Losing an hour (or two) to pottering

* I was invited to the Garden Press Event, a one day show which connects garden product suppliers with garden media, therefore I’m marking my blog posts from the event as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

One of the most enjoyable parts of gardening for me is a good potter. The ability to lose an hour (or two) to doing just that and to be productive (mainly) at the same time is a great feeling. Don’t get me wrong, seeing the results of your hard work, eating anything you’ve grown and enjoying the flowers is good, but a good potter is priceless - and good for your soul.

So whether you want to potter in the greenhouse, sowing seeds, weeding, tending or watering your plants, filling the bird feeders or however you potter, it’s time well spent, and it can be even better - and easier - with the right tools, and all the better for ones which look good too.

There were a number of brands at the show - all household names - that were displaying some gorgeous items, and I’ll share a selection of those by Burgon & Ball, Crocus and Dobbies in this post which you can expect to see in garden centres and online this season.

BURGON & BALL

I loved the bold stripes of the planters from Burgon & Ball, and I’ve got my eye on some of these more decorative items for my ‘front of house’ greenhouse when I get around to it. But also the hand tools look great and the wooden handles are always a favourite, as they feel so good in your hands (obviously without the functional gardening gloves!).

BURGON & BALL

The Crocus stand had a lot of items that caught my eye - and it’s also likely to be a dangerous place for my purse at some point. I loved the fat ball feeders and the tea light holders, which will bring immediate height and impact to any part of your garden. I’d be tempted to use these in pots around the patio so that we get to see them as much as possible.

CROCUS

CROCUS

But there was so much else - mini Victorian Greenhouses, wire cloches and the tiniest terracotta plant pots, along with the pretty yet entirely functional sieve and dibbers. It’s just as well these things weren’t for sale on the day, as otherwise I’d have been turning up to meet MOH for dinner fully laden!

CROCUS

I was also pleased to see the mushroom kits, which MOH has toyed with previously. So far we’ve resisted, but I think there is some mushroom growing in our future at some point. Though I can’t help but remember that Clarkson’s Farm episode where he is inundated with mushrooms, as of course he never does anything by halves does he?

CROCUS

And finally to the Dobbies stand which had cleverly included bird song as part of their stand - and indoors in February, before any hint of spring showing itself, that was very welcome.

DOBBIES

It’s a big year for Dobbies as they are celebrating their 160th year of helping British gardens to grow - they have released a heritage range to celebrate this which takes its inspiration from the roots of their business as a seed merchant. The print was chosen by customers from a selection of designs from an original Dobbie & Co seed catalogue dating from 1906.

They have also partnered with Alzheimer’s Research UK and are working together to protect memories for the future by promoting brain health and funding research that will lead to a cure for dementia.

Gardening is a great way to show our brains some love, and this can help reduce the risk of dementia and together Dobbies and Alzheimer’s Research UK will inspire people to keep their brain healthy through gardening and garden living.

DOBBIES

While there is no sure fire way to stop anyone from getting dementia, there are things we can do that may make it less likely that we will:

• Ask your doctor to check your heart health, including blood pressure and cholesterol and follow their advice if they are too high.

• If you have diabetes, keep to your doctor’s advice.

• Don’t smoke.

• Keep your weight healthy.

• Eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables.

• Keep using your brain - through activities or social groups you enjoy.

• Stay active and try not to spend too long sitting down.

• Drink less than 14 units of alcohol per week.

Source: Alzheimer’s Research UK

DOBBIES

You’ll see the heritage print on their limited edition collection including tote bags, cushions, candles, throws and more - and given that the design is over a hundred years old, I think it still looks quite modern - and it’s a good sized tote bag, which I used on the day and have used since too.

As I said, you really can’t beat spending an hour (or two) pottering, trust me.

Brutalist buildings, a library and a signal box

Recently I got a bit of a surprise when I opened Instagram, there in front of me was a picture of the library in the town where I grew up, but instead it was now called The Brutalist Library SE25. And you know what, I’d never considered it as this - yes it was a modern building, and one that was quite different in style to those around it, but to me it was just the library. The place to while away hours (and hours) and even sometimes the place to complete secondary school homework.

And since then I don’t think I’ve ever really given in too much thought, so to see it on my Instagram feed was quite a surprise. It turns out that it’s had a bit of a fight on its hands, as libraries have tended to over the years, but it’s still there - and from the photos I’ve seen still looks very much like it did back in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Though I did notice that the circular planters out the front had been changed for a new mosaic - and when I say new, this mosaic is now almost 20 years old! But even so it was good to see it still there, still a library and it reminded me how many memories a single image can evoke.

But it also reminded me of our hunt to locate the brutalist Signal Box at Birmingham New Street before we caught our train back from Gardener’s World Live last year - a building which was on MOH’s list of ‘buildings to see’.

And see it we did, but only from the outside - and it’s quite imposing.

The term brutalist is used for a reason isn’t it? But there’s also some fascinating shapes, angles and textures on this now retired Grade II listed building.

