Allsorts

Good morning lovely blogging friends.

Here's a bit of a catch up.

I have never seen so many apples.

The tree is laden.

Should be a good harvest.

What's going on here?

Half of our magnolia tree is in bloom, (sorry, not the best photo).  It doesn't normally do this, I hope it's not about to die on us.  The magnolia was one of the reasons I fell love with the garden when we bought the house.

Has anyone got any ideas as to why it could be flowering now?

In Swanage there's a fab little wool shop and they always have boxes of wool for sale outside the shop.  The Col and I were passing, (back in the spring, I think) and you know what it's like, you just have to stop and see if there's something that takes your fancy or more importantly, you just can't do without.  The Col, to my surprise, spied some wool, picked it up and said, "I love these colours, can you knit me a blanket?  I can put it in the car".

"Not really",  I said, looking at the colours and thinking, why on earth would you want ANYTHING in those colours.  I love The Col to pieces but he's not too good at putting colours together but he does know what colours he likes.  After a short conversation about the other colours in the box and me saying, "surely, those colours would be better?" He convinced me to buy the wool and by the time we'd left the shop, I'd decided it would be quicker to crochet a smallish blanket.

I crocheted sixteen, 9 inch granny squares and then crocheted them together, then added a border.  Talk about bright, it's positively neon!  The Col is very pleased but I've noticed it hasn't made it to the car, it's on the BED!!!!!!!

I'm just grateful he didn't ask for a tank top!

Our part of Wiltshire must have been the only place that didn't see rain yesterday and this was the sunset we got, fabulous.

And here's the moon, well, half the moon.  The sky really was that blue, twas amazing.

Here's Tilly and a very naughty 8 month old puppy called Missie, (with the pink collar).  Missie has been staying with us for the last couple of weeks and when she's asleep is adorable.

Hard to believe this bundle of cuteness has broken my butter dish and eaten the contents, bent the bars in her crate, trying to get out, eaten the badgers peanuts that gave her the runs, (not pleasant at all) and got hold of the take away boxes and paraded around the room with them, curry sauce dripping everywhere.  Tomorrow, she's going home and we're going to miss her.  For all her puppyish ways, I wouldn't change a thing, she's got a lovely nature, is quick to learn and really wants to be a lap dog but those legs are just too long.  We've had a fun packed two weeks and we will be sad to see her go.  BUT, we will be glad to get the house back to normal.

Have a wonderful Sunday, hope the sun shines.

Lesley

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My Favourite Jeans

I have a favourite pair of jeans.

They're Ralph Lauren's and I bought them in New York 6 years ago.  I have lived in them, they are the most comfortable jeans I've ever owned.  When they were new I wore them with a jacket when The Col and I went out.  In the end, as with most jeans they began to fade (a bit too much to be anywhere near smart), and got a bit saggy so I started wearing them to do the gardening.  Then a couple of weeks ago, this happened!  

I tried to sew them up but to no avail.  Because the hole is over my knee, it just wasn't going to work.  I felt sure that if I patched them up I'd still be able to wear them, if only to garden in.

So here's my handy work and my Ralph Lauren's live to see another day.

Do you have a favourite pair of jeans?

Lesley

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It's been too long since I last did a post.

How are you all?

I've spent the last couple of days just reading blogs, trying to catch up with everyone.

Life has whizzed by at an incredible pace.  For the next couple of weeks, (I mean this week, even though it's Friday already and next week), I have more time at home.  The weather has been much better this week and yesterday we had a glorious day so I got out in the garden, trying to catch up with some jobs that needed doing or things that I should have done weeks ago.  Here's some of the more colourful bits in the garden.

The nasturtiums behind these poppies have gone berserk and are now covering the whole path. The cabbage white butterflies have been busy too so I'm expecting an abundance of caterpillars in the next weeks. 

This gorgeous rose had got very leggy and last year the flowers weren't very good.  I cut it right back at the beginning of the spring, I had no idea if that was the right thing to do but it doesn't seem to have done it any harm. 

