Some Sewing (A Little) & Some Gardening (A Lot) . . . . . . . .

Greetings lovely friends & readers

And Welcome to October  💚

The Magnolia tree out from my dining room window, taken last week.  The winds have blown most of the blooms off the tree now.

 

There has been a teeny bit of sewing completed here at Threadbear HQ - this Christmas bunting kitset was finished last week.  It's based on a pattern by Bird Brain Designs but 'tis the season have kitted it & changed it a little.   

(I should note here that I began stitching this in January so its taken me a few months)

It's meant to have 16 square flags but I decided by No 10 that I'd had enough & felt it was long enough anyway.  

My other completion was this tiny mouse kitset, again purchased from 'tis the season.  She only measures 5 inches tall so was a tiny fiddly wee girl to stitch up.

And her felt teddy was only 1.5 inches ... can you imagine trying to stuff that teeny body - very nearly sent me cross eyed  👀!!

I had barely unpacked my suitcase from my Melbourne trip when I began seed sowing as my moon gardening calendar told me it was the perfect time.

  I sowed sunflowers, hollyhocks, achillea & giant zinnias.  My photos show right after planting (top left) & then (top right) just yesterday - they've grown so much that this morning I planted the sunflowers outside as I've had them hardening off on my deck.  

 The warmer milder weather we've had is making everything burst into bloom.

Dark purple "bluebells" & then pale mauve "bluebells".  The wisteria is especially prolific this year for some reason - it can be inclined to sulk the odd year.  I keep it well contained as they can be rampant.  

After clearing everything away for the Painters last May I've begun hauling things out & giving them a scrub.  My old pram is looking very rusty but I love it with a red geranium sat in it. 

My chair planter needed a rust treatment & then another coat of coastal green paint.  I've treated it to a new basket liner & some white petunias.  

 My green birdcage needed the same treatment.  I use * this * spray anti rust gel as its all about ease of use for me these days.

My cucumber & courgette plants were looking a bit sad in my veggie garden & I felt they needed some protection over them.  I found some old wire baskets with missing chains & laced plastic over them securing with yarn, to make 

little hothouses.  I made up 5 altogether.

This project would've taken considerably less time had a certain furry creature NOT kept running off with my ball of wool 😖

I have this area to the left of my deck steps that is always untidy - nothing will grow there due to it being where I mix sprays etc.  

The hose is here & it often becomes a dumping ground for various outdoor paraphernalia.  

I decided to edge it & lay mulch to try to tidy it up.  I used a rope to get my shaping right & then dug the lawn to begin laying my bricks.  It is at this stage (top right) that I began to doubt my sanity ... the ground was rock hard & so difficult to dig. 

Three days later,  my bricks are finished & I've laid old meal bags down to stop any weed growth.  I purchased some bags of mulch last Friday & was able to finish the area with a couple of stepping stones to get to my hose on the wall.  I'm really pleased with how this turned out & a few pots would look nice sitting here if I choose to do this.

And at the far end of it the Clematis is in full bloom 💓

The last two weeks have been school holidays here in New Zealand & I had Sid some days.  We made banana bread, mars bar slice & went to the movies, played football at the Domain & did colouring in ... Granny forgot to pick up her camera most of the time cos she was tired !! 😉

Thank you as always dear friends, for your ever-welcome visits here today,

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week ... remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,