A quilty update

It’s been a few months since I posted my quilt plans for this year, and so I thought I’d stop and reflect for a moment to see how things were going. In that post I set out six projects I wanted to work on this year, and then added in a final stretch project.

I’ve realised that the ‘stretch project’ to make a quilt a month is dominating my sewing, and so while I’m ‘on target’ (mostly) with that, I haven’t got as close to where I’d like to be with the other projects. So this post is to also help keep myself accountable, and to make sure I change that.

It’s not all bad though, I have made some gorgeous quilts and my confidence and skill levels are increasing. So much so that there’s a further surprise and addition to my sewing repertoire which I’m expecting to post later this week!

So how am I doing?

1 The teal flying geese

To say this one is still percolating would be a lie, it’s on the back burner. It’s still on my To Do list but not close to the top yet.

2 The mystery block a month

I’m doing much better at this one, and even though I’m working to a more relaxed timetable being a month behind the pattern releases it’s going well. I knew being away last month would scupper my plans a little, but I’m ok with that.

• January: Log cabin block

• February: Vintage star block

• March: Heart block

• April: Friendship star block

I’ve yet to start the May block, and the June block has already been released but I think with a gentler timescale for these few months I should be ok. Hopefully that’s true, and not famous last words!

3 The jeans and pyjamas

I thought that this would be the one I’d start the soonest. I’ve even got as far as sorting out some jeans to use, and the pyjama fabrics from my stash. I’ve recently added another pair of pyjama bottoms to that pile as I realised that the waistband was wearing out through use!

Other than that though I’ve yet to start this one, but I still think this one will happen this year.

4 The Essex linen kisses

I have made progress here - yay! Earlier in the year I’d cut the colourful, patterned scraps into 3 inch squares and even sourced and bought a darker grey Essex linen fabric for the background. Of course that’s not just plain, it’s got a gold tinge to it so the quilt will be rather special I think.

Last week, when I realised I wasn’t making progress on ‘my’ quilts just the stretch project this was the one I turned to, so I was right when I predicted that I thought this would be the one to start first.

I started to play with the layout one evening, aiming to have the colours wash from neutrals through to the much more brightly coloured fabrics. And it wasn’t as easy as I thought, but I ended up with a layout I liked.

I thought I’d better start sewing before I forgot my carefully laid plans, and pinning strategy. And the next day, before long I was able to lay out the blocks something close to my original plan.

I’m really pleased with this - and pleased it’s worked out just as I imagined in my head!

Clearly it’s not the largest quilt in the world, but with some sashing and borders it will, I hope, be large enough to be our go to picnic blanket, and one that’s way more stylish than our current rug.

Watch this space on this one!

5 My floral fancy

This one remains on the craft mat in the corner of my craft room. It’s still beautiful and mostly the pieces are still in the place they should be, but not much progress here.

I’m still collecting grey materials to extend the quilt, and have bought myself a sizzix machine and templates so I can cut out more flowers and leaves for the extended quilt.

I’d like to think I would have picked this one up before now if I hadn’t changed my sewing machine, but I know that my new machine will be make this one much easier to work on.

6 My English Paper Piecing (EPP) blue diamonds

This was always going to be my slow burning hand sewing project, and it is just that. I’ve added some more to the pile of completed blocks, and I’ll continue to do that over the next few months. Hopefully with a bit more speed than at present.

And the ‘stretch’ project

This one is the one that’s been getting all the attention and delivering all the results. Partly because it has a monthly schedule, and because I’m using it to burn through my stash (albeit slowly) and to build my skills and confidence.

All of these quilts will be donated to charity, so far there’s these:

• Flying Geese kit quilt

• Noughts and crosses

• A log cabin log cabin

• A mostly repurposed vintage star

• Four pink hearts and a hug

• The Friendly Bee.

And there is more to come, but I don’t want these to be my sole quilt outputs this year - so I need to work out that balance, alongside normal life too. It’s still going to be a busy rest of the year, and hopefully a productive one too.

Stay tuned…

This June...

At the end May we were away flying to Chicago from Heathrow just after the Bank holiday, and my plan was to stay off socials pretty much, which with the time difference was a good call. It meant that in the run up to our break I was busy getting ahead of myself and scheduling blog posts for the duration of our trip. Staying off socials meant that I didn’t want to include details of the trip in my May update, but I’m happy to do that now.

USA baby

We flew to Chicago spending four nights there exploring both the city and the nature it offered. My highlights here were the boardwalks by the Lincoln Park Zoo, trying (and being beaten) by a Chicago Deep Dish pizza in the city of its name, and a fabulous birthday meal at Gibson’s Chicago Steakhouse. Next we took an Amtrak train across to Seattle, this epic adventure took 2 days and 2 nights, and while it wasn’t exactly luxury it was a great experience.

