A fair weather gardener

I had a lovely time in Berkswell on Sunday. The sun shone (a fact worth noting these days), the hall looked lovely decked out with bunting and Tracey and her team had worked hard to make setting up a breeze and to get the all important customers in.

I met some great people both stall holders and customers and enjoyed admiring the talent on the other stalls.
I took along my usual mixture of textiles, my own designs and vintage finds and sales generally reflected this mix with the lampshades being the bestseller.

I'm fond of this little French wooden horse so wasn't too sorry he didn't sell.

This hatbox is so useful; hadn't really worked out where else to pack the jugs. The enormous crash as we packed up was me; on the positive side 3 less plates to wrap but I was touched by how much concern and sympathy I received.

My friend, Carole, had told me about the fair and her stall was predictably lovely. She sells kitchenalia and textiles; her French enamelware is my weakness. She always styles her stall in colour blocks and on Sunday the green section was my favourite.

Love these handmade cosies..such a lot of work for a tenner. If you live in the Leicester area you might like to visit Carole's shop in Hinckley. Its called Vintage Treasures and is open Mon, Fri and Sat
I had hoped the weather would hold to allow a day in the garden yesterday but we were back to rain. I think if I was a keen gardener I'd be suicidal. Endless wet weather keeping one from the garden but encouraging the growth of triffid like weeds, strong winds stripping the blossom from the trees and 6 inches of water in every potted plant would lead me to stick my head in a water butt.
Fair weather gardener that I am I've stayed in with the sewing machine but finally a clear sunny day took me down the garden today.
When we first moved here I tried to grow all my favourites..delphiniums, lupins,clematis..all clay hating, slug prone disaster areas.  Now, however I take a Trinny and Susannah approach, remember them as they told us to wear what suited our figure not what we were drawn too, so now I grow whatever will survive.

A haze of forget me nots are always welcome and look lovely in a vintage jar
Predictably 2 of the expensive herbaceous perennials I planted last year have not even made annual status so it was good to see this faithful pairing going strong.

Love this acid green euphorbia which romps around our garden teamed with "widow" geranium named for its colour rather than any man eating properties.

This pic of our pond will give an idea of the level of neglect that prevails..its the green thing in the middle..but a couple of weekends without a fair may allow some maintenance..unless it rains of course.