A Movable Feast - the arrival of spring

'Freckle Face' violets

So much talk this year of how early spring has arrived. Is climate change responsible for the emergence of some spring flowers earlier and earlier each year? I decided it might be a good idea to keep my own record, to set aside a particular day of the year on which take photographs of various plants in the garden to keep track of where they were in their journey from bursting into leaf and bud to 'going over'. After being annoyed with myself for having this interesting idea well after the spring equinox, I decided that I would settle for April 22nd, the anniversary of my grandmother's birth (130 years. this year). A great way to celebrate the memory of a remarkable gardener who most certainly contributed to my fascination with growing plants.On opening Google I was amused to see that it is also the day designated by the United Nations as International Mother Earth Day. Entirely fitting.

It proved to be an interesting challenge. I usually take a camera stroll round the garden looking for what would make interesting/attractive shots. This time, as well as capturing plants at the height of their petal power, I wanted to also record those which had gone past that point or were yet to get there even though these may be far from eye-catching. My hope is that they may prove more interesting when compared year by year with their future selves. Never-the less there were some wonderful flowers and emerging plants.

Lots of buds on this vibrantly mauve auricula. The chewed leaf is testimony that with lots of new tender foliage about, the creatures that like to feast on it are emerging also.

The plum blossom is past its frothy white best,

but the apple blossom is just beginning to hit its glorious, delicately scented peak.

It's not all about flowers. Planted in 2010, this rhubarb will yield a few stems for the kitchen this year.

Silky tassels of seed heads have replaced the creamy green flowers of the clematis 'Wisley Cream'.

Only one rosebud about to break into colour.
But surely April is about violets, both the cultivated ones (see above) and the wild ones. I can't decide which I am happiest to see.

Now for those of you who may like their internet browsing to be a little more interactive, you could try to see how many of the weeds that flourish on Hampshire clay soil you can spot in the background. (Had I posted my unedited shots, I would say that unless you had spotted 80% of them you weren't even trying!) I am trying to be particularly vigilant about bindweed this year - as I have been for each of the thirty or so years we have lived here.

So to you Grandma, a toast. May your resilience, resourcefulness and quiet determination to make the best of things be part of what you have passed on to me.

Hapa- zome Part 2 - another bash

There's  possibly only one thing better than pottering about on a warm spring day doing something creative in the garden and that would be sharing it with a like-minded friend.When I showed Sue the initial hapa-zome prints I made for my first post on this craft, she had said she would love to have a go at it. I had been waiting for the garden to produce some suitable flowers to start hammering again.  A couple of days ago with the gorgeous weather,  a growing abundance of blossom and blooms and Sue dropping around for coffee,  it was the perfect opportunity. Different season, different flowers and leaves to try. Here's a sampler of the things we tried.

My hammering technique is a little rusty and not as thorough as it could have been but this is what we found.
Clockwise from top left.
Muscari (grape hyacinth) - very sappy and it is best to strip the little bells from one side of the stem first and lay it with the stripped side uppermost before hammering. Although it doesn't produce a sharply defined outline the blue pigment transfers well and the little bells can be used individually to punctuate or infill other designs.
Forsythia - the colour was a surprise being very more mustard than the bright yellow of the flowers. The four petals made quite a stark cross but I felt they would be worth trying in a formal pattern with other smaller flowers in between.
Perennial wall flower - the flowers are a deep rusty red and produce a dark brown imprint with well defined edges.
Pineapple sage flowers - I love the bright lipstick red of these flowers and they printed as reddish-pink.
Scented Pelargonium flowers - A little bit disappointing but probably worth a more determined try.
Viola - this print shows how lack-lustre my hammering technique has become and somehow the fresh flower excused itself and disappearedfrom the edge of the board in the time between arranging this shot and picking up the camera - something I only noticed after I began reviewing my shots. Check below in this post to see how effective these flowers could be.
Chaenomeles (flowering quince) - very effective prints with good colours and definite edges.
Lesser Celandine -  The colour transfer was good but I was surprised at how blurry the edges were. We tried it again throughout the afternoon with similar results.
Kerria - This is such a messy tousled flower that I would have given it a miss for this technique but Sue tried it and found that it did imprint quite well, including the stem, buds and leaves.
Oxalis leaf - very effective imprints when thorough hammering applied.
Herb Robert leaf - good results, the leaves are such delicate pretty shapes. I think discarding the larger stems is a good idea as it tends to produce a coarser line which detracts from the delicacy of the leaf imprint.