We spent four nights in Seattle - my best moment was our visit to the Dale Chihuly exhibition and gardens in the grounds of the Space Needle, truly, truly amazing. I’ve so many more pictures to share from this, and the whole trip, but here’s a teaser:

And Canada too

Then we were back on the Amtrak, this time taking a much shorter journey across the border to Vancouver for another four nights. Here we met up with MOH’s cousin and her family; we haven’t seen them for far too many years and it was great to spend time with them. There was lunch, brunch and another lunch out and a seaplane trip for some, and a good old natter and catch up for others.

We stayed in English Bay, a very chill part of Vancouver which was even busier than usual as a lot of Canadians seemed to be staying home rather than heading over the border this year, and the high unexpected temperatures. Luckily we’d packed for all eventualities, but we were close to running out of our more summery clothes - which is far better than not having the opportunity to wear them at all.

We celebrated our eighteenth wedding anniversary while in Vancouver, and to mark the occasion we hired bikes and did a couple of laps around Stanley Park. A couple of laps was unintentional, but we hadn’t realised that the path was one way, so once we’d found the Totem Poles we decided to just go around again. That worked out well as we realised when we stopped just how warm it was - and don’t worry, I’d hired an e-bike so it really was fine by me.

Actually the e-bike worked out well - picture the Canadian equivalent of a Boris bike and you’re close to the model I had, and even that meant I enjoyed the ride much more than on a manual bike, so it’s something I’m seriously considering now we’re home.

Hot, hot, hot

It seems the unexpected heat came home with us as we walked back into a heatwave when we got off the plane at Heathrow, and there’s been another one this past weekend. It has been very warm, and uncomfortable - but strangely very windy too.

That first weekend we were back we headed off to Gardeners’ World Live in Birmingham (#Ad - I was invited to and provided with a pair of tickets for the show) visiting on the last day of the show for the first time. Given the scarcity of public transport options here on a Sunday morning I drove there in my new car - my first long drive, and that was great as it really gave me the opportunity to get used to it. Which seems a strange thing to say as although it’s the same make and model as my previous car, this one’s a hybrid - and I must say, I’m loving the petrol consumption and efficiency.

Wildly blissful

I’ve also spent the last week on the month at home alone, and it’s been bliss. I’ve had things planned in most days and I’ve kept myself busy, even starting my Essex Linen kisses quilt - more on that tomorrow. MOH has spent the week in Ireland cycling parts of the Wild Atlantic Way with some of his cycling buddies, and while the timing has been a bit of ‘everything all at once’, to be honest I’m surprised they managed to make it happen at all.

The weather there was more in keeping with what you’d imagine from a route with wild in its name, with temperatures a good ten degrees below those here. He told me that everything he took was damp, and needs drying out, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to that when he got home!

In more mundane news, I’ve got the right sized olive tree for my large pot - but I don’t think I have enough soil to fill the pot, and so far nothing has come of my post in the local Facebook groups, so it’s likely that we’ll be off to the garden centre again soon.

Post-holiday food shopping really is dull, though the offer on a favourite Rose wine sweetened the trip a little. The heat pump was serviced, and a small leak was eliminated. MOH’s been to see a chiropractor, which seems to be doing the trick, I’ve had my annual health check - and passed (I think!), and treated myself to a luxurious 90 minute massage, and I’ve been along to a new-to-me DanceFit class, as sadly while I was away my regular Zumba class ended. I’m very sad about that.

But the best thing about being back?

Finally, a decent cup of tea, how I missed a cuppa while I was away!

If you want to read my previous monthly updates in my ‘This is’ series you’re very welcome.

My garden in May

It’s been a glorious month in our garden, though the good weather at the start of the month took a bit of a toll on my roses, and a couple of other plants which weren’t keen on the hot spells and not much water. The roses went a bit crispy, which isn’t a good thing. Oops.

That they were in pots was a good thing as I was able to move them to a more sheltered part of the garden so they were able to recover, and they have - phew. But before we get to those, last month was all about the blossom on my crab apple tree, and well after blossom comes tiny crab apples.

It looks like it might be a bumper year for crab apples, not quite so for the peaches though - I’ve only spotted three fruits forming, but given that it had peach leaf curl, I suppose three is better than none. I’m hoping that all three manage to last the course to fruition - fingers crossed.

Both tomatoes which I bought at the Newark Garden Show last month are doing well - I’m taking no chances though and all the plants I bought at the show, and the roses and astrantia which are in ‘special measures’ are temporarily in the shelter of the trellis from the heat pump. It seems to be helping those that were suffering and these tomatoes clearly are ok with it too as they’re about to flower.

The Mottisfont rose seemed the most affected and dropped the majority of its leaves, but with a more regular watering schedule and some shelter you can see just how well it’s recovered, with plenty of new growth all over the plant.

The Gertrude Jeckyll wasn’t affected quite so much and has since gone on to flower more profusely than it has before, and more than the other one we had in our London garden did. So I’m hopeful that with plenty of dead-heading and another feed when the time’s right, we’ll have plenty of roses this year. At the moment the downside is they’re in a place where we can’t see them, but for now I’ll take that.

They’ve had a bit of a year as after the crispy leaves shock, they also got whitefly and now seem to have attracted blackfly - my year of the roses, seems to be ongoing!

