flowering beauty

g'day 

here's the much anticipated buds in bloom ...

though my camera doesn't do it justice & they are actually a lovely red not orange

thanx for visiting

around my garden ...

the last 2-3 days the weather has been cool here, lots of rain which is unusual, before the cool, we had warm humid days, it has set nature off a little & the rest of us is just a tad confused?

gardens seem to be always a w.i.p. no matter what the season

thought i'd share a few photos, these are taken with my phone camera

Pink Pelargonium

Shasta Daisy

Lavender

Violas

Red Hippeastrum soon to flower

Beautiful Freesias

pink geranium with coriander & feverfew

late flowering Clivia

bird bath in amongst the flowers

Dianthus enjoying lettuce company

African Daisy sheltering the Herb Robert

not a lot going on out the front but hoping to improve it with more flowers in near future. 

hope everyone is having a good week

thanx for visiting

Getting new Sparks firing in the Brain ... Learning Something New

g'day folks

Monday just gone i went to our local craft group here, haven't been in many years, went when i first moved here. not as many people as i remember being in the group but very pleasant company.
i took along my little bits of crochet, making granny squares out of left over balls of yarn, got a few of those done but was really hoping that my neighbour was there who told me about the group & that she was teaching crochet to a few of the ladies, well, i've seen some of her crochet items & they are breathtaking to say the least, gorgeous cabled blankets, geometric throws, flowers of every type throw, she is a very advanced crocheter. she had a dentist appointment Monday, mmm, felt a little disappointed as i really wanted to learn something new in crochet, don't get me wrong, i love the humble granny & you can do a lot with it. 
anyway about half the morning had disappeared, so i asked one of the other ladies there who was making an afghan of unusual design, would she show me how to do that stitch she was making, i was in luck, she did... 

& i learned to do 

Bavarian Crochet   

this was my 2nd attempt after i came home, my 1st attempt was okay but i missed the bit where i had to put the 'fan' into the tiny hole at the top of the 'clusters',  have been enjoying doing a few rows every morning. 
with learning this stitch my head hurt terribly but not in the usual headache style way, i was learning several techniques that i had never heard of before, clusters, fans & post stitch, now, most of you experienced crocheters probably know the stitches by different names, that's okay, i call them as i see them plus that's what my teacher was referring to them as.
when i came home i took a break for a few hours to let my mind process the lesson, then i started again, my mind was a lot more relaxed. 
it was probably those neurons i hear so much about, the ones that need new things to learn to fire up & make new ones? or something similar, who knows but learning something new is extremely satisfying! 

so, i sat with my tea & crocheted some more today 

don't often bring out the delicate cups & saucers ...


have you challenged yourself lately? learned a new skill or something new in your preferred skill? it can be very exciting! give it a go & see where it leads you. 
i might try to learn something new in crochet once a month to start with ... 

thanx for visiting