Bit of a catch up

It's been a busy time here in Doo Lally Land! I was at A Maze of Memories in Long Crendon a fortnight ago which was, as always, a really great weekend. I was there for two days this time, with a workshop on the Friday and then a demonstration and Make n Takes on the Saturday. Lots of fun with all the ladies who make my trips there so special. Here are a few pictures from the weekend....

 ....lots of concentration here!

 ....adding colour to the book boxes that everyone was creating.

 ....Make n Take day!

....more concentration on Saturday!

I got back late on the Saturday night after a fairly straightforward journey and then it was a busy week ahead filled with all kinds of events. Church on Sunday of course, which always inspires and settles me for whatever is coming up. On Monday evening I was one of the "St Chad's Four" team for the Town Quiz which saw lots of teams competing for the annual trophy. We didn't win but we didn't do too badly either...my history and sport knowledge were pretty useless but I redeemed myself in the Colours and Music rounds!

Tuesday evening was taken up with a meeting of the PCC and on Wednesday I was back at Church for part four of our Lent course where we've been talking about the plight of Christians in the Eastern countries - quite an eye opener at times. 

On Thursday morning two of my good friends treated me to a trip to a garden centre that's a bit further out than the one I normally manage to get to. The displays there are always gorgeous and they had lots of Spring like colours and themes in readiness for Easter of course. I loved these lambs and sheep!

And I couldn't resist posing with King Kong outside in the garden area....

I can't imagine what Tara and Thomas would make of him if I'd brought him home for our garden!

This week has been a little quieter on the social front, but I've been enjoying the glorious weather and have been making a (very slow) start on getting the jungle outside looking more like something resembling a garden. I've been making myself getting at least one job done out there every day so I cleaned out the mini pond and refilled it on one afternoon, pruned all the roses and the big lavender bush another day. The lavender has, unfortunately, largely died,so I was very sad to have to cut away large parts of it where it had just become dry and woody. I'm hoping that the rest of it will fill in the bar patch as it always makes a fantastic display in the summer and is noisy with bees for months on end.

I was amazed when looking through my photos to realise that by this time of the year I have usually got trays of seedlings filling the conservatory. Ooops....I appear to be way behind! Partly for this reason, and partly because I really don't want to turn the conservatory into a full time greenhouse again, I've decided to just buy trays of young Sweet Peas and tomatoes etc this year. I bought one or two last year and they did really well, so it will mean less mess and more time to spend on getting the garden tidy as a whole.

I also put up a new arch over my garden bench as the original one was very flimsy and blew down in the strong winds. Thomas decided to enjoy the sunshine after I'd tied all the climbing roses onto their new support and I joined him with my knitting as it was such a gorgeous day!

Talking of knitting....Heather has, somehow, managed to get me totally obsessed with it! She brought some odd balls of yarn and needles and I decided to start a throw made up of six inch squares. My skills stretch no further than plain knitting and I don't do increasing or decreasing either (!) so I'm pretty much left with squares or scarves! The one on the bench is a scarf in progress and here are the piles of what I've been creating in the last couple of weeks or so....

....the beige squares at the back are actually quite a bit bigger and are for cushion covers - there will be four squares per cushion front but I haven't decided yet whether to have the backs also knitted or to use a natural linen fabric instead. The two colourful piles are the ones for the throw - plain and random patterned to alternate. My ongoing scarf and the latest square are at the front. I'm really enjoying it and it's something that I can do in the evening or when I'm on the train...the cushion squares were all done on my journey to, and from, Oxfordshire!

I decided to get a throw for the sofa last week too as, although it's really sturdy and comfortable, the fabric was almost threadbare in places and looking really scruffy. David had been part way through re upholstering it (there was no job he wouldn't tackle - and do well) and it's not something I could do - I certainly didn't inherit my mum's sewing skills! I ordered the throw online and it turned out to be a rather more limey shade of green than the one I'd expected! Never mind, it's bright and cheerful and Thomas seems very happy with it....

All my new stamp sets are in the shops now and mine arrived at the end of last week....

....quite a lot as you can see! I just need to make samples with them all now! Talking of samples, here is a sneaky peek of what we'll be creating at my workshop at Craft Range on 11th April...

