Thursday 6 August 2015

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Welcome back and a special welcome to some new followers. It's been a bit of a hectic week. Problems with broadband and problems with drains. All sorted now, thankfully.

I forgot to show you my second dishcloth that I made recently (pattern here). Here it is with our new, very miniature, rose. More about roses later.


Our neighbour does a bit of farming and for the past few weeks the field beside us has become the 'maternity field'. This was the first calf to be born. The picture was taken the day after it was born.


Mummy cow kept a close watch on her new baby.


In another field close by is the boy I would be pretty sure is the daddy!


Anyway, back to the garden now. The husband made this willow construction months ago (see here) for growing sweet pea. We've had such awful weather this summer with so much wind and rain. In fact, it is now official that we've had the coldest July in twenty years. The result is a slightly skewed willow frame and sweet peas that haven't quite reached their full potential. But they're not bad!


This is inside the frame where there are poppies growing as well.




This rose was planted last year and isn't doing too badly. A lot of the roses in the garden haven't done well at all this year.




This rose seems to do very well every year.


The first of the tomatoes this year. There is going to be a really big crop but that's because they're in the greenhouse. They are very slow to ripen so I pick them as soon as they show signs of starting to ripen and bring them into the house. For some reason they then ripen almost overnight.


Some of the blackcurrants that have been picked. I have washed and frozen over twenty two pounds so far and there's more to come! Later in the year I'll make blackcurrant cordial and probably some jelly too.


The strawberries weren't as good as we'd hoped because of the bad weather. We managed to get plenty to eat with ice-cream but not enough to freeze any.


I've finished crocheting the king sized blanket and have started sewing in the ends. It's therapeutic!

Did any of you spot my deliberate mistake in my last post about the sea glass shawl? I said the shawl is made up of three rows of motifs but it is actually constructed using four rows. The first has ten motifs, then nine, eight and finally seven, making a total of thirty four motifs. Also, I mentioned in the comments that I am using a 3.5 mm hook. Well, yes, I am. When I checked the pattern again (after having made fourteen motifs) I discovered that I should have been using a 3.25 mm hook. To be honest, I think the 3.5 mm hook is perfect so I'm glad I made that mistake! I've now finished the first two rows and am really loving it. Thanks for your lovely comments about the shawl, by the way.

Well, that's it for now. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. I have some news about giveaways that I've won but that will wait for another time.

19 comments:

  1. We've had the hottest month of June in history and I'm pretty sure that they'll anounce that it was the same for July ! I love that picture of the cow and her baby; the way she looks at him makes her almost .. human ! xx

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  2. Love the cattle! Do cows give birth during a season, like lambs, or just as and when? I never thought about it before, nor that it would be slightly later than lambing! (my ancestors were sheep farmers, not cattle, you see)

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    1. There doesn't seem to be as short a season for cattle giving birth as for sheep. Just seems that the cattle give birth any time over the spring and summer. I'm no expert though!

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  3. Poor you, coldest July in twenty years, that's just plain awful. Your sweet peas look so pretty they are one of my favourite flowers. They are soo fragrant. I'd love to have all those black currants, we just have too many zucchinis!! Sounds like a happy accident with your shawl, it is perfect!

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  4. Love your garden! And what a sweet calf, should be wonderful to watch it growing next to your door!
    Have a good time sewing the ends of your blanket, it's indeed not as bad as we sometimes think.
    Sigrid

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  5. Hi, Gillian! Your blue dishcloth is cute. Love that stitch. I'll have to follow the link and see the pattern. I think I've made something similar before. Your little roses are beautiful. Such a pretty pink! Sweet pictures of the baby calf and her momma. And that bull! Wow. He's massive.

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  6. hello gillian,
    lovely photos.the blue dishcloth with the pink rose looks beautiful!!!!!
    here is it hot.
    have a nice week,
    love and hugs,
    regina

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  7. That baby is sooo cute, made my day.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  8. Didn't notice a thing on your shawl post, just thought it beautiful. We have had similar weather to you being not so far away, it's been a rotten summer and our sweet peas and marigolds haven't even flowered this year. Lets hope August proves to be better. Hx

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  9. I ordered the magazine for the shawl pattern & it was delivered this morning. My sweet peas have been dire this year, I've had about three! Yours are looking lovely x

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    1. Such a pity about your sweet peas. Hope you enjoy crocheting the shawl. I have had to order more yarn. Could be because I am using a 3.5 mm hook instead of 3.25.

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  10. Your sweet peas are a triumph, despite your cold July. It wasn't much better here, despite a promising start, but August is shaping up to be a bit better. Your garden still looks incredible, despite the lack of sun. x

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  11. What a pretty dishcloth! It's so sweet having the maternity field next to your house. We used to have the young cattle close to us, but I think they put them somewhere else this year, as we didn't hear them. It's so sad when they separate them from their mums, the calves make such a noise, for days.....

    Your garden is looking beautiful. Gorgeous crochet blanket, such a lot of interest with all the different squares.

    I enjoyed reading your facts about you, Gillian, as I am quite new to your blog.

    I hope you have a great week. Barbara xx

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    1. There are 3 calves now and I'm dreading the day when they are separated from their mothers. The noise they make is heartbreaking.

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  12. Such lovely produce - it looks so good. I do like sweet peas, one of my favourite flowers.
    Caz xx

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  13. What a pretty dishcloth. I was just thinking this morning that I need to get on and knit myself some more, mine are usually just boring white functional ones though. I was awwing at the calf thinking how lovely to be able to look out and see babies in the field but then I read your reply above, how sad. I don't think I could stand hearing them. I think it's going to be a bumper year for tomatoes, my plants are dripping in fruit. My outdoor plants seem to do better than the ones in the greenhouse every year.

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  14. Hello Gillian,
    Very nice shots!! So cute that little calf.
    And what a wonderful flowers in that garden and you've got a lot of fruit. That looks delicious.

    Many greetings,
    Marco

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  15. The summer here in Germany has been awful, as well, So much rain! I love your garden photos a lot. Everything looks so beautiful. Viola

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