A British Rainforest

* I was invited to the Gardeners’ World Live show and provided with a pair of tickets to the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

Given the amount of rain we’ve had this year I thought it topical to share this garden designed by Chris North, as the title caught my eye as I was scrolling through my photos of the gardens that I still want to share from the 2025 show.

It was a fascinating garden, or Beautiful Border, and it was easy to see why it was awarded Platinum.

Chris said that his border ‘encapsulates a regenerating rainforest, underplanted with native British flora’ and aims to ‘raise awareness of these magical woodlands and the need to protect them.’

Temperate rainforests are globally important habitats found in mild climates with particularly high rainfall and humidity. They’re rarer than their tropical counterparts but are rich in biodiversity which supports populations of ferns, mosses and liverworts. Though the remaining rainforests in western Britain are threatened by deforestation and overgrazing.

Alongside the planting, I particularly liked the iron fern frond sculptures inserted into the space, and I would happily have left the show with a couple of sets of these had I seen them. I didn’t get a chance to speak to the designer either as both times we visited the border he was being held deep in conversation by someone else, and the same someone else, which was a little frustrating! We waited both times, but it was clear the conversation wasn’t ending anytime soon, so I left with just the pictures - and wondering how