....it's a canvas using the Deco Art Media range of paints and pastes. I'll show the full canvas at a later date!

Meanwhile, my Studio Workshops are filling up, so here is an update on them:

Tuesday 5th May - fully booked
Thursday 7th May - one place available
Wednesday 20th May - fully booked
Wednesday 3rd June - three places available
Thursday 11th June - two places available
Thursday 25th June - three places available

These are full day Mixed Media workshops in my studio. They are small classes of no more than three people so lots of personal tuition.The cost is £50.00 per person per day, which includes all materials, refreshments, lunch and a goody bag to take home. Please just drop me a line on ljm.design1@virginmedia.com or PM me through Facebook if you're interested.

Right, back to work for me now. I'm working on a new range of stamp designs and a couple of commissioned canvasses so lots to get on with!

Sunday....my favourite day of the week

Yes, I really do love Sundays. It's the day to recharge my batteries and I'm always up bright and early so I can enjoy a leisurely coffee before strolling into the village to the sound of the Church bells calling everyone to the family communion service. 

This morning was also a Baptism service - for a very sweet little boy who was the only baby that didn't cry during the service, even when he had three very generous dishfuls of water cascading over his head.Our Vicar doesn't hold back when it comes to the water! The little chap got a round of applause and then the Vicar carried him round the Church so that everyone could welcome him. A lovely service.

After Church quite a lot of us go for coffee together...this used to be in the Church hall but it's been closed for some months now as there were too many problems with the building. Hopefully, it will be re-opening before too long once it's been overhauled. Meanwhile, we go to the local pub for coffee...too many of us for the little local cafes! It's a good chance to have a catch up and today I took some of my garden produce to give away. Just like last year, I found a huge marrow lurking under one of the courgette leaves and it was far too big for me to eat...not only that but my last attempt at cooking a stuffed marrow was a disaster!

Hard to tell from the photo but it really was a bit of a monster! It went to a good home though as did the lettuces that I took with me...crikey, not only enough for veg for me but a surplus! Of course, it will be harvest festival in a few weeks and in times gone by that would have been an ideal time to give some produce away. Unfortunately, as with most things, modern harvest donations have to be tinned or dry goods - just as much of a gift but not quite as evocative as the days when I remember all of us schoolchildren carrying baskets of fruit and vegetables into Church.

It's another warm and sunny day here and, after doing some drawing in the Doo Lally room I decided that I really couldn't stand being inside and missing out on the sunshine for the whole afternoon. I sat on my garden bench with my book for a while and then lay on the lawn to just enjoy a peaceful half an hour. I did the same yesterday and was quite surprised when somebody flew right over in a microlight aircraft - I wondered what it was at first! He circled and went over again, even lower....so low in fact that I waved at him as I lay on the lawn...and he waved back!

No microlights today but there was an even bigger surprise and (for me) much excitement when I decided to come back inside, went past the teeny tiny micro pond and saw this.....

......yes, I nearly shrieked (well I did actually!) when I saw a little frog sitting there quite happily on top of the tiny clay pot in the pond! I ran in to get my camera and, thankfully, he was quite relaxed about me taking his picture. I can't tell you how happy that one little amphibian has made me today! The idea that my old washing up bowl has become an attractive enough habitat to tempt a frog into it.....wow!

Cute or what?!

He dived into the depths (well, such as they are!) after I took his photos, but I popped out later and he was back on top of the pot again. Hopefully he'll make short work of some of the slugs that have started appearing again this last week or so.

Anyway, that's all for now...I'm just off to look at the pond again....

Fluttering days....

The days are fluttering by in more ways than one here....can any of us really comprehend that it is September? How did that happen? And there seems to have been a resurgence of butterflies....Large Whites, Peacocks, Painted Ladies....all are flitting about my garden once again attracted by the late flowering nasturtiums and the lavender. I was working in my Doo Lally room yesterday when a butterfly of a species that I hadn't seen before danced into the room. It really did appear to be dancing...skitting about by the windows and tipping its wings in a very dainty fashion. I managed to get a few photos in the moments when it settled.........

