Easter 2015

It's been ages since I've had the family over for dinner. The plan originally was to have Rat and Pam over for dinner, but, as we'd plumped for the Easter weekend, it wasn't too much of a jump to have everyone here! Sadly, Nicholas couldn't make it due to work commitments - and we ate so much that he didn't even get a doggy bag, despite sending Amanda over with their own tupperware! I spent Good Friday and Saturday morning running around doing housework and prepping before everyone arrived for Saturday lunchtime.

As well as some old favourites - spinach and cranberry quiche and cheese and apple pasties (which turned out to be a disaster - how do you make gluten free puff pastry?!) - I tried out a chorizo tortilla, which went down really well.   This was a recipe (no photos sadly, it didn't last long enough!) from Raymond Blanc, who's latest TV programme - Kew on a Plate - is my current favourite.   I managed to find gluten free chorizo too which is brilliant.  

I also made a plum and apple crumble - gluten free obviously - with fruit picked from my garden last year - hurrah for self sufficiency.  (Almost!)

While doing the housework, I actually changed the room around so that we could all sit round the dining table. When I first moved here, I had planned to use the window seat as extra seating, but it's just a wee bit too high which is a shame.

Finn, sensibly keeping out of the way!

Bunch of comedians!

Sid, being Sid!

He's not very good at hide and seek, I'm not sure he really understands!

A really funny day as always.  And now I'm off the hook for a little while at least!

Tada! "Anarchy in the UK" Pyjama Pants

These pyjama bottoms are anarchic for two reasons.

1. The flags are sideways, which might also be treasonous!

2. They are also cut on the cross grain, breaking all rules of sewing.

To make sure that the pattern is matched all the way round fronts AND backs, if you cut it on the cross grain, using the selvedge as the top edge, it can't fail to match.

Check out this front seam - I LOVE it! This obviously works much better on a very structured pattern - I don't think I'd be this bothered if it was a random pattern of flowers, say.   These were made for my brother for Christmas (although didn't reach him until late January!) but I think I might have to get some more of this fabric to make myself a pair. THAT is how much I love them!

Seeds and Stuff - March 2015

March has been a cold month so there hasn't been much progress with the seeds I've already sown this year - except for the carrots.  Hundreds of carrots!   I think I probably need to thin them out before planting out, but they're not going out yet - much too cold.  I've still got my heating on and it's usually turned firmly off on 31 March each year.  Not likely yet though.

The March seeds are mainly all foodie with a couple of flowery things thrown in for good measure.

Mary and Jim gave me a couple of fruits from their passionflowers last year, so I've sown those seeds too. My plan had been to sow them directly outside (in the walled bit with the kiwi fruit which was destined for the compost bin this year, but has miraculously thrown out shoots, so has won a stay of execution for now). However, it occurred to me that I wouldn't know what they looked like as they produced seedlings and I might be inclined to pull them out, thinking they were weeds. So they are in seedling pots in the outhouse and I will plant them out when I can recognise them!

The garden is coming along nicely - still loads of tidying up to do, but one half still looks much better than the other.  I think I'm going to have hundreds of foxgloves this year - they are everywhere.

There are hundreds of buds on the camellia too - this will look beautiful, when they're all out.

Finn has been helping me in the garden again - little tinker gets in all the small spaces that I need to be!

The primrose has got much bigger this year and is still flowering well, despite lots of flowers having gone over.

This is a first for me - I don't remember ever seeing little flowers on the azalea before now?  

The forget-me-not is taking over the garden which I'm not at all cross about - they're so pretty.  The above picture is forget-me-not and Finn's paw - he always wants to be in the photos and I was trying to push him out of the way - not very successfully!

The front garden is looking lovely too with plenty of flowers.  I've been giving the two conifers and the tamarisk a bit of a haircut - they are threatening to overhang the pavement so I give them the occasional haircut to protect passersby.  I would like to cut them all down, but I'm too sentimental about the tamarisk - it was originally a cutting that Dad took from their garden in Bacton up on the North Norfolk coast.  They've moved twice since then and I loved that garden.  I might try and take some smaller cuttings myself - this one's got a huge great trunk now and is pretty ugly all year, except for a beautiful burst of pink in May/ June. 

