Fading beauty







Oh my word, the weather! Hasn't it just been absolutely amazing? Well, in my part of the world anyway. I love every minute of this hot and dry weather. Our wide bifold doors are open pretty much all day long, extending the outdoors into our kitchen-living area. The dining table is a nice place to sit at when the sun is too fierce outside. I spent quite some time this past weekend cutting out fabric for a wrap dress on this table. It was a slow process because all pieces had to be cut on a single layer and the light breeze didn't help with the delicate viscose fabric. But that's a story for another time 

On Sunday afternoon, most of the afternoon, all three children still living at home were out. No bickering, no unreasonable demands, just peace. I really enjoyed that. 

The vegetable garden needs watering regularly, towards the evening, plants look a bit limp. Actually, a lot of the garden looks like it is past its best, the vibrant greens from May turning dull already. I need to find some mid summer flowering perennials to give it a bit of interest during the summer holidays. I must admit that I find this a bit depressing, the fading beauty of the late July garden. 

On Sunday morning I went for an early run, before it got hot and I went up to the woods to take advantage from the shade the mature trees provide. My running has been a bit patchy to say the least but today was ok, I completed what I grandly call interval training, 2 min run followed by 1 min walk and repeat. I felt like an Olympian when I finished my last running interval and I threw my arms up in the air like a winner. So glad nobody saw me! It just so happened that the soundtrack for the last interval was "It's raining men" by The Weather Girls. A rather uplifting beat. Must make a running playlist with such uplifting songs only. 

I dyed my favourite dark blue linen dress, which I showed you here. The fabric was not well dyed in the first place and I don't know how the person cutting the length didn't notice. I should have returned it, but I figured the dye differences would slowly blend in. Alas, it didn't. I used a Dylon dye pod, so convenient. Much better. 

I am now piecing together Annie's leaving home quilt, she is moving in six weeks (eek). It is a total pain in the but (don't tell). The quilt will be pretty but the process is not. Some sections have multiple layers of seam, my sewing machine is complaining. I also made the mistake of trying to use up some random threads of unknown origin. The thread kept on breaking, which made me even more annoyed. It will get done. It will. Annie made some last minute changes to her colour scheme and I have now got a small pile of half square triangles to spare... I hope no further last minute changes are forthcoming. 

And now another week of work. It started as usual, I am still marking. It will take me another day or so to finish. I learned some new things from my students, which is always enlightening. I often say to them that learning is a shared experience and that we learn from one another. 

As always, thank you for visiting. Have a good week. 




Comments

  1. Oh the memories when I used to walk/run with my upbeat tunes. Still have then but don't run now. Looks like weather is great here and plants happy.

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  2. Yes, I know exactly what you mean about the garden. And out and about everything is starting to dry out and bleach. Dahlias are quite good for a bit of late oomph. My big one isn't in bloom yet, and still looking all green and fresh. It takes it a while to outgrow the snails which I think probably slows it down at the start. But once it's up and away it's brilliant. Good luck with the rest of the quilt, I shall look forward to seeing it. CJ xx

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  3. Scotland must be the only place in the world where the weather is fine. Everybody else seems too dry or too wet or too hot. It's not so terrible right here weather-wise but our skies are obscrued with forest fire smoke.

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  4. It was too hot for me last week, Christina, so kind of relieved to have cooler shower weather back. I have a similar problem in my garden with gaps where the poppies were. I’ve bought some Salvia to plant which apparently lasts until autumn.

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  5. I know what you mean about fading grandeur in the garden. I’m loving my cone flowers at the moment as they seem to have come into their own. They do have a posher name beginning with e but I can’t remember it. The dahlias work well at this time of year too. I love uplifting playlist for running. They always make me go a little further. No running here at the moment as I’m recovering from keyhole surgery. Maybe in a month or so with cooler weather I’ll start again. Hope your quilt goes ok for Annie. You’ll miss her I’m sure. B x

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  6. I've also noticed the flowers beginning to fade. I have a horrible suspicion we are past what I refer to as high summer now. X

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  7. Hmm I know what you mean about the mellow fading in the garden. Watering has been a bit sporadic so it is looking a little jaded in my garden now. Needs a bit of sprucing up I think. However lots of my plants have put on so much growth this year with the extremes of weather. I will need to to do some shifting and shuffling later on in the year I think.
    Having some peaceful time must have been lovely on Sunday for you. Hope you get the quilt finished for Annie, such a lovely gift for her.
    Have a good week Christina xx

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  8. Quilting to a deadline is always a bit stressful. I hope it turns out OK. I am guessing Annie moving out will be strange, I know she is a real trooper with the boys. I still have a flowering geum, dahilas are starting to come into flower and my coreopsis is looking good. Jo x

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  9. It does feel sad when the weather turns and you realise that summer has finished. I hope you enjoy some more summer days before that.
    It's been a while since I've blogged, so just catching up with everybody. I've asked before but is Jennifer Thistlebear still blogging? I lost touch with people sadly. Take care Christina, it's good to visit your blog. Cx

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  10. Summer is fading here as well but it won't be over until at least the end of October. The heat and humidity is so tiresome. Annie is such a champ, as are you with your run. I wish her the very best as she moves on and out for a while.

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  11. We have summer here all year round and we tend to take our perennial flowers for granted but I would be sad to see the fading grandeur in a garden.

    Love the photos BTW.

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  12. I love that song. Inspiring music really helps when working out. Good luck with the quilt...what a thoughtful gift.

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  13. Yes, the weather has been absolutely wonderful here in NH as well the past couple of weeks. Some mid-week rainstorms followed by cool days, perfect for outdoor walks (no running for me). I'm confident that you will complete Annie's quilt and hope you will show us the completed project.

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  14. I might be able to run to it's raining men! Lovely to catch up and glad the weather has been brill it makes all the difference for sure.
    Wren x

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Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment, I love to hear from you, I really do. I sometimes reply by email but I am not all that reliable... Christina xx

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