Monday 24 October 2011

Hallo-'allo-'allo! What do we 'ave 'ere then?

I'm sure it's been a real nail-biting time for you, dear readers, ever since I told you of the crime amongst the flora of the garden wall, and asked for your help in tracking down the villains (you can read about it here if you somehow missed out on this earth shattering news item).   

Several suggestions came my way, for which I was very grateful.

Slugs and snails were put in the frame by quite a few people, but as Alpine grit surround the plants, I felt it was unlikely that they were the culprits, and that if they were, I'd have seen their trails.  

Woodlice (my No. 1 suspect), it was suggested, are peaceable chaps and chap-esses, who munch on no more than dead plant matter and wouldn't harm a flea, or, more to the point, a viola.  

Fingers were also pointed at our feathered friends, but the delicate nature of the nibbling seemed to keep them in the clear.  

Then my sister-in-law (the energetic one who cycled to Paris recently and who has the cutest dog ever in Ralph) phoned and said it might be weevils.  Nematode treatment was suggested, but I thought I'd give a few puffs of ant powder in the hope that this would deal with the little blighters, till I managed to get something specifically designed to eradicate weevils.  I'm normally a bit live-and-let-live in the garden as far as pests are concerned (my poor hostas will testify to the fact that I don't use pesticides often!) but as whoever it was was eating every single flower, I was prepared to be tough!

And look what has happened now!


We have flowers once more!


Oodles and oodles of them!

 So, the culprits have not been caught, but they have either left the scene or...well...let's not dwell on that!

In other news, two parcels arrived recently.  First came these...


Two lots of Christmas Drinks coaster invitations...


..and one set of coaster Thank Yous...




Cut! Cute! Cute!
They arrived really quickly!


Then this...


 Can you see the pretty tissue paper and the beautiful, proper ribbon that is keeping them together?  This bundle is from 'Dragonfly Fabrics'.  Ordered half way through Thursday, it arrived on Saturday, so it's another website I'd recommend for quick service.

Much as I wanted to get on with some sewing, either with this...

...combined with a bit of this...

Or this...

I was a bit busy with a work colleague and all of this...


The shoeboxes...


...and all the bags of contributions brought in by the children from school...


..have landed in my dining room...


After a militarily precise operation, everything has been divvied up, so the knitted finger puppet gang (along with some other very lovely cuddlies knitted by my colleague) have jumped into boxes and are preparing for their onwards journey!  Next stop Romania!




5 comments:

  1. So glad your violas have had a chance to flourish before winter. Love the fabric.
    Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

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  2. Weevils doing that ? ( wee evils ! ) Glad your Violas have recovered from the invasion.

    Lovely lovely fabric & the filled shoe boxes made me smile. I remember the lists of things not to add when we were doing them at primary school. The little village school sent 300 boxes one year !

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  3. Hi,I put holly leafs around the plants that get eaten in my garden, nasty nibblers dont like prickly bits.Your violas look pretty and also your fabric.Love Jill xx

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  4. Your violas look good, I've cleared all my plants away now because of the bad weather. The fabrics are beautiful, what will you make ?

    I like the thought that you are giving to the needy in Romania!
    Continue with that.

    Enjoy your new week.

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  5. Gorgeous fabrics, and those shoeboxes look like they'll bring all kinds of smiles. Lovely.

    ReplyDelete