Ladybirds

No, not that sort ... I spotted these in the garden a few weeks ago - obviously some sort of ladybird party.

The ladybirds I had in mind were these ...

I'm particularly fond of this series of Ladybird books, which were first published in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With text by E L Grant Wilson and illustrations by Tunnicliffe, they are classic first Nature books.

Knowing how much I liked them, my daughter bought me this set of new editions for Mother's Day last month.

Aren't they lovely? When I first saw them, I thought it was just the covers that were different but they are completely new books, all illustrated by the artist Natasha Durley with text by Elizabeth Jenner. When you look at the two editions of the Spring book, you can see how much has changed - and how much has stayed the same.

Although the treatment is different, some things feature in both books - Mad March hares for example.

While the text in the older book runs continuously, the new version has separate short articles. All the illustrations in the original are set in the countryside, while the new book includes things that can be seen in towns and cities too.

There is perhaps more information in the older book but the new one feels much more inclusive and varied. There is a page on shooting stars and another one on April showers; I particularly like the illustration for this one.

Ladybird books have always been mini art books and this remains true with these new books. I also like the way that the naturalistic illustrations are interspersed with some more reminiscent of modern nature guides.

These pages look so fresh and appealing after the originals.

I love the old and the new series and would recommend them both. Every home should have them. 

In my Spring garden there is something new to see every day. Having always said I didn't like frilly tulips, I have been completely won over by these ...

... and I have a new garden helper who keeps me company whenever I'm working out there.

The robin is known as the Gardener's friend and this one was particularly interested when I was digging a hole for one of my new fruit bushes.

The cats are also keen on the robin, although not in the same way as me. Tolly isn't bright enough to be able to catch it and I've told Linnet that if she kills my robin it's back to the cattery for her.

Meanwhile, Rose and I are making progress with out Spring cross stitch samplers. Here's hers which shows you the top half of the picture.

While, as normal, I'm stitching the bottom half first.

I've got a row of tulips to work at the bottom before I can start on the top half but I'm finding cross stitch tires me out easily at the moment (along with just about everything else) so that'll take me a while.

Primrose Garden

In February 2019 I started working on an idea for a crochet blanket, inspired by Islamic tiled patterns. I experimented with various sizes of squares and long hexagons to start with ...

... and then spent a very long time trying to choose a combination of colours to use ...

I had a rough idea of the sort of stitch patterns I wanted to use but kept changing the details with every new set of colours.

Finally, I decided it would be a Spring blanket and chose three shades each of green and yellow, with a very pale yellow for contrast. I wanted to use my trusty Stylecraft Special DK with its huge range of colours and it didn't take me long to settle on my yellows and greens.

From left to right, they are Lime, Mustard, Citron, Lemon, Pistachio, Meadow and Cypress.

The main part of the blanket is made up of a combination of squares and long hexagons. The squares are heavily textured; I had fun working out all sorts of effects for these.

In contrast, the long hexagons are simpler, mostly rows of double crochet (US single crochet).

It took me over a year to crochet all the squares and hexagons. Then came the fun part of sewing them together; this is when the whole thing started to take on a 3D look.

It looks as if those four squares are lying on top of the bigger square but the whole thing is flat. Once all the shapes were joined together, I had to design and crochet 20 half hexagons to fill in the gaps round the edges and then add a border to finish off the blanket.

I finished my blanket in the Spring of 2020 ... and then I got ill. So, I decided to put the blanket away and publish it the next Spring. Which brings us up to date.

It turns out that it's very difficult writing a long and complex pattern a whole year after making it. Although I had lots of notes in my pattern notebook, it wasn't fresh in my mind and that made the whole process very laborious. 

Several months later, I finally had a 21 page draft pattern - 21 pages! Proofreading brought it down to 20 pages but even so ... Don't be put off by the length of the pattern though. There are lots of photos and a fair bit of repetition. I wanted to include as much information as possible to help the less experienced crocheters, thinking that the more advanced will just skip the bits they don't need.

As with all my other patterns, you can download Primrose Garden free of charge from ravelry. As I write this, my garden is full of wild primroses so the timing seems just right, even if it is a year late. I look forward to seeing other people's versions of this blanket; changing the colour scheme would give it a whole new look.

Bits and Bobs

This is the first week of my new 'activities timetable' which is not as exciting as it sounds. Basically, it's a way of trying to fit the essential things I have to do into a routine that puts as little stress on me as possible. One of the things on it is a regular lie down each afternoon; I don't realise just how tired I am until I stop. Other than that, it's a case of trying not to do too much of any one thing at a time, especially things that require a lot of concentration.

So, here are some of the things I've been doing lately ...

This is my Spring Sampler from Little Dove Designs. As normal, I've started in the middle and am working my way down while my daughter goes in the opposite direction.

The colours are beautiful in this design and it's lovely to stitch.

This, on the other hand, is the bane of my life at the moment ...

I finished this crochet blanket which I'm calling 'Primrose Garden' a year ago but then was too ill to write it up and publish it. I thought I'd wait until this Spring and I've been slowly writing it over the past few weeks. It's a long pattern (21 pages) and it doesn't help that it's not fresh in my mind. I shall be so glad to get it finished; I just have to proofread the thing now - did I say 'just'? - it'll take me ages. 

While working on this pattern, I felt a great need for some simple crochet so I've also started this scarf.

I'm still working on my quarter scale house from Petite Properties too. This has turned out to be an ideal long term project for me as you can only do little bits of painting or gluing before you have to leave it to dry or set. After much planning, I decided to try adding plaster brickwork to the outside walls which has turned out well.

Now I'm slowly gluing it together. This means that my trusty Lego Calendar is currently in pieces so that I can use the bricks to hold the walls together.

April will have to wait for a bit.

What else have I been doing? Well, I've finished the last of these Bestway squares which are going to be a baby blanket.

I've rather enjoyed using all those pastel, chalky shades that I don't often knit with for this project.

The tiny doll I showed you a while ago is a bit nearer to having a dress too ...

... and I've been sampling stitch patterns for a patchwork cushion project idea. Having to work slowly is making me do things with a bit more care. Normally, I would just dive into this, work non-stop and then, several days later, emerge either with a workable idea ... or not. Research and sampling is much slower but also safer.

I'm enjoying my garden too. My walks have to be so short that, often, I do a bit of gardening instead for my exercise. New flowers are appearing every day and just look at the blossom on the plum tree. It had about six plums on it last year so I'm hoping for better things this year.