Oh To Lead A Tidy Life

It's all very well and good to spend the weekends in creative pursuits inside and out, and having a lovely time playing with fabric and thread, but sometimes life catches up with us and we realise we can't go on much longer in a state of chaos and that Something Must Be Done.  Such was the case for me this weekend. Having dragged out a miscellany of stitching projects last weekend and strewn things hither and thither, this weekend I resolve that It Would Not Do and that some order must be imposed on the chaos.  Of course this is more easily said than done and how it turned out in the end was that I spent a very warm morning scrambling up and down the ladder to the uppermost cupboards in the sewing room, tossing piles of books and stitching supplies up there in a random fashion until the floor was visible once more.  Then I sternly reprimanded myself and reminded myself of my resolution to finish all the quilts I already have on the go, and not to start another thing until this is done.  So out came this old chestnut which I was quilting last winter. It's a very simple quilt, a colour wash of florals with black to set them all off, but I made the mistake of wanting to hand quilt the squares and so it is taking a long time to complete.  (Actually an eternity is how it feels at present.)

In my own defence I can only say that it has been too warm this year to do much in the way of quilting, but now it really is time to take up the hoop and thimbles again and get going.  At least now there is a place to sit once more in the sewing room. without the whole area being covered by fabric scraps and bits of wool and cotton threads.

The most gratifying thing was that The Canucks called around for a visit and Mrs Canuck commented upon how tidy my sewing room was compared with the last time she had visited.  Long may it last (though it probably won't).  Shame it wasn't looking like that last weekend when a steady stream of visitors must have left shaking their heads and wondering how a person could live in such a disorganised situation.

When the crystal garden sculpture mania took hold I had the idea that rather than having single ones dotted about the place it would be much more attractive to have groups of odd numbers together, but it didn't work out that way because of the inconvenient fact that there are so many plants cluttering up the place (most unusual in a garden) and that I could only squeeze in singles.  This weekend this was put to rights by the judicious use of the spade and removal of the acanthus (which was on a campaign for world domination and badly needed to be taken in hand).  We have managed to put three sculptures in place together, which looks so much better.  The earth in between them is looking rather bare but in no time at all there will be new groundcovers in there to fill the space.

I feel very pleased with the look of these three and can't wait to put other groups together where up until now there have only been singles.  Woe betide the poor unsuspecting plants which get in the way, they won't stand a chance once my beady eyeball falls upon them.  

In the garden the purple passion continues unabated and as I was looking up at this pretty deep purple geranium in its hanging basket it occurred to me that in such a small garden it would be good to make more use of space by having more hanging baskets, climbers and vertical elements.  (Particularly as there is no room left now to jam in the new treasures which beg to come in.)  This geranium with its silvery foliage and obliging ever-blooming nature would look good with this tradescantia

which can't be scorned as it is so vigorous and rampant, and for good measure some of this oxalis would be pretty when viewed from below.

plus there is this new ajuga, similar to the purple one I already had, but with paler pinkish tinges

and this ground cover would also be good with them

Maybe next weekend we can investigate this further, but this weekend after the massive tidy up, the quilting sessions and catch up with friends I somehow ran out of time. 

It's time to start thinking about winter deco again, so exciting to be dragging out the accessories and plan the costumes for this year.  This "new" leather clutch bag from the op shop will fill the bill nicely and can hold the powder compact which hasn't been on an outing to winter deco yet.   

And I think these hats will make the cut for day wear, having auditioned after the big clean up.