Roesel's Bush Cricket

Not a game but a creature taking refuge from the garden on Ian's sunhat drying in the conservatory. Poor Jiminy has lost a leg so don't know how well it survived once re-housed in the vines. Apart from establishing it was a bush cricket rather than a grasshopper (those long antennae are the giveaway) don't know who she is.
Having a weekend at home with no engagements, the garden got some attention - chopping down the Philadelphus at the bottom of the garden to place compost bin no5 and training the vine over the arch covering our G&T bench. First Pimms of the season to celebrate the last of potatoes being unearthed (tasty)

UPDATE - a bit of 'Googling' has revealed that most likely it is a Roesel's Bush Cricket - with longer wings associated with warmer weather to aid migration.

The Yellow Time

An unexpected benefit of coming into work earlier and by a different route than usual (thanks to a very early appointment with the dental hygienist) was seeing all the daffodils in full swing down the Broadwalk . And as it wasn't yet open to the public, it was all mine!! On the whole though, I prefer the more natural planting and colour around the Temple of Aeolus

My favourite of all the spring bulb displays at Kew however is that of the 'Glory of the Snow' Chionodoxa siehei. Apart from the glorious colour, they shimmer in the breeze . Magic!

In our own garden, the Forysthia is flowering fit to bust (it must know it's days are numbered as it's taking over -all that 2 metres of sparse flowering vertical growth is just from last year!)
We won't be lacking in yellow though as we're keeping the 'Jews Mallow' Kerria japonica in front of it which is far less of a bully and a more elegant plant altogether. It's just beginning to 'spurt' into flower.

Garden Makeover

With major project at work handed over and first stage of garden makeover completed (see below) , time to start on my 'breakthrough' piece for Contemporary Quilt.
Last weekend was spent stabilising the hazel hurdle screening, finalising the layout of paving stones and Ian carrying bags of gravel which I slit and raked around. We're very pleased with the final result. Apart from feeling smug that we did it ourselves, it looks even better than we'd hoped. It seems a long way from March when we were laying down newspaper squares on the lawn to mark where the paving might go and using hosepipe to indicate the edge.

The paving stoness and gravel were delivered over the Easter holidays ( each bag and slab carried through the house individually.....)

Then with some hacking back of vegetation , 'whirligig' dryer relocated and metal edging in position, Ian took over turf cutting duties.

Soil raked and compacted, membrane laid then a haitus in activities -not helped by swine flu!

We completed the gravel laying on Sunday afternoon and polished off the last of the Pimms still in our extremely dirty gardening clothes.

Which gave use Bank Holiday Monday for play!

Ian has long wanted to roast green coffee beans and after mixed results with a frying pan in his old flat, we requested a popcorn maker as a wedding present.

Four years on and time had finally come to experiment. We plugged the popcorn maker in the external extension lead and placed it on the patio - just as well as the action spits out the husks everywhere and gets extremely hot. After the 2nd 'crack' the beans were poured out into a frying pan to cool down.

We couldn't wait to grind and brew some in cafetiere for 'brunch'. Very nice too and a big caffeine hit.

Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

Over a week ago now, my mother-in-law Sheila and I went to Hampton Court Place flower show. I'd rested my foot for a couple of days so by Saturday it was up to traipsing around. We concentrated on the show gardens - the extensive TV coverage doesn't do them justice as they tend to gloss over the detail and colour combinations which are the most interesting part.
My favourites, at the beginning and end of this post couldn't be more different - very formal and stylised v. naturalistic

This conceptual garden ' It's hard to see' had black dyed woodchips and below the soil surface, green lush planting. The clever use of mirrors gave the illusion that the greenery went underneath the black area. I loved the exuberant combinations of colour and form in the 'Nature to Nurture' Garden The key colours that seemed to pop up everywhere were pinks/purples (in 'Enchanting Escape')

And oranges - in the 'Cooks Garden' (loved the white leaves of the Verbascum too)

And used to great effect in the sustainable garden 'oak tree:lying in state'
The 'Colour from the Garden' display had a living pergola of dye plants and coloured silks woven between silver birches The gardens themed around the six wives of Henry viii were a mixed bag. At different times of day the queens were in their respective gardens. Katherine Howard, as befits a flirt, was showing how her petticoat supported her farthingale and eyeing up mens calves ! I liked the thyme 'quilt'
Both Sheila and I were very taken with these Avocets painted on glass in the 'Pastures Bye' garden - the edges of the glass disappeared so you were just aware of the subtle shapes. We were both tempted by these very reasonably priced iron wall sculptures from Garden Iron
but apart from getting them back on the 65 bus where would we put them? I'm still thinking.....

