Alas

The evidence was spread over the grass - black feathers, lots of them. The Sparrow Hawk had struck. Cats don't leave this kind of evidence. At least this blackbird lost its life to feed a hungry bird rather than a fat cat. I  thought he deserved a small memorial. There are a pair of blackbirds that feed close to the house where I have my feeding station. Both of them have one white feather on their back so are easily identified, I was sad to think that this was one of this pair who have been around all winter, but I saw them both this morning, not that it makes any difference to this blackbird's mate. A sad little note I know.  More cheerful next time!

Just to cheer you up here is Kate Bush singing with a blackbird from her 2005 album Aerial. I played this track to my class one year to demonstrate bird song and they loved it - I love the whole album. Very uplifting.

Flowers wot I made

This is what I have been spending my evenings doing this week. Seem to have been busy every day. Now I want to get messy - perhaps tomorrow I can get out the paint and glue.

Needle felt flower pins 

 I have been trying to make a variety of shapes and colours, embellished with a bit of embroidery and beads. This is not the best of photographs, but I really cannot be bothered to set up a photo shoot today. Do you think they work?

I have also been working on my doodle stitching

.

I have been helped by the arrival of my 1p book from Amazon. Even with the P&P it was still a bargain.

I have managed to do a little bit of tidying in the garden as well, but as I have a very dodgy back I have to take it very slowly, and 20 minutes is probably enough for the first few sessions. Hope you are having a great weekend.

Spring is on it's way

What a beautiful morning - it was warm enough to be outside without a coat - as long as I stood in the sun. The birds were shouting and the air was zinging. I planted new crocuses last year and now they are coming out - and I have found a few snowdrops - in bud. I took this photograph of my established crocuses last year on February 27th. I remember I lay down on the grass on an empty compost bag to take it. I would not have wanted to do that today. The soil is water-logged and was still frozen at 11.00 am on the shady side of the garden. I really wanted to do a little weeding, but it was just too wet. If this dry weather keeps up, then maybe at the weekend I can have a go at the dandelions. I took the second photograph on the same day last year, but the purple crocuses were only just showing their colour today, but it will only take a bit of sunshine to bring them on. Oh and I saw what I think was a honey bee in the yellow crocuses, has to be the first of the year, of what ever kind - it is usually the bumble bees I see early. I will have to get my chart if I am going to start logging them. Hope you are enjoying some sun too, Jill.

Hello March, bye Feb...

A great start to the month. it is a lovely sunny morning. I'm off to the hairdressers for a long 'do' this morning, and then I have a vey busy week coming up, so I may not manage a post, but I will have time to visit and comment I hope. Lots of people have been posting their calendars on the flickr site it is great to see so many taking part.
My pages have a stitching theme and Jane (Marigold Jam), you may recognise that lovely silk swatch you sent me. I have scanned it for this.  Cannot bear to cut it up! Must go now, have a good week, Jill.

Calendar girls (& boys?)are you ready?

March is nearly here - it has come in such a rush. I have found time between other jobs to prepare my page and cut out my squares, I'll stick it all together tomorrow. I've gone for a spring theme here - I'm ever the optomist!

So if you want to have a go and haven't managed to do January and February, it doesn't matter - start now, make it a spring project. I have a pretty BIG birthday coming up soon, so March is a bit special for me - mad as a hare.

Doodle stitching

Thought I'd share what I have been up to. First this is my piece of doodle stitching, as I call it. It is a lovely piece of real wool felt donated by my sister with a couple of fabric patches machine sewn on and then hand stitched with a bit of needle felt too. This is really just me experimenting and trying to remember stitches until my embroidery stitch book arrives - 1p from Amazon plus p&p. Second-hand, but stitches don't change do they?

This on the other hand is a little more ambitious, only acrylic felt I'm afraid, but you may recognise the shape from my photographs of the fan light in the walled garden. I cut out the black outline with a craft knife through tracing paper. Of course the felt stretched as I cut it as I knew it would, but the basic shape is there and I can pull it back into shape as I stitch on it. Not sure what I am going to do yet, but trolling through my scraps for suitable inserts into the panes - I'm not going to do many.

This is a longer term project, but I'm into stitching at the moment, and it is nice to have something to do on my lap. I'll report my progress, but don't hold your breath! Wishing you all a great weekend.

Inside the Fern House

On my latest visit to the walled garden I got to go inside the Fern House, the large conservatory built in the 1900s by Sir Julius Wernher.

It is a 'hard hat' area.

The inside is propped up and is in a very fragile condition. It is a wooden structure and in its present state would not be able to be re-glazed as the frame could not take the weight of the glass.

What a magnificent sight it must have been, filled with exotic fruits, flowers and ferns  with its central roof tall enough for small trees. From the central atrium lead two long arms each with further glass houses branching off. One of the volunteers told me that when he started clearing this three years ago it was a tunnel of brambles and they had to hack their way into it foot by foot.

At the end of the passage is this glazed alcove which would be enough to grace the back of most peoples' homes on its  own.

The central lantern window in the roof here is mostly intact.

I shall be sharing some more photos soon.

More information:

The Walled Garden Project