots. Lifting tulips out of the tubs and daffodils. While filling the hanging baskets and wall hangers with flowers for Summer..

Here is what the tubs of Tulips looked like back in April

Tulips

Happy Gardening and Creating!

Until Next Time. 

 

Keep Busy~ Creating!

Its been a while since I posted here on my garden blog. I have been spending more time off the internet and more time with my hobbies. 

I decided after knitting the finger-less gloves  and snood in my last post to use the same burgundy wool to knit myself a beret.  I found a pattern in our local wool shop and set about knitting it.. nearly each row was different, and needed full concentration and record keeping of where I was when I put it down.  But I was very pleased with the end result. 

Hand knitted Beret.

After the Beret was finished my next project was to paint.. Now  my usual medium I enjoy using is acrylics.. But I had been following Steve on his blog, his love of oil painting and  through his encouragement to give it another try, and already had the oil paints in stock, I gave it another go..  

One of the things which always put me off was the drying time of paintings in oils.. But it also then has its advantages of blending areas where you see mistakes or you need to change. 

So I decided to paint one of my favourite little animals who are at this time of year hibernating, which is a little Hedgehog. 

I called it Hedgehog in Spring 

Hedgehog in Spring in Oil Paints.

Here you can see one which was active in my garden last year

Today as I type this the temperature outside is minus -4°C which is 24.8°F which is cold even for us here in England, and we have freezing fog outside today 

So I thought to show you the little bit of Spring we have in our garden at the moment as some of the primroses are out, and indoors is another piece of Spring in the form of these  Hyacinths bulbs on my kitchen window. The aroma of their perfume is wonderful and greets you each time you open the kitchen door. 

Hyacinths

At the moment I am snuggled nice and warm, reading books brought from the library. While the knitting was underway, I bought audio books to listen to. But I am well into Book one, of a trilogy of books, in the Cousins O’Dwyer series  starting with the first one by Nora  Roberts entitled The Dark Witch.  And I was lucky enough to find in stock in the library both two and three at the same time. So lots of lovely reading to be doing in this cold weather. 

I am also in the midst of putting a collection of my poetry together, in the hopes to get it self published.. This is something I promised my self long ago, and now feel the need to complete this particular project.   A sample of  my poems can be found mainly on my other blog over at Dreamwalker’s Sanctuary, the  link can be found on my side panel of my blog. 

I hope all of those in the USA who are in the ‘Polar Vortex’  (The link provides temps across USA, and sky phenomena with the Light and Sun halo’s)  So, keep safe and warm.. I know your temperatures are far, far, below what we are experiencing and its cold enough here and minus four, so goodness knows how you are all coping in the extreme cold..

Take care all of you thank you for reading and welcome to those who are new followers. 

Happy Creating

 

 

Snow, Art, Sparrows and Hawks.

Hello again, and where did February go to? I can not believe I only posted once here in the whole of February. But then I have been focusing upon other things.

We did not have half as much snow as in the South and further North of us had We have been lucky, yet there was still enough snow fall to close roads and schools  were closed down for three days. 

While the Winter weather has caused disruptions and chaos on our UK roads, and for some bringing tragedy, for others its been a time to enjoy snow in parts of the UK where snow has been a rarity for many years, So for many youngsters this was the first real snow they had seen in a while.

Sledging. over a bridge on a local walk we take. My Granddaughter aged 7.  Having Fun in the snow. 

The last heavy snow fall we had been in 2010 the year my granddaughter was born.  So while we have had snow,  for many this was the first significant fall they had seen in years.

Making sure the birds do not go hungry. We moved their feeders under the bushes for protection from the sparrow hawk.

Its been important to keep feeding the wild life, who have also been suffering, we moved their feeders around a bit to help shelter them. For where they were, they were more exposed.  And Since January our garden has also had a visitor looking for food.. A Sparrow Hawk.

Sparrow Hawk in January. Now he knows where sparrows feed, he’s been trying his luck at catching them in our garden and came on two consecutive days last week in the snow. So he/she is also feeling hungry. But as far as we know he flew away empty-handed.

While winter here in the UK last week got its teeth into us with freezing temperatures and snow storms, I was huddled warm indoors painting and doodling, while I continued putting my collection of poems together and managed to write my third chapter on something I am working on.

The parts of the green house model making took a back seat for a time.  though I did spend several hours creating these flowers. They were fiddly, but absorbing.

Roses, made by winding folded paper around and around and gluing onto wire.

Here you can see a collection of flowers I made

But my main concentration has been on creating two paintings, they are already hung in my home as I swap my artwork around every now and again.  I paint purely for pleasure . So this was the first I painted, a Leopard. The second painting a Lion. Both of these Animal totems spoke to me in different ways.  And I wrote more about that on my main blog.

My Leopard painting in Acrylic.

My Lion painting in Acrylics

I hope if you have been affected by the Winter weather and storms, you have kept safe and warm where ever you are. 

 I hope Spring  starts to Stir Soon,  I can not wait to reconnect with our garden. 

Take care until next time.

 

 

Transformation and Creation.

While the weather has not been great here in the UK.. We have had a few days of sunshine between Snow, sleet and rain.

So instead of baking, Apple and Raspberry pies..  and putting on the pounds.. 🙂

I retreated into my little room to do some art..  More Artwork can be found upon my Main blog Dreamwalker’s Sanctuary 

But today I am sharing a little of my artwork here.

A Spiritual Path in a bluebell Wood. In Acrylics.

This painting I did several years ago from my imagination, which has been stacked within a pile of paintings I was not happy with..  So Out it came as I wondered what I could do with the canvas.. I had thought on doing a completely different painting over the top.. But as it was snowing at the time outside.. I thought to transform it by being creative and using what was already in place. 

This is now how it looks. 

I added a spire and snow and converted the trees to a pine forest. In acrylics.. 

This next painting  again is from the workings of my mind.. Inspired by the last Full Moon..

 

Silver Birch by Moon Light In Watercolour 

I have planted some specialists cauliflowers of white, purple and Yellow..

Broccoli, cabbage, and tomatoes seeds are in trays too, which are starting to sprout .. And we have our seed potatoes now bought and stored in the cool for now.  

February is now half way through.. Time is speeding along and Spring is getting ever closer.. 🙂 

Happy Gardening or Crafting 

~Sue~