Tag Archives: garden

A quick update

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Once again, I find myself saying “it’s been a while.” This time it really is ages since I put pen to paper and there’s a lot to catch up on.

I’ve caught up on my last musings and I am pleased to report that we still have regular hedgehog visits, but I didn’t get around to making a hedgehog house with the pallets I’d collected. ( They have since been turned into another tiered planter and a box planter). I’m hoping for another good garden year and we now have a new bespoke fence as well as a new hedge down the side of the garden. The hedge means we can still give plenty of access to wildlife and it will give some structure all year round. My husband is obsessed with photinias, so that’s what the hedge is completely made up of. Fingers crossed for the lovely red leaves throughout the winter!

There are some other garden projects to catch up on, but they’ll keep for another time as I have some more interesting news….. I have a part-time job!!! I didn’t see that coming after a rotten few years of applications and rejections, so I’m still somewhat in shock. It’s all happened so quickly as I was contacted following a Father’s Day card post I put on LinkedIn. Unfortunately it isn’t a card-making or even a crafting position, it’s an admin job at a commercial property company in Bolton. So I’ve done a day and a half to see how we all get along. I think it went pretty well so far, everyone seems very friendly and I’ve managed to make a brew and tidy up a cupboard (as well as putting a couple of reports together). The rest of the admin is going to take some getting used to as it’s a whole new area of business for me, but I think I’m okay with the computer work and answering the phone. Let’s see how it goes. I am tired now though, it’s going to take some getting used to!

Hopefully I’ll find some time to do some crafting soon.

Happy Crafting

x

A lovely garden surprise

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This week I’m having a catch up, as the family are away camping in North Wales, So I’ve done all my housework and the cats are keeping me company at home while the weather is cooling off a bit.

I love the Summer sunshine but the humid heat we’ve had over the last few days has played havoc with my sleep. So I’m hoping for a more comfortable night tonight. I’ve also found it very hard to do much crafting or anything creative at all – thank goodness for all the recent sport – World Championships, Commonwealth Games and now the European Championships ( I love the athletics).

I think I’ve just about managed to keep my pots and baskets alive in the garden. We’ve had lots of strawberries and my chillies and tomatoes have loved the recent heat. I’m thrilled that I have four successful sunflowers and most of the pots are still looking good. My key tips have to be deadheading, daily watering and a weekly feed. And on the wet days I’ve been out in the evening removing greedy slugs and snails. On one of my evening forays for the pesky molluscs, I was beside myself to hear some strange snuffling in the undergrowth. Not just one but two hedgehogs chomping away at the slugs and snails in the flower beds. It’s been years since I’ve seen a hedgehog and I logged the sighting on hedgehogstreet.com. I have also mades sure that all the routes in and out of the garden are clear but under cover. A really super surprise to find them neing regular visitors since then too. I think I might be using one of my acquired pallets fo make a winter hedgehog house.

Now it’s cooling down a bit I’ve had a look at my to-do list and it’s gong to be all about Autumn/Winter and Christmas for the next few months I think! Wish me luck there.

Happy Crafting

x

Post COVID normality?

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Well, this has been a very long time in the writing! It’s been almost two years since I last put pen to paper, while the whole world was in the throes of the first set of lockdowns I think.

It’s been a hard couple of years for everyone in may different ways, and today marks the two-year anniversary of the official start of our first UK lockdown. Similarly to then, I am sat in the garden enjoying some very warm early Spring sunshine. This time though I am being serenaded not by the local birds, but the screeching tones of the local primary school after-school-club children! Why do children feel the need to squeal and scream everything?!

Anyway, it’s been a tough couple of years. I have found it hard to function normally with all my routines thrown into chaos and lots of changes to our lives and freedoms. Like many I have loved the peace and quiet without all the traffic noise; being able to hear the birdsong was absolute bliss for me and a great opportunity to start to identify birds from their song. The chance to spend more time outside was a real tonic particularly as I had had my space invaded by a home-worker and a home-schooler. It’s amazing how stressful it is having your family all under the same roof! And the house felt so small. So the garden has become even more of a refuge than ever before.

