The garden before night.....

 Today I was in our back yard, as always, enjoying the flowers and keeping an eye on our veggie plants. We have so many tomatoes this year and thankfully the bright yellow marigolds have kept the tomatoes free of nibbling bugs, woohoo ! Alas though, the brussel sprouts ( my husbands fav. blech ) have been invaded by crowds of aphids, boo ! We need a ladybug army. Thankfully the rest of the vegetable plants are aphid free, cucumbers & spaghetti squash doing great, big red onions, plenty of carrots and a good load of runner beans ( which I'm leaving on the vines to dry ). Our blueberries were magnificent this year, so many !! The raspberries were just okay, a nice handful was all we got but they're still quite new to the garden. The comfrey exploded with blooms again and the peppermint & chocolate peppermint filled our half barrel to the max. For awhile I was concerned about the lack of honey bees, lots of furry bumbles though, but finally by the 2nd. week of Aug. I started noticing one or two honey's buzzing among the bee balm & coneflowers, yay ! I think those bees went to give their hive the location dance and now I'm counting up to at least 20 honey bees a day, do the happy dance ! And the dragonflies, such beauties !
 Just before nightfall, around 8pm, I noticed how bright the flowers were and decided to take a few pictures. In these shots are Cosmos, Echinacea ( Purple Coneflower ), Bee Balm and other pretties. Enjoy :) Oh, I've also posted a photo of a vintage metal & crystal scale my parents had back in the late 70's. I'm contemplating whether or not to list it in my vintage shop as it looks quite nice where it is in the photo, gives it a bit of a Steampunk/Victorian look sitting on that lush maroon box & backed by the rich grey-blue walls. We shall see !

Look at what I got !! --and making a wrist cuff....

Isn't this gorgeous !? I just could not resist purchasing this beautiful Cottage Garden bracelet from here: www.kimmsmith.etsy.com Kim is the friendly creator of this & many other stunning bracelets. It even came with a free gift of matching earrings, how thoughtful :)

Just look at the colours of that bracelet, right up my alley ! And the flowers are so joyful, they'll definately keep me warm as the weather gets colder ( they're also a reminder of what I hope a part of our new backyard garden plot will look like next Summer ).

Please run over to Kim's shop, you'll love the lush variety of bracelets offered, won't be disappointed and her prices are spot on too.

Thanks again Kim for creating this stunning shot of sunshine :) ♥

Okay, so over the last 2 days I've been working on a wrist cuff. It seems they are rather trendy so I thought I might try to throw a few into my shop. But first I had to make a 'test' cuff to make sure it was going to fit correctly and close correctly.

The first cuff closure I used was a small lobster claw which would be attached to whatever jump ring necessary for comfort ( cuff goes from 6-8" ). I did not like the result. You pretty well need nails to open a lobster claw catch. Also, it was too small and I thought of those people who might have sore fingers, it would be a right off for them !

So the next closure you can see below, a large keychain ring where all you have to do is press the ring inward and attach to the other side. It could have worked had the keychain ring not been so stiff to open. But then I also noticed that if a person had a small wrist and used the keychain ring on the very first jump ring, the keychain ring would have to turn sideways which would bend the cuff awkwardly. So off it came.

Finally I chose what most other cuff makers use -- a button and elastic band closure. Off to the drugstore for a package of elastic fabric covered hairbands and then find my box of vintage buttons.

Well, it took me a wee while to sew it all on so it felt secure and the back was fully covered with a

layer of pink felt to hide all the stitching and provide a layer of comfort. Oh dear, I've gained a bit of weight and the band had to stretch just a tiny bit further than 8", but it worked, was a little snug ( a gentle reminder that I really do need to lose that 20lbs finally ! ) and definately wasn't going anywhere.

I could have used velcro but I find that after awhile it looks rather grody, besides, the vintage button makes it look prettier with a touch of 'old-fashioned' charm.

I've still to finish off the fabric flower edges to stop them from fraying ( maybe add a rim of golden paint ) and will cover the card flowers with a special glasslike gloss.

The materials used for this cuff: the base is a type of moire peachy-pink fabric ( fake I think or does it matter, will have to research a bit ), handsewn are card flowers from a greeting card, fabric leaves, beadwork, lingerie lace and a recycled glass rose pendant from one of my old bracelets.

Do leave a comment letting me know what you think of this cuff. My personal opinion: I like it but am not too keen on the wonky blanket stitching, maybe just use plain stitches instead. I need to figure out a way to attach the elastic band before doing the artwork ( did it the opposite way for this cuff, had to make sure the stitches didn't show ). Also, I'm not fond of peach, which is why this is a test cuff :)

Upcoming Felt Thing :)

Can you guess what this is ? Hint: it flies :) I had this piece of glittery black fabric and am simply handsewing it by sight only --meaning, no drawn picture to follow. So hopefully it will turn out the way I see it in my head.

And here are the last of the Spring blossoms. They came with the house when we bought it last Sept. Not my personal choice of color but they still look rather pretty and I love the smell of tulips. The wee 'tree-bush' is a great spot for hummingbirds, they rest there and then fly over to our feeder on our deck.

Now on to the Summer stuff, woohoo ! Oh what should I plant there ?