This sustainable 'Coppice' garden with it's wonderful combination of curves and use of fencing and dry stone walling was a favourite - maybe because we spent some time looking at it having our picnic lunch nearby.
Not so sure about the plants they used to give it a woodland feel - I spent a lot of time eradicating some species from my last garden.

I was very modest in my purchases - a sea holly and Origanum 'Kent Beauty' - I guess called that as its flowers look like hops but it reminded me of Cerinthe which I've tried and failed to grow several times. Perhaps I'll have better luck with this.

Stitching, Sunflowers and Pimm's

Another tantilising glimpse of my FoQ entry! I've finished stitching and have decided it is too complex to include a mid layer of organza, so am now planning the top (painted ) layer by drawing on sheets of tracing paper over a photo of the completed top. I didn't get started until today with distractions of gardening and related activities - somehow 1/2 an hour always turns into 3 ! I only went out to water some plants,then while I was filling the watering can , noticed a couple of nice ceramic pots with dead plants, in down the side of the house- empty them out and replant them and it would save a trip to the garden centre. After that I hacked back some vegetation at the end of the garden so Ian could dig out some more turfs. With hazel hurdle in position (tho' not yet secured) it's beginning to take shape.
I don't know what made me think of it but I suddenly remembered some sunflower fabric and panels that Ian's cousin Heather in Canada had sent us for a wedding present. Perfect for garden tablecloth and cushions and smartens up the inherited plastic furniture no end. Still got to sew some matching napkins (or 'doilies' as they're known in this house) but I'm not a huge fan despite usually getting food down my front. Being the end of the month, we've run out of beer and rose wine for spritzers so was reduced to looking through the backs of cupboards. Found Ouzo for Ian (I'm not keen) and then hit gold - an unopened bottle of Pimm's I bought in Duty Free a few years ago, as an example of a typical British drink for a conference fuction in Hungary. Dispatched Ian to the corner shop for R Whites Lemonade and with mint or lemon balm from the garden and lemon and cucumber we feel we're at Wimbledon.Cheers!

Garden Glove Dyeing

After a weekend working in the garden I washed our grubby trousers with the gardening gloves. Big Mistake! Despite 2 long washes involving numerous colour catchers, Ian's jeans (admittedly rather faded and worn) have been dyed yellow and his garden gloves are much paler.

The Colour Catchers , the Culprits and the Canary Jeans

We're pleased however with the evidence of our labours. We spent Saturday digging out the buried post for the rotary dryer from the middle of the lawn and relocating it to the end of the garden. Sunday was spent turf cutting in preparation for paving and gravel - Ian doing most of it and me doing the tricky edge bits. Half way there. As it rained on Monday (well it was a Bank Holiday) we gave up on the idea of more digging and visited Homebase in Isleworth, walking back a mile along the Great West Road clutching a rake , a hoe and 4 fence posts! Just as well don't mind looking ridiculous. They've got some interesting plants and large ceramic pots there. I wonder if I could get one back in my bicycle basket......

Mainly Metals

I confess I'm an Earring Addict ( well it's good to support other artists......) and for Xmas a couple of years ago I got a Precious Metal Clay kit so I could make my own. I hadn't actually got round to using it ( mainly as I was scared of using the blow torch supplied for firing pieces) so I bit the bullet and on Friday went on a workshop with Sarah Lamb at Art Van Go studios. It really is alchemy! We practised first using paper clay to work out our ideas and then modelled pieces in 'Art Clay' which is not that different from fine porcelain clay in texture. After placing in the kiln (or fired in the flame of a butane cooks torch), it remains white but feels heavier and more dense. Then using wire brushes and cloths the bright metal is revealed. Magic! I meant to take photos as I went along but it was too exciting. My preference is for fairly simple 'rustic' pieces. I was really pleased with these 1 3/4 inch textured earrings ( particularly the slightly crumbly edges where the clay was beginning to dry out while working)

I also think there's potential in these tiny thumb pots modelled round a thimble and my fingertip. They look quite dynamic worn as they move around on the handmade silver wires that Sarah kindly made. Everyone produced something interesting ( those pieces that worked best were those that made the most of the organic quality of the clay) and I've now got the confidence to have a go at home.

