March 2024

The traditional rhyme speaks of March winds and April showers - we seem to have both today as I write this on the first of March. The winds are more like gales, the showers more like torrential rain! I took this photo in March a few years ago, honeybees feeding on the Alder catkins in our garden, so there is hope that Spring might not be too far away, although it is difficult to believe it today!

Kelmscott Manor, William Morris’ former home in Lechlade opens for visitors again in April, and as usual I am making a collection of my cards for their Gift Shop using William Morris fabrics and embroidery. I always enjoy this project at the start of the year. It is a beautiful house to visit if you are ever in the area.

There are signs of Spring despite the awful weather; the weeping willow is shimmering with a bright green haze of tiny leaves just beginning to appear, the chives are up and big enough to be snipped to garnish the Cullen Skink, and the bladed leaves of the irises are shooting up, taller every day. Next month we may hear the cuckoo – a joyful thought to gladden the heart!

February 2024

A beautiful sunny morning to begin the new month! I have just photographed these snowdrops clustering around the old willow tree in our garden. They are such a joyful sight each year, and as Wordsworth writes in his poem To a Snowdrop:  ‘Welcome as a Friend’. Later in the poem he writes ‘Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring, and pensive monitor of fleeting years!’

There are now other signs of Spring, like the drumming of the woodpeckers in the churchyard opposite our cottage, and I have seen a bluetit popping in and out of the bird box, just inspection and cleaning at this stage I imagine!

I have added more sale items to my shop here, to make way for new stock so do have a browse, maybe some reduced price Christmas cards to put away for next year. (They are in the Christmas shop, Christmas tab on Home Page).

As I watch the sun climb higher each day and the afternoons brighten, I am happily stitching bunnies and lambs once again whilst imagining the buzz of bees and joyful birdsong which are just around the corner! 

January 2024

Happy New Year!

On New Year’s Day we were blessed with a glorious sunrise, blue skies and a gentle breeze. I put on my walking boots and set off down the lane for some fresh air and much needed exercise. Little birds flitted about in the bare hedges and long shadows of the feathery reeds along the dyke danced across the roadway ahead of me.

Seeing the bare brown trees and hedges against the brilliant blue sky I found myself wondering if this is why I love the slightly unusual colour combination of blue and brown; perhaps it came from my love of the winter landscape? When I walk alone in the quiet of the coastal farmland on the edge of Lincolnshire, thoughts always wash into my mind like little waves running up the sand to meet me. New ideas for embroideries turn up, and when I return home I make notes before the pictures in my head fade away. The sun is already feeling stronger and brighter, and soon the Spring flowers will be with us again. I wish you a year of blessings; good health, good friends and good times to lighten your heart.