Angel Jem's City Cottage

I bought this book last year; I don't go camping, don't own a caravan (although would love one to play with on the path) and have no VW camper to outfit, but I do like the whole ..... vibe? Is vibe too 70's a word? It sounds better than millieu (pretentious) oeuvre (too Fine Arts at home) or look (too plain). Yes, I like the vibe. It's relaxed, happy and on the whole very family friendly. So I had this book and used it as a pretty picture book. Seriously, it sits and gets looked at now and again, but I have very few plans to follow the instructions. I like the projects, I just don't think I need the step by step lists. I like just doing it.  I plan to make a rag rug, I really do, but I don't need the instructions, really.  Don't you love this camper van? It would be really brilliant if it were red. That's one of my top choices the next time I buy a car. I'd love a camper van so I can be a proper eccentric. It will have to wait, though. ...

Golly! I hope this weather today isn't the pattern for the rest of the summer; dark, dank, wet and miserable. I'm quite glad I didn't save my garden plans for this weekend on the idea that I would have a week of half term break to do it! I got a lot done last weekend; gravel, building, planting some of my ideas in the garden. It was a very busy weekend and I had lots of plans for posting all about it, but of course by the time I came inside and sat down it was time to cook and then to sleep. There just isn't enough time in the day, is there? My garden has been growing wild for about 3 years, since my Dad was ill , and I chickened out of it last year and the year before as Too Big A Job to do. I wish I hadn't sometimes, but I suppose what I really was waiting for was the inspiration and the idea to do something to the area. That came this year, and I have beavered away. There was a lot of cutting back, a lot of cleaning, and a lot of thinking.  And a lot of my ...

I love crocheting blankets. Hey, I've made two in the last six months alone! (well, 9 months actually) with my granny stripe and my ripple blanket  and I still want to do more. I have a plan to make a set of 4 seasonal blankets, with the colours reflecting the seasons and the styles chosen to suit the time of year. I did want to do a summer ripple blanket full of seascape blues and sand dune yellows. with zinging seaweed shades of green.... but Attic 24 got there first, and to start with my seaside blanket would look like copycatism, which it so should not because I really did have my plan before she posted hers. And I know it shouldn't matter, that mine will be mine and I should just go ahead but... still. I think sometimes we like to be ourselves. So my seaside ripple will wait. A little longer. Perhaps after Christmas next year, when I have made my Noel candy stripe blanket with popcorn stitch and poinsettia red edging and my Autumn leaves granny stripe blanket made from ...

The door is open, the birds are singing rampantly, I have already been up 4 hours and working in the garden. I'm ready for breakfast (well, it is 10 o'clock) and then more gardening. No pictures, no long ramble today. I'm taking the pictures as I go along and planning a post for later this week. For now, have a good weekend, y'all, and enjoy the sunshine.