Weekend of Simple Pleasures

This weekend was of those blissful ones where all the jobs were done and I had time to just do exactly what I fancied around the house - without spending anything.

So what did I do?

I weeded the veggie patch in the back garden (this is for salads, courgettes, beans and everything else that needs constant watering and picking. The longer term, less precious stuff is at the allotment).

 

I planted out some winter kale and some fast-growing summer cabbage under my improvised cloche. It's a tiny patch but I am already pleasantly surprised at how much you can fit in to about 8m squared of flowerbed.

 

I weeded between the courgettes and lettuce. I generally pick a lettuce three times a week, saves buying those pillow packs from the shops which last all of three minutes before turning to slime. Nothing bar the lettuce and radish has produced yet - there are miniscule courgettes forming now, and I can see the beans (french and runner) are in bud. There is flat leaf parsley, coriander and basil just about ready and perpetual spinach is nearly there too.

 

Next I went for a run. As you can see, the grass on the verges was glistening in the sunshine after all that rain on Saturday. Being out in the woods on my own (apart from the dog) in the fresh air was gorgeous.

 

 

I spent the afternoon with my sewing machine knocking out a few more squares for my Scandinavian inspired quilt. They are lovely but SO fiddly! It's going to be a long, long  process.  But with Glastonbury on the iPlayer, it was great to just methodically get on with it. Plus it is mega-satisfying when you finally iron the seams flat on a finished square and put them in a nice pile. Small pleasures!

 

 

And momentously, late in the evening after spending three hours in front of the X-Files, I finished my 'The Killing' tribute jumper!

 

(This is Sophie Grabol, for those who don't know, of the famous Scandi drama 'The Killing'). This was my inspiration:

 

 

Yes, my jumper is too small (I have put on two stone since I started it) and there was a hideous moment when I couldn't get my head through the neckline. But it has been two years in the making and I have had to unpick and re-stitch it so many times, you cannot imagine the joy I felt when I finished the final stitch!!

 

 

 

Now that's a UFO off the needles, I can move on to the socks pattern I bought to knit while I was in India, which unfortunately, I had to unpick...and start again.

 

So all in all, a weekend of small pleasures.