Plenty of flowers, no beans yet.

I bought a packet of lilies from Morrisons, they were supposed to be a mix of colours.  Mine have turned out to be yellow.  They certainly stand out.

I have a wall of wild sweet peas (I think that's what they are).  They have no scent and are all pink. 

I haven't been doing any sewing for the last couple of weeks and I'm getting fidgety to get back to my sewing machine.  I have been doing a bit of crochet though, which I'll post about later.

Hope you all have a good day,

Lesley

x

Cupcakes and Potatoes

Where does the time go to?  I seem to have neglected my blog for too long.  I've just been busy doing everything, nothing, bit of hooky, gardening and trying my hand at applique. (Oh and all the other really rather boring stuff too).

I decided to make a cushion, 60 x 60 cm.

My cup cakes didn't lie quite as flat as I hoped.  I used vilene on the back to help strengthen the lilac checked fabric but it still puckered around the edges.  Does anyone know how I stop that happening?  I think the tension on my machine was ok.  If anyone can help, I'd be really grateful.

I made four of them.

Then put some sashing on, in purple and then the border.

This is the finished top piece, just need to do the rest now.

These are the first potatoes from the garden.  I cooked them with some mint, really yummy!

Until next time........

Lesley

x

Oh My Goodness, I've Got A Big Birthday On Sunday

Hello everyone,

Today we had the whole family together, a rare sight indeed.  For tomorrow is a very big birthday for me.  Much to my surprise, The Col excelled himself, along with LM and his girlfriend by keeping my party a surprise.  I had no idea the entire family were going to arrive.  The last time we were all together was 2006.  I had a great day and I think there's more to come tomorrow but I haven't got a clue what's going on.

I'll have to let you know........

It's all been a bit hectic here for the last couple of weeks as The Col has had an operation on his wrist and cannot do too much.  In fact, he's been told not to drive for another 3 weeks, therefore he can't get to work, (it's a 50 minute drive) which means, lovely ladies I'm having to deal with a very grumpy Col not only because he can't drive but he can't butter his toast or tie his shoe laces.  

Last weekend I went to a school reunion.  What a fantastic day that turned out to be.  I hadn't seen some of the people for 34 years!  We all chatted like it had only been last month since we last spoke, absolutely amazing.

Have yourselves a good weekend and enjoy the good weather.

Lesley 

x

No Sun Today......

 but here are some flowers I snapped this morning .......

Life's been a bit hectic of late, hence the lack of blogs but I'm hoping to do a bit of catch up over the weekend.  

Just one quick update, remember back in May, The Col and I were going to see We Will Rock You?  Well, we got to the theatre, bought a programme, a bag of sweets, (you know, the very noisy bags but we figured it didn't matter, we were after all about to be deafened listening to the live music of Queen) and took our seats.  The five minute bell sounded, the lights went down and, stayed down!!!!!

After sitting in the dark for thirty minutes a couple of chaps arrived on the stage to announce that they had to cancel the show.

The Mayflower theatre, Southampton had a massive power failure to the entire building and  Apparently it was the first time in twenty five years it had happened!


What a disappointment, we and the rest of the audience couldn't believe it.  Of course, there was no chance of putting on an extra show on another date.  The show was moving on a few days later and tickets that were left were for standing room only and during the week, not possible for us to get back.  People are strange though, there were one or two who were clearly very annoyed, demanding their money back etc etc etc, tiresome people.  We and the majority of people just accepted that these things happen every now and again, even if it is once in twenty five years.

The theatre refunded our tickets within three days and we have yet to see We Will Rock You.  


One other update.  I have eighteen followers, hello to all my new followers, lovely to have you along.  My eighteenth follower turns out to be my son, LM (stands for Lofty Maximus and is just the best, like Christmas, sliced bread and candy floss all rolled into one).  Who'd have thought it, he likes my blog!

Have a great Friday.

Lesley

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