.....this made it much easier to identify it from my insect book later. The photo doesn't do it justice as it looked much prettier and the colours were certainly brighter than they look here. It turns out to be a Speckled Wood butterfly of the Satyrid family and it may well have been dancing, in a rather soporific fashion, as they apparently have a penchant for imbibing the juice from over ripe blackberries - of which there are many along the edge of my fence!

Yesterday evening I got the binoculars out so I could watch a Kestrel that was perched on a fence post in the field behind the house. He was being bombarded by brave little birds that were trying their utmost to get him to scoot but he was completely ignoring them and staying put!

I hope you're having the same fabulous weather as here in Lancashire. The sun has been beaming down through hazy skies with not a breath of wind - just lovely. It makes it all the more of a shock when it starts to go dark so much earlier now - oh to have more of the long evenings!

Looking at my "this day last year" photos for today, it seems that it wasn't quite as lovely as there are pictures of a very foggy morning and wet grass! I did like this photo though and I can remember going around the garden that morning and seeing lots of spider webs glistening from the morning mist....

In between all this "country diary of an Edwardian lady" stuff I have been doing some work too - honestly! As I have a couple of weeks without doing demonstrations I've still been busy making things for my Etsy shop and the stall that I'll be having in December. I'm looking forward to that as I'll be part of the Christmas Festival market which we have in Poulton square and part of which is the lighting of the nativity crib with carol singing followed by coffee and mince pies in Church. I'll miss out on the refreshments this time as I'll be manning my stall out in the (probably) very cold weather!

Here's a large canvas that I created this week......

....one of several that are adorning my walls at the moment like an ever changing gallery! I have a long list of things to be made for my December stall.....cards, bookmarks, canvasses, paintings.....anyone know where I can buy a few extra hours in each day?!? Thankfully I do like getting up before 6am when the light is decent, so I have been making a head start!

Tara likes to keep an eye on what I'm doing when I get the camera out - she's looking at the soil that I managed to knock out of one of the tomato plant tubs here though I think!

Yesterday was not a good one regarding the pusscats in my household! In the morning I was stroking Tara when she suddenly decided to sink her teeth into my hand - she's not done this for a while and there was no apparent reason for it this time. Of course, she had to be told off so I told her she was "a very bad girl" and  tapped her bottom as she scooted off - and when I say tapped, I do mean the gentlest of chastising taps. Of course, being the softie that I am, I very quickly went to find her so we could be friends again. She was on the window sill in the bedroom and when I drew back the curtain she cowered away from me....you can imagine how terrible I felt. Tara was a rescue cat when mum and dad got her and she's always been grumpy and nervous of people so who knows what has happened in her past....certainly  my raised voice yesterday brought it rushing back. 

Needless to say that she had extra fuss made of her (including some treats of the fresh ham variety!) and  was soon perfectly okay again. I felt like the worst person in the world though - even though she had bitten me very hard!

In the evening I heard my neighbour across the road calling my name and I went out to discover that Thomas was in her garden growling menacingly at my neighbour's cat, Smokey, who is not only very elderly, but is the tiniest adult cat you could imagine. As soon as I tried to pick Thomas up he launched at poor little Smokey and it was like a whirling ball of cats until we managed to separate them! Poor little Smokey shot into the house and Tom sauntered off looking twice as big as normal with every hair on end - and he's about the size of a fully grown lion as it is! Lol! Talk about showing me up! I was very ashamed of him, especially as Smokey is female!

So, lots of feline stress one way or another. Thankfully they are both behaving themselves today - so far anyway!

Well, this has been a bit of a rambly post but I just wanted to sign in and say hello really. I hope everyone has a really great weekend. I'm having one of my rare treats of a Friday evening where I can really relax knowing that I don't have to up at daft o'clock to catch a train to who knows where! Lovely!

A bit of all sorts!

Just a late night post before bed time. It's been a busy day here one way and another. This morning I had the final dental appointment to fit my second replacement crown. This should have been done almost two weeks ago but the new crown had a fault so it had to be made all over again. It's nice to have a decent smile back, though it will take me a while to realise that everything's normal again I think! As my homegrown sweetcorn are very nearly ripe for harvesting, I asked the dentist if my new choppers would withstand biting into the cobs....apparently yes, so I shall look forward to that!

