Up-cycled cushion

The latest in my home made cushions. The idea for this cushion came from the book Patch by Cath Kidston.  In fact it looks very like hers as I used similar colours and also backed it with pink gingham.  I used patches from old embroidered table clothes and table mats which were brought into the charity shop but were too stained to sell. Also some of my own old embroidery in there.  Hers had piping round the edge but I used bias binding (home made).

That time of year again

Yes it's the time of year when I start looking for signs of spring. We are having such a miserable wet and windy winter. We are fortunate to be in an area that is very unlikely to flood but parts of the country are have a really bad time.  I do worry about the wind blowing my rather large trees down but so far the only problem has been a large amount of very small branches which blow off my silver birch tree.  These are always blowing off but maybe more so this year.

So far it hasn't really been very cold this winter and like last year my potted geraniums haven't been killed off by frost. There is still time though.  I also have a potted chrysanthemum which has been outdoors and is showing signs of new growth

The earliest I have seen frogs in the pond is 14th February. That date is approaching so I am keeping watch every day for signs of them arriving.  It was later last year and I missed it.  I missed checking one weekend and on the Monday the pond was home to 11 batches of spawn. 

I had my bird boxes put back up a few weeks ago by a very nice man called Richard who runs a project called Project Nest Box.  I happened to mention on a local group on facebook that my gardener hadn't put them back up for me yet after he had them taken down for me to clean them.  A couple of days later Richard arrived and fixed them for me.  So far I have seen several bluetits visit them but not sure if they have started nesting yet.  I also saw a cheeky robin peeping into one when a bluetit popped out and chased him off.  I will keep you updated when there is any action there.  I have also bought a new feeding station for the birds and it is proving very popular already.  A few weeks ago when I was doing the Big Garden Bird Watch I saw hardly any birds.  The last couple of days I have seen bluetits, great tits,robins, greenfinches, chaffinches, starlings, jackdaws, collared doves, wood pigeons and feral pigeons.

A bluetit enjoying the peanuts. 

As usual the first flowers to brave the cold are the delicate snowdrops.

There are a couple of crocuses in flower. I used to have quite a lot but they have gradually disappeared. Just yellow ones left.

The only other colour is the primroses and not many of them just yet 

The daffodils are growing fast,  Wonder if I will see some on St David's Day