The Arrival of Spring

My garden of flowers

is also my garden of dreams.

The thoughts grow as freely

as the flowers

and the dreams are as beautiful. 

Time has flown by, since the workshop at Lucinda’s. It was a fabulous day enjoyed by all. Sunshine and stitching; daffodils, daisies and old linen; bees and beehives; vintage teacups, and of course great company.

Following the workshop came an invitation to afternoon tea, where as well as the daintiest little sandwiches and most delicious lemon drizzle cake, there was the opportunity to meet Dr Lynn Hulse – a skilled embroiderer from the Ashmolean Museum. 

With so much inspiration and ideas for new stitching projects, it was difficult to know where to begin first and I got rather side-tracked with making a little handmade paper book 

containing stitched flower illustrations and a short description of the folklore and symbolism of each flower.

I had not quite finished with stitching daffodils, and the Spring Garden that we stitched at the workshop developed into a simple meadow scene where white daffodils grew wild amongst the tall grasses.

As Spring finally arrived, stitching was put to one side and my attention turned to the garden. The warmer weather brought on a flurry of growth, however the cold winds and frost seemed to have affected my precious Cornus Kousa “Miss Satomi” and I had to finally accept that there was no hope for it and that it was dead. 

In contrast, the Cornus Kousa “Aurora” flourished and produced a stunning display of beautiful white flowers that flutter in the breeze like scraps of the finest linen.

The roses surrounding the back of the house are heavy with masses of blooms, 

almost obscuring the windows,

while the purple alliums below them have survived Evie’s onslaught in her determined endeavours to track down a mouse

and now feature 

 in my latest embroidery.

The hedge at the back of the garden has been home to several little nesting birds – including blue tits, great tits and coal tits. 

As they fledged, the air has been full of tiny smidgeons of feathered baby birds

appearing to fall straight from the sky and then be tossed around the garden

from perch

  to perch by the wind.

Over the past few days, two young

male and 

female blackbird siblings have been entertaining us with their antics and clowning. Jostling and squabbling with each other and feeding voraciously on the half coconut hanging from the bird feeder. 

It seemed appropriate to name them Laura and Hardy!

The birds are not alone in their liking for the coconut feeder -

the little mouse that had caught Evie's attention has found a safer way to feed...

much to the surprise of the next young bird that flew down for a feed. 

Lots has been happening too at the allotment, but that is for another day….

xxx