Sue's first try

My first attempts had been made using a length of unbleached calico and I wanted to see how other fabrics would work. A quick trawl through my fabric stash and I found some scraps of poplin and corduroy both of which had been bought so long ago that I could only hazard a guess at their fibre content. I felt they would probably have a high percentage of cotton and so would take the flower pigments reasonably well. The sampler at the top of this post and Sue's first try show how well the poplin worked. Being a finer weave it showed the shapes clearly and being a brighter white the colours were clearer.
As for corduroy - with a viola and methodical hammering, what an effective result!

Viola on corduroy

And Sue showed me with her second try that instead of haphazardly hammering any flower anywhere on the cloth, it might be better to think about an overall arrangement.

Splashes of gold

We seem to be in the  days of the year when the colour for unfurling petals to be is yellow. The colour seems to dominate every where from the ground up.

The lacquered gold of celandines, creeping in to any corner they haven't been chased out of. I know there are gardeners who deem them to be weeds but they pop up, have their cheery say for a few weeks of otherwise fairly quiet time and  then disappear. I can live with that.

The primroses appear in the garden with more intention on my part. I love this variety Emily, with the pastel yellow of the wild primroses and a splash of deeper gold in the centre. The wild ones are beautiful and quite a common sight on the roadsides and under the hedgerows around here. As yet though, they haven't tried to call our garden home. They would be very welcome.

At the moment, you can't drive very far along the roads without encountering roadside daffodils either in solitary ones or in mass plantings.

 

And of course, no spring roll call of yellow flowers would be complete without  forsythia.  In some circles it is considered a vulgar shrub and there are gardeners who wouldn't give it ground space.  I can see that clipped into hedges the flowers are dense and intense, brash and brazen. Left to its own natural tendencies it is a much prettier thing; delicate sprinkles of yellow set off well against either a  blue or a grey sky.

Lent

Lenten Rose - Helleborus Orientalis

Are you one of those who feel that the word Lent means giving something up? Conveniently it rolls around several weeks after the New Year's resolutions have been made, broken and forgotten. Whether or not you have religious beliefs attached to the season, I think it has a lot going for it as a time to break an old bad habit or establish a new good one. For instance it involves forty days - infinitely more achievable than the indefinite new year. ( Is a new year's resolution for that year only or that rather vague notion of forever or until I can't stand sticking to it any more?)  Lent has a finish date that you can work towards by ticking days off on your calendar. It also comes at a time of the year when the world outside is gearing up for a new season and renewal so why not hope for a new me or at least some new attributes?


Is it really long enough to make or break an ingrained habit? I think it is. One year I gave up tea and coffee. Cue two weeks of drowsiness, grumpiness and vague headaches to make me realise the impact my intake of caffeine was having on mind and body. After two weeks the  bad effects of caffeine deprivation wore off  and the benefits like better sleep became more noticeable. I can't claim that this instance of giving up for Lent was life changing and that I never let tea or coffee pass my lips again but it took me some time to go back to those drinks and I have never gone back to my previous level of consumption. Another year I gave up bread and cakes and in the process lost over 20 pounds in weight. It was an education in my snacking habits - those slices of bread slathered with butter and Vegemite 'to keep me going' while I cooked dinner and  tidying up the fruit cake by trimming off the corner seemed to have crept in and made themselves permanent fixtures in my routine.  Again, although I didn't give them up for good, it has made me aware of my eating habits.

So what will I do this year? It won't be dietary changes. I am still on a low fibre diet which is restricting enough and with my oncologist and dietician warning me not to loose any more weight, that would seem impractical. (See Comments below for an update on Something Completely Different)
Besides, I have long had a nagging feeling that whatever I decided to do should have benefit for others, not just me. For sometime now, we have been attempting a whole house de-clutter, room by room, cupboard by cupboard and shelf by shelf. The tricky bit we find - apart from maintaining momentum - is having decided that we no longer need an item in our lives, what to do with it. The stuff that we agree that nobody else would need in their lives either is pretty straight forward. Recycle or bin. It is the other stuff that presents the problem. If it is conceivably of use to others, what is the best way to make sure it gets to them. HeWhoLooksForSolutionsOnTheInternet has free-cycled some stuff but we have decided against Ebay. All that packaging and posting! That leaves charity shops as an option. Judging by the cool reception I got taking a bulging carrier bag into one of our locals, they were rather overwhelmed  with donations immediately after Christmas. Yesterday we hauled a huge bag of books into the nearest Oxfam bookshop. Not only were received warmly but we were also offered the opportunity to GiftAid the donation. I didn't know you could do that with donated goods though I have done that with cash donations to charities. A filled form later and we left the shop with a page of stickers to tag any further bags of books we might have for them. It all helped me to clarify in my mind that this Lent I would give up hanging onto stuff we no longer need.There will also be the added benefit of not having one of the worktops in the kitchen acting as an assembly point for items of undecided destiny - they will all have to go. Ah,  nothing proclaims the potential of each brand new day like a clear workspace!

