By Helen

lovely, lovely, lavender…

Have you visited Provence?  No, neither have I.  I would love, love, love to visit the area and see the beautiful fields of lavender stretching out for miles and miles. I would love, love, love to hear the hum of the bees as they go about their work in the lavender fields.  I would love, love, love to take a deep breath and inhale the intoxicating lavender perfume.  One day…

Have you visited Yorkshire?  I am lucky enough to love in York, the centre of Yorkshire, the city is stunningly beautiful and so is the surround country-side.  Last week Si and me hired a car (we have been car-free since last November) and went to the stunning Yorkshire Lavender.  As soon as we stepped out of the car, the smell of lavender hit you in waves.  I wish I could let you smell what we smelt.  I took lots of photographs so you can see the loveliness of what we saw…

All colours of lavender…

Harvest time…

Sculpture punctuating the landscape…

Not the only ones enjoying the lavender…

Yes, lots of lovely lavender…

Ok, it isn’t Provence: it is Yorkshire and it is well worth a visit, a visit for the senses and for inspiration.

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Summer in the garden…

Where do you get the inspiration for your makes?  Like a lot of you, I get a lot of my inspiration from plants, flowers and Mother Nature.  Often, my inspiration is found just a few feet from my backdoor!  At the moment, I live in a small terrace house a stones-throw from the centre of York, with a lovely, lovely, garden.  Purists would say that, technically, my garden is a yard, and I guess it is…but to me it is my small, perfectly-formed, garden.  My garden is my place of calm, green-ness and inspiration.   I love it…

Lavender welcomes you in to my home…

Along with a colourful, hanging basket (if any of you know the name of this plant, please let me know)…

More hanging baskets and pots in the back…

Tomatoes…

Lettuce and rocket and other green leaves…

More pots...

All, no more than 30 seconds from my door!  I hope that you have your own green space? 

I’d love to see pictures of them.  Why not tag them to my Facebook page HERE of Instagram HERE

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Spring and the garden…

It’s lovely and sunny, chilly but sunny, here in York.  What’s the weather like with you?  Over the last few days I have finally got out to play in the garden.  For those of you, who have read my blog before, will know that by garden I mean yard: as I live in a small terrace house near to the city centre, nevertheless yard means garden to me.  Oh, yes, work in the garden has begun, waking it up from its Winter sleep: pots have been washed, paving has been washed, plants have been pruned and plants potted on into my makeshift cold frame.  Spring has defiantly sprung…

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water lilly inspiration…

Last Saturday was a really sunny Saturday, so me and Si decided to head to Burnby Hall.  Burnby Hall, is a stunning garden, about half an hour drive from York, which is full of beautiful plants and ponds full water lillies and some of the biggest fish you’ll ever see.  It is well worth a visit.  As we wandered around, inspiration started to creep in: I could crochet a water lilly!  Naturally, I took lots of photos…

Now all I have to do(!) is use the inspiration that I found and spend some hooky time, playing with yarn and experimenting.  I’ll let you know how I get along and hopefully very soon I’ll have a pattern to share with you.  I’m already thinking a crochet water lilly cushion, or even blanket!

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Spring is springing…

March is here like a lion: hopefully that means she will leave like a lamb and this cold weather will end.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a massive fan of Winter (it is one of my favourite seasons) but I have had enough now and would like some warmth.  I think that Mother Nature must also be getting restless with Winter. Have you noticed?  She is slowly, slowly starting her Spring show, reminding us that Spring is just around the corner and that the Earth is beginning to warm-up and wake-up from its Winter sleep.  A few days ago I wrapped-up and headed out with my friend and her little girl, in search of Spring.  And we found Spring in abundance.  I took my camera along, so that you could see for yourself…

Spring is on its way, so this weekend, wherever you are, go for a walk and say good morning to the World as it wakes for another year…

Oh and if you are inside, this weekend, don’t forget that you can find me on Facebook HERE

xxx

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It’s been a l-o-n-g time since I blogged about my garden, I thought that it was time to give you an update.  I’m still very much in love with my garden; I still spend many hours sat in it, crocheting, reading and drinking tea.  Yes, I love my garden.  It’s a small garden, the pedantic would call it a yard, because, well it is a yard at the back of my terrace house, but to me it is most definitely a garden.  We still have the odd cat problem (those of you who live in cities will know what I mean) but most of the time, I am winning the battle.  At the moment it looks just lovely.  The Summer flowers are still blooming, and hopefully they will continue to do-so well into September.  So, here it is my English urban garden…

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I know really think that these flowers need words; the colours and loveliness speak for themselves.  Enjoy…

Pure inspiration :-)

xxx

crochet bunting…

Over the bank holiday weekend, York was lovely and sunny, perfect weather for been outdoors in the garden.  For me it was an indulgent weekend, I have been sooooooo busy lately that I needed to just chill and do not-a-lot, while Si got on with some chopping back the plants and building his rabbit-hutch (sorry woodshed, which looks remarkably like a rabbit-hutch – he has assured me that we are NOT getting a rabbit) I sat and crocheted.  It was a good thing that I indulged in some serious hooky time, because when I looked up from finishing off my jumper: Si had given the Cotoneaster a rather server undercut.   The undercut did leave the perfect hanging space for my crochet bunting…

It cheers the wall up, and adds some much needed colour to the space.  The butting was a really easy crochet project, made up of seven granny-triangles...

They were really quick to crochet and then joined together with a simple chain.  The bunting was both started and finished in a couple of hours. What could be better…

Hope you had a lovely l-o-n-g bank holiday weekend?

 xxx

pure inspiration (part two)…

I hope you don’t mind, but I thought I’d share some more of the picis that I took, while I was at the Alnwick Garden.  You can never have too many flowers, right?  So following on from pure inspiration here comes part two…

Simply stunning.  Inspiration at every turn.  Ideas whirling around my head of all the flowers which I want to crochet and all the fabric flowers that can be made.  I hope you are as inspired..?

Ps – I haven’t found the time to crochet you a flower of the month, this month – hope you don’t mind all the picis of the real thing instead?  Back to crochet for next month…

 

xxx

pure inspiration…

A few weeks ago Si and I spent a long weekend in beautiful Northumberland.  While we were in Northumberland we decided to visit Alnwick Garden.  I cannot tell you how amazing the garden is, words just don’t describe it.  So I thought I’d share with you some of the stunning flowers we saw…

I hope you agree: simply stunning.  There was inspiration at every turn.  I came home with ideas whirling around my head of all the flowers which I want to crochet and all the fabric flowers that can be made.  I hope you are as inspired..?