The sweetcorn have been very interesting as I've never grown them before and didn't really know exactly where the cobs grew. I foolishly thought that the yellow spikes growing at the top were going to magically turn into corn and was a bit disappointed at the idea of only one ear of corn per plant! As it turns out, the male flower is at the top and the female flowers that shoot out from the sides are what become the edible cobs - at least three or four on each plant...can't wait!

Talking of things horticultural, I was pretty miffed a couple of weeks ago when my new neighbours decided to cut back the shrubs that are between our front gardens. The shrubs are growing from my neighbour's side and they said they'd like to trim them a bit. The plants have come over onto my side and I said I was fine with them being trimmed as long as it wasn't too drastic as the birds like to perch in them. It was agreed that we'd do the trimming when I was at home so that we could all agree on what got cut back.

Unfortunately, when I was out one morning, my neighbour decided to get busy with the saw and hacked away at everything. Worst of all, he came into my garden and cut back the foliage that was hanging over my low wall as well as breaking one of my solar lamps in the process! I was quite annoyed to say the least. However, nothing has been mentioned and I don't want to fall out with new neighbours who are, otherwise, very pleasant. I'm sure they thought they were doing me a favour, but it has left my garden looking very bare at one side and with no privacy from next door...gggrrrr!!!

To make things worse, there's very little soil on my side in this area so I have been puzzling over what to do next. So, after visiting our mum this morning, Heather and I went to the garden centre and I got some bags of topsoil, compost and grit with a view to creating an area that I can plant up. Last night I found some large rocks that were hidden from view by overgrown Heathers, so I heaved them out and split them with a hammer and chisel. This is as far as I got this afternoon......

.....I've moved a few things around and now I need some new plants!

The gaps above the wall used to be full of lovely shrubbery with blossoms and berries : (  

I've moved some of my pots to fill the gravelly areas that have no soil at all and I've put some new plants into the deeper soil that will, hopefully, grow and create some privacy once more....

...it's not that I'm antisocial, but I don't like having an uninterrupted view into next door's garden! I've planted a lovely fern that I dug out of Heather's garden....she did give me permission! Next to it are a couple of Sunflowers that should flower nicely now that they're in open ground and, to the left of the fern is my bargain of the day..... 

....it's a "Magical Four Seasons" Hydrangea which, apparently, goes through four colour changes through the year. Heather and I loved the vintage look of it and I've wanted a Hydrangea for ages.This one was a steal in the special offers section!

Well, from gardens back to festive makes and here are one or two more examples of what I've been up to with my new stamps. This one is using my Zendoodle ready to go Angel set and the words are from my Inspirational Quotes set. The strip down the side features the Tsukineko Irresisible spray in Lulu Lavender which I then blended over with Shaded Lilac Distress ink.

Here's another card featuring my Peaceful Christmas set. I used a background from my selection that I have ready to use...it was created with Dylusions ink sprays onto damp 300 gsm white card which I then spritzed with white Dyusions through one of Tim's stencils. Not an especially festive stencil, but the colours worked really well and give a Northern Lights glow to the card. For this scene I simply added torn strips of white card with some shading of course....Distress ink applied with a waterbrush.

I'll be making more examples with the new Christmas stamps tomorrow, so will share them as and when!

I thought you might like to see a couple of new spots that Thomas has decided are great places to be. The last couple of days have seen him enjoying being in my company in the garden, but he soon gets bored of me taking more notice of plants than of him! His latest sleeping bed is here......

...curled up on top of the Heathers which make a very springy, if slightly prickly, cushion. If I pat him he goes up and down as if he's on a trampoline!

This morning I couldn't find him in any of his usual places until I went into the bathroom and discovered that his newest resting place is here.....

.....in the bath! Who knows what goes on in the feline mind!

Well, a bit of an eclectic mix of piccies tonight, but I'll be back with more Christmas creations in the next day or two. Nighty night all.

A wander in the garden

Another quick coffee break post this morning. Then I'll be packing my bags ready for my trip to Burnley in the morning for the demonstration event at The Craft Range. There will be lots of demonstrations to entertain and inspire, including my great friends Andy Skinner and Mark Gould. I don't get to see the guys that often and now it will be twice in a fortnight!

