Five on Friday - A Finished Blanket and Starting in the Greenhouse

1. Yay! I've finished.  I have thoroughly enjoyed making the Painted Roses Blanket (pattern is with the fantastic Cherry Heart here).  Even though the colours are brighter than I would normally use it felt as though I was painting my own roses for a narrow boat.  It was fantastic to see the painted roses come to life and imagine the blanket being on my lap as I travel down canals... one day!  Those who follow me on Instagram would have seen my progress, so I am so happy that this is now finished.  My fingers are itching now for another project, maybe some scrap usage will have to be in order before I go back to the Wool Warehouse for more.

2. Last year I didn't have time to work in the greenhouse and so I really missed disappearing into this little corner with a salt cellar and picking and eating tomatoes straight from the vine - my little indulgence.  So, once again when I went in to see what seeds I had left over, I had to battle my way through tools, recycling bags and well, generally everything not associated with a greenhouse.  Yes, again the men of the house had decided that this was a see through shed and the subsequent shouting under my breath ensued!  With calm restored I set about visiting garden centres to get my imaginative juices flowing and trying to remember companion planting so that sprays weren't needed so much during the insect season (ooo I hate that part!).  It's a start, along with some outside vegetables such as runner beans, french beans, beetroot, and a lettuce garden.  Now, where's the sun??!!

3. Trips for the year.  I have been looking at places to visit this year and share with you as I go, so hopefully the list for 2016 will be the following (feet permitting)...

4.  Tia.  Oh how she is enjoying her walks back on the Fens again.  No complaints that she has to trudge through muddy fields and then promptly gets thrown into the sink to get the mud off her gorgeous paws.  She sticks with my slow walk and then gives me a knowing look before trotting off, but not too far ahead.  A clever and caring little pooch who's face says it all.  I keep imagining what her life was like this time last year before she was rescued and how she looks and is treated now.  Don't forget she has her own Facebook page.  If you want to follow her she's here.

Of course, when she comes home she is straight onto her chair and soaks up the rays!

5.  A special birthday for Mr Teen who is now an adult.  Yes, he is now 18 and can now go out into the world and do anything he pleases (he was pretty much doing that anyway!).  We celebrated with a family lunch in a local pub and he had his first official drink - it had to be Guinness!!  and then his day was his own. Where on earth did that 18 years go?

And so that's my Five this week.  Thanks so much to Amy at Love Made My Home for the link up each week and congratulations on your Five on Friday Anniversary!

Also, thank you all so much for your comments yesterday on my rather depressing post.  Your comments really do mean so much to me and I am sure this is just a February blues moment.  I'm getting there!  My London fix is hopefully not too far away and I will be able to see everything from the top of the Shard!  Happy Days!  Until then, let's see that Painted Roses Blanket again blowing in the wind...

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Five on Friday at Love Made My Home

Spring Means New Life

I don't know about you, but for those in the UK do you feel a change in the weather?  Have you felt how warm the sun's rays are?  Have you panicked at the weeds that have suddenly made an appearance and how quick the seedlings have burst out of the soil?  Dare I whisper it?  Has spring finally arrived?  Judging from the blossom that has appeared on my plum tree, I have a feeling it has.  

Now to those lovely people who read my blog regularly you may notice something a little different.  I've had a little bit of a spring clean on my blog.  This is mainly due to the beautiful weather we have been currently having, the blossom that has now burst on the trees, the seeds germinating and the smell of freshly mown lawn once again.  So the header banner has a more springy feel and I have tidied up bits and pieces.

Also I haven't had a chance to go out on a rambling tour this week.  Mainly because I have been working at home due to the office re-decoration, but also because I now have the dreaded 'lurgy'!  How I would love to just curl up at this moment.  So a tour of the garden will have to suffice this week!

Before I start I must really say thank you all so much for your wonderful comments last week about my friend's passing.  She was incredibly special and I have been smiling with the memories that she has left me.  She was a rare individual and so positive about everything around her.  I am blessed to have known her.  This also made me think that life is for living and was very naughty and treated myself to a new camera!  I have mentioned a few times before that I wasn't exactly happy with my last one so after the last difficult couple of weeks I thought, yes, be selfish, buy something for me, something to really cheer me up, something where I can record real images of life, let's capture it properly.  So here it is, a deep red Nikon Coolpix L810, 16mp, 26x zoom, and really easy to use.  I fell in love with it from the first shot!  So clear, so clever and no need for photo editing to put forward the shot I originally wanted.  I am happy with the world again!  Ideally I would have liked a DSLR but I have a film loading one and use this with a tripod for a specific 'patient' shot.  So, this one is ideal!

