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Showing posts from June, 2013

Grow Your Own and RHS Hampton Court Palace

I received an email this morning for a special subscription to Grow Your Own that comes with 20 packets of seeds for £6 for 3 issues. I take these up ever so often and cancel the direct debit payment once they've taken the special subscription price! So if you can use 20 packets of seeds please click here I'll be off to Hampton Court Palace for the flower show on the 8 July (my press pass is on its way) so I'll post some more news shortly. You can find out more information on the RHS website - it runs from the 9-14th July 2013. Linda Barker, Bill Oddie and Kate Humble will be the Celebrity Speakers and Catwalk in Bloom Theatre - can't wait!

meadow daisies

We were lucky with the weather on Sunday morning and only managed to get caught in one light rain shower. We haven't had the time for a long walk over at Ranscombe Farm Reserve for a couple weeks due to work committments so it was a pleasant surprise to see the meadow daisies in full bloom. They were also along the path on one side of this meadow. The meadow at the top of the hill was full of dandelions, very tall ones! Sadly only a couple of poppies are flowering but signs of lots more still yet to flower. Everything is so late this year what with the long winter and muddling up the seasons. Mind you were are having typical Wimbledon weather! There was a turn stile just along from where I took this photo but we didn't cut through the field. I wish we had now, it look so inviting although a little windy. We haven't walked along this part before so that's why I'd never noticed this, I do like the old wooden type of stile. All along our walk the metal types have

colourful crochet hooks (granny stripe blanket anyone?)

A while back I started to tell you about my new (now not so new) crochet hook but never actually got round to giving you all the details. Blame it on old age or too much on. Anyway here is my crochet hook, lovely isn't it? So the lady who kindly made this for me is Cara Jane and she has a web site http://carajane.co.uk/ . So when you have some time do pop over and have a look.   And here are some more colours that Cara Jane has made in the past. All lovely and colourful and a must have for anyone that loves to crochet.   Some more new wool arrived this morning for my Granny Stripe Blanket (which I can't seem to put down and I can easily complete one stripe per evening) I think I've completed 15 stripes now - I'll post more pics over the weekend.

Canterbury, veggie garden and granny stripe blanket

  On Saturday I took my Japanese friend Tsujii to Canterbury for the day. Always a pleasure and we are always guaranteed to have a fab time filled with laughter, food and shopping. I drove and then used the park & ride which is brilliant and only costs £3 for the car and up to 6 passengers, it was just the two us but still a good price. We walked along White Friars shopping center and saw a pony and rider advertising the local riding school and a drum band playing - very colourful. Lots to see and do in Canterbury and I love walking around the old part of the town. We found the Tower House  along by the river Stour where you can take a boat ride or go punting. I think I'll try this later this summer with Ian.   So here are some of the photos I took on Saturday along with my granny stripe blanket progress (pattern from Attic 24 ) and veggie patch photos too. I'm loving the extra space my new raised beds have given me. Plenty big to potter around in! I managed to put

what's been happening at Eight-by-Six

A lot more gardening that's for sure. Now that the sun has decided to show itself it has made a huge difference to my garden! Mind you we have had some rain this week. By day I potter in the garden (weekends and evenings) and by night I crochet in front of the TV! I'm now working on a granny stripe blanket as shown on Attic 24. I just couldn't resist anymore and I had to crochet one for myself. I've almost given up on blanket no.1 and I'm now thinking about unpicking it and starting again. Maybe but not decided yet as its a lot of work to start it all over again! The new veg patch is in - yeah! My hubby (Ian) and son (Jack) started it on Sunday with my help although I did cut my finger on a nail when they told me specifically not to attempt to remove the old raised beds whilst they went out to collect the screws from Wickes. Like any woman I ignored them and promptly made a lovely neat split in my thumb, ouch! I then spent half hour nursing my cut with various