So, hope to see lots of you over in Burnley on Saturday...I'm sure it will be a fantastic day.

I don't have any photos of my latest creations to share this morning as I've been working on new stamp designs all week and they are obviously "top secret"! I'll take my camera tomorrow though so will share pictures of the day next week.

Thanks to those who asked how I'd got on at the dentist on Tuesday. I'd been scheduled to have another root canal treatment (!) but, having discussed it with the dentist, we decided that it would be better to just whip the tooth out - it's quite far back and not that noticeable. Anything to avoid the complications of the last experience! I was in and out in no time...as was the tooth! No after effects either. I still look like a pirate though as I'm still waiting for the new crown - then I'll be all done and dusted. I also got my hospital appointment to see the neurologist about my numb face so that was much quicker than expected - hoorah!

Well, I don't like to do a post with no photos so here are some of the jungle that I'm surrounded by at the moment! The first of the courgettes is just about ready for the roasting dish now - yum!

A strawberry! I've decided that I probably won't bother with these again...no wonder they are so expensive when the yield is three or four berries per plant!

The sugar snap peas are just outside the conservatory door so I just pick them as I go by and eat them straight off the plant!

 One of the three tomato plants that are outside is coming along very nicely and I've got another five inside!

Unfortunately, although I adore Nasturtiums, and they are so easy to grow, I may have to restrict my love of them next year as they do attract these little monsters....

...Cabbage White caterpillars! I really love having the butterflies in the garden, but the caterpillars just make short work of my plants. Bless them! Thankfully this patch has escaped the munching beasties and are providing a lovely splash of hot colour.

My micro pond is in there somewhere.....

...everything has burgeoned and even one of the pond plants has flowered. Guess I'm doing something right! The fairies are almost completely hidden now. Sadly I've had no visiting frogs or anything larger than hover flies and wolf spiders - maybe they will still come. The only residents in there are....mosquito larvae...oh joy! I'd better stock up on citronella candles for when they emerge!

I'm thrilled with the fogloves.These three are by the pond and there are more around the garden. I grew them all from seed that my late brother in law, Graham, gave to me. That's one of the very special things about gardens isn't it...they can hold so many memories and as things grow they keep those memories alive. Every time Iook at the foxgloves I think of Graham.

By the way, the lawn was in need of a haircut when I took this (still is!) but I just haven't had time to get it done this week. There are also masses of that darned Mare's Tail weed everywhere too which I get courtesy of the fields that you can see in the background...a small price to pay for the views and the wildlife though.

All the roses are blooming now and I'm planning to plant more every year - as I've said before, David thought a garden should be filled with them, so that's what I'm doing. These are "Little Rambler" and are so dainty. They shade from palest pink right through to a deep rosy colour and the blooms just spring forth in masses - gorgeous.

The last picture is one of the flowers on the "Moment in Time" rose bush that I got in David's memory. It would have been his favourite as he loved red roses best of all. For some reason I find that my camera doesn't really like photographing reds and the details are always slightly lost (any ideas folks?), but you can still see what a lovely rose it is.

Well, I must away now to continue filling those bags for tomorrow. Have a great weekend everyone!

Doodling in the sunshine

It's been such a beautiful day here. I started the morning with a trip to the Doctor's to have a blood sample taken. It was mainly to check that I don't have an under active thyroid after I told the doctor that I keep feeling cold. It  didn't hurt, though the nurse did take five phials of blood....I felt like Tony Hancock with his "very nearly an armful" line! I felt a coffee and a toasted scone in the nearby cafe was in order to get my corpuscles back up to speed after that!

Anyway, a little food shopping next and I got a charity shop bargain top which I am hoping to slightly alter...ooh er...get me! Well, all I'm planning is to cut off the row of elastic around the bottom ( I really don't like elasticated hems) and turn up a small hem. Not exactly GBSB standard, but I will be very pleased if I can manage it neatly!

