A taste of Autumn

We recently needed to get a new fridge-freezer so took the opportunity to stock take the freezer drawers and discovered we had blackberries and blueberries from 2025 which needed to be eaten.  I decided to make a sauce with them.  I tipped a load of each into a saucepan, added 2 dessertspoons of icing sugar and gently simmered them.  When they were soft (about ten minutes-ish), I mashed them with the potato masher and then passed them through a metal sieve to get rid of the pips. 

I find that blueberries don't have that much taste on their own, but combined with the blackberries, it is a marriage made in heaven!  We have it over vanilla ice-cream and also swirled into natural yogurt, with or without a chopped banana.  It is absolutely delicious and a really good use for those berries. A real taste of late Summer/early Autumn.

Other cards this year

I like to post photos of the cards I make, as a reminder of what I sent to whom, as well as a record of what I have been making, so here are some more from this year.  Above is a simple stamped and watercoloured card. These clean and simple cards are often more tricky - all it takes is an inky finger print and you have to start all over again!

Easter cards are enjoyable to make and these were made using stamps, dies and stencils with pastel coloured backgrounds.

I made a couple of these for my cat-loving friends, using stamps and dies.

As this stencil and dies set from America cost me a fair bit in tax, I am determined to use it as much as I can.  It is a good one for using scraps and here there are embossed bits as well as scrap book paper.  

This one used some of the slow drawings I do on a Wednesday evening. I have amassed quite a collection of these little pieces, so it is good to use some of them.  

This one used embossing folder for the background, and some die cut flowers which I watercoloured.  The recipient is a teacher, so the letters and vintage book page number strip seemed appropriate!

I enjoy looking for themed supplies - hearts are a good one.  Here I used an embossing folder and a heart which had metal foil applied to it.  Simple, but effective, I think.

An embossed frame and stencilled image made this card.

I saw this inked technique demonstrated on TV and knew I wanted to try it.  I think it worked really well. The image is stamped onto watercolour card with Distress (or other water based ink) and then sprayed gently with water, just enough to react the ink and start it spreading.

Another simple card with a gel printed heart in the centre of the embossed background.

Finally (and well done for making it here!) is this card which uses one of the pieces I made in an online course I did in the summer. Lots of layers of paint and ink in this piece with a stamped butterfly as the focal point.   I have a couple of birthday cards to make for male family members and I find cards for men are a little more tricky but I have ideas of what to do, so watch this space.

Blogger, Compost and flowers

As you may know, if you have a 'Blogger' blog, it is not updating the posts from blogs we follow,  so we are all missing each other's new posts, unless we go over to their blogs from our reading lists.  Please keep visiting and I will keep visiting too.  Hopefully this may be sorted, but it has been going on for a while, so who knows?  On the whole, I have found Blogger to be pretty good, but this is first time there seems to be a major issue which isn't being resolved. 

On to my actual post.  

I have what is affectionately called a Dalek compost bin (the alien enemies of Dr Who - see here for further details), which has worked really well and provided me with lovely compost for the last couple of years.  I thought I had cracked the composting recipe and had been busy filling the bin with green and brown waste through the year.  It got very hot here and I covered the bin with a white sheet during the summer, to try to keep the temperature down a bit so that the worms wouldn't be cooked.  

It came time to empty the bin - a tricky task, as I don't have a lot of room for such shenanigans.  Unfortunately, this year something has gone seriously awry as I had slimy, smelly half- decomposed stuff all the way through the bin.  No nice, sweet-smelling crumbly compost for me this year.  So, I refilled the bin, aerating as I went, mixing in whatever brown waste (cardboard, egg boxes, paper etc) I had to hand.  

What have I learned from this experience?  Composting is an art as well as a science. I need to ensure I have 50/50 green and brown waste when I add some to the bin.  I also need to empty and then refill the bin in Spring, to make sure it is aerated, something I neglected to do this year.  Oh well, as we gardeners are so fond of saying, there's always next year!  

In order to cheer myself up, I took some photos of flowers in the garden, Above is Rose 'Eyes for You' which has been fantastic this year.

This is Anemone Ruffled Swan, with the frilly edge to its petals. 

Rose Dannahue, which has valiantly continued to flower, despite not enjoying the heat.

Helianthus Lemon Queen, normally really tall and with slightly thuggish tendencies in the right spot (it's fine in this garden).  It struggled with the heat too, is much smaller this year and has been slightly later to flower, waiting for the much needed rain we have had.  It is such a cheerful plant and I love to see it in flower.

Finally, a bee of some kind enjoying the pollen/nectar from the Helianthus.  

Changing season - welcome to Autumn

Thankfully, it is now much cooler and you can feel the season turning.  I, for one, am relieved, as I have really struggled during the heat of this last summer.  I enjoy Autumn, so look forward to greeting those plants which come into their own at this time of the year.  Above are cyclamen hederifolium, a sure sign that Autumn is here.  I have several pots of them on the shady patio and they seem to be happy there.  The flowers come before the leaves and the leaves have beautiful marble patterns. 

Here are some others.

Also in a pot on the shady patio are some japanese anemones.  I think this may be Pretty Lady Susan, but am not sure at all!  It is flowering away well.  My usually very reliable japanese anemone Bressingham Glow, which is in a border under a jasmine, has not enjoyed the heat and lack of water. It is flowering, but is a lot shorter than usual and with fewer leaves and flowers.  

This japanese anemone was sold as Ruffled Swan, but I think it is Wild Swan, as it doesn't seem to have the ruffled edges.  However, it does have pretty lilac backs to the petals.   

It used to be in a south facing position, but hated the intense sun, so has been moved. It does like to be well watered and is quick to wilt, but that is due to it living in a pot (and probably needing to be divided!).

On the whole, it is an undemanding and rather lovely plant, brightening up a shady area.

Another plant which has been doing sterling service and flowering for a long time is Clematis Wyevale, a herbaceous clematis, again in a pot.  It will let you know if it needs watering too, but just quietly flowers away, with a slightly soap-like fragrance on warm days. 

The hydrangeas have flowered but fading much more quickly then usual and the asters and helianthus Lemon Queen were also affected by the heat and drought, so are smaller than usual, but with the recent rain, they have perked up considerably.  There is still lots to enjoy!