I'm not at all bothered about the conifers going, but one of them seems to have a steel pole growing inside it - I think it was probably used as a stake to make it stand upright when it was first planted, but the tree has grown around it, so I'm not sure how long the pole is.   I guess I will have to keep that one.   The other one seems unencumbered by scaffolding so should come down quite easily?  It will leave a massive hole out the front but, as it stands beside the arch, I think it would be nice to have a fragrant climber covering that?   So many plans!

The pink geranium has hundreds of buds on and looks beautiful plonked in among the hyacinths which give a lovely waft of fragrance when I come home from work.

I don't remember planting all this muscari so I'm assuming the bulbs have split and made more plants?

This is not a great picture! The climbing hydrangeas are taking over the walls of the house now which is fab - the flowers will make it more interesting than the bare bricks.

I've also got wild garlic out the front, flowering beautifully.  These came from Mum and Dad's garden in North Walsham and have survived the journey very well.

So, that's the March horticultural progress.   Everything is moving so quickly now but the clocks went forward last weekend, which means I've got at least an extra hour every evening after work to be busy in the garden.   I think I'm going to need it!

Odds and Sods - March 2015

March has absolutely flown by - we've had some lovely sunny days but we have also had some torrential rains and howling gales.   I thought I was getting ahead with some of the garden stuff, but have had to put a lot of it on hold for now until I can be sure that plants put outside will stay where they're put and not end up rolling down the road.  (I spotted one of my empty plant pots doing that very thing earlier this week!)  So I've spent quite a bit of March indoors, decluttering and being generally homely!  I've also spent a lot of time with friends and family and realise how bad I am sometimes at staying in touch with people - I've really enjoyed the time doing this and resolve to be better.

I've had a couple of jaunts too - the Knitting and Stitching Show at London's Olympia and I had a weekend down at Heathrow with Andy and Finn. I had a lovely day shopping and doing lunch with Rachel in Bury St Edmunds - our shopping centre of choice for a jaunt!   On top of all of this, the car failed and then (sort of) passed its MOT but has since been back for more restorative work and needs to go back in again after Easter.  I really need to get totally on top of mechanical issues before the spring and summer jaunts start up again.

So it's been a month of catching up, but also of quietness and catching my breath before the summer arrives and we're thrown headlong into gardening and socialising and general busyness.  

This post is all about the stuff that happened that didn't really merit individual posts, but all of which have been really important and I simply don't want to forget.  (Thank goodness for Odds and Sods posts!)

The smell of these hyacinths is gorgeous as I arrive home after a day at work.  Really fragrant.  And the climbing hydrangeas have gone a bit berserk this year - I need to work out how to control them a bit more.

I spotted these nests in one of the trees on my road, on one of the greyer days this month.   Now the clocks have gone forward, it's so fantastic to walk Finn over the park in the evenings now in daylight.

Talking of grey ..... I took this photo during the solar eclipse on 20 March.   While a lot of the country lost the sun for a few minutes, we didn't have any sun to start with!  (I actually had an interview later this day and that was a bit of a damp squib too - needless to say, I didn't get the job!) 

Lots of bonding going on at the caravan!  Bless them! 

And it was Mother's Day while Finn and I were with Andy in Heathrow - this is my card.  Finn is such a clever boy!

Talking of Finn, here he is looking gorgeous as ever!

And here he is the weekend that Sid stayed over with us.  I still have no idea what they were waiting for at the top of the stairs.  Funny pair!

I've been to see Molly (and Elle of course!) twice this month - Molly is adorable, such a little doll.

And although the sum total of my sewing projects this month was two bandanas - shameful! - I have been building up a pile of patterns I want to try when I get time, including this cute dog bone cushion and a jersey skirt.  I'm a bit scared of jersey - I think I need lots of practice first.

So that's March in a nutshell.   I am looking forward to better weather as I have so many projects I want to get on with - not just in the garden, but in the house too which require windows and doors to be flung open wide and for washed curtains to be hung on the clothes line.   Roll on warmer weather!