Applique cushions and thinking of spring

Hello! It's been a while, with college deadlines looming it's been hard to find time to fit anything else in, I can now see why some people blog as a full time job, it would have to be, to write the amount of post's I want to and to make all the things I'd like to blog about. So I thought I'd write a quick post so you don't think I have abandoned you, I haven't honest!

Spring is finally here!! well technically it is but the weather is still all over the place, hot one day, cold the next, but at least the end to the long cold days is in sight, yay! I love this time of year it is full of promise, new beginnings and fresh starts. The bluebells in my front garden are growing nicely and anytime soon I'm sure they will flower, that's when I get really happy, just looking at the sea of bluey purple flowers makes my heart sing :). The only downside is that weeds also love this time of year, now don't get me wrong, I find weeds fascinating. They over come all odds, invasive by nature, spread their seed en masse and grow in even the most hostile of environments, if only the plants you wanted would do the same. As I'm sure everyone does, I detest spending time digging them up only for them to come back again, but I also find beauty in the mundane and worthless. So took it upon myself to document them and make them worthy of a place in my home.

I picked out two plants I found most appealing visually, dandelion and nettle, and made some applique cushions. Preparing the dandelion cushion was nearly as tedious as pulling out the weeds themselves as you will be able to see from the pictures below, I had to cut out every leaf by hand and even did it twice as I couldn't decide what colour to use!

It was worth it though and I like the look of the busy Amy Butler pattern so much I even used it as a banner for my blog. So as you can see weeds don't have to be ugly, troublesome plants, with a bit of imagination, a whole lot of time and patience they can be transformed into beautiful works of art and take pride of place inside the home.

Now for my latest project. I'd like to introduce you to my first seedlings of the year,

from left to right - peas, spring onions, lettuce.

from left to right - rocket, sweetcorn, carrots

I like to start my seeds off early on the kitchen window sill as I like to eat the veg early too! My all time favourite has to be peas, I have to admit none actually made their way into my kitchen last year as I just couldn't resist eating them straight from the plant! I'm also trying somethig new this year, I have never grown sweetcorn before and not sure how it will fare in my windy garden or the climate but I'll let oyu know how it goes.

So for mow I must leave you, I hope you have a great weekend and start to the growing season if thats your kind of thing :)

Laura xx