But hey, let's have some photos from my new 'baby'!  I didn't know what to call this camera (the Fujifilm was called Flo!), I was going to ask for suggestions, but my thoughts are that I bought it with Val's love for life, her love of colours relating to Betty Boop, so it is hereby christened 'Val'!  So come Val, let's go on a short tour of the spring garden.

So firstly, my blog title this week is Spring Means New Life, and today this chrysalis (which has been under the care of Mr Teenager) decided to do just that, spring into life.

I took the delicate, crumpled butterfly outside onto the kitchen window baskets (which have equally been bursting into life) and it turned to say thank you.

Once dry it turned out to be a Cabbage White, hopefully it will find another garden to wreak it's havoc on!

In the greenhouse, things are getting very busy.  Lettuces, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, peppers, spring onions, courgettes and runner beans are all racing away.  Here are my peppery lettuce leaves and the start of my tomato seeds (I have had to cheat a little by buying some established too!).

Then in amongst all this was this sleeping Hummingbird Bee (well, I think it is, glad for some advice here)!  We knew we had a couple from when we saw them hovering around the blossom but they are far to quick to capture.  This one was very photogenic though and slept through my daring close up shots!  (Isn't 'Val' amazing?!)

The Daffodils and the Narcissus are all doing well around the different parts of the garden.  These beauties were put in my kitchen window baskets all those months ago and I am surprised that they bloomed this year!

These are in my main raised border in the garden.

These are in my herb garden.

The typical trumpet types are everywhere!

And then tulips!  We were so worried that there wasn't going to be any this year.  The Spalding Flower Parade are really going to be hit for next week's event (which apparently is the last!) - more to come next week on this.  We have a wooded type area next to our garage where we let things naturalize and these certainly haven't let us down this year.

At the back of the house we have a couple in full bloom.  

You can even see the pollen!  This shot reminds me of vanilla pods and custard!

Then there are hyacinths!  But my favourites are the tiny grape hyacinths.  Again planted in my kitchen window sill baskets.  

But shall we take a break from the flowers for a moment while the birds have a feed?

Remember I told you that I will be an auntie very soon (next month!).  I have been very busy with a pram blanket which was harder as we don't know what they are having.  The inspiration was from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks (Pattern 189 - Willow).

 I have done this in grey and white as this will fit in with most colour schemes and it has come out in a lovely lacy pattern.

The edging was done using triple stitches and bobble stitches.  All done, now waiting for the arrival.  So excited!!

 Now back to the garden.  This is the front of the house, very pitiful compared to the rest, however the weeping pear's blossom is coming through now and the greenery is starting to appear.  This will be my project this weekend to add some more colour and interest.

There are daisies in the lawn but I don't mind that at all.  More wildlife buzzing around that way, and what speaks of summer more.

And lastly, saying goodbye to the winter rose (helloborum).  This will soon be surrounded by peace lilies and gladioli.

So, VERY happy with 'Val' and my new spring like blog posts.  Hopefully back to normal 'tour' business next week with the Spalding Flower Parade.  I'll try and get a good position for you.

Now off to my sick bed and sleep!

Have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to catching up with your posts.

P.S.  Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin before the 'deadline', and I'll also be updating my Facebook page a bit more to include other photos throughout the weeks.

Take care.

This week I am sharing with:

The Home Acre Hop

Share Your Cup Thursday

Rurality Blog Hop
Simple and Sweet Friday
Weekend Flowers
Cottage Style Party
Home Sweet Home
Say G'Day Saturday
A Favorite Thing
Sunny Simple Sunday
Weekly Top Shot
Camera Critters
Macro Monday

We Have Blossom!

I am so excited!  I have ventured into the great unknown!...the garden!!  I don't have to wear my wellies, I don't have to wear layers and layers of clothing, my eyes are squinting with the sunlight and look!  Only a small hint of what is to come, but yes there it is...blossom!

The different greens are emerging.  My beautiful Grandma's lavender has survived the testing and long winter and is standing silvery tall next to the other greens of the garden.

The sun is shining on my ivy in my little reading corner.

And my green lady has opened her eyes and there is a hint of a smile.

The wind has turned.

So, time to get going in the greenhouse!  With the weather as it has been I came up with a fantastic idea for germinating my seeds...plastic takeaway containers!  They have plastic lids, keeping the heat in, so I set to work with the tomato seeds from The Rusted Vegetable Gardener.  His blog is well worth a visit as well as his You Tube tutorials, great source of information!

Along with the tomatoes, I had to get the runner beans started, I felt a bit like Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk (I wonder if there will be any golden eggs in the morning?!).

Then the courgettes, pricking out my peppers that had been germinating on my kitchen window sill and then the lettuce and radish bowl were tucked in.  A very productive morning...well it's a start.