Once I got home I settled myself into the conservatory with all my pens and pencils and set about some doodling. I'd already stamped everything in readiness so I could just sit quietly and draw - very relaxing. Tara and Thomas had a great time pottering in and out to the garden and back, though a certain someone did insist on plonking himself on top of all my work from time to time!

This first card is an example of using black, white and one other colour....well, aside from a little grey that is. I stamped my Zendoodle Flower and then added all the patterns with my black fine line pen. I also drew three weeny Ladybirds as you can see. 

 

I used a grey Promarker around the whole design, fading it to dots on the outer edges, before colouring the Ladybirds with a red pen. Just a couple of plain mats of red and black kept it simple and clean.

Here's the same image but with a different effect. This time I stamped and doodled one complete flower and then stamped and doodled the petals and leaves a second time. I used yellows and greens to colour the flowers before cutting out the flower head (minus the tendrils) and leaves from the second image.

I positioned the flower head over the original one, but turned it through 45 degrees to give a layered effect. The leaves were stuck down just where they meet the stem. I then stamped a third flower and doodled the border around the central circle before colouring it and stamping the greeting into the centre.The message is one from my friend Paula Pascual and comes in the set Sentiments Everyday Messages CICSA6141. I cut round the circle and added it to the flower with 3d foam. Again, a couple of straightforward mats and a ribbon bow just finished off this card.

The image below shows a slightly different way of filling in the plain Zendoodle stamps.This one is the Mushrooms set CICSA6195. Rather than doodling in black and then adding colour, I used coloured fine point pens to create the infill patterns. Once I'd completed all the doodling I used Promarkers to add pale colours over the designs in toning shades.

Finally, for tonight, here's a tag that I had fun making. It's a swooshy Distress Inks and water spattered background and I decided that one of my Zendoodle Fish might look at home swimming around on there. Once I'd dried the tag I began drawing swirling lines of "seaweed" with my black pen which I then infilled with stripes of black and white.

I doodled and coloured the fish and popped him into place before adding three pearls and an inked ribbon.

I've kept everything simple here as the samples for my demonstration this weekend are to showcase the doodling aspect of working with the Zendoodle range of stamps. I'll be at Samuel Taylor's in Leeds on Saturday, so hope to see some of you there.

It's amazing how much better everything photographs on a sunny day like today...the colours really pop.

Before I retire to bed, you might be amused to know that Tara almost fell into the pond yesterday! Considering that she probably wouldn't even fit into it, it would have been quite some feat! I was having ten minutes in the sunshine, sitting on my garden bench, when Tara came tip toeing across the lawn and then decided to take a detour.....she promptly walked over the pebbles around the pond, whereupon they began to shift, some fell in to the water and Tara did one of those amazing acrobatic moves that only cats (even fat cats) can do! I don't think she'll be trying that again in a hurry, though she has been chomping on the new pond grass...gggrrrrr!

Yesterday I bit the bullet and mowed the lawn! Yayyyyy! It looks awful as it was so overgrown and it's very bumpy and lumpy, but I'm sure it will bounce back now it's had a haircut. The wet weather and, to be honest, my slight trepidation at using the new electric mower, had meant it had really gone awry.Once I got cracking though, I actually enjoyed it so I'll be giving it a closer cut in a few days and then I need to sort out the edging. The lawn has stone edges that have arched tops - not very practical when mowing! So, I've taken them all out and my next big job is to dig down further so I can turn the edges over with the straight (bottom) edges facing upwards, level with the turf. Think it may take a while!

I've also been moving more rocks around to create another rockery area adjacent to the pond which I hope to get sorted tomorrow. I spent over two hours yesterday just forking over one small patch of soil and removing a mesh of grass roots. What a horrible job and I was aching in places I didn't know could ache! So, I'd better get to bed and a good night's sleep in preparation for some more slogging in the morning.

Outdoor days

Morning peeps! It's very misty and murky here this morning. The rain has kept the Saharan dust away overnight but there's more of a smog hanging low in the sky than there has been all week. Peering into the mist first thing I spotted this visitor trotting about in the field behind my house.....

 ....the deer are quite regular visitors at the moment, probably due to the refurbishments on the nearby railway lines that are disturbing them. You might have to look more closely to spot him/her this time!