I have been seeking decluttering motivation in some of the minimalist blogs and websites. You might enjoy Joshua Becker's thoughts on Lent.

Blooming Winter

It's been, so far, a mild winter this year; no need to shuffle about cursing the cold so in this instance the title's 'blooming ' refers to flowers.
Although it is the ideal time to admire the architecture of the leafless branches, it can be quite rewarding to perversely seek out flowers. They take some seeking this time of the year as the petals are tiny and more subtly coloured than those of the other seasons.  Even though the wind and the frost make their marks,  there is always something a little unexpected; flowering early or still hanging on from the previous seasons.

 Viburnum as planted by Mother Nature, and I am delighted she selected one with pink and white flowers.

 This is the time of year when I most appreciate the ground cover of the bergenia. Most of the time I feel it warrants the name Elephants Ears as the leaves tend to sprawl carelessly over the space I try to confine it to. But now these pink petals add colour, even if they are somewhat nibbled at the edges.

Clematis Cirrhosa 'Wisley Cream' planted for its winter flowers rambling up the trellis on the front of the house.

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At its feet a clump of leucojum or Snowflakes, appearing very early.

And hanging on way too late, when there simply won't be enough light and warmth, even on the sunniest of days, to open these weather beaten buds, is Souvenir de la Malmaison, determined to display the last roses of the season.

But of course this time of the year is really snowdrop time, and sure enough, here they come pushing their way up through the leaf mould and the last vestiges of the grass.

A Cushion Throw - tutorial Part 2

This part of the tutorial follows on from part 1's revelation on how to fold up the throw to fit into the cushion - should you have decided to make one. This part 2 goes through my process of making one. Apologies to all of you whose logic says the making bit should come first because you can hardly fold it up if you haven't got a throw/cushion transformer in the first place. I just needed to be sure it would work before I put in the effort to make one; it also helped to make sense of and get the construction right.

I used:

1. A bought microfibre throw - 176cm x 146 cm (regardless of what the label said)
2. A piece of unbleached calico - 50cm x 52cm  - for the cushion back cover.
3. Crocheted squares joined to make large square - 50cm x 50cm for the cushion front.
4. Cream jersey fabric 51cm x 51cm - to line the cushion front.

You may decide that actually you don't need a cushion back or lining for the front and you could just use a piece of coordinating furnishing fabric for the cushion front cover - it would make the whole process a little simpler.

Steps I took:
1. Fold down one of the longer sides of the cushion back by 2cms and press it so that you have a 50x50 square. Place this right side up centrally on one the shorter sides of the throw with the folded edge furthest from the top edge of the throw. ( Much as I was unimpressed with the fancy edge on the throw I bought I couldn't quite bring myself to trim off the eyelets and  scallops - I figured some would end up in the seam allowance any way.)

2. Stitch along the folded hem of the right side of the cushion back. You could use the sewing machine for this. Or do as I did and find a seat by a sunny window and stitch it by hand.

3. Now layer up all four of the elements as shown remembering to note any right and wrong sides. If you are just putting a front as I did when I made my mock up in Part 1, just lay that right-side down  (wrong side up)on the centre of one of the short sides of the throw. Please note that the cushion back and front will be aligned edge to edge and the lining will overhang a little all round; I just staggered them out like this for illustration of the order and orientation.

 4. I placed the crochet front on top of the calico back, wrong side up as shown above.  I thoroughly recommend that you tack the layers at this stage -1. throw-2. calico back-3. cushion front,  firmly into place - (yes, I know more hand sewing, but I had several layers one of which was quite thick and it just seemed a good way of saving unpicking if things started to shift around or ripple ahead during the stitching. Decide for yourself)

5. You might like to refer to the previous tutorial Part 1 to see just what needs to be stitched now. Basically you need to sew three sides of the square allowing about a half a centimetre seam allowance for the back and front of the cushion. Setting the sewing machine to a wide zigzag stitch and easing off the tension enabled me to sew the three sides to secure this. See the diagram in Part 1. You will need to sew along one of the sides parallel to the longest sides,  then along the side nearest the short end and down the other side parallel to the longest sides. Make sure you secure the  beginning and end well as this is likely to take the most wear and tear in use. Try turning the cushion cover inside out to make sure that the back layer has been caught in the seam allowance. You want it to look good when it is being simply a cushion, after all.

6. I then used the zigzag to neaten the jersey lining for the front and pinned that over the seam securing the cushion front.You can see this in the picture above. I don't have an over-locker or serger - either of which might also make a neat seam. Depending on how thick the layers are and how rugged your sewing machine is you could tack and zigzag that layer into place and more intrepid, competent souls than I am will probably cope with both steps 5 & 6 in one seam. I decided to use hand stitching again and blanket stitched my way around to secure the front lining on three sides and then slip stitched the open side crochet and lining layers together.

