From Karina

Lovely textile designer Karina of By Rios asked me to be part of her wonderful textile letter writing project. Of course I said yes! Karina lives in Copenhagen with her husband and adorable ginger cat where she likes to weave textile gauze among lots of other things. She sent me this beautiful piece of her own work along with some photographs (chancay gauze which she studied in Peru), an amazingly intricate piece of Hedebo embroidery she found at a market and a beautiful birds feather. I think by now everyone knows how much I love feathers! Karina also included some pretty pressed purple flowers which I have stuck in my flower scrap book. I love the soft monochrome feel to the collection. Thank you so much for your beautiful letter Karina!

Outdoor, Indoor

It has been a bit of a tough week so far, and it's only Tuesday! Yesterday I found out that I was too late to apply for a job that I really wanted and then I found out I was also too late to apply for my dream training course and will have to wait 6 months until the next application process. A lesson in organisation right there.

On Sunday I went to help out on an allotment in Richmond. It's a really lovely patch, there were never any flowers planted but nevertheless foxgloves, poppies and nasturtiums seem to have grown up all by themselves, no doubt their seeds were carried over on the wind.

I spent the day picking (and eating) strawberries and ended up taking home close to 1.5kg, due to become jam very shortly. It dawned on me that I have never lived in a property with a garden, perhaps this is the reason why I am so obsessed with them! I would love a little patch of my own one day but for now I am happy with our tiny balcony, indoor growing and the odd visit to other people's allotments.

Peachy

I have almost completed knitting my very first pair of socks! I am not really much of a knitter but I have always wanted to make socks and somehow the crochet versions I have made  never really feel the same. The other day on a whim, and inspired by Anushka's gorgeous knit creations, I bought some double ended needles, a couple of balls of soft yarn, found an excellent series of youtube videos and got to work. My boyfriend chose the colour, I wasn't so sure about it at first but it looks quite nice when knitted up.

I have to admit that these photos have been taken strategically, at such an angle as to disguise the cavernous holes that bestride the sides of both socks. I'm a little annoyed about the fact that there are any imperfections, although I guess we all have to start somewhere and considering all I have managed to knit previously has been a few scarves and a horribly misshapen hat I didn't do too bad. I am just hoping that the next pair I make are a lot better. I'm looking forward to using tweed and marl yarns for lovely thick house socks.



Also very happy to taste the first peach of the season today. Despite being a little bit bruised it was delicious to the last bite.

I Love...

... Seasonal eating. I have become much more aware of the benefits of eating local seasonal produce over the past few years: It tastes better, it supports local growers, it tends to be cheaper and hasn’t had to travel thousands of miles to get to shops.

There is also a small pleasure, I think, in being unable to eat a particular fruit or vegetable all year round, it helps you appreciate it even more when its time comes.

 Admittedly I don't eat everything seasonally, things like banana and pineapple trees are a little hard to come by in the UK, but I have been learning more about foods that are at their best here at the moment and aiming to eat them as much as possible!
 


Asparagus is one of my very favourite vegetables in season right now. I made this really easy asparagus puff pastry tart recently using a recipe that can be found here if you would like to try it out. Also I found a great website that gives information on seasonal produce in the UK and Ireland. Happy eating!

The Red Carpet

The Rhododendron bushes look spectacular this year. The boughs of this plant were so heavily laden down with scarlet trumpets that they spilled down onto the ground, it was almost as if the forest had rolled out the red carpet just for our walk! We took some indoors with us and put them in a little pot, the whole room smelt like springtime for the entire weekend.

Conservatory

If I had my own conservatory I would fill it with rare, exotic and beautiful plants from all round the world. I would tend to them every day, I would probably go a bit over the top and start piping in classical music and reading them stories.





Until that time I can always visit my Aunt and Uncle's garden conservatory at their house in Hampshire. They have the most wonderful garden which leads on to wild forest land full of Christmas trees. We visited over the Jubilee weekend and I went camera mad taking photos. You can see outside the rhododendron bushes are in full bloom and the rest of the garden is filled with fox gloves, poppies and daisies.





My Aunt mostly grows geraniums which have a wonderfully earthy smell, as well as herbs and some other little flowers. There is a huge grape vine that winds around the far side, sometimes it yields bitter little fruit.





I wish I was a better photographer so that I could properly convey the beauty of this place, it is one of my very favorite spots on earth. One day I would like to turn my home into a an indoor conservatory with plants on every conceivable surface, on the floor and hanging from baskets. I can easily see myself becoming a mad plant lady, singing to my seedlings and not caring one little bit!

I Love...

This darling little bag made for me by the lovely Lily of The Red Notebook. The bag is reversible, on one side is a cute typewriters and hearts print and on the other some classic green corduroy. It's perfect for grocery shopping. Thank you Lily!



Sweet William flowers. I adore the name and the pretty colour variation of these humble little flowers. This bunch cost me the price of a bus ride, well worth walking home for.



Bright knitting. Probably not the most sensible project to start at the beginning of summer but I missed the sound of clacking needles and just looking at this pumpkin orange wool makes me smile.

EDIT: The links section is now displayed under the heading 'Beautiful Blogs' which can be found on the right. I will be expanding this section often so please do check back.