This and this and this

This is the first freesia to bloom in my garden this season. I've been inspecting the garden regularly looking for signs of Spring.

This Crown Lynn side plate is a recent purchase. Somehow it makes anything eaten off it taste just a little bit nicer.

And this is a birthday cake. I cheated a bit with this photo, as I was desperate to create a flower theme for this post. This is the cake I made last year for my mother's birthday. The photos of this year's cake didn't turn out so well. But, curiously, this year's cake was very similar to last years. I think I'm in cake rut.

Knitting with fox

Finally I've finished the gloves. I can't believe I started them in April. There aren't so many cold days now to wear them but I'll have them nice and new for next winter.

I've also made a coffee cozy adapted from Ann Budd's design in her book 'Knitted gifts'. I like to get a take-out coffee on work day mornings but by the time I get it to work - especially on a cold day - it's barely warm enough to drink. The cozy idea is a wee bit naff but it actually works! I get to sit at my desk with a nice hot coffee. Mmmmmmm.

And, while I'm trying to buy less stuff, I couldn't resist this adorable fox. I've got him sitting on the window sill in the bathroom and the morning sun makes him glow with golden cuteness.

Why can't it be like Bogor?

I'm relieved to say that Hedgie is not trapped in the compost bin. I went out with the torch one dark night - hedgehogs are nocturnal - to discover her gone.
Had she been coming and going freely all along? Or had my intrusion with the camera driven her away?
I fretted. I checked the bin over and over. I felt responsible for her departure. Then, two days later she was back - snuggled under some spinach leaves.
I still can't see how she gets in and out but she does.


I was reminded of this New Zealand cartoon strip by Burton Silver, first published in the 1970s about a woodsman called Bogor who befriends a nameless hedgehog.

It's nice to know a hedgehog has taken up residence in the garden. And it would be amazing to be like Bogor and keep her as an almost-pet. But she's best left alone.

Adventures with Hedgehog

This cute hedgehog has been living in our compost bin for several weeks now. Always she or he would be curled up in the corner. I thought s/he was hibernating - do hedgehogs hibernate? - and we were being careful not to smother her. But tonight I when I visited she was up wandering around on the vegetable scraps. And not too bothered that I was peering in with my camera.

The bin is one of those upright plastic ones with a lid. And I can't work out how she got in. The air vents are too small even for a small hedgehog. There is no obvious entry point. The question is: how will she get out? Is she trapped in there waiting to be rescued? Or has she found a really good place to hang out until spring?

A full-time job is a full-time job

I'm still adjusting to full-time employment and the lack of time to make anything. Or blog. But I'm getting there.

I whipped up this simple snowflake button on the badge maker using some wool flannel from my stash. I'm thinking of doing a spring one. Maybe some blossoms?

The sunrise was taken from my back door. I went to put some washing on the line and there it was - this amazing pink sky.

And the magnolias - a harbinger of spring, hoorah! - are in flower everywhere and are just gorgeous. I especially love the fuzzy buds.