The littlest things

It is no secret that one of my greatest joys is collecting seeds from flowers in our garden and anticipating the floral bounty to come.

The problem is that not all seeds get treated in the same way. 

Some need to be pre- chilled.

Some need to be pre- soaked.

Some need to have their coats scraped.

And then, after all that, some need to have the temperature of the soil just right!

Thank goodness there are some flowers that self-seed and therefore don't need any of that ( they're my favourites, but where's the fun in that!).

Sometimes it just means scattering the seed at the right time ( always fraught with angst about getting the timing right) and hoping for the best.

That's precisely what happened with the poppy seeds.

I have never grown poppies before.

Apparently, you just need to pick a rainy week in June and scatter them on top of the soil in a sunny position.

And look.......

Just one so far and you need to almost stick your nose in the dirt to see it but I'm beside myself!

 Other times it means poking the seeds into seed raising mix and peering at them every other day from then on in expectation of a green shoot.

And if you're very lucky, this is what happens.....

These are lupins, grown from the seed I collected ages ago.

Who would've thought that they'd germinate in cold weather!

Not being content with what I've already got...purple, pale pink and creamy lemon, I bought two punnets of mixed seedlings in the hope of getting some of the dark pink/ red ones.

Next to try are these delphinium seeds also collected from the garden.

Foxglove seedlings have been planted too.

So as you can see,  I've already got Spring / Summer flowers sorted and in my brain it's a mass of colour and tall, spiky loveliness including all the hollyhocks that are popping up everywhere ( they're one of the self-seeders).

Sew and sew

At long last I have finally finished piecing the top of my Modern Quilt.

It ended up being 64 blocks.

64 mini quilts within a quilt.

A couple of my favourites.

Choosing a backing will be my next task, but I think I'll just put it away for now. I need something different to play with.

Olive has a little sausage dog called Reggie so I made one for her birthday. 

She turned two.

I also made one for Otis Benjamin.

This darling little boy was born three weeks ago to Marcia and Jesse.

We met him for the first time at Mum's 91st birthday in Minyip.

Dennis and Raylene are thrilled to be grandparents for the first time.

Ben was home from WA when Otis was born. It was so good to see him.

We visited Bill Senior in Geelong for a lunch date. Sue took this photo. Next time I'll make sure she's in the photo.

Darling girls.

Darling boys.

A bit more sew and sew for Jacqui's shop.

Around the garden path.

I think I may have mis-judged where the bulb rows were in the stick fence beds. The bulbs are all coming up in the paths!

Left over sweet pea seeds.....

Gosh, I love pansies.

Some Pinterest inspiration.

Look at that stove.....

Definitely a curl- up -in -front -of -the -fire -with- a -book space....

Cosmos flowers in an old tub. I might need to re-visit the tip shop for an old tub.

This vintage quilt makes me want to do some hand sewn hexagons.

And this is just funny.....

Have a great weekend everyone.