Well, I'm hoping the drizzle clears up before too long as I had planned a third day in the garden. I've been very busy getting all the necessary jobs done whilst I've got a slightly less hectic diary to deal with. Of course, being busy with work has meant that weeding has gone from a reasonably straightforward task to a real slog of a job! Lots of grassy weeds have taken hold and created matted roots that are a nightmare to get up. So, to break up the relentless task, I have been treating myself to more enjoyable projects along the way.

Yesterday I created the micro pond using an old washing up bowl. First I dug the hole that it would fit snugly into.......

 .....adding a layer of grit at the bottom to stabilise the bowl. I part filled the bowl with water to make sure it was level before removing it and giving it a really good wash and rinse.

 After sieving horticultural gravel with water, to wash away any dust, I added a thick layer to the bowl and then began setting pebbles into it.

 I carried on adding larger stones to create steps - on the off chance that anything does decide to pay a visit and needs to climb out! Some tiny pots are there for mini shelters. I laid more pebbles and stones around the outside surface.

Then it was time to fill the bowl with water - some from the hose but some that I've been collecting when it's rained.

 I decided to put a broken pot in the corner too (not sure about this yet, so I may get a terracotta one and smash it!) I also decided to move my little fairies from under the tree where they are completely hidden for most of the year. I think they look rather happy looking into the water!

The water has settled nicely now and all the cloudiness has cleared. Of course, it still looks just like a washing up bowl sunk into the soil at the moment, but once I've put one or two pond plants into it, added some more rocks around the edges and planted some small flowers between them, it should look a lot more natural! I'll show you a picture or two once I'm further on with it. Now it's just a case of waiting to see if I get any little visitors!

I did smile last night as Thomas was in the garden and I spotted him taking a good look at the new feature before tentatively dipping a paw into the water....don't think he was too impressed and he rapidly withdrew it, shaking it vigorously before running back inside!

I plan to make a few rockery areas in the garden, partly because I've always loved Alpines and partly to make the large garden a little easier to maintain. Looking at the price for lumps of rock though....crikey, they're expensive! So, I decided to start by recycling what I already have. Beneath the large Lavender bush there were a couple of biggish rocks that really couldn't be seen where they were, so I hoiked them out and then foraged about for a few smaller bits and pieces that might work.

I also decided to use a really old gnome who has seen better days....he had been broken off from his base, so he was perfect to plant firmly into the soil. I detest garish, painted gnomes, but this aged one is very characterful. 

Once I'd decided what to put where, I dug the soil and firmed everything in. I need to get some Alpines now (what a treat!) but, for now, I've just transplanted a few little cuttings. There's also a stone toad that has been transferred from another corner of the garden....you can just see him creeping in from the right....

The rockery is just below my front window and I planted up three tubs yesterday too to brighten everything up. The miniature daffodils are gorgeous and there are bulbs and plug plants that will add more colour as they grow.

Yesterday my new fence panel arrived and, as the delivery driver was too mean to help me to drop it in, I used my feminine charms (?!) and asked the two men who are removing rubbish from a garage across the road! They were only too happy to help (there are still some gentlemen around!) and after a lot of pushing, shoving and bashing the concrete posts with a mallet, they managed to get the panel in place. It's as solid as a rock now, so I can crack on with putting a deeper edging around the bed, adding more soil and then getting my three climbing roses in. Looks like the drizzle may be dissipating now, so I may be able to make a start soon.

Well, this has been very much a gardening post but it is my week off after all! I'll be back at work tomorrow, starting with the Leigh Show on the Card-io stand. If you haven't been to this event, you can find all the details here. I'm only there on the Saturday but it will be a busy couple of days.

On Sunday I am performing in one of our puppet shows at Church. Last rehearsal was yesterday evening and, hopefully, everything will go smoothly on the day. 

When I looked at photos from this day last year I remembered what I'd been up to.....

.....make n takes with the local WI group! We made bookmarks using alcohol inks and Darkroom Door stamps.

Well, I am going to take a chance on the weather now and get my gardening gear on - two pairs of old leggings, one of David's old sweatshirts and my old boots. Plus my hair in pigtails...and what did I say before about using my "feminine charms"?!