Spring Flowers and Hexagons.

 

 I love Spring flowers. Daffs are great but freesias are better cause they smell so divine. I have many colours but these are among the first to bloom. The old cream Burtonii are so powerfully scented they fill the room.

  No scent but a bright display by the kakabeak under the cherry.

 I am still finding things that got frost damage even some of the freesia buds. So I doing quite a bit of pruning back to live growth on plants.

 Meanwhile since the knitting is finished for now I an making hexagons to enlarge a quilt by sewing on an additional row( s ).

 This shows a finished pile; a ready to hand sew pile and  one with the wonderful little plastic quilting/ sewing clips. Ideal for holding down mitered corners here.  Also good as a portable sewing project to take to club or sewing group.

 Below is the quilt I'm adding to. Made in 2017.

 

A Finish and some follow ups.

 

 The sleeveless cricket jersey for elder Grandson is finished. Hurrah. Hurrah!

 Not my finest work but I hated the pattern instructions.....it was a very old Sirdar Pattern.

 The reason I was able to finish it up reasonably quickly was my thumb that aches when I knit was quieted because I was taking Pain killers for my back ( which is 98% fixed now ) I had never done a "V" inset before. The price of good knitting wool is eye watering considering we have lots of sheep in NZ. ( it was Australian merino! )

 Some of the frost damage ( we had another one ) has been rectified...we picked the usable tamarillos and pruned the tree right down. The vireya tips I cut off ...the yuccas appear to be dying back -good!

 The lilies will survive and the alstroemeria I hope. Later will will give the renga renga lilies a hair cut with the battery powered hedge pruner as there are so many.

 In 2017 ( I looked at the label ) I finished making a large quilt of floral hexagons. We are currently using it on our bed. It is wide enough but not long enough so I am making a further row  to hand stitch on....not many quilts you can enlarge by that method! I am thoroughly enjoying making them...so easy so portable.

               

Twitching.

 I've been doing a lot of twitching...bird watching that is.

 I have been putting videos in here but they won't all work so here is a still instead. In the far distance down our garden and across the estuary and stream there is an old stranded log. When the tide is right the shags ( mainly ) go fishing then sit here to dry their

wings.

Frost and Ouch.

 This Winter we have had quite a few frosts. Last Wednesday was quite white but Thursday morning it was way worse. 0 degrees C. The heaviest frost in  the 8 years we have lived here.  Anything tropical or with fleshy leaves got "Cooked!"

 The tamarillo

The bananas 

 Some of my precious Vireya Rhododendrons ( above ) the flowers are cooked and the growing tips. I think they will survive but have had a big knock back.

 Along with all the canna lilies; bedding begonias; some alstroemerias( which should reshoot ) all the renga renga lilies.

 The frost also made our solar panels on the roof spring a leak so they have to be replaced.

 Luckily we hadn't planted the potatoes or peas yet.

The ouch part is my back. About 10 days ago  I got a stabbing pain in my lower left side while trying on some new trousers in a fitting room! I have been nursing it ever since. Taking pain killers and being ultra careful how I move. Doing lots of gentle fairly flat walking. Getting out of bed is the worst move or twisting. I am really hopeful it will soon be healed. It is muscle or tendon not spinal.

 My knitting is coming on well....I can knit standing up, even walking! I am sure I am going to run out of white wool though. Absolutely no gardening .....hate that.