And, remember the kitchen window baskets that I planted up earlier (post here)?  Well, they have survived! Just a little bit of bird damage where they are taking the coco fibre for nesting, but there is still plenty there.  The bulbs have surfaced which I am really pleased about as I didn't think they would until last year, so not all bad.

After lunch, me and Miss Teenager decided to sit down on the patio and I was catching up on some hooky time.  The blanket for my nephew or niece who is due next month.

Along with this are my little dinky squares which I am not sure what I will do with them yet but they are so cute to make!

Then, while taken this shot of a black bird who had just had a wash in the bird bath and was shaking off the water from its plumage, something weird happened.  

Now, bad luck happens in three's and this is why now I am quaking in my flip flops!  Firstly, my car decided to spring a fuel leak (little Annie is now with the garage for repairs) and secondly this, so there we are commenting on the little black bird (shall I call him lucky?!!) when BANG!!! the patio door near us shattered...

No reason, no bird had flown into it, no balls or stones nearby, no body was shooting (well I hope not!...we live in the countryside!!).  It just shattered into a million pieces making the constant noise of ice cracking.  Could it have just been the sun's warmth?  Well, a panicked woman then rings her hubby who is out walking with Mr Teenager to get home quickly and then a few calls to the insurance company to come and sort it out was made.  While waiting for the company to arrange to make the glass safe before repair I took some shots of this weird occurrence, doesn't it look like a spiders web?

So, hopefully the company are coming back today to fix this, apparently the whole unit has to be repaired.  And, now, I am slowly rocking in my chair thinking what is the third thing?!  A great start to my week off don't you think?!

I have to think positive, things could have been worse!  

Sending positive thoughts out for a better week!

(Update!  Annie car is now fixed at a cost of £32.00 (see positive thoughts worked there), patio door unit being looked at again on Wednesday morning but insurance company covering this (again positive thoughts).  And, maybe these were number 2 and 3 because remember I said that Coco dog had run into the glass next to the open greenhouse door?  Maybe that was number 1 !!  I'm wishful thinking!

Take care, I mean it!

A Week for All Seasons

This week has been 'Half Term' week and time for me to spend time with Mr and Miss Teenagers.  We have been all over the place and in between, finding time for our own hobbies.  This time round I felt as if I had more 'me' time.  Maybe because they are getting older and they don't need to be asking me for everything all the time or, just because I was in a routine with them and things didn't get on top of me like they can do.  We started off having real spring time weather.  Everyone had smiles on their faces, were able to go outside without heavy winter coats and also to feel the sun on their skin.  I even managed to have a nice cup of tea at my garden table and do some gardening (my post about that is here).  The jasmine in the birdcage that was photographed on that post has blossomed inside and is strategically placed by my front door in the hall so the heady scent hits you when you come in.  So welcoming and beautiful to look at.

The trip to Norfolk mid week certainly brought us back to earth with a bump.  FREEZING temperatures and biting winds not helped by the fact that we were on the beach (the post is here).  I have never seen snow by a beach and to see and feel it falling was a novelty...and a cold one at that!

I had to think quickly about the plants that I had put in my kitchen window baskets, but they look happy and healthy enough next to the warm bricks.

The potatoes in the greenhouse are being tucked in at night, but they look so regimental in their boxes waiting for their shoots to appear.  Some have!  I'm so excited!!  I have only ever done these once before, and half heartedly, so this year I think is my year of the potato!

Along with the gardening, I have been so busy with my crochet blankets.  I want to get all my 'works in progress' finished and then start to do a bit of work on my dollshouse street scene.  I am doing so many granny squares, but this is just how relaxed I am, just happily hooking along watching such warmth and colour growing through my fingers.

The designs are from Sandra at Cherry Heart, and the daisy blanket idea is from The Patchwork Heart.  These designs are so easy, simple, quick and you can go back to them again and again.

So now, it is the end of our break.  The school uniforms are ready, the school bags packed, my suit is ready for tomorrow to start my week of getting up to speed again and my record of four blog posts in a week has come to an end!

So time to have a quiet day at home, take pictures of Mr Teenager feeding his collared dove called Clover. One of a pair that was born in our garden a couple of years ago.  Shamrock the other one was sadly attacked by a hawk while in our garden last year, survived but was very poorly and has not returned for a couple of months now.  Mr Teenager can hand feed Clover and I have even managed it a couple of times!

A brisket of beef is now slow cooking in the oven, rhubarb pie for dessert and I'm now going to have (yet another!) cup of tea!

It has been a wonderful week, fantastic, lovely people writing such kind comments (and an award)  and thank you to my new followers, you are so lovely and talented!  So now my week off is at an end and work beckons.

Have a wonderful week everyone and thank you.

Take care.

I'm sharing with Sunlit Sunday, You're Gonna Love it Tuesday, Rurality Blog Hop, Share Your Cup Thursday, Grow Your Own Blog Hop