Tada! "The Good, The Bad and The Not Ugly At All" Poncho

When I first saw the pattern for this poncho, I thought it was something out of a Spaghetti Western!

It certainly looked a bit like a horse blanket, if nothing else!  I guess it was the colour that had been used - I thought it would look lovely in a cream, or denim, or burnt orange, colour.  However, I needed a holiday project - I was just about to head off to Grange over Sands for a week - and didn't want to spend any of my hard earned holiday spends on wool, so had a rummage through my wool stash to see what I had in the required quantity and found some Woodlander that I bought at Wisbech market last year.

 I wasn't sure if it was going to work because it was a random wool, and the poncho was already heavily patterned and would look perfect in a block colour.  However, in the spirit of adventure, befitting a Clint Eastwood film, I decided to take a chance.  And am so glad I did.

 The random colours are beautiful - I think it's because you get defined stripes with Woodlander.  Some random wools are soooooooo random, that you don't get any stripes at all, not enough yarn in any one colour.  This works perfectly.

 And here's the finished item .....

This was made as an experiment really, but, as soon as my friend Tracy saw it, she wanted it, so it's now adorning her!  I've been asked to make another couple, in cream and in Stylecraft Tomato, a beautiful burnt orange colour, and I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like in the block colours.  And I'm still trying to decide what colour I want mine in as well!

Seeds and Stuff - June 2016

June this year was memorable for the amount of rain we've had!  So the garden is a bit weird - it's been very green but not an awful lot of colour yet.  I've had no poppies at all, the foxgloves have all been a bit lanky with not too many flowers and the aquilegias were very disappointing.  The roses, however, have been beautiful.

While the foxgloves have been a bit sparse, they have, of course, been beautiful and still remain one of my most favourite garden plants.

The lavender has done very well this year and there are constantly bees buzzing around.

Earlier this year, there were predictions of a horrendous slug and snail problem - I'm not sure if all the rain has made things worse, but it's been awful.  And because I have a bit of a phobia with slugs, I haven't been spending as much time in the garden as usual, because of them.  The upside of the slug problem is the amount of frogs in my garden hopping around and munching them all up!

I found this little fella in one of my plant pots - it was the right way up when I found it, so this frog must have a huge leap on him!  I turned the pot on its side so he could get out and spent a traumatic few moments trying to entice him out without Finn getting him.  Finn is just curious, I know he won't hurt them, although he does like to have a good sniff.

The garden, on the whole, is looking good this year although I just wish there was a bit more colour.

And I'm really not sure what this is about, but Finn has taken to laying underneath the hydrangea and has dug himself a little hole to lay in.  Weirdo!

Odds and Sods - June 2016

June has been busy (so has July which is why I'm posting this so late!) with lots of days out and about - and which has mostly been covered by other posts.

At the beginning of June, Mum and I went to Spalding to a Quilting Show which has really inspired us to get cracking with our patchwork. 

Amanda and I have done a number of weekend and evening walks - we now have fitbits which, essentially, are high-tech pedometers, measuring steps walked, distance achieved and calories burned.  Since we got them at the beginning of June, we have set ourselves a target of walking a thousand miles in a year - so far, we've both done over 120 each so are making good progress. 

I've had a few girlie meet ups - lunch with the Ladies Wot Lunch club; coffee and cake with girlfriends; a hen do - crikey, that was an experience and one which I gained extra points for, for managing to do completely sober! 

Finn has had a smart new haircut. 

We've had a camping trip with Andy down near Heathrow. And, because I had a week off work and came back early (to vote on whether the UK stays in the EU - and I'm not making any more comment on that because I'm still in shock), I decided to prolong my holiday week off as long as possible by an impromptu trip up to Sheringham to go and look at the sea.

My year is not showing any signs of letting up yet!