New Beginnings (and old endings)

Oh dear, has it really been that long?

So sorry to have gone AWOL without so much as a warning of interrupted service - it's just too bad of me and I do beg your forgiveness, if you are still there..............is anybody there????

AND I didn't even announce the winner of my Giveaway in time for Christmas - shame on me.

But believe me, I hadn't forgotten about it - it was nagging at me in the background amongst all the xmas preparations, making me feel guilty at first and then in the mad rush before Christmas I reasoned with myself that you lovely, kind fellow bloggers would hopefully understand and graciously forgive me.

I'm sure we were all caught up in the crazy, busy run up to Christmas, and in the spending of rare, precious time with our families over the holidays, and in the "trying to get back into a routine" early days of the new year once the schools were back.

So, here I am at last, better late than never, wishing you all a belated Happy New Year!!!!

And a big Welcome! to all my new followers who bravely signed up to follow..........well............nothing for a while, but I will try to rectify that in the coming weeks.

Well, Christmas is over, and I hope you all had a wonderful, fun and relaxing time.

We did here, right from when the schools broke up............

Firstly, kitchen cupboards were painted and new curtains hung

(I know, I know, how mad is that a few weeks before Xmas!!!)

(and, of course, me being me, they are not all finished yet ;)  )

trees were decorated

(and the hall painting was finished, yay!!)

 rooms were made festive

decorations were made

wrapping paper was printed

even personalised in some cases!

a few presents were made

lots of baking and cooking was done

(but few photos as we were too busy eating it!)

the stockings were hung by the chimney

("with care, in hopes that"......you know the rhyme!)

little miniature ones for an advent calender

the festive season was enjoyed by all

relaxing was the order of the day

and for the New Year.......

a fresh start

a clean slate

new beginnings

new books!!!!!

New books to be read

(christmas presents!)



New seeds to be sown - soon

New projects to be sewn

New CK mugs to be drunk from!

(more pressies!)

New treat for the kitchen "from" us "to" us

New boots to be worn!!!

(Sale!!!!)

And, finally, a winner for my giveaway has been selected using an online random generator thingy rather than Logan, who downright refused to do it. So there.

And the winner is..............

No. 17...........

 Dosie Rosie (aka Gill - yes another one!)!!!!

Congratulations Gill - please email me with your address and confirm which tea towel you would like!

Dosie Rosie has won the tea towel of her choice, together with a selection of handmade Christmas Decorations which she will no doubt be thrilled about, it being January and all. Hmm. Maybe a rethink is in order on the rest of the giveaway Dosie Rosie?

I will have a think and come up with something a little more relevant.

So enough for today.

In fact this post is so o o o   long I feel somewhat vindicated for my long absence from the world of blogging, and if you have made it this far and are still awake, then you are a real trooper!

So looking forward to hearing from you all, I have missed you my friends!!!!!!

Gill xx

A bit of This and That

At the weekend I received another belated Birthday present.

It is a gorgeous Gisela Graham gardening bag, made from strong brightly patterned cotton canvas, with lots of useful pockets round the outside for secateurs, string etc.

Thanks Sis!!

This lovely cheerful braid arrived a few days ago, to add to my stash - not sure what it will be for, but I couldnt resist that bright orangy red and green - vintage in style, and a very good price off eBay.

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This last week has seen a few new book treasures arrive at the front door, courtesy of  Amazon and our kindly postman.

Firstly, last week, this little French gem appeared

Despite it being in French, and my French being pretty basic, its really about the beautiful pictures and the ideas. Each project is shown in a beautiful French shabby chic room setting. The instructions are quite minimal so it is more important to be able to sew than to speak French I would say.

Luckily, my sewing is better than my French, and there are a few basic construction sketches with each project, together with a few templates at the back, which are all you require for most of the projects should you wish to make them.

Which I do.

If I had all the time in the world.

Which I don't.

So.

It will be read and admired and gloated over at bedtime, and then will drop from my sleepy clasp as I drift off dreaming of all the lovely things I shall make. If I had time. Which I don't. Hmm.

The next day, this arrived.

No camera, so book covers are all courtesy of Amazon where you can purchase it of course!

After writing a post about Painted Furniture a few weeks back, a kindly blogger recomended Annie Sloan paints as being "the biz" as no preparation is required, just paint and go.

