secret seed swap

As I mentioned in a previous post, Lyndsey let me sign up as a late entry to the What You Sow secret seed swap last month. I haven't done a swap for a while so I was really pleased to be taking part, especially as I have a new garden to get growing in.

I really enjoyed preparing my package to send out. I picked out radish, rocket and aubergine seeds (some of my favourite vegetables) and added in some Limnanthes seeds too, as it's nice to have some flowers in the garden.

I illustrated each of my packets with paper collage pictures of the plants, and typed out some labels for the back.




I hadn't heard of Limnanthes before, but it is nicknamed the 'poached egg' plant because of the appearance of the flowers, which won me over immediately.



I was pretty happy with how they turned out. Nice and colourful!

And I received an equally colourful package in return from my fellow secret seed swapper. Just look how cute they are! Thank you Gabriella.



Beautiful packets, and a great selection of edibles, a lot of them themed around Puglia in Italy.
I've since found out that Gabriella has a great blog called Mangia Bene - filled with 'edible stories from a British Italian kitchen', hence the Italy connection.

Cicoria are bitter greens used in Puglia's national dish, and Gabriella described the Cima di Rapa as Puglia's equivalent to purple sprouting. She also included Carosello Mello Lungo which is an Italian cucumber, and some nasturtiums which are pretty and edible too - perfect!

I had a day off work yesterday so I decided to sow a few of the seeds (some nasturtiums and some of the cucumber seeds). Nice to do some gardening on such a lovely warm day.





And here they all are, sitting in our mini greenhouse alongside the runner beans (which are beginning to sprout!)

Thanks once again to Lyndsey for organising such a great swap. I'm looking forward to taking part again next year.

tit for tat

Have a look at this lovely bird - it's the wonderful work of Richard Phoenix and there's plenty more where that came from.

I'm doing a printmakers trade-off with Rich at the moment. He kindly requested one of my lightbulb screenprints and I jumped at the chance to swap it for one of his pieces of work (I hear he's got some wonderful screenprints under his belt). As a taster he gave me this postcard of one of his oil paintings, which is pretty special in itself.

He has also done an amazing painting of Rosie which I hear he sold this weekend at one of the Artists Open Houses - great news!

longwinded

time for a mammoth post

i have got a lot to mention today and lots of bits and bobs i've been meaning to post for a while. firstly some wonderful swap packages i have received of late:


top: the super pack it up small package i received from gabriele - lots of lovely strawberry, cherry and apple goodies, so great! - thanks again gabriele.

and below that: thanks to avital for this lovely package for the coloriffic swap-o-rama. such a thoughtful and personalised selection - i love it all!

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alongside receiving lots of lovely post i've been knitting lot of easter chicks, which are now up in my etsy shop:


now, i'm not sure how likely these little folks are to actually sell but i thought i'd test the waters of etsy and see how it goes. i also got carried away knitting and didn't know what else to do with them (as my friends and family were on the receiving end last easter and i doubt they'd fancy another batch)

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back to things i've received in the mail:


a few weeks ago i helped out my friend matt with some cd packaging ideas for his band 'a neat science' - and he sent me a copy of the design he put together.
it's a limited edition cd release and i think it has a lovely handmade feel to it with a printed canvas case and a nice brown luggage tag label - i bet they'll all sell like hot cakes! and very kind of him to credit me for helping with the design as he did all the hard work really.

and talking of cd designs, here is something i knocked up for a one-off cover design for a new single release by a band called stained glass heroes:



The band is releasing a new single and there will be a limited edition of 500 7" vinyl singles pressed, all designed by different artists - which is quite a nice idea i thought! so i've sent off my entry now, and you can look at some of the designs already received on their website. very nice.

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in other news, i went on a nice trip to the local salvation army thrift store the other day and picked up this pile of goodies:


i especially love the green spotty fabric and the floral pillowcase - makes me think of springtime! which is kind of appropriate as it is feeling very much like spring is in the air around here at the moment, the sun has been shining and i've even been thinking about digging out my sunglasses as it is so very bright - lovely!

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anyway, i must go now as this post has taken me quite long enough (though i do think i have more things to say that i have forgotton about) - it is now a whole day after i began! and no, i haven't been sitting here the whole time, i've been to the pub for a banana split and a glass of wine, and to london for a nice pot of tea and museum visit - so i have been quite a busy girl.

and now it is time for a rest - well, sort of, i'm off to the cinema to see the illusionist. i hope it's a good'un,

have a nice weekend everybody!

x