Black-cap visitor to the bird feeder

I’ve been thinking about what to write for a while and I had planned to start at New Year! I blinked and now it’s Spring, but better-late-than-never. So what have I been up to crafting wise? I’ve kept up with my facebook page reasonably well and card orders have been pretty steady, so I’ve managed to retain my crafty focus more-or-less. It’s been good to do some crafting for us at home too(lots of face masks and family cards) as this is something I don’t generally do that much of. I had a good read through my last posts in 2020 and what I haven’t done much of is finishing off the enormous pile of unfinished projects. I had every intention of completing them, but I think I just lost my way with the enormity of it. However, I am pleased to say that the pile is somewhat smaller than it was.

Before I go, I thought I’d end with a success. I have spent the last two years crocheting the granny square blanket, started in lockdown and the subject of my last post (http://www.handmadebykatherine.co.uk/2020/06/my-lockdown-blanket/). This was a labour of love and something I thought about submitting to Grayson Perry’s Art Club, but I couldn’t think of a theme that it fitted in. It’s a project I’m pleased I’ve completed but I miss it keeping me warm on the settee watching the TV. It looks great on the bed though and as you can see, the cats rather like it too. This is George’s favourite spot!

Finished blanket adorning the bed

It’s good to be back and I Shall try to keep up with some ramblings more frequently. Do message or comment, I’d love to know how everyone is out there.

Happy crafting

K x

Garden joy

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Over the last few weeks, I have been spending lots more time in my garden.  We saved up a couple of years ago and last year had the garden re-landscaped to a design of mine.  It had been devastating over the last few years as the amount of rain increased and the time taken for the water to drain increased with it.  At some points I think we were flooded for several months at a time.  We even had a regular heron visitor, but the icing on the cake was when we had a pair of mallard ducks swimming around where the lawn had once been!

We took the decision to do something which had to include some drainage solution and I put together a few sketches of ideas we could work with.  It was certainly a big plan and one we couldn’t have done ourselves, but our landscaper was fantastic and he was able to do all the drainage works and (with a few modifications) put my sketches into place.

The garden has now been put into zones.  We have a patio (using stones from the original garden), a border, a wildlife area and a grassy arbour with seat (daughter’s zone).  And I love it.  It’s such a great space to be and somewhere I’m thrilled I have in the current times.

We reused as much as we possibly could from the garden -well what had managed to survive the constant waterlogging anyway and it’s been great since to see what is popping up around the place.  Some of the offcuts from the sleepers used to raise the zones were used to make a seat and a little raised bed which we planted with strawberries and they are doing fantastically this year – we planted the runners from the original plants and they are obviously happy.

Equally happy are the cats.  This is Lily enjoying the sleepers, we often find her hiding under the plants or rolling about on the lawn, which is also doing well now we have better drainage.

My wildlife pond looks good too.  I’m amazed how much life there is in it considering it’s only been there for a year.  We have found several frogs and newts too, as well as lots of little bug life – pond skaters, water boatmen and whirly-gig beetles are a regular sight.

I have taken the time to plant some seeds this year too.  We have a patio up by the house and the rest of the garden is down a few steps and as we face south it is a fabulous sun trap.  So I have decided to see what comes up from several old packets of seeds from the garage.  I love poppies and I was pleased to see this little beauty pop up in a trough of seeds for the bees – although not much else seems to be joining it at the moment.

Before we ended up in lockdown, I bought some seeds from Aldi which had several different vegetables and herbs in.  I only planted these broad beans about a week ago and they are already showing their faces.

I am so pleased with the way everything is growing so well this Spring.  And I hope I will see some more flowers soon as well as the blossom on the trees.  Fingers crossed we also get some rain to add to all the sunshine as I could do with a few days indoors catching up with all my indoor projects too!

Stay safe and happy crafting

x

Lions on lockdown

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The weather this last couple of weeks has been nothing short of glorious up here in our little corner of East Lancashire.  I can’t quite believe it’s only April.  This has meant I’ve been finishing off my lions in the evening rather than during the afternoon, as it’s been too nice to not get out and do some gardening.

