Thursday, 1 September 2011

Late summer sunshine

As the month changes today to September it is easy to believe that summer is coming to a close. The nights are certainly drawing in and there is heavy dew on the grass in the morning. Today however summer has certainly returned to Surrey. It has been glorious, blue skies and still a warmth in the gentle breeze. Normally it rains on my day's off but today I am blessed and the sun is there for me!
This was my view of my Studio this morning.

Those of you who are very observant may notice that all but the decking has now been painted with a protective finish. My Hb and I spent all last Sunday doing this. It is called light oak and I really love the colour. The decking will be painted but as it is not as exposed to the elements as the rest of the building it can wait.
You will also see a little mat at the door.








Inside things are happening but there is nothing to photograph yet. My Dad is making my work bench as we speak and is coming over on Saturday to install it. He and my Hb also hope to "power" me up with lighting and power. Once that is in place I can start working down there.







As I looked around my garden this morning  I spotted lots more signs of growth in most of my plants.


I am getting a 2nd flush of runner beans. These have been super this year, really sweet and again my ladybirds have taken care of any pesky black fly. Nature is very clever at balancing itself out with some things!











I picked these last night for dinner...there are no air miles for them at all...about 20 paces I think!













I still have plenty more of my Gardener's Delight tomatoes to ripen.












What I have been most surprised with this year is my sweet corn. I really did not think much could come of these in my tiny garden but take a look............


I have at least 6 plants and each have several corns ripening. I have not picked any yet, I just hope they are as gorgeous on the inside as they look on the outside. I love eating corn on the cob....mmmm!















My plants are also still blooming away both in my pots and my hanging baskets.
This lovely fuchsia has the wonderful name of Billy.....it is pink just like my dear Billy's nose..and talking of Billy...
Here he is, on the wall watching me, and as always whenever he sees me moving round the garden he comes down to help...
OK then Billy let's just show a few more sunny photos from my garden.


Today is also a very special day as my daughter and her fiancĂ© move into their 1st home together. Yes they have taken the plunge and bought a house with a west facing garden in Hampshire. Their road even has the name Honeysuckle in it, how sweet is that? To mark this momentous occasion  I made them this card.
I posted it yesterday so I am hoping it will arrive after the removal men have delivered all their furniture. Their home has been in storage for all of August as the vendor needed more time. They will be so excited to be no longer living out of a suitcase. I still remember the excitement  of moving into our 1st house and we loved it so much we have never moved. Here we still are 28 years later.

Thank you all for your lovely comments about my new studio, yes it is so exciting and so pretty to look at at the end of my garden. Let's hope the summer sunshine last a little longer into September and that it is still shining for you all?

 Lastly I am sending some sunshine down to my daughter and her FiancĂ©'s New Home.... and lots into that little garden of her's  where I know she is going to get an awful lot of pleasure :0)

Bye for now,

Jane x ( and Billy)

Friday, 26 August 2011

The Tale of Jane's Studio

Once upon a time a crafter called Jane dreamed of having a workspace of her own. From her earliest days as a little girl  she occupied many hours "making and doing" wherever there was a space..the kitchen side, the dining room table, her bedroom floor and many even more unusual places.

When Jane got married for a while she lived in a tiny one bedroom flat where there was little space  for much crafting. She took up cake decorating, as this could be achieved in a small space on her kitchen side. After 2 years had passed her and her Hb moved into their very own  house where she had 3 whole bedrooms. For nearly 5 years she had her own room to craft in and set out her sewing, knitting and other crafts. She had a ball. She made curtain and blinds, lampshades and all sorts of other items. It was crafting paradise.

In 1986 the first of the 2 miracles occurred, her Darling Daughter was born and the craft room became the nursery. Jane was so busy with this bundle of joy that her crafting was not missed too much, she still managed her cake decorating and knitting.

February 1989 arrived and so did miracle number 2, her Precious Son. Darling Daughter moved into bedroom 3 as Precious Son now needed the nursery. And so the house was full! With 2 little miracles Jane had many, many happy years of making and doing with her own children. Her own projects (except the annual birthday cakes of course) were again put on hold.

