All around us now the countryside is awakening from its long winter sleep. The snowdrops are coming to an end, but soon (already in some sheltered spots) there will be daffodils, wallflowers, violets and more to enjoy. In my raised beds the tulip bulbs are growing strongly, though their leaves look a little limp after being battered in the recent gales….
And the other sprouting bulbs are in fact alliums which puzzles me somewhat. Last year I planted them in neat rows (this is my cutting bed) the OTHER side of the tulips – but they’ve moved and this year are coming up in random clumps on this side! I have no idea what’s going on, but would love to hear if anyone has any ideas. In the background you can see our two huts…
Now named Rhubarb … and Custard of course! After the cream and maroon railway livery that appears on one of the East Somerset Railway carriages. This summer we’ll be busy fitting them out and landscaping the old kitchen garden ready to receive (we hope!) our first visitors next year.
I’ve been busy sewing as well, having already begun the first project for the April Magazine, with one or two others in mind as well. I’m often asked if I have any favourite patterns, to which I reply “every one is my favourite while I’m stitching it” But I do love patterns that invoke the countryside and nature around me, so I think that my two favourites from the March Magazine are possibly the Follow the Bunny Wreath and Garden Birds….
I see these birds in my garden every day, and though the bunnies are more in evidence in the spring, they are certainly around at the moment as the rabbit holes in our garden bank testify! I especially enjoyed the bunny wreath, in fact it probably was my favourite make of the March Magazine, and so I decided to reinterpret it as an embroidery pattern for the April edition…
And it will be fun to see how it turns out! Meanwhile if you’d like a taster of the contents of the March magazine, then please just click below for a preview….
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