Unit 12 Charity Auction

Unit 12 in Stafford are running a charity art auction on July 16th, in support of the Compton Hospice.  There's lots of beautiful art to bid on for a very worthy cause. Work will be available to view from July 9th, and if you can't make it to the auction, you can place a sealed bid on any pieces that take you fancy by visiting the facebook event page here

Painted Trees

 

These are the little wooden bowls and boards that I painted for the 'Magic' show in Solihull. The show has finished now, so I'm considering adding to this group, and including them in some of the forthcoming shows. A few of them will be available at Moseley Arts Market this Saturday (25th) Prices start at £25 for the smaller pieces.

Gardener's World

Last week I trolleyed along to my most local of the big garden shows- 'Gardener's World Live'. I've been every year for quite a long while, and I always come back a good few quid lighter.
The RHS marquee is always great. Lots of nurseries making a spectacular effort to show their plants to their very, very best. I was really impressed with the Pennards plant display, laid out like a traditional veg patch, with recipe suggestions for each variety. I also liked this tin can idea on one of the outdoor showgardens:

 I bought two new Pelargoniums from Fibrex Nursery (a firm favourite, I have a soft spot for species and scented leaf pels). Also Cephalaria Gigantea, (a huge lanky scabious type flower), Mathiasella 'Green Dream', and a lovely, twisty veronicastrum (I walked past Linda Barker, she said my veronicastrum was nice!).

The new plants got me thinking about the garden layout. I haven't really got to grips with this garden yet, despite being in this 'new' house for a good 18 months now. Stan has been leaping around and generally dashing about in the area that was to be my 'long border', so my ideas are changing rapidly.

Payback Time!

It's around this time of year that the allotment starts to yield some proper crops at last. The strawberries have started to fruit, and there really is nothing more Summery than eating a freshly picked strawb on a sunny morning. This week we have also harvested a few elderflowers, and made cordial and started some champagne. The cordial makes a delicious addition to the strawberries, sweet and fragrant.
I cut myself a bouquet from the allotment border- the Nigella and Knautia look lovely, and I adore the parsnip flowers which I allow to go to seed for next years crop. Parsnip flowers make me sneeze like crazy, but the almost coconut scent is worth it!

Swedish Charity Shop Adventure!

 

  

 A couple of weeks ago I made a little trip over to Varberg in Sweden, to visit my old pal Emma.It was great to catch up again, and meet Freja, the newest addition to the family. We spent the week making a new veg patch, and touring some of Emma's favourite second hand shops.

Here's some pictures of the lovely embroidered cushion I found, some old soda bottles with beautiful vintage labels and a vintage tea towell. Treasure!