Bluebells

Happy Friday everyone! This evening we went for a walk in Crickhowell Bluebell woods at sunset - such a stunningly beautiful experience.

It is ancient woodland with native British Bluebells - the ones with the long, narrow bells, not the imported Spanish Bluebells with the larger, wider and paler bells. Not that the Spanish ones aren't just as beautiful!

We could hear a woodpecker hammering away with his beak, and saw plenty of evidence of his presence with patches of bark that looked like someone had been using the tree for archery practice!  I was surprised at how low down his efforts were - I had always assumed that they would be high up, but these were only about 2 feet from the ground. We didn't get to see him though - our clumsy human bumblings must have scared him off well before we were within sight.

It is only a small woodland - it takes about 20 mins to do a circular walk, but the views all around are just spectacular with gaps in the trees giving glimpses of the Brecon Beacons to the left and the Black Mountains to the right. With the sun beginning to set, the lighting was just magical. Feeling overwhelmingly inspired, I am about to start some new paintings and have come up with ideas for both knitting and crochet patterns!  Watch this space...

For now, here are a few of my photo's:

*Please note that I have shared these photo's for your viewing pleasure only - if you wish to use any of these images for publication or wish to copy or reproduce them in any way, please ask my permission.

Love & hugs
Claire-Clutterbug xx

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Hi there, I hope you are having a lovely Sunday :) I have had a wonderful day - pottering in the garden this morning and painting this afternoon.

I have grown lots of plants from seed this year - veggies including lettuce, runner beans, dwarf french beans, peas, tomatoes, sprouts, cabbages, cauliflowers, courgettes and spaghetti squash. Flowers including sunflowers, rose campion, nicotiana, chrysanthemums, scabious and zinnias.

As I don't have a greenhouse, they have completely taken over my conservatory (well...I say conservatory but it's more of an unheated lean-to on the side of the house!  Finally it is almost time to move them outside so we can reclaim the shelving space, so they need to be 'hardened off' by taking them outside for a few hours everyday for a couple of weeks before planting. They weren't at all happy about their first outing yesterday and were very droopy and sad looking, but perked up again when I brought them back in. They didn't seem to mind so much today :)

My husband was busy stringing solar powered fairy lights around the garden ready for early summer evenings sat outside with my crocheting and a cup of rose tea watching the sun set :)  I can't WAIT for barbecue season!

And this afternoon I have been trying my hand at watercolour painting. I finally finished my painting of a bridge along the Brecon and Monmouth Canal just outside Crickhowell:

Brecon and Monmouth Canal

And then I got started on an addition to my planned collection of knitting and crocheting artwork. I made some lino prints of Stocking and Garter Knitting Stitches earlier in the week and today I have done a watercolour of a crocheted granny square in the making with a couple of balls of yarn.

Granny Square

I'm not sure if they are any good or not - it's quite scary displaying your artwork for all to see and criticise. I have put them both up for sale in my Etsy shop and will see if they receive any interest.  It's something I really enjoy doing so I am hoping someone will like my work!

Well, it's early evening here now and I am going to get back to working on my Sugar & Spice Crochet rug.  It's really cold tonight and according to the Countryfile weather forecast I could be waiting for some time for those summer evenings crocheting in the garden with a cup of rose tea! Bye for now.

Love & hugs
Claire Clutterbug xx