Fancy a walk?

Good morning. How are you? Feeling up for a walk? We won't go far - we'll head to a special place that I know just out of town.  We can stop on the way and have a look at the view of where we are going.

 

See it? Tucked in the valley.

That is the heart-shaped waterfall, one of the wonders of St Helena, and flowing well after all the rain we have had over the last few weeks.

I thought we might take a stroll up the valley to the bottom of the fall. Ready?

The path is quite easy, a gentle uphill on the way there, following the stream. Not so steep that we can't chat.

There is decking and steps on the trickier bits,

and the trees give a lovely dappled shade, perfect for walking through.

Look - loads of water. In the dry season it can be just a trickle.

These little beauties are called tallow vine or water grass here, but generally are known as climbing dayflower around the rest of the world.

Sometimes the natural distribution of the plants looks so wonderful it could be deliberate. It looks like some secret gardener has had a hand in it.

 

 Look we are nearly there, just another set of steps and round the corner...

The spray on your face is beautifully cooling, but also so invigorating it makes you grin inanely and  whoop with the joy of it.

The water falls into a shallow pool

which is overflowing through the undergrowth.

Come on, lets retreat a little to the viewing platform and just sit and absorb the day for a while.

Thanks for joining me. It's all downhill on the way back.

xx

Two Ta Das of the most pleasing kind

or should that be Tas Da? Like mothers in law?

 

Anyway, I have one just finished this morning, and one that has been finished a while but has been waiting to be photographed. It is the raining season here. Think UK November levels of rain, mist and low cloud, but warm: 18-21 deg C. Very weird and rubbish for taking photos!

 

Just as I finished sewing this morning though, the sun looked like it might be about to show itself so I rushed outside and snapped a few snaps before the rain recommenced.

Maybe the weather fairies saw what I was making...

Shhh, it is still a secret! I have quite a few thank-you-makes to do over the next few months and this is by far the most important so I wanted to do it properly. I am totally thrilled with how it has turned out. If I had the patience I would make another one to keep, but I can never make the same thing twice. I just don't work that way.

 But look, what is that it is sitting on? It couldn't be that tatty old green chair could it?

Several coats of cream spray paint, new stuffing and a new cover later...

Those little silver upholstery nails cost a lot. Not in pennies, but in blood, sweat and tears. They are pretty much blunt, and the piece of chair I needed to drive them into was rock hard. I bent A LOT. I swore A LOT. I sweated A LOT. I may have shed a tear of frustration and pricked my finger too. (Turns out they are not that blunt.) I had an inspired idea to drill teeny tiny guide holes. I broke the drill bit. (Cue more swearing), bought a new drill bit and finally got them all in.

I am not totally happy with the evenness of their spacing. But I am just glad to get the things in.

Looks nice with the cushion on it doesn't it? Even on my soggy veranda with the dead mange tout in the background.

Closer in?

From an angle?

With the view?

Or put the cushion round the other way?

Have you made anything you are particularly pleased with recently?

 

xx

Mothers Day

Hello hello, and Happy Mother's Day to all those Mums out there.

 

On Monday the Smalls went to their afterschool group Explorers and came back with these.

 

Invitations to the special Mothering Sunday service at the little church in the village. We are not regular church goers but I thought it would be fun to go along.

Tiny Boy disagreed and stayed at home with J but Tall Girl, Big Trouble and I headed off. It was a sweet service with some hymns and prayers from the Smalls (although mine were both mostly too shy to join in), and at the end everyone with a Mum was encouraged to take a posy of flowers to give to her. Tall Girl and Big Trouble went up hand in hand and brought me back a little posy of real flowers, something of a rarity here.

They are now on the table with some others made specially by Tiny Boy which I think will probably last a little longer.

So now it is time for a cuppa and to do a bit of hooky on my latest WIP before heading out to a bring-and-share tea party this afternoon. Caketastic!

Btw, this is what Tall Girl and her friends made at her Arty Party: Dream catchers.

Sweet dreams to you all.
xx

Arty Party

Happy 8th birthday to my beautiful and very arty Tall Girl.

xx

Handmade, repro, retro, vintage dress: Ta Da!

Hello my lovelies,

 

I have been trying to write this post for two days. Yesterday I uploaded all the photos then got distracted by this, that and the other. This morning I was planning to finish it straight after the school run, but I had a humdinger of a falling out with Tall Girl and was too unsettled to write anything. Well the disagreement has not been resolved and I am not sure what to do about it, but I have calmed down now so here goes....

 

Remember the vintage handmade green dress?  The one that was falling apart, made of nasty nylon, but a great shape?

 

 

And fab details?

 

Well, I unpicked and pinned and cut and ironed and pinned and sewed (and unpicked again a little bit) and sewed again and hunted for just the right buttons and found them in my stash all along. And Ta Da!

 

obligatory homage to Dotty Angel

I finished it on Saturday morning, found a remarkably matching hat and made ready to be a virtual wedding guest. One of my closest friends, who was wonderful enough to come and visit us over Christmas with her chap, was getting married. In York. Four and a half thousand (that's 4500) miles away. But but BUT, thanks to the wonders of modern technology the church service was streamed live over the wonderful interweb and I was able to watch! The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome, the vicar was interesting, the service was moving, the bridesmaids sang like angels during the signing of the register and the processional music at each end was funky. It was all extremely lovely, although I did shed a tear or two when I spotted another good friend in the congregation but couldn't quite get a look at her bump and more than two when the happy couple disappeared out of the church doors and I couldn't follow.

virtual wedding guest selfie

I love my new dress even if it is really far too warm for St Helena, what with being made of wool!

xx