But when they deliver flowers like this, even after all their tribulations you really can’t argue, can you?

Surprisingly the newest rose, which I hadn’t even potted on (I have now) was the least affected by the weather, whether that’s because of its position in the garden, I’m not sure. But I’m glad to see it thriving.

Elsewhere in the garden the peonies are getting to burst their tightly bound buds. One seems to be aiming for Olympic heights, but if it’s happy then I’m happy. My hardy fuchsias have behaved differently this year too, I have four or five bushes, and all bar one of them have grown new shoots from the base of the plants rather than sprouting new growth on the older stems. I left them for as long as I could, and until the frosts should have passed, but in the end I cut the twiggy stems back - and there were a lot, my compost bin is full of fuchsia sticks. I’ve left enough though for them to provide some structure and support to the newer and more tender growth. So far they seem to be doing ok, but are clearly smaller than they have been before.

I’ve been a bit obsessed with my ‘Chelsea Jackets’ wallflowers and seemingly take a picture every time I walk past them if the number of photos of them on my phone are anything to go by.

I’ve had some unexpected discoveries this month too, with a couple of plants throwing up some flowers when I didn’t expect them to. The first was the iris which we bought at the Newark Garden Show. I didn’t expect much from this this year, especially as it’s still in the pot it came in, but it started to show signs of a flower and it’s become as obsessive as watching the wallflowers.

This is how it started:

Above is the most recent picture I have, it’s already awesome and I know it’s going to be gorgeous once it’s out fully.

The other surprise flowering is taking place in our outside border, on a plant I thought was a kind of grass but now realise is probably a kind of yucca. I spotted it as I drove in one day, and went for a closer look.

As you can see the flowers aren’t quite there yet, and I can’t wait to see how they look in full bloom. These also look as if they’re going to be pretty spectacular, and with the lavender in front of them, and throughout the garden, almost ready to flower it’s going to be a riot of colour and scent, and bees hopefully!

I’ve potted on and tidied up the burgundy heucheras, which also looked a bit crispy around the edges. They’ve repaid this attention with some flowers, which will be the palest of pinks when they open. My daisies have also recovered from a fair bit of neglect too, which is also good news as I really thought they were a gonner.

While I don’t like to lose any plants, these were ones we bought when our previous house was on the market to dare I say tart up the garden a bit, but they’ve hung around so I would be sorry to have lost these.

This month I struck on a genius way of stopping my watering can blowing about the garden when I leave it out - I don’t know why it’s taken so long, but I realised if I threaded it over the pole of the parasol (which lives outside without the parasol) it can’t blow anywhere - and it’s easy to get to to use.

I’m so pleased with myself!

The new sign that I bought at the Devon County Show is up on the trellis and looks fab, though I did need to de-cobweb the trellis beforehand. MOH has since de-cobwebbed all of the cladding and window sills/surrounds and door steps, and let’s just say it’s not a one time job as we know the webs and fluff will be back before too long. But the sign looks good.

We also took delivery of the large pot that we bought at Grand Designs on a whim. Thankfully it works just where, and how I thought it would. As soon as we had it off the pallet I was desperate to try it where I’d imagined it. Now I have to imagine it with a standard olive tree planted in it, well until we buy one anyway - I’ve a plan to tour our local garden centres looking for one later this month!

Once it was in place MOH could see how I thought it would work, and liked it which is good news. I’ve realised I’m quite a visual person so can more easily see things in my mind than MOH can - but he trusts me, and it worked out, so that’s a result. For my larger garden design ideas I do need to work out how to get them down on paper in a way that MOH can also visualise, I think that’s going to be a bit of a challenge, but I’m sure we’ll get there.

And with more crispy plants than I’d like this month, and the fact that I’m running out of pots to put new plants in, I think the plans for our gardens will need to progress more quickly this summer. I’m sure it’s going to be a bit of a rollercoaster ride, and a lot of work, but first we need to finalise what we want.

I’ll leave you with two more of the plants we brought with us which are in my new extended hospital bay, alongside the garage. My bay trees weren’t looking so well either, they’d been up against the front wall over the winter taking shelter, but with their leaves yellowing they were also crying out for some attention.

I’ve pulled them out of the borders so they can get some more sun, but not so they’re in full sun and given them a double diluted feed of tomato feed. I picked off all of the yellow leaves from the bush on the left, which was looking healthier than its counterpart, and then picked off the worst of the yellow leaves from the other bush.

They’re already looking much healthier than they were, and it seems that bay trees in pots can be susceptible to yellow leaves due to a lack of nutrition, so a feed should help them. I’m hoping I spotted these before it was too late as we’ve had these for absolutely ages. They did start out the same size, and kept growing at similar speeds for many years. Then they spent one particularly bad winter on opposite sides of our London garden, and came out of that with different growth rates - so I can no longer pair them together, but that’s ok as I’ve realised that’s not quite what I want in this garden anyway!

Let’s hope the good weather - but not so good it makes my plants crispy again - continues!