My Blog Has Moved

Just a little note to say that I have combined my HodgePodge blog with my personal blog and you can now find everything over at

http://www.countrylivingblog.blogspot.co.uk

I look forward to seeing you there.

Lavender Scented Hearts

Well in the spirit of my new "make do and mend" mindset (check out my other blog), when my daughter Meg asked me to make some lavender hearts for her forthcoming country fair, my first impulse was to rush out and buy some gorgeous fabric and luscious trimmings to make some fabulous hearts and until recently this is exactly what I would have done. However, as I mentioned, my new ethos is now “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”, which apparently was a New England proverb and the mantra of the women of The Great Depression in 1930's America. Now, people who know me will know I am a bit of a hoarder and I have a particular weakness for textiles and trimmings and all things crafty so despite my longing to hop in Chuck (my trusty old truck) and dash off to my fabulous local craft shop, Craft Box, in Liskeard, I went for a rummage in my spare bedroom to see what I could find. I have to say I feel very proud of myself, I admit that I bought some gorgeous mini bobble trim to finish off the hearts and some thin ribbon for the handing loops because I couldn't find anything in my secret craft stash but on the whole, everything used to make the hearts I already had. I even recycled a fantastic Pip Studios cushion cover that my daughter Katie brought back from a trip to Germany a couple of years ago and that our dog Indie managed to put a hole in when he was a puppy.  So here are the hearts I have made so far.

    

Basket Case .......Cornish Willow.

Right can I just say, for the record, I LOVE BASKET WEAVING!!!!! Yesterday I spent a blissful day with the lovely Carol Horsington, her partner David Taylor and their two adorable Jack Russells Sue and Poppy, learning the gentle art of basket weaving  at their farm in Cornwall where they run their business Cornish Willow. I came away with  sore, aching fingers and a faint whiff of damp willow about me but also with an amazing sense of satisfaction and two amazingly awesome willow plant supports that I somehow managed to produce. I also came away completely inspired to take the leap and plant some of my own willow with a thought to maybe, just maybe, starting my own business. I never imagined that there were so many varieties of willow, each with different qualities and each producing willow that can be used for a whole variety of things from  wonderfully sturdy fencing hurdles and plant supports to colourful willow baskets and beautiful living willow sculptures. After lunch, Carol took me to see her willow plantation. I'm not sure if that's what it's called but it seems to fit the amazing array of willow that they grow. Some of the branches are several metres long and a couple of centimetres thick, which is apparently only two years worth of growth and is used for making the uprights for things like hurdles and plant supports and some, a couple of metres tall, which is this years growth, and is supple and bendy and used for weaving baskets. 

I shall definitely be going back to learn how to make baskets and willow hurdles and Carol even supplies green willow for planting in February/March time so it's time to get fencing off a piece of my field so I can start planting next year. In the meantime, I'm off to plant out my wonderful plant supports. 

What do you call catnip toys without the catnip........

Today, in order to stop my daughter Megan nagging at me to start making things to sell, I took inspiration from my eight cats and sat down and made them some cat toys. They love catnip and there is nothing more hilarious as a herd of crazoid cats charging around the house in catnip heaven (is that what a whole bunch of cats is called I wonder?) It drives them crazy so with this in mind, I made some catnip toys for them. The only problem is that I don't actually have any catnip because it hasn't arrived yet so technically, they are just cat toys. My cat, who is actually named Mouse, very kindly obliged and modelled my new creations for me. 
Here's a bit of a footnote ...... a group of cats is not a herd it's either a Clowder or a Glaring ......... who knew :-)

All Things Crafty.

Well here is my first post on my new crafty blog. It's taken me weeks to decide on a name for my new crafty enterprise and while I wanted a catchy name I also didn't want to make it too specific because I love to try different things. The first crafty project I will be trying is willow weaving, specifically I'm going to go at learning all about making willow plant supports. I love the natural look in my garden and have always wanted some lovely decorative willow supports to grow my peas and beans up but all attempts thus far have ended up being held together with gargantuan quantities of garden twine. With this in mind, I have enrolled one one day course with Cornish Willow this Friday and ultimately, this what I'm hoping to achieve (picture added from the Cornish Willow website) ....... So watch this space.