A wet and windy May

"A wet and windy May, fills the barn with corn and hay".  My grandparents used to have this saying. This May has been quite wet, windy and cold.  The rain makes everything so vibrant, luscious and green, it's gorgeous. It also saves having to water the garden and flowers. The trees and grass are so beautiful and green at present.  Last year May was also a cold, wet and windy month,  I am hoping that the spectacular weather which followed in June, July and August  2013, will be repeated this year.  Ever the optimist!

I have been doing a little patchwork sewing.  I decided to use up a lovely Breath of Avignon charm pack to get me started. I bought it a few years ago at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. I also had a few metres of some of the lines of material, which helped as I needed to add more squares to make up a quilt.

Breath of Avignon 5" charm pack.

First border made with the white Breath of Avignon fabric. 

I intend adding one or two more borders, to use up the red, yellow and blue metres of the Breath of Avignon material I have in my stash.

Another hobby of mine, and one of my favourite things to do in Spring and early Summer is to pick wild flowers.  I love to put them into a little vase or jug.  It is something I have done my whole life. I really appreciate their beauty and think that they brighten up any kitchen table, bathroom or dressing table so simply. Buttercups and daisies are so plentiful in the parks, fields and meadows, I find myself bringing home a little bunch after being out for a walk. Bliss.

"The best things in life are free".

Buttercups and Daisies

Our shed was looking very old and shabby.  My husband was about to paint it a dark green again, to clean it up.  I suggested a brighter colour from the colour chart, so off he went and bought a lovely bright green. I said that I might make little blinds for the windows to smarten them up.  Instead, my wonderful husband made shutters for the windows and we decided to paint them cream to add a little dimension. I think they turned out very well.  Our little dog hanging basket holder (bought at Crufts a few years ago) also got a lick of paint.  Unfortunately, the flowers always die in the hanging basket, I think it is the position or the ivy on the shed.  I had forgotten about this, until the petunias died during the week.  We had to move the basket elsewhere.

Shed makeover.

There were baby blue-tits in the bird house, but alas the activity stopped over the weekend.  We found three dead little baby blue-tits in the wonderfully made nest when we went to investigate. We're not sure how many there were originally. It was so sad, as we had weeks of enjoyment watching the male and female flying in and out of the little birdhouse feeding their young.  We don't know what happened. Nature's way, perhaps!

Earth's crammed with Heaven

"Earth's crammed with Heaven and every common bush afire with God".  Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Last of the Spring wild flowers

Lee Ann Womack - I hope you Dance.

I love this beautiful song, listen to the wisdom it imparts and enjoy.

Happy Mayday

1st May or Mayday.

"Ne're cast a clout, till May is out".

The old Piseog - "Ne're cast a clout, till May is out"!.  My Mother used to use this piseog, when as children, we wanted to shed a layer of clothes or start wearing our Summer clothes, thinking Summer had arrived. Piseog is an Irish word which means Superstition in English.  Given how cold it is today and how warm and sunny it was earlier in the week, this old saying makes sense.  

Bluebells in the Woodlands grow.