Monday 21 June 2010

Swapsies & Natures Bounty


Good evening

Hurrah the sun came out today - I spent time in the garden this afternoon - weeding my veggies & planting out my tomatoes.

Postie has been again - actually it was the end of last week but I'm behind on my blogging at the moment.

Over on the SCC the lovely Lalabibaby asked if anyone had some spare black fabric in their stash - as it happened I did and we arrange to do swapsies :) Here's what she sent me;

Yep - you can see fabric squares towards my next patchwork project, some lovely fabric & lots of buttons too :)

I've signed up for another swap - I tried so hard to resist but in the end temptation & the lure of getting a parcel through the post proved too strong. Its the Vintage Shabby Swap organised by my friend Karen over at Tilly Rose - go on sign up - you know you want too ;)

I've entered another giveaway too - so many lovely ones about at the moment - here's hoping I get lucky somewhere.  This one is over at JuicyFig to celebrate 100 blog posts.


On lots of blogs over the past week, I've seen posts referring to making Elderflower Champagne or Cordial.  I'd noticed elderflowers growing in my neighbours garden and this morning I went and asked her if she planned to do anything with them.  The answer was no, so I asked if I could help myself to some of the creamy flowers - no problem came the reply.  Armed with 20 flower heads and a receipe (which I doubled)copied from Jayne at Country Cottage Chic I set to work;

From this

to this - bottling tomorrow - so far so good - it smells delicious & the sneaky taste I had suggests its going to be gorgeous - summer in a bottle :)

Lastly for tonight - whilst I was out in the garden, I needed to rummage in the shed for some canes. I noticed this little nest being built in the shed eaves - as much as I like nature, I don't want to share my shed with wasps - so I took it down.  Little son was very impressed with it when I showed him - I am too - now wasps aren't my favourite things but they do produce the most amazing nests;


You can see that it was so tiny - just slightly bigger than one of the dots on my oilcloth!!

See you soon - off to cut out another dress!!

xxxx Vicki xxxx

10 comments:

Serenata said...

That reminds me I must try and make some elderflower cordial as well. We have enough elder flowers in our garden. Tomorrow afternoon hopefully?

It is great the way bloggers help each other out.

Andrea said...

It is always great to meet up with other bloggers.
Blessings,
andrea

maryannlucy said...

Elderflower champagne this weekend, the cordial is lovely. The nest is very impressive

Sarah said...

Looks good! It's amazing isn't it, that a hedgerow bush can produce something so scrummy!

JuicyFig said...

BLogger has Elderflower cordial fever! I am just sending Mr Juicy out to purchase Lemons right now!

That wasp nest is amazing - we had interwoven into an old crochet blanket in our shed once!

Kath
x

Dawn said...

Lets hope those wasps take the hint and move house!
Tempted by the swap - shall i or shan't I?

Scented Sweetpeas said...

I just posted about my elderflower champagne which went a bit wrong :-( Here's hoping my next go works as it does smell yummy, apparently you need very strong bottle lids to hold the bubbles in. We found one of those nests right near the door of our shed - aren't they amazing. It was a perfect sphere and the work inside is outstanding!

sharie said...

I love elderflower cordial, its so refreshing on a hot day. Usually I buy it in and hadn't thought about making anything from all those elderflowers around here.
Another thing to put on the 'to-do' list!

Also thank you for taking the time to comment on my blog post last week - it is very much appreciated.

JP said...

I made some too - did you have a problem getting citric acid - I did !! - apparently drug users use it! - I had to explain myself in our chemist!!!!!

Unknown said...

I am so glad I dropped by as I had signed up for the shabby chic swap but had no memory of where or with who!! Too much elderflower wine!!