It is that time of the year again, when my twisted trunk bay tree needs a hair cut. 

It started off like this –

and finished like this –

This lovely tree was a wedding present ten years ago.  It has aged beautifully.

Well, don’t know how long it will last for,  feel truly sorry for all the holiday makers, business people who need to get on a plane, but the sky has been truly fabulous this weekend.

I had a lovely day today, visiting Greenwich with my sister, mother and boys.  Three generations visiting old haunts,  enjoying the London skyline from the Observatory and for the boys the pleasure of running up and down the hills in Greenwich park.   On the way home time was passed on the tube playing hangman.  Here is a lovely picture of a young and old hand with a cartoon Granny drawn by one boy.

Rowan the Strange  by Julie Hearn is our next book to read.  The blurb says

‘How does a doctor examine a person’s brain?  They won’t use knives on me, will they?  Rowan knows he is strange. But dangerous?  He didn’t mean to scare his sister.  In his right mind, he wouldn’t hurt a fly.  ….. This amazing story gives a thought provking look at life in an asylum and the experimental techniques practised at the start of the Second World War.  For Rowan, nobody could ever have predicted the effect these treatments would have….

Well !  will  tell you all about it when I’ve read it!

Spent an hour or so in the garden working on a very small patch.    I split a pink Japanese anemone into four parts and planted each bit.  I want to have a large patch of this and as it takes quite a long time to get established I thought I would help it along by planting lots of it!   In between I dug up some Forget me nots which had self seeded in another part of the gaden.  I love the colour of Foget me not blue and hope that this little patch will self seed and grow in future years.  The picture I have taken shows the flowers with a greenish tinge which I quite like.     I also found a very sad Lychnis which I bought at a discount price at the garden centre last year.  It is severely pot bound but hope that with a little bit of tlc, some decent earth to grow in, this too will grow and flower in the summer. 

I am so pleased with my lovely shawl. This pattern is fantastic for a lace beginner like me as it teaches you so much about the stitch pattern, the importance of every little yarn over and has a good chart to read for beginner lace knitters like me.

I have got lots of pictures – one shows it unblocked. I can’t quite believe that this crumpled heap turned out so beautiful. The colours of my shawl remind me of a butterfly wing and that is exactly what happens during blocking. The crumpled heap takes on a different shape and emerges as a lovely piece of lace. I have also taken pictures of it artfully draped on my dummy, from the back and how I would wear it to the front. I have also posted a picture with my favourite brooch of the moment pinned onto it. Hope you like it.

So far, I have completed one pattern repeat.  Lots of counting, lots of marking pattern repeats in rows – still pleased with results so far.    

I spent Good Friday, updating my patterns with my mum.  Shaving off inches here and there to ensure a better fit next time I make a similar dress.  The easy bit came next which was machining up all the seams on the skirt and the blouse.  I had another quick fitting before the next stage which is to fit the blouse to the skirt and the sleeves to the blouse.  So far it is coming along nicely.  I must keep my deadline of two weeks more work in my head.  This must be finished by the third week in April, pressed and ready to go.

My lovely friend has loaned me a simple necklace she had bought in a charity shop which I think will be perfect with this dress.  It sits quite high on the neck which will be great with this boat neck line.

Near my home are several shops which sell items from house clearance sales.  Yesterday, I went for a rummage to see if I could find some bits and pieces.  One of my friends was already there looking at a huge box of patchwork hexagons which someone had been making for a quilt.  She decided not to take them as she already had an armful of stuff.  I could not walk away from this box, the fabric that the quilter had been using was fantastic and was obviously pieces left over from her own dressmaking.  I bought the box, took it home and opened it up properly.  The contents were mind boggling, there seemed like there were hundreds of hexagons all tacked to bits of cards.  There was a bag of card hexagons which the quilter had kept and used again and again.  She had used old Christmas cards and letters with small excerpts of good wishes still to see.

I decided to photograph the hexagons in batches and then start to count and catalogue them.  My husband suggested I took a photo of each colour type and then he could put this onto Adobe Illustrator.  I could then create a patchwork quilt from the samples.  At the moment, I don’t know if I want to finish off this piece of work, or use the different hexagon colours to accent other sewing.  For example, I could make a range of project bags with the patchwork hexagons appliqued on.  My other thought was to make some simple girls skirts for girls aged between two and six and applique the patchwork hexagons onto the front or make a bib top with the pieces.  I would appreciate any ideas any reader may have.  Here a a few photos of the treasure.