Monday 3 September 2012

Orchard View



Living in the Garden of Kent we are surrounded by orchards.
Whichever way we walk from our door, we cannot avoid walking around, or through or past vast orchards of apples.


The farmers have now cut the long avenues between the tidy rows of ripening fruit-laden trees, and towering piles of wooden packing boxes sit neatly stacked at the ends of rows in readiness for the harvest.



 Bella and Logan

So we have enjoyed many long walks these past few weeks, seeing the gradual change of seasons.



Although still warm in the sun, there has been an underlying chill in the air this last week, reminding us that Autumn is not far away now.


As well as many fruitful orchards, there are sadly a few reminders that not so long ago, it was hard for fruit farmers in Kent to earn a living from growing English varieties as the supermarkets were flooded with foreign imports.


But there seems to be a wind of change, and many of our local supermarkets now stock locally grown apples as well as imported varieties, although to be sure of supporting our local farmers we buy most of our fruit and veg from the plentiful farm shops in the area.

We are picking the last of the blackberries this week, not so many as a few weeks ago but there are still a few to be found.



At the weekend we celebrated our 22nd Wedding Anniversary and our daughter surprised us with a lovely chocolate cake made with blackberry sauce from the blackberries we picked last week


And whilst my husband went to yet more cricket at Lords on Sunday (about his fifth trip this summer I think!) I had a peaceful day finally finishing the last of the crochet squares for a cushion......



......and sorting out a pile of fabrics for my next quilt, a "low volume" quilt ( a quietly coloured quilt as opposed to bright shouty colours!), as I am only a few stitches away from hand finishing my daughter's king size quilt at last ......hopefully a "show and tell" is imminent!

I am trying so hard to be so good, and not start anything new until I have finished the hand quilting and joined the blocked crochet squares for the crochet cushion, despite constant temptations wherever I visit in Blogland!

It is hard!



selection of fabrics for next quilt


I also pulled out some of the vintage french fabrics I bought earlier this year in readiness for a few cushions.





Welcome to all my new followers, and thankyou everyone for all the comments you left in the last few posts - they are much enjoyed and greatly appreciated, and I do try to either reply by email or visit your blog.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!


16 comments:

  1. You can definitely feel September in the air especially in the mornings!
    Happy anniversary to you and your husband. :)
    Looking forward to all the crafty reveals!!
    Vivienne x

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  2. Love the orchard pics!
    Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

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  3. Happy Anniversary! It is a terrible shame that local farmers loose out to foreign imports. We should all try and buy local food if only to kick start the economy!
    Have a great week.
    June

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  4. I am finding it very difficult to stop myself from starting something new - but I have so many part projects to finish that I am trying to be strong!

    Pomona x

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  5. I love your apple orchards - we are trying to grow a Bramley in the south of France, which is going to be quite a challenge, I think. But we do so miss the cooking apples...

    Happy Anniversary! 1990 was a great year for weddings. We celebrated 22 years in July.

    I found you on Alix's blog, so now I'm going to browse a bit and get to know your blog better.

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  6. love the beginning of harvest like september and october a lot like the apple trees and to make an apple pie with your on apples love the fabrics very lovely love to see it wen you make some nice en pretty things from them happy anniverary to you and youre husband!

    greetings leon10

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  7. Kent is such a beautiful county - we holidayed there a couple of years back and long to visit again!
    Victoria xx

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  8. Happy anniversary! That definitely deserves a cake! I have really enjoyed seeing all the photos from your part of the world. It's always great seeing opposite seasons to my own. We've just moved into Spring and it started with a few gorgeous days. Now it's blah and cold again. Perfect crochet weather!! I love your pretty squares, all beautifully blocked. And I can't wait to see your quilt once you're finished. And the next one too!!

    Have a fabulous week hon,
    Leah
    xx

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  9. Happy Anniversary! I love these orchard photos but do envy you the apples - apples are such a disappointment here in southern Spain. Everything looks so beautiful and clean and calm. Except the cake -and that looks yummy!
    Axxx

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  10. I love apples I eat one every day, perhaps it's because I grew up in Kent!
    Lovely post
    Thea x

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  11. Love your orchard photos...we just don't have them around anymore here due to urban sprawl (in our case it would be citrus), but I grew up with apple trees.
    Your quilt fabrics are yummy! I think I have some of those...now, I want to make a quilt with those! Yes, I have the same problem with finishing a project when I see something in blog land I want to try.

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  12. Beautiful pictures of the apple orchards! I loved seeing all you fabrics too, such a great time of year to begin new projects :) Happy anniversary to you both too!
    Helen x

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  13. Happy anniversary, it was our 22nd in July. The cake which Bella made looks delicious, it wouldn't have lasted long here. I'm a cricket widow too, though Mick doesn't often go to watch it, he and Daniel play. It does give us time to indulge in our hobbies though. I love the crochet squares, the cushion is going to look lovely. Hope Bella did well in her exams. Daniel was disappointed in his grades, but he's hoping he'll manage to pull them back.

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  14. You're lucky to have so much beauty on your doorstep! All the fabrics you have for your quilt look so pretty, I'm sure you'll create something wonderful. Belated Happy Anniversary - great looking cake!

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  15. Thank you for leaving such a lovely comment on my blog... you are kind. I shall have a little wander around your blog now. Enjoy your week... hope you are getting some of this wonderful sunshine too.

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  16. Hi Gill
    It is hard...blooming hard not to be tempted to start something new tch!

    Are you allowed to walk through the orchards or were you there picking?
    It all looks so lovely and apples fresh off the tree!

    Happy Happy anniversary...don't you just love them to bits when they do something like that for you. I rather like the sound of your daughter having used fresh blackberry sauce in the cake.

    Lovely ice-cream colour motifs!

    keep well

    Amanda :-)

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Thanks for visiting and for taking the time to leave a comment - I love to read them!
Gill x