Hopeful Signs of Spring

Here in England's north west corner the sun greets us today from a clear blue sky. The birds are singing and busily building their nests and you can almost hear the flowers opening in order to turn their faces to the sun.

Around the garden the daffodils are putting in a later appearance than usual due to the prolonged snow that lasted throughout January.

Winter flowering heathers create cheerful purple carpets.

Camellias are a great substitute for roses which won't be here for another six or eight weeks.

The early azaleas have been in flower for a couple of weeks and will soon be joined by their many later flowering companions.

This hellebore is 'Winter Moonbeam' which we planted last March when it was very small and had just two blooms. Just look at it now. I can definitely recommend this variety.

Peering around the old crab apple tree I see daughter and hubby having an in depth discussion....time to investigate.

The wheel barrow is loaded with tools which means there is a 'man at work!'

This little project was started last summer. The gateway will lead through to the area where hubby chops logs and stores wood of all shapes and sizes
The inspiration came from a wonderful garden we visited last July. We both loved how the owners had used cut logs to create this wall and arch.

I fear ours won't look anything like this but we will hopefully have a loggy sort of wall and a gate that will screen the log chopping area....I'll keep you posted on progress.
Hoping you all had an enjoyable Easter.
Until next time
Eli.

Taking Tea for Easter

Don't you just love this red spotted teapot? It belongs to Rhondi at Rose Colored Glasses. Rhondi has the the most gorgeous collection of china and today I'm joining in the fun at her Tea Party Tuesday. Do pop over for a cuppa and meet some of her blogging chums.

With golden daffodils in the background I had hoped we could enjoy our tea party in the garden. But the rain is pouring down and an icy wind brings the threat of snow, so refreshments will be taken beside the dining room window. It's a very dull day so please excuse the poor quality of my pictures.
Indoors is warm and snug and I'm serving your tea in some of my pretty vintage china.

I love this daffodil design as it immediately conjures up images of spring. It dates from the art deco period of the 1930s.

I have no homemade cakes or biscuits to offer you I'm afraid but perhaps you'd like to try an Easter nest cake.

I bought a section of these cakes as my daughter is coming to stay this weekend and they have been her traditional Easter 'must have' since she was a tiny tot. "Easter wouldn't be Easter without nest cakes Mum!"
I have a small box containing all the Easter fripperies from my children's childhood and they are ready and waiting for a nostalgic tea party with the family next weekend.

Now, bring your tea to my craft room and I'll show you the little characters I've been knitting this week.

In my last post I showed you an egg cup and some yarn and asked if you could guess what I was making. Well done those of you who guessed correctly....yes....the answer was egg cosies and as always you will find the pattern for them in my Etsy shop.
This little egg cosy girl is welcoming you with a tiny chocolate egg.

Meet her brother and sister

Each little cutie fits snuggly over an egg (real or chocolate!).

I'm very fond of these plain white egg cups.

But for extra fun I couldn't resist giving this little fellow a Carlton Ware egg cup that I found in a thrift shop. It could have been made for him.

These little walking wear egg cups can be found on Ebay.

The knitted egg cosies have joined their many friends in my craft room and Lucy Lavender welcomes them with an apron full of chocolate eggs.

Aren't aprons a useful way to carry eggs?

If you aren't wearing an apron then lift up your skirt and fill it with eggs...chocolate ones of course.

I made this card for you using one of my Magnolia Tilda rubber stamps. She's a great favourite of mine.

I hope you all enjoy a Very Happy Easter and, wherever you live around the world, may the sun shine for you.
Until next time,
Eli.

A Very Special Day

It's been a very busy few weeks here at Flutterby Patch.

Much plotting and planning has been going on.

Cakes have been made and scrumptious edibles goodies prepared and all because..........

on Sarurday 20th March, the first day of Spring......

my dear son married his sweetheart.

 Promises were made and rings exchanged

Hymns were sung and prayers were spoken.

And then the happy couple joined their wedding guests for the celebration.

The scrumptious goodies were consumed

and everyone made merry.

 And so, two days later, it all seems rather quiet.

The excitement has waned and suddenly I've realised that Easter is less than two weeks away.

But fear not..... my needles are out, my yarn is prepared and and the little scene above just might give you a clue about what I'm planning to knit next.
Until next time,
Eli
Pictures were taken from Jill Barklem's wonderful 'Summer Story' in which Poppy Eyebright married Dusty Dogwood.

Little Pots of Colour

I love having flowering plants on my kitchen window sill throughout the year. This is the grape hyacinth I showed you a couple of weeks ago and as you can see it's just beginning to fade. So I now need to consider what will take its place.

I recently found a really nice book on container gardening which contains some great ideas that are definitely going to get used for future window sill colour.

I love the idea of using odd cups and mugs for herbs. The cup could stand on a saucer if you decided to drill holes in the bottom (special 'glass/china' drill bit needed). If, like me, that presents too much hassle then just plonk the plant in the cup, fill with compost and give it small amounts of water daily.

Here's something else I have plenty of.....old plates! The blue and white teamed with snowy white looks so summery don't you think?

I'd never considered using vintage style tins. Drilling holes in these for drainage would be easy enough.

And here's a novel idea for a party..... Tiny flowering plants in tiny containers, gorgeously wrapped in pink paper (or fabric) and tied with a satin bow. Don't they look pretty on the glass plate as an alternative to cupcakes (not as yummy though).

And here's the book I used for the photos. It contains loads of creative ways for using every-day items as containers for plants and is full of pictures which are bound to tempt you to try some of them.
I'm off now to sort through my old cups and mugs.
Until next time,
Eli

Lovely lavender

Who couldn't love lavender. It sings of summer days.

This little scene was created by my daughter last July. Whenever I ask her what she'd like as a gift for her birthday her reply is always accompanied by a sweet image. She popped into her garden with this little dolly, sat her amongst the lavender flowers and 'snapped'.
And so, dreaming of summer days ahead I have spent the week thinking of the colour lavender and all my favourite flowers in shades of mauve and purple.

Sweet smelling lilac has to be my all time favourite.

With refreshments served in my purple pansy mug and something sweet to eat in shiny purple wrappers, I've been busy creating the pattern for a new little character to put in my Etsy shop. She is of course dressed in shades of lavender.

Her name is Lucy Lavender and she's a bit of a rascal as you can probably see from her cheeky smile. She comes with a little rabbit who is holding a tiny carrot. I hope the pair don't cause too much trouble round here!