But up until the end of 2022 it continued to play its important part of Britain’s railway since it started operation in 1966 - the signallers inside were capable of directing up to 1200 trains a day. Clearly the 1960s technology was getting harder to maintain, and the manual operation for the power signal box for setting safe routes for trains no longer the preferred way of working with all of Birmingham New Street’s signalling equipment converted to digital operation as you’d expect.

I was fascinated by the remaining items left in the building though, just but not quite visible through the windows - I’m sure this is, and will be if left untouched, a real life sized version of a time capsule!

Brutalist architecture won’t be (and isn’t) to everyone’s taste, but I kind of admire it - its mix of reinforced concrete and concrete cladding definitely mark a moment of time.

I don’t know if my feelings are influenced by my love of visiting the brutalist library in South Norwood, or even by growing up near to Croydon which is also home to structures considered brutalist which to me were just the shopping centre, or the 50p or eggbox building!

Who knows.

Getting to know my new Bernina

I’d been thinking about buying a new sewing machine on and off for a few months, and in January I bit the bullet and went for a test drive of two machines on my hit list. Unknowingly I’d chosen the same brand of machine that both my mum and SIL have, so I’m in good company!

I was between two models, one in the 4 series and one in the 5 series - with the price of the 4 series being my preference until I saw them in action. The 4 series looked small, and smaller than I’d imagined and while the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) could be added as an accessory, it was included like it was with the 5 series model. Truthfully, I knew I’d probably never get that as an add on so if I was interested (or intrigued) by that then I knew it made more sense for me to opt for the slightly larger and pricier 5 series model.

I was definitely glad I went to my local stockist (in a new to me part of Nottingham) to see them both in action though, and didn’t just buy online - and if you’re thinking of buying or replacing your sewing machine, I’d recommend you go along and see them in person too.

My new machine arrived at the end of January and I spent time unpacking it and noting everything that was in the box, not always sure what it was or what it was for at that point. But over the next few days I spent some time familiarising myself with the basics, and a little bit more, feeling immensely proud I’d managed to write (part of) my name using it - my name is long, and by the third letter I was keen to move on to try something else, so implemented a short name, often adopted by my young nieces, which I’ve not used for many years!

Trying some appliqué

After trying several stitches I was keen to try more, and so with my floral fancy project in mind I thought I should try some appliqué. I’d saved the larger off cuts from the workshop with good reason, so it turned out. As I dug through them I realised I could quickly knock up some test backing the same thickness as my floral fancy.

With some tweaking I settled on this design, peeling off the Bondaweb and ironing them into place before adding a stitch outline. For this I didn’t change the foot, and with hindsight I should have - but you live and learn, and that’s what this was all about.

There are elements of this that I’m really pleased with, and there are also some learning points, such as it would have been better to iron the petals and centres on as separate layers as that would have allowed me to follow the lines independently, especially on the orange flower on the right. And I also realised once I’d finished that the design looked better inverted - who knew.

I was pretty sure that I had some material that matched both the colour of the flowers and the lighter background - and it wasn’t long before an idea formed, and yes that idea was a pouch. At this point though I had no idea what the question was, but I knew I needed this pouch (well wanted, rather than needed!).

And so, I made a new pouch - this one’s already in my jewellery box holding a rather large and chunky piece of costume jewellery which up until now was in a bit of bubble wrap. This, even though the velvet ribbon is a bit ruched, is a much better solution.

Trying some quilting

I was also very much aware that my Log Cabin Log Cabin quilt was waiting in the wings to be finished, but I didn’t want to dive into finishing that and quilting it without being more confident with my new machine. So I started another test piece, this time to try out some quilting.

For this I changed to the quilting foot, and added the extended table top - and tested using the inbuilt walking foot, and without. I’d pulled an almost 8 inch square from a lucky dip purchase from a while back. It’s the kind of selection that you can use some - and I’ve used some in the binding of quilts, and some that you really don’t care for. This blue and green square with a white daisy was in between - there’s absolutely nothing offensive about it, but I had no idea what I’d do with it. Until now.

I frankebatted some wadding together, added another square on the bottom for the backing and set about freeform initially using the basting stitch to keep the layers in place - I found this a bit of a faff on this sized project, goodness knows what it’d be like on a much larger quilt, though I’m prepared to be proven wrong!

I tried with the walking foot and without and the differences are apparent, and as you can see below at one point I went a bit left field with a diagonal line. I also decided to try out my Hera marker (a piece of plastic which with a ruler you can ‘mark’ indents into the fabric) and so that’s why I ended up with more gridlines, as I’d particularly liked quilts at the recent Newark Quilt Show quilted that way.

When it was finished I wondered what I could do with it, as I was keen to do something with it rather than it just hang around my craft room. After a day or so I knew what it could be and so added some toning ribbon as binding (yes, I had this too - I bought it while checking out the haberdashery department in Yorkshire Traders in Newark!).

And the sizing worked - so this test project is now a pan protector for our new griddle pan. How lucky was that? The wok lives on top of the griddle pan in the cupboard, and as they’re both new I was keen to give them both some protection.

So I have two new unintentional projects, and I got to try out more features on my new Bernina than I would have, at the same time.

Since then as you know I’ve finished both the Log Cabin Log Cabin quilt and my January mystery block of the month block and I’ve started the test blocks for the next quilt - but more on those another day!