I am now pleased to say that I have finished the first toys from my work-in-progress bag.  Let me introduce to you Lenny the Lion.  He’s the second yellow lion I have made to the Steffi Hochfellner pattern and he’s a real cutey.

Unlike his best mate Rockstar!

This one has always wanted to be a rockstar and is loving the fact he can’t have a haircut during lockdown.  I think he really rocks the long mane look though and he’s not at all mean or moody.

With the weather being so lovely and not having done much exercise, we headed out to the garden for a mini adventure.  The lions quite enjoyed roving through the long grass (chives).

And then the scaled the magnolia tree for a better look at their kingdom.  They were joined by little blue lion, who isn’t quite finished yet.

After the magnolia tree, Lenny scaled the cherry, carefully avoiding knocking the blossom off.  He was desperate to get to the top and enjoy the sunny views with his friend.

Little blue was left at the bottom for a while as he struggles to climb without any back legs!  But the others helped him up for a tree top chat.

Lenny ended his adventure photoshoot with a relax by the waterhole (my wildlife pond).  I don’t think he spotted the frog or he might have gotten a bit wet!

It’s been lovely seeing the bright colours out in the garden and the lions just added a bit of fun to the day.  I shall get on with giving poor little blue some much needed back legs and an extra bit of mane as he’s still a little bald at the back (don’t tell him though).

Stay safe and Happy crafting

x

 

Growing Kittens

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I mentioned back at the end of December that I have adopted two abandoned kittens and they are certainly making their presence felt in the household. We have gone through a tough period of settling in. George in particular has taken his time in getting used to us all, but things are starting to settle down.

They have both had a series of trips to the vet, for check ups, injections, weight monitoring and neutering.

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But I am now pleased to say that they have a clean bill of health and have started to explore the wider environment. They are both still quite timid with other people and strange noises, but I’m not too bothered about that as it is keeping them close to home. It took over a week of being let outside for them to go further than the patio outside the kitchen door, and they much prefer it if I go out with them. Goodness knows what they will be like when the encounter another cat – and we do have a few around the neighbourhood!

So here they are in all their glory, climbing the trees and shrubs.

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Both of them have grown a lot in the four months they have been with us. I think George is going to be a big lad, and Lily is all set to be a dainty little thing. They are both very keen on my crafting! Not surprisingly they love my bags of yarn, so I have had to be much more disciplined at putting everything away when finished with. Of course, I still indulge them with the odd pom -pom and piece of yarn to chase.

What has surprised me most is how George just loves the cursor on the computer screen, so I frequently have a little ‘helper’ when I’m on the pc. The best part though is when I’m snuggled up on the settee with some crochet or knitting and I’m joined by them both, Lily on my knee …..

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and George has taken a liking to my project bag! (I’m not sure he’ll be able to fit in it for long though).

Ah well, they are growing fast and are great company although it is somewhat distracting when a kitten decides to jump on my desk while I’m working!

Happy crafting
x

Boxing Day Floods

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Having spent Christmas in the South West with my inlaws, I missed being part of the floods at home. It was rather upsetting watching it from a distance, trying to keep up with exactly which parts of Bury were flooded or were going to flood. I spent most of Boxing Day glued to facebook and the bbc news. Several friends and family members lost power for a time, and I was dreading what we would return home too.

We arrived home last night and couldn’t see very much in the dark, I was expecting the worst though! So I’ve just been out to feed the birds, and this is my back garden!

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More like a lake, and this is almost 48 hours after the rain subsided! It much have been awful on Boxing Day itself. Fortunately, the house is several feet above the garden level, but I’m really glad I hadn’t followed through with my wish to have a shed / studio space at the bottom of the garden, I don’t think there would have been much left to salvage! I think I shall persevere with my little craft space in the spare room for the time being.

But we got off quite lightly compared to many in the local area. There is a road bridge out of action because of the pub collapsing in Summerseat, and a couple of footbridges are having to be demolished. And we’re set for more rain to come. I hope 2016 brings a drier Summer!