Time passed and both children grew up, Darling Daughter moved into her own home and Precious Son although still living at home, came and went (as all 22 year old son's do!). He came more often than he went as he did still rather like having clean washing and a nice comfy bedroom to sleep in. Jane also took up a new craft, silver smithing and jewellery making - and still there was no permanent space for Jane's Making and Doing as people often came to stay in the spare bedroom. Jane's crafts were carried out on the dining room table much to the dismay of Patient Husband. Many a day he would come home from work on one of Jane's non work (paid work of course!)days and find every surface in the dining room covered with crafting items. He would smile, make a small gap on the table where he could place his dinner plate, and sit down to eat amongst the beads, wires, glues and papers. He never, ever complained.

The years raced by and in July  2010 Jane and Darling Daughter were at the Hampton Court Flower show admiring all the greenhouses, sheds and other lovely buildings when an idea emerged. There was an old shed at the end of the garden which once housed the pet guinea pigs. Those dear souls had long gone up to the great lawn in the sky. Why not take the old shed down and put up a small studio for Jane's crafting? And so began the studio project overseen by Patient Husband.

It took nearly a year to sort out, design, find a good shed manufacturer and all the rest but just look what appeared at the end of her garden this week........*SQUEAL*




Jane's brand new purpose built studio. It has 2 opening windows, a glazed door, a little veranda outside where she can sit in the shade or shelter from the rain. (There will be much drinking of tea here).
Inside there is an area by the window where her workbench will be set. She can craft away looking out to her little garden to her heart's content. At the moment there is no power or shelving but this is all in progress.She also plans some blinds and flooring.It will be a perfect workspace and no more will Patient Husband have to share his dinner with all things crafty.

So after over 40 years of making and doing Jane has finally got a space of her own. How lucky is she and how very kind her dear Patient Husband  is to have organised it for her..................he may even be invited down for tea ;0)

And the moral of this story......Good things come to those who wait (even if it does take 40 years and 2 little miracles in the making).

And the final seal of approval.....
Well hello Mr Billy, do come on in.........................please wipe those paws....

Bye for now, it's a Bank Holiday weekend, enjoy it if you also have one :0)

Jane ( a very, very happy girl...and a very, very big thank you M)
x

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Feeling hot, hot, hot..........

I have been so busy with my holiday and days out posts that I have not had time to update you all with my garden. I want to show you the results today of my experiment with my chile seeds.If you remember I bought a tiny propagator back in the spring.
I am delighted to show you the end results..





Just look at my chillies ripening. I have no less than 8 plants ( I gave some away) and they are all producing lots of yummy fruits. I am going to leave a few on to turn red.









I started these plants in my little propagator on my window sill back in March
Very quickly they needed to be potted on and I made my own little cloches using plastic drinks bottles, old jars and anything else which would keep the young plants warm.






By Easter they were all getting quite big and I started to acclimatise them to my kitchen by removing their cloches.











After waiting some time for the temperature to rise in the garden I finally put them outside and waited for them to flower.

And flower they certainly did! I have cropped at least 20 fruits so far and there are so many to come as long as the weather holds warm.

They are the Jalapeno variety so quite mild, I really am not a fan of spicey food but they give a gorgeous warmth to my home made chile con carne and my Choritzo feast dinner.
These beauties I harvested  on Thursday night....

They got chopped up and added to our dinner....yum!


Served with rice, parmesan cheese sprinkled on top and a glass of chilled rose wine.....perfect!


These have been so straightforward to grow that I am thinking of trying a couple of more exotic varieties next year. We plan to havest as many chilies as possible as they also dry really well. They can they just be crumbled into dinners and give a gorgeous memory of sunny days in the garden.

I hope you enjoyed the weekend, it stayed dry for us and we really enjoyed the barbeque yesterday. I have just finished tidying my garden in the sunshine. All my plants have also been given a welcome drink whilst Billy has slept in the shade. Phew, time for a sit down and a cup of tea. Have a great week.

Bye for now,

Jane x