Embroidery rescue - renovating a tee shirt.

Hello, lovely peeps, I'm  back  blogging  -  with grateful thanks to Rachel - Virtuosew Adventures for all  her help.

So without further ado - here's some embroidery. I've had this top for ages, it wasn't expensive, but I rather like it. Of course, it got stained. Right on the front, and really noticeable. I thought I'd have to recycle it,  but decided to see if I could disguise the mark. It's tee shirt fabric,  but I like a challenge! I wasn't at home, and had limited resources with me,  so I just drew on some freehand flower shapes with my trusty sanguine Pitt pen (archival ink), and used  2 strands of regular 6 stranded cotton thread.

It worked pretty well.

Here's a close up of  my renovation of a second  marked top, which, flushed with the success of the first one, I'm now desperately trying to save too!   I used  outline stitches and Chinese knots as satin/filling stitches were too dense for the jersey knit.  I couldn't use a hoop for stitching, as I usually do,  but ensuring the needle went between the knit rows wasn't too hard, and made certain there was no puckering.

A successful renovation, which will get a bit more wear out  of  a favourite top!

 

The story of a wildlife garden - so far.

I've been off line quite a bit as I've had labrynthitis and kept wobbling about! It's getting better so I thought I'd pop in and post a few photos of the beautiful blossom in our wildlife garden.

This garden is the fourth I've had and it's like no other before! When I moved here in 2008 I was a bit shocked to find it such a long way from our flat, with no water or power. It was originally like a small, undulating field which had been cleared of brambles, with just two old buddleia plants in it! All that visited were a couple of magpies, so I suggested to Himself that we could have a garden for wildlife. He's unable to do gardening, but loves wildlife as I do, so he thought this was a  great idea. The top border was dug out  in 2009 and shrubs to attract bees, butterflies and pollinating insects  planted. Since then we have planted five trees and a wildlife hedge of native British shrubs,  and many herbaceous plants and herbs. The garden has to be manageable for me as we still have no power outside and  all water has to be carried down from our second floor flat! (The garden in front belongs to the old gentleman who lives below us.)

This is the border a couple of years later.

And here it is today! This viburnum is filling the spring air with perfume.

 

The kerria attracts loads of insects and looks beautiful.

Likewise this lovely peach coloured chaenomeles.

 The bees love the ceanothus.

Our little trees are growing so well too,  the weeping crab apple is all set to take centre stage.

And the pear trees are out in full bloom.

 The forsythia was originally a tiny cutting my mother in law gave me! (The squirrels and magpies have displaced the bird feeder stand going after peanuts, and it needs sorting out!)

Even tiny gooseberry blossom is important for emerging pollinating insects.

 And of course, dandelions are very important! We have a lot of these! :)

 Our bug and bee retreats are already attracting potential nest builders and egg layers.

The hellebores are still blooming,  and have been since early January. They are probably my favourite cultivated plant. The old brick path is very weedy and broken down, but I'm loath to change it!

 Bee friendly wallflowers! The colours are just gorgeous.

This peony appears to have been planted in the original 1950's garden and  still comes up every year!

 And this is the wildlife hedge - the first spring after I planted it in December 2011.

This is what it looked like this morning! We have blossom!

I'm excited waiting for the guelder rose to bloom for the first time!

And maybe the wild roses?

 Anyway,  our garden visitors seem to like it,  this little poppet flew down to  investigate while I was taking the photos!

 

  

It's great to  look back and realise how far we've come,  now we have a variety of birds, mammals insects and amphibians visiting us regularly. I hope this year will bring even more. How's your garden?

Early spring walk to Penpole Point - and Penpole Dial

I thought I'd take you  on a walk. Yesterday was  a beautiful early spring day, so late in the afternoon I packed my sketching bag and headed up to Kings Weston. I decided to walk up to Penpole Point, through the wood.

 Celandines carpet the woodland floor like tiny golden stars.

I found the first signs of  spring cleaning activity at our badger sett, under the ancient lime trees - the badgers know spring is here.

The woods were filled with bird song, and squirrels busy scurrying about; or  like this one - doing a spot of  sunbathing!

Woodpigeons  cooed lazily and enjoyed the sunny hillside of Shirehampton Park.

 And tiny white violets covered the ground along the footpath.

David Martyn

The beautiful old stone compass dial on the hill top looked wonderful in the afternoon sunshine. It's been here for at least 400 years, acting as a navigation point for  ships entering the Port of Bristol. Although the trees  and scrub have hidden much of the view it's still a much loved local landmark; our wonderful KWAG conservation volunteers have done loads of work to clear the brambles and this image gives  you an idea of what it was originally like when the hillside was clear. I bet it could tell a few stories! Here it is, painted in 1840 by Joseph Walter, with the view across to the city and port of Bristol - what a change!