Gardens and lavender thingys....

The garden is growing, and so are the weeds. But it looks pretty, so here are some photos...

Please note my beans growing up the climbing rose trellis! The roses don't seem to mind at all and are blooming among the leaves.

Yesterday, inspired by Britt-Arnhild I made some of these lavender "bottles". Well, lavender thingys. My whole house now smells of lavender, and it was something I could do while reclining on the couch and I had great fun. Jackie and Louise popped in during my creative surge, and they left with one each after sticking around to see if I could actually make them! I was a little distracted and in the middle of attempting one with fatter flowers at the time. They are more complicated, because it all goes wonky when you get past the fattest part. My command of the English language is stunning.

Basically, you gather lavender from your garden (which I could not do because it was hacked back to the point where it expired- I need to plant more) or get your friends to bring you bunches of lavender. Then you fold down the flower part and weave the ribbon through the stems until all the flowers are hidden. Voila.

Actually, it is a little more complicated than that, and it took 3 or 4 attempts with much muttering and lavender pieces flying all over the room before I found a way to do them relatively simply! I ended up tying them with ribbon just under the flowers, leaving a shorter length of ribbon dangling through the flowers, and then upended it, and folded down the stems one at a time as I started weaving with the loooooong end of ribbon. Remember to use an odd number of stems. 11 is a good place to start. And at the end, wind the ribbon around the stems a few times to bind them together, and tie a knot with the other shorter dangly bit. Then you are done. This is a highly technical and accurate method, as you can see. And TOTALLY made up. But it is what produced the ones in the photo so it worked!

I am quite sure there is a proper way to do them, but in the absence of a step by step tutorial, winging it was my only option! I think my friends stuck around for the amusement factor more than anything else. I am happy with the ones I have made so far and they can be popped into drawers to scent things. They keep the moths away too, I gather.

So I had a creative afternoon. And was up at 4 something this morning again. My body clock has gone beserk.

I need a nap.