Plant of t'week

Check out these amazing poppies.

The foliage is exactly the same as that of the Opium Poppy, but I've never seen one with a pink and purple flower before (and look at all that fringing on the petals), so I'm guessing it must be a cultivar.

So beautiful, and the bees were just loving them.

Papaver somniferum is the Opium Poppy's botanical name.  It means "sleep-bringing poppy", which refers to it's sedative properties. I would've been boiling the seed-heads up for a foul-tasting poppy brew at one time, but I'm better behaved nowadays.

On the up

The gift cushion is complete.

I backed it in an upholstery-weight fabric from Ikea.  I like how the grey looks with the pinks on the front.

I'll see my friend tomorrow, so I hope she likes it.  Like me, she's into pink, and like me, she's a fan of the natural world, so I think it's a pretty safe bet.

This is the backing fabric I chose for my sampler quilt.  It's nothing fancy, - cheap cotton from Fabric Land in Brighton.  It's been through the washer twice now, so I'm going to start sandwiching my blocks very soon.

I nipped into Quilty Pleasures at lunch time to get my wadding.  Liz has been busy building up her haberdashery dept. so I was also tempted by these other bit and pieces.

I'm chuffed with my latest block; EricaBobSquarePants.  I followed Terri's lead with this one, who has also made this block for her sampler & pointed me in the direction of Lily's Quilts for the tutorial.  I think this has taken over from the Card Trick as my favourite block.

Other good news is that the dreaded root canal was done yesterday. I'm still on baby food, but the comfort-ability is definitley improving.  Phew. x

A little bit of punk rock

Remember this?  Loving how this has turned out.

I like to think the safety pin fabric added a little extra punk rock to go with the bad attitude.

It felt like an apt project to be working on after last week's dramas.  All good today though, the antibiotics have weighed me in the last few days but they finish tonight.  Also it was so hot here today that I had a swim in the sea after work.  Bliss (bit seaweedy, but hey, you can't have it all).

Plant of the week & present-making

In between dodging rain showers, I had a bit of time yesterday afternoon to start making this cushion.  I wanted to make a little something for the friend who really helped me out this week by lending me her car to use for work when my van was broken down.  A true savior that deserves a hand-made gift.

I love the fabrics in this so much that I'm tempted to make one almost identical for myself.  I guess it's a good sign that I usually end up wanting to keep the gifts I make.

What with my dental drama & the rain showers, work in the garden has been somewhat sporadic this week.  I'm going to reserve the Plant of the Week spot for this Osteospurmum.

Osteospurmum (Cape Daisy)

This one is very hardy and will flower all summer long.  Cuttings are super-easy and quick, as it'll put out roots wherever the stems touch the earth, so you can usually grab a bit of cutting material with roots already on. 

Gorgeous.  Now I'm off to Lewes to return the car, wonder if I'll be able to resist the fabric shop while I'm there?

Sometimes life sucks.

That's what a friend said earlier when I was whining to/at her.

So this is what today looks like.

It's not really been my week.  Between unsuccessful dental work (and this time I did cry, -sobbed in fact-), a broken-down van, and a big dollop of PMT, I'll be glad when this week is over.  But that is 3 things and tomorrow is when I count the end of the bad week.

It's not all bad though (and I'm blogging this to remind myself), my friend gave me this sweet little posy of flowers from her garden.

I also got an exciting parcel from the US of A, full of goodies from Jolly Goode Gal.

How excited was I when I sliced open the box to be greeted by all that pink, -it matches my kitchen knife perfectly eh!

And before being struck down by tooth infection, I've been quietly sashing my sampler blocks.

Saturday I'm going to shop for some cheapish backing fabric, so looking forward to my mouth & hormones being better for that (& van issues are sorted now).   Really, I have nothing to moan about. x

The hump

Apologies for my silence.  I've got the hump.  Blogger is driving me slowly insane. . . not being able to leave comments, struggling to get my photos uploaded so they appear the right way around.  This has been going on a while & I just give up in the end.  Now apparently there's "an error occurring while saving".  Bah.

On the plus side, the sun is out down here and the south coast gardens are blooming.

