A Glorious Day
Today is high summer – in April. Unbelievable.
I’ve got into summer mode, shorts and t-shirt and the feeling that the warm weather will last forever. It probably won’t and somehow that makes these glorious days all the more precious and to be savoured. It’s impossible to stay indoors. The garden chairs are on the patio and wherever I look everything is sprouting like crazy and bursting into flower. It’s truly gorgeous!
Today from early morning I’ve been working in the garden. I’ve dug a whole lot of unwanted things out of my aromatic garden, worked on the earth and planted new things. It’s taken me a long time to learn that gardens can change. Just because something is insanely happy in one place doesn’t mean it has to stay there forever if it is taking over the world or I just plain don’t like it. Now I try to revamp corners of the garden every so often – it’s a wonderful feeling seeing a newly planted bed and wondering how it will develop. Will the plants be happy in their new home, will they compete with one another or muddle along happily? I can’t wait to see.
My vegetable garden is almost planted – I think there are just carrots and onions still to plant, and maybe some parsnips if I have space. The salads are looking happy in the cold frame with the Swiss chard and I’m already patrolling for slugs regularly.
Can you tell that my garden makes me insanely, deliriously happy? It really does – but only on beautiful warm sunny days like today. When it’s cold and rainy and grey and grotty you can keep it.
Hopefully this week will see some much needed sewing time…so I’ve been auditioning new fabrics. This is Meadowsweet. I’m a bit scared of the big bold patterns, but I’m really drawn to the rich pinks and lime greens. I know I shouldn’t be thinking of new projects, but what the heck, I am! It’s spring and I want to work on something new and bright and fresh.
The fabrics are so strongly patterned that I think I’ going to have to combine them with solids and probably some off-white – otherwise I think the whole thing could be a bit migraine-inducing! It’s all way outside my comfort zone but I think the sunshine has gone to my head and I’m loving it!
I haven’t decided which pattern to work with – I think it’s going to have to be simple and have fairly large pieces – I can’t see the large patterns working any other way. And it has to be modern, definitely modern….
What fun…
This is my kind of day…
Helen
April 9th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Love your post today. I am starting the gardening today too. It is crisp and cool enough to work outside, but soon we will have the sweltering days of summer. Gardening makes me insanely happy, especially when I see all the little plants start to set their bounty.
April 9th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
What a beautiful post! We think it’s lovely here today but, there is still tons of snow to melt. I’ll just have to enjoy your gardening while I patiently wait spring š
April 9th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Insanely jealous of your garden – especially the veg patch and the sun deck.
Love your fabric and as you`ve probably gathered from my blog, I love bold migraine inducing prints and squashing them together with no solid in between but thank goodness we are all different otherwise life would be very dull. Go outside your comfort zone – it`s good to do so sometimes.
On the weather front, it`s still very hot here but we`re off to the seaside tomorrow.
Have a great weekend.
April 10th, 2011 at 1:00 am
Worked in the garden/yard all day today – ripping, trimming, weeding, rearranging, etc. Love it. Not the warm weather you were having, but not bad. So much better than the rain we’ve been having lately! Now I must rest my sore muscles!!
April 10th, 2011 at 2:51 am
Your garden looks stunning. I love your daffodils. Transports me right back to my childhood when we went to the Jura to pick wild ones. I wonder, if they still grow there in abundance?? And your fabric capture the atmosphere of Spring perfectly. I just hope it’ll be Spring when we arrive in Switzerland end of next week and not already Summer. I’m so looking forward to some sweet Spring air.
April 10th, 2011 at 4:13 am
Helen your garden is incredible! How lovely it would be to sit and contemplate here? Love your fabrics, look forward to see what you create with them. xo
April 10th, 2011 at 9:41 am
Our warm weather has suddenly stopped. Went for a bike ride this morning and came back with numb toes and fingers – and I had thick socks and gloves on. Make the most of your early summer.
I’m a long way behind you on the gardening front. One more week of varnishing woodwork in the gite and then I can get outside, hooray!
And those fabrics – they’re stunning. My favourite is the one with the green background and white flowers with brown centres. That is especially nice. I shall have to go and spread my fabrics out to inspire me to get creating with them.
Stay happy! X
April 10th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Hello Helen, thank you for sharing spring with us. It is beginning to warm up here too – except for few isolated patches in shady spots the snow is all gone. The trees are starting to bud up and there are crocuses on lawns.
The groundskeepers are busy working on the golf course and, as I looked up from my quilting this morning, I saw my first golfer of the year practicing his putts.
Not sure whether I will be doing any gardening this year as our community gardens are being relocated (to make way for a reoriented soccer field) and the funding for establishing the new location is encountering problems from tax payers who object to the expense. I may have to resort to growing a few pots of tomatoes and herbs on the patio but will have to find a way of keeping the squirrels away.
Beautiful fabrics which reminded me that I put aside a queen sized quilt I had been working on using a previous line of Meadowsweet – must get back to that when Purple Passion is finished (deadline is tomorrow as our mini show is on Thursday).
April 10th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
You mean it’s not always like this in Switzerland in April, I’m most disappointed ;-). Lovely garden indeed. Do you buy your fabric online? Looking for some recommendations for places that deliver to Switzerland at reasonable rates.
April 10th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
I love your garden. But I love your fabrics more.