So I thought I'd have a look at what Annie Sloan has been writing recently and I came across the above, which is both useful and inspiring. Well worth buying if you want to tackle some painting projects and aren't sure where to start, as it gives step by step illustrated instructions, tips and know how, and a finished picture to work towards. Shows you how to achieve wonderfully distressed pieces, and is inspirational to both the beginner and the more experienced distresser-of- furniture.

It also lists stockists of her paint.

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On the basis that I have a friends 50th Birthday Party to give in the summer, just a small one for her close family and parents coming over from the US, I thought the following book might be inspirational. 

That is one of the events I was referring to a few posts ago when I was asking for entertaining ideas! So as well as all those wonderful ideas you all shared wth me in your comments (which I will be taking on board for sure), this should help too.

It arrived today, and I've had a quick peek!

It is indeed inspirational, it has some lovely French style ideas, simple and hopefully achievable, for both food and for decorating the table, and the garden.

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And this beauty is still to come

I can hardly wait!



Seeds, Flowers and a book

Good Morning!!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Feels like a Monday to me as hubby was home yesterday

and we carried on doing weekendy gardening jobs all day
until well after 7pm - sort of glad he's gone back today so I can have  a rest ;)

Actually most of my time was spent very happily in here busy with seed sowing

I have waited a long time to have a greenhouse - after years and years of growing seeds on windowsills, watching them go leggy, I was so excited to have a greenhouse at last, already in situ when we moved - it has a few cracked panes and the door is awkward to open, but I love it!!!

Also planted out into the greenhouse borders the little brave hardy lettuces that grew from seed

and survived in the greenhouse though two lots of snow - hopefully we will have eaten these by the time I need the space for tomato and pepper plants - assuming the seed germinates - have just moved the trays for those seeds indoors onto a warm windowsill (feeling of deja vu here - back to the windowsill!) as I'm not sure they will germinate in an unheated greenhouse.

The keen gardeners amongst you may be interested to know that I have sown 4 types of tomatoes (Golden Sunrise, Moneymaker, Oxheart and Red Cherry) and 2 types of sweet peppers (Romano Mixed and Colour Spectrum)

I have also sown Cornflowers, Clarkia (elegans mixed), 3 varieties of nasturtiums (Oranges, tall mixed; Dark red Jewel Cherry Mixed; and a peachy Peach Melba), Ipomoea (Blue Morning Glory), Tagetes (Lemon Gem), Nicotiana (Evening Fragrance mixed), Delphiniums, Hollyhocks, Penstemons, Sweet Peas, Brachycome and Rudbeckia.

I always sow far too much on the premise that surely something must germinate and survive, and if I have too many of anything there are always plenty of friends and family to give to.

But I nearly always regret this bountiful approach when successful seedlings need pricking out ;(

(Why on earth did I sow so many I moan)

I have also sown Broccoli, Sweetcorn (Sweet Bounty), Courgettes (Green Bush), Dwarf beans (Fandango), Broad beans (Lingo), Leeks (Musselburgh) and Peas.

The other winter survivors are waiting to be planted out now - spinach and a few more cabbages that I kept inside as insurance against the birds and slugs when I planted the others out last autumn

But first I need to clear and rake over part of the vegetable garden - there are lots of flower plants to be moved before this final bed is ready, and strawberry plants to move too.

This little heartsease stands alone in the vegetable bed

Elsewhere in the garden, the flowers on the ribes are now fully open

This lovely little yellow flowering plant will flower now on and off

until autumn but I need to find out what it is - does anyone know?

The lesser periwinkle has settled in well in its new home



The camellia is in full bloom - some of the frost damaged blooms are already fading and a couple had fallen on the lawn this morning

Colourful primulas still flowering in borders, baskets and pots

The hellebore is just starting to look a little ragged but still beautiful

You can just see Bessie in the background here

We have the previous owners to thank for all this spring prettiness we have inheirited

Just a quick peek at a bargain book that arrived this morning - for the grand sum of 1p off Amazon (plus postage) !!!!

Looking forward to looking at this tonight - bags and skirts!!!

And a section on tarting up what you've already got - should be good for some ideas and inspiration!




Have a lovely day and thanks for all your comments on the last post - will try and reply soon!