Brighton sea front

Nymphaea (Water Lily)

Oenothera (Evening Primrose)

If I have to type my gmail address into that login box many more times I'm not sure I'll be able to control my actions! x

Miss Wilmott's Ghost - Plant of the Week

Eryngium giganteum

What a stunner this is.  Also known as Sea Holly or, my favourite, Miss Wilmott's Ghost.  So called, after the 19th-century gardener, Ellen Wilmott, who liked to secretly scatter seeds of the plant in other people's gardens.  The following year the plant would appear; the ghost of Miss Wilmott.  It is a biennial, but self-seeds freely & usually needs thinning out.



Being silly

Yesterday I had a trip to the dentist, my friend came with me as I'm such a wuss.  I usually cry after the dentist, but did really well this time & managed to maintain my dignity.  Didn't last long though; we found ourselves in the shops playing at "find the most revolting shoes you possibly can". So what do you think?

This gorgeous silver and gold lace-up numbers?

Or is this colourful mock-snakeskin detail shoe more to your taste perhaps.  These were high, I was 6ft tall and holding onto a shelf to keep upright.

My prize is going to the gold and silver ones, they cheered me up after the dentist-trauma anyhow.

Today I've been back at work in the orchard, mostly getting soaked by heavy rain showers.  It would seem we're having April's showers in June this year.

I uncovered something unusual today, - a pretty slug!  I'm not a fan of slugs, mostly because of the damage they cause, but also they are quite unattractive.  This one is nice though, look at those lovely markings.  Am I losing it?!

I've been laying out my sampler blocks so I can think about sashing colours.  I've decided I'm going to use a bright pink.

These are the two new blocks I've added:

Flying Geese, using speed piecing techniques.

I'm loving this one.

Win something lovely

Ellen at The Long Thread has written a very lovely looking book & over at her blog is giving five copies away.  Check out the trailer above too (beware, the music is very catchy I keep getting it stuck in my head, -probably a good sign for Ellen).



Another chance to win something lovely is over at The Eternal Maker blog.  There's a Moda layer cake and a jelly roll of the new range from designer Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S.  This isn't out in the UK or even the US yet, but will be by the end of the year, so this is a real exclusive and a great opportunity to show off.

Blogger is still driving me insane by not letting me comment on many blogs, so lets just hope I actually get chance to enter.

Cushions

I finally finished the secret summer house cushions!  It feels great to have actually finished them; I've lost count of how many weeks they've been hung over the top of my living room door half-done.  

These colourful cushions have been made for my parents summer house & this will be the first chance they've had to see them.

I do think they look quite good in my bedroom though. . .

Even the ones that are meant to be square have turned out slightly
oblong.  I do really like them, but always like to point out the imperfections.

For the reverse sides I used some upholstery weight fabric from Ikea.

The idea for these long cushions came from the Sew Mama Sew pillow month tutorial by Julie from Jaybird Quilts.

The quilting is a mixture of machine and hand stitching.

All that remains now is for the collection/delivery.  I think I'd better stash them out of the way for now in case I get too attached.

Weekend Report

I've been to ALL my local quilt shops this week.  I had a good excuse, - I need more of the fabrics I'm using to make my sampler quilt.  I got this pile from my favourite fabric shop, Quilty Pleasures in Brighton.

As well as getting 2 out of 3 of the fabrics I needed from Brighton Sewing Centre I also got tempted into buying this stack of solid fat quarters.

I also went to the Patchwork Dog & Basket in Lewes yesterday looking for a particular fabric I've been using in my sampler blocks.  Sadly it had all gone, and I actually managed to refrain from buying anything in there, which was a bit of a shock.

I keep walking past this lovely looking shop on North Road, Brighton, when it's shut.  I've pressed my face up against the window a few times, so walking past yesterday morning I ducked in for a bit of a snoop around.

It's one of those shops I feel like I could quite happily live in, I'd definitely be happy curling up in this bed.

I'm obsessed with my sampler blocks and have churned out another couple over the weekend.

I'm pleased with the star, but I'm not sure Log Cabin suits me, it's pretty slap dash & the other one I made is so wonky I'm too embarrassed to show it.