7. Once you have checked all these seams are fine, you're done with the sewing. Now refer to Tutorial Part 1 and follow the instructions to fold  the throw into a cushion and just check that it all looks good either way.

Personally I am wondering if a crocheted border around the front wouldn't set it off a little better. Or is it simply because it has taken me so long to finish such a simple project that I don't want to let it go?

And finally a tiny tutorial on how to unfold the cushion to use it as a throw, just in case it isn't immediately obvious from tutorial part 1.

Step 1
Reach into the open end of the cushion and pull out the folded throw.

Step 2
Reach up into the cushion and grab the top two corners from the inside and turn the cover inside out. Then simply shake the throw gently to let all the folds open out.
 You will see the wrong side of the cushion front is now visible which is why I lined my crocheted square.

This project has been a long time in completing and I felt that having posted Part 1 I had to complete Part 2 before moving on to some thing else. Phew! At least the crocheted squares have been put to a practical use. 

New Year, new subject then.

A Cushion/Throw "Transformer" - A tutorial - Pt 1

So much water under the bridge! My blogiversary and various landmarks seem to have slipped by unheeded, unmarked, uncelebrated but as this will be post number 60 I am determined it should be something of note and what better than a craft 'how to'.  I have been looking back over a year of postings to see what thoughts I had, what projects that suggested a follow up to me that it was high time I dusted off and made something of.

Almost exactly a year ago I posted Hooked Again. I had made enough squares for a cushion cover and was hankering one of those cushions that unfolds to release a throw. So many stores sell  micro-fleece throws and in the drafty winter evenings ahead they can be very useful to snuggle into on the sofa. No matter how carefully you fold them up, they never look quite as attractive in the cold light of day, so disguising them as a cushion seems worth a try. I realise that some would call this a 'quillow' but as I don't think of the blanket as a quilt or the pad as a pillow, this doesn't sit so well with me. To call it a throw-cushion is possibly to invite sport and chaos to the light fittings but I have the ideal word from the most knowledgeable six year old I know, who has assured me that because it transforms completely from one thing to another, I should call it a transformer. So there you have it.

A little research on the internet into how a quillow might be assembled helped of course but I didn't want to get into quilting and patchwork. I wanted as simple method as possible to put together the cover I had already made and the fleecy throw I had just bought, in a way that would give me something that worked and would withstand frequent use and I think I have the answer. It comes from an old BBC magazine called Good  Living with Jane Asher.Years before Kirstie Allsopp led us down the Meadow Gate path to all things Handmade, Jane Asher was showing us she could do far more than decorate a pretty cake. This magazine supported a series she had done back in the nineties.

In order to build up confidence in the whole project, I thought I had better make sure I was entirely happy with the 'transforming' technique. I don't usually plan in great detail but in this case I decided to do a mock up to make sure I could interpret the instructions accurately and as I am not going to do all the patchwork and quilting, I wanted to know just what would be on show at either phase. So I quickly put together a sample knitted square I had just finished and tacked it onto an old tea towel to roughly approximate the proportions of the crochet piece and the fleece throw albeit on much smaller scale. So bear with the rather strange illustrations as I work through the basic 'How it works' using my mock up.

Instructions - Part 1 - How to transform the Throw into a  Cushion

1.The throw should be about 3 times the width of the cushion front and 5 times the length. The cushion front is sewn onto the centre third of the throw at one end. It is sewn on three sides ( as marked by the large arrows) leaving the side facing down the throw open. I think this is shown in my diagram.
2. To begin the transformation, turn the throw over so that the cushion front is face down and fold the throw lengthwise into thirds, each side overlapping the centre.

3. Now turn it over so that the cushion front is uppermost. You now need to reach inside the cushion front. Reach right up to the top corners and pinch these up to include all the layers folded underneath. You then turn the cushion front inside out.

4. When you have made sure that the folds are straightened up again and the corners pushed through properly, it should look like this.

5. Now starting at the end furthest from the cushion front, fold up the throw. Try to make sure that the folds are the same depth as the cushion front so that it will tuck in neatly.

6. Take the end fold and tuck it up into the cushion front and there you are! All done.

From this mock up I learned that the transformation is easy to do and quite neat. I also realised that I would want the completed cushion to have a proper back and not just an exposed part of the throw. And because the front would be showing the wrongside of the crochet when the throw is unfolded, I think it would be better to have a lining.
The steps on how to make up the Transformer throw are coming up in Tutorial part 2, when at last I start to work with the materials for the finished product!