Two things last summer changed my view of our outdoor life. Firstly we were fortunate enough to re-landscape our garden. Not much changed really in terms of the layout, but we had new beautiful paths, two fine seating areas and finally, finally I felt we could invest our time, plans (and money) in plants that we wanted to grow.
My parents have been hugely generous with their advice and plants and have helped us develop the beds in a very short space of time. I have also begged and borrowed specimens from our neighbours and friends. This summer I have become increasingly distracted and enchanted by our garden. It does my soul good. In the evening Big B and I sit late at night down at the bottom of the garden and chat, catching up on the day or the week.
I was also inspired by the Selina Lake’s book Outdoor Living and have chatted about this on the blog before. (I will have to buy her Winter Living book very soon). This Spring I started my outdoor projects in earnest. I made a list of things I wanted to make for entertaining and relaxing in the garden. In between commissioned work I made my way through the list. Last weekend we had a few of our friends round to enjoy a summer barbecue. This was the time to pull out all the creations and enjoy a fiesta of fun.
Crochet is perfect for summer outdoor projects. I used our granny square blankets and cushions for comfortable seating areas on the lawn. New patchwork cushion covers got a new airing and we used the food covers. The napkin weight, the new edged tablecloths and tablecloth weights were all used.
We also made a little fairy glade down the bottom of the garden using the paper garlands I made the other week and the Breton peg-doll fairies. It was lots of fun. In the evening we lit tea-lights in the up-cycled Bonne Maman jars. Some of these quick and easy creations made great take-home pressies for guests. After months of gradually building up our crochet items stash, it was lovely to use so many of our items.
But the real thing about entertaining is not the food, crochet, drink or the sunshine (although it does help) it is the laughter. That is worth its weight in gold and yarn.