A trip to London and more

What a busy week this has been! I went down to London to spend time with my daughter and my son and we had a great time in the gloriously warm spring weather! It was unseasonably warm and, of course, I had gone equipped with clothing to suit the cooler temperatures of the previous week so there was the perfect excuse to buy new t-shirts. We made the most of the sunshine though with a visit to Kew gardens ...

This is the palm house, which survives from the Victorian period, and houses specimens from across the world.

The gardens cover 300 acres on the south side of the Thames river and development of the gardens began in the 17th century. In 2003 it was named as a World Heritage site and today the staff work hard to conserve plant life in all its forms.

The magnolias were in full bloom when we visited

 

I love this huge old tree too. As you can see, no leaves yet!

We also went for a picnic at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent - not really a castle at all, but the gardens here were designed by Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicholson in the 1930s.

This is the entrance to the gardens, where Vita had her office, from which she would have had a wonderful overview of the garden.

The spring bulbs looked glorious!

This is the moat which runs along two sides of the garden

More spring bulbs.

Then yesterday a friend and I went up to Harrogate to the 'Lace Event'. The majority of the exhibitors were selling items related to bobbin lace, which is not what I do, but there were also stands for knitting yarns, crochet threads and patterns and a couple for needle lace. I did buy new threads!

I also bought a beginners guide to tatting, which is something I've never tried before so watch this space for news of how I get on with that.

In between the trips I have also made some thread catchers for Liz's Sewing Room Sew Along. The large patchwork one now sits by my sewing machine to catch all those odds and ends of thread and fabric, one of the two small ones will live inside my project bag, which I made last month, and the other one is a gift for my lace-making friend. 

At last month's miniatures group meeting we made a wickerwork chair - the first one I've ever attempted and, while it's not perfect, I'm pretty pleased with it.

The chair is destined to go in my retreat ... and yes, I've started building.

The walls are up. I really wasn't intending to start this yet but I just couldn't resist. I've had the kit for almost a year and promised myself that I wouldn't begin until everything else was finished. Well, I almost made it. The only thing outstanding is that 48th scale cottage and I'll continue with that in and amongst when I fancy a change of scale.