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Saturday 7 November 2020

Friday Night with Friends November

 Before I get started on my Friday happenings, I found that after my last blog post most of the comments didnt make it to my email inbox annoyingly. I think I replied to everyone but if I did miss you then I am sorry. I am going to try again with this post but if it still doesnt work then I shall have to move to comment moderation sadly.

Anyway, many thanks to Cheryll for hosting our Friday night happenings  - it was good to get together again.

I signed up this week to the DMTV sketchbook challenge which is running for the next month. So on Friday afternoon I spent a happy hour or two looking at the first video and then gaily tearing pages out of a brand new sketchbook and replacing them with prints from my stash and different types of paper. Tricky to photograph but this how my sketchbook is looking.


Its a great way of getting past 'blank page syndrome'! This afternoon I am going to be machining those pages in place and looking forward to Sunday and the next video.

I had to park my Red Manor House quilting last weekend as I had a tiny cut on my thumb which was making it difficult to pull the needle through. Instead I got out my tablecloth and a couple of new fabrics that had arrived. This week I have been adding the double pointed leaves (as opposed to the ones that tuck under the vine) and have made good progress. So that is what I continued with last night.


I was raking walnut leaves earlier in the week and waxed lyrical! on my Instagram feed about the delicious smell of the leaves - my favourite autumn smell.


While I was raking I was thinking about all the uses that a walnut has and came up with quite a list. The whole nut, before the shell starts to form, can be pickled or used to make vin de noix - a walnut liquer. The husk of the nut can be used to make ink and was used by monks for writing their manuscripts. The shell when ground makes a sand that is used in reptile aquariums - I use it for stuffing pincushions - and is also used in body and facial scrubs, much better for the environment that all those little bits of plastic. The nut of course is delicious on its own, can be used in baking or added to salads. It also makes a delicious and healthy salad oil. I bet you didnt realise it was quite so useful!

Around the garden the trees are starting to look quite bare. Not this bay tree though - the tall tree behind the pomegranates.


It is full of big black berries at the moment and we are always finding tiny bay trees around the garden.


The leaves on the pomegranates are a beautiful golden colour at the moment although falling rapidly.


This yucca was a house plant I brought from England 25 years ago - it has flowered every year since we planted it in the garden.


And finally we found this early primrose flowering in the garden.


So thats me catching up - we are back in lockdown here, the second week now of four, but who knows when it will end.

Stay safe and well everyone.

19 comments:

  1. Lin, your sketchbook challenge looks very interesting. I look forward to watching what you will do with it next and next...
    Hmmm...I knew what could be done with walnut shells and the meats, but I did not know what could be done with the hulls. Interesting, When we were kids, we had to gather the nuts after the trees were shaken and remove the hulls and spread the nuts in shells to dry, and so on. Our fingers were green/black with stain from the hulls. You knew every kid at school that had to do the same just by the stains on their fingers. Ha!

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  2. The sketch book challenge sounds interesting. You have a lovely garden. Have you checked your SPAM folder for your blog emails. Most of mine ended up here when blogger did all those changes.

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  3. Your sketchbook challenge will be fun and a great project to do during lockdown.... hope your thumb feels better soon, surprising how much a small cut inhibits us! lovely to see pictures in your garden. I never knew walnut leaves had a scent... I love walnut and coffee cake. And I buy crushed walnut when I can for pincushions, I love the weight it gives them
    Hugz

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  4. You applique is so well done. I'd be embarrassed to show you mine.
    I love seeing pictures of your garden. The plants are so different from what we have here. When do you pick the pomegranates?

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  5. Interesting information about walnuts, I love eating them and cooking with them and putting the ground shells in pincushions. Your garden looks wonderful, the yucca flower is pretty. Hope your thumb is healing, we don't realise how much we use our thumb until we can't!! Your applique is looking great too. Wonderful idea with the sketch book, looking forward to seeing what else you do.

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  6. Nice stitching on the go... & interesting project with the sketchbook.
    Thanks for sharing some pics of your garden too.
    See you at the next FNwF too...xox

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  7. lovely stitching and projects and great to visit your garden.
    good luck with your lockdown, we are slowly emerging from ours which seems to have been on and off for months.
    Stay safe!

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  8. Lovely post and I do hope you get to see all the nice comments. My Grandma had a yucca on each side of her driveway down by the road. Thanks for the memory!

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  9. Your sketchbook challenge looks interesting. Love your autumnal coloured fabrics for your applique. So many interesting ways walnuts can be used. Are you going to make tequila from you yucca plant?? Lol.

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  10. I am sure you will have great enjoyment out of your scrapbook challenge. Its amazing how a small cut can put you out of action. Interesting how useful walnuts are x

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  11. An interesting and fun project with your scrapbooking..
    Your progress with the tablecloth is looking great..
    Great info about the walnuts..

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  12. Sketchbook idea sounds great. I'm floundering at the moment. We have some primrose leaves appearing in the garden here on the Isle of Wight, but no flowers yet...

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  13. Yes, stay safe indeed.
    I've have replied to a couple of your emails, but they've bounced, so know I'm thinking of you even if you haven't heard from me!

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  14. It is nice to have a new project - specially now.....
    On subject of walnuts - we usually bring a walnut liquor back from Croatia,
    take care,
    xx

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  15. Your tablecloth is looking lovely Lin. As are all the trees & autumn colours in your garden. My bay tree got so huge I got the tree men to cut it down by half when they were here last ... likewise with my walnut tree. It will be interesting to see if it crops as well next season after its cut.

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  16. Sorry to hear that your finger slowed you down some. I hope it is feeling better. The applique' quilt looks amazing.

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  17. Lin you always manage to get me browsing with your posts....I did check out the Sketchbook Challenge just to understand what you were telling us about.......very interesting. It's nice that even when you are unable to do one of your projects you can work on another...hope your finger is better......

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  18. The sketchbook project sounds interesting!
    Pretty stitching Lin! Hope your finger is better now and you are able to stitch again.
    Walnuts are amazing aren’t they! We just received our order of walnuts today, much easier than scrumping them, for once!
    Lovely photos of the garden.
    Hugs,
    Barbara xx

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  19. Thanks for the nice pictures Lin. When we were children, we used the walnut shells as Christmas tree decorations ... we made small beds out of half a shell - stuffed blankets made of fabric with some cotton wool - and a cherry stone was the little one - of course it was a baby :-) )
    Greetings to you. Viola

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