Meanwhile, in the garden, we've decided that the plum/greengage tree has to go and invested in a sculpture to take its place. We bought it on ebay (where else) but the artist has some interesting pieces on his website. Not only is its shape reminiscent of the recently clipped bay tree but when the pieces knock against each other, it sounds like wind chimes. We haven't yet put it in it's final position but it looks great against the Forsythia and next doors Camelia.

Tomorrow we are going to Wickes to choose paving and gravel for the next stage of 'Mediterrean-ising'. In order to work out how many paving stones we need, I cut out mock flags from newspaper and laid them out weighed down with stones ( I'd already laid out the hosepipe to work out where the borders are going to be). Not the final design but gives an idea of what it could look like. While I cooked lunch , I asked Ian to collect the paper up - when I looked out the window he was intently reading a section he's missed - wish I'd had my camera to hand

March Machine Maintenance

I've been enjoying participating in the BQL Calendar Challenge ( continuing to to apply the 12 inch square format I used last year for the CQ Journal Quilts). The challenge for me is to stick quite closely to the instructions supplied but make it interesting and relevant to my current work. This months challenge was to print a photo on fabric and surround it with grid of squares cut from 2 inch strips of fabric. As I'm currently working on a larger 'Weir' piece, I used a photo of that and the strips were the trimmings I'd cut off the edges. It's a long time since I've done much accurate piecing so I was relieved I could still make (most) corners meet.

For many people doing the challenge , it was the first time they had attempted printing on fabrics using the computer and I've been interested to read the comments. I've been using C. Jenkins 'BubbleJet Set' solution and preparing my own sheetsfor several years now so I was interested to try the 'Miracle Fabric Sheets' which are made by the same company. I have to say that I wasn't very impressed -the results are much lighter and duller looking than with my own sheets despite all the usual tricks of increasing saturation and contrast of image (to the point it looked garish on the screen) A commercially available sheet that worked really well, with bright colourful images, were those available from craftycomputerpaper. Their only downside is that it's quite a thick, tightwoven material, not easy to stitch by hand. I now use these when I want to print on a white background and save the'Bubblejet Set' for dyed fabrics and organzas which are not available commercially (or very expensive).

I also spent some time cleaning out and adjusting my sewing machine. I was having terrible problems with looping of thread on the back which persisted despite changing the needle. Just as well I have a back up machine (or 2)! So I invested in a can of air used for cleaning computers and after a few puffs of that, quite a bit of of lint flew out despite diligent use of a brush. I also retrieved 2 pins using forceps and tightened the screw on the bobbin case. With another new needle , it now works like a dream.

Not so much time in the garden this weekend apart from laying out a hosepipe to get an idea of where we want the edge of the gravel area ( we have plans to remove the lawn later in the year) and buying a hazel hurdle to screen the compost area.

Last weekend , I bought some twigs of Forsythia in and the buds opened out in the warmth. As the buds are beginning to break outside, time to consign these to the compost.
I like the combination of the yellow and the blue of the art glass 'cornucopia' which I bought as a present but kept for myself as it was too heavy to post.

Fluorescent Paints

As a change from slaving over the sewing machine, working on quilts for FoQ, I've been doing some more exercises from the 'Studio- Journals' course, this time on colour. As I largely ignore colour wheels etc and use intuition, I decided not to do excercises associated with colour theory but to have a go at constructing palettes from 1 inch squares cut from magazines. I rifled through 3 old copies of Saturday Guardian magazine cutting out photos and then cutting selected ones into 1 inch strips and then squares. My eye was drawn by the pinks and reds in images of Desmond Tutu, football stadiums and an article on festivals in India illustrated by umbrellas ( along with various advertisements) I showed Ian what I'd done and he instantly saw what I had not, that my palette had been influenced by what we'd seen at the RA Summer exhibition. Besides what I've written about already, we were struck by the subtle use of fluorescent paints in several pieces which drew your eye across the room, particularly those of Frank Bowling and Barbara Rae but they were by no means the only ones.
I prepared this watercolour page with cling film scrunched in the wet paint and allowed to dry. I now need to search for fabrics and threads to match this palette and stick 'em down.

I'd first had a go with watercolours and cling film in my sketchbook (unfortunately buckling the page) as background for photos and drawings of Sheila's bean poles. Ian and I spent the weekend with his parents a few weeks ago, a pleasant time discussing gardening and picking gooseberries. Both Ian and I were brought up with our parents watching Gardeners World , and thought it rather boring. Now we're avid watchers ourselves and ring Ian's parents afterwards to discuss ideas. Scary how you turn into your parents or perhaps it's just the onset of middle age!