Friday night and I'm loving...

life being back to 'normal'...

that tidying the house is strangely a long-awaited treat...

the glorious colours and kindness of a bunch of flowers from a friend's garden...

 

that we're harvesting in the veggie patch...beetroots galore thanks to our new raised bed sytem which husband of patience has mulched with cardboard, grass clippings and donkey muck, producing crumbly rich soil instead of just having clay!

daughter mine setting to and producing delicious beetroot chutney...because there's nothing like homemade
 

the stunning wild flowers that  mingle in the garden with those we've chosen to plant

the sights and tastes of the veggie patch...who can resist picking and eating peas al fresco...very few get cooked!

and there, out there, are the wild hills and rolling countryside

the seasons moving on...and simple pleasures of the start of a new wood stack...

ah life is good and we are rich indeed...

hope you're loving your garden and the outdoors and the joys of summer living...Emmaxx

Friday night and it's hot hot hot!!

after a day which was ridculously, gloriously, madly hot, the scent of warm greenery and grass and flowers...roses, honeysuckle, mock orange...drifts in through the open window as dusk gathers and I sit to try and write a little post to say hello world... 

my beautiful white roses have flowered beautifully despite, or perhaps because of, the incredible heat...everytime I go past I bury my nose in their soft petals and breathe in summer...I make sure I stop to smell the roses!

it has been a busy week with all sorts going on, daughter mine and husband of patience hanging on in there for the end of term...an unexpected trip for me to the dentist(a 4 hour round trip...yes I know it's barmy but he's a brilliant dentist and usually I stay over with my Dad)

my zumba class today full of amazing dancing women, all body rolling and samba-ing despite the heat

and lots of making as I prepare for ArtFest in Kendal next weekend....if you take a look here and scroll down the page you'll see some of the talented contemporary art and craft exhibitors. It is sooo close now I can almost touch it, the most exiting thing I have done this year...sharing a stall with my friend and fellow textile artist Sarah. We have worked closely together, encouraging each other and planning endlessly...we have both come a  long way...

and I have to say, being my own boss when the weather is this good has many advantages...eg a leisurely lunch outside...a siesta...and working into the cooler evening to make up for when it was just too hot to think earlier in the day...

and now it's getting late..I've just been outside for one last stroll...the big round shiney moon is out and it is cooling down..tempting me to just stay out all night...

but I must away to bed and sleep...night night! xx

getting crafty...

oh I do love magazines...they offer such inspiration when you live in a rural place where the only things passing the door are chickens and sheep...I love where I live but it is great to connect with the world out there...

this Prima special really appealed to me on the newstand as I browsed...somehow the colours and the ideas of spring led me astray...but it has some great ideas inside for all sorts of tastes and abilities...

 

mmm... all round yumminess! 

this weekend I had a small local craft fair...and despite the pouring rain we had a lovely day...here's a peek at my new needlecases which I loved making, the upcycled felted blankets were so soft and tactile to work with...and I was pleased with the finished stitchy result...
 

 
Sunday was a BIG day out with a friend and fellow artist travelling to Yorkshire and back, leaving home at a very uncivilised hour...to go on an inspiring course where I learnt about how to present your work at a show, and how to define and refine what you do...I met some other wonderful artists and it was led by Victoria and Emily from The Art Market... fantastic art and craft shows in Holmfirth, Yorkshire...do take a look here... and go if you can! 

and isn't life amazing...I sat next to a lady and we chatted and it turned out she writes Hippystitch...a lovely crafty blog you can take a peek at here...the latset post is some fantastic community yarnbombing!

so back at home now with a poorly daughter exhausted after walking in pouring rain with a heavy rucksack for hours on her weekend DofE expedition practice...

it's pottering for me too after a mega busy week...perhaps a little house loving wouldn't come amiss after several weeks,ahem, months of neglect...

wishing you a lovely week...hope it's really crafty!Emmaxx

summer sweetness...and some making...

a rose is just summer for me..rain or no...that beautiful sweet haunting deliciousness as you inhale the perfume...

and honeysuckle twining high in the trees but still filling the air with its scent

just put your nose into the deliciously pretty Philadelphus or mock orange...mmmm...just wish this was a scented post so you could have the full effect...and the combination of fresh creamy white, soft pink and primrosey yellow is perfection...



daughter mine collected 25 heads of elderflowers to make some delightful elderflower cordial last week...which captures this particular scent of summer beautifully

not all the flowers in our garden are scented..some earn their keep with their beauty alone...I love clematis and have several...they are so obliging and fit in almost anywhere...

and as for geraniums...we counted them one year...all the different types and shades...all their different names...many forgotten now and just loved for their colours and ability to fill the beds with blowsy summeryness (and not be eaten by our slugs and snails...)

and how quickly things change in the garden...I love to follow the flowers throught their different stages...each with its own beauty...

and I delight in the detail of each one...isn't it amazing how how the raindrops balance on the stamens of this amazingly coloured potentilla...

and in the studio daughter mine has been cutting fabrics and planning and making and stitching and ...with no rules or much in the way of a pattern has produced a wonderful dress...it is joyful to watch her at work!

she is an inspiration to me in how she just has the idea, organises herself and whatever she needs, sets to and makes...mind you she isn't thinking about the teetering pile...hoovering and what's for tea...tho' she does often have a pile of schoolwork to get through...

instant patchwork...just cut the squares sew in strips and then stitch the strips together...allow them to gather as they will...

no worries about how to put a zip in...ha ha!! easy peasy...just cut it out of something else with the fabric around and stitch in place ta da! genius! and doesn't it look fab?

she even lined the top...and the underskirt was made from an old lacy underskirt attached to more fabric to make it the right size...

and the top was made from some of my Granny's fabric stash...a pretty broderie anglais in blue...creativity continues in how the sleeves were sewn on...finished off with perfect blue buttons and there you have it!

I am amazed and proud...and think how my Mum and Granny would like to see!

sunny days...

sing ho for sunny days with green gardens lush after rain, flowers lit up by the sunshine and spirits at their highest in the golden rays of warmth...and light and blessings to all those affected by the adverse weather elsewhere...

I'm off away to the north east again..family meal tonight with loved ones...with nephew and 2 nieces back from uni...a degree to celebrate and just the pleasure of their company...tho it means leaving my little family at home they'll have a good day out in the field and garden here in tranquil Cumbria ...husband of patience is basket making today and who knows what daughter mine will get up to...I'll share her amazing dressmaking with you verry soon!

no making from me this week but have had 2 lovely workshops with wonderful people learning to crochet and suprise themselves with making and sewing delightful bags...fabric, yarn, threads... all manner of textiles we love you!

must dash, go to throw clothes in a bag and gt on my way (did I mention I may just stray into Ikea when I get to Newcastle...more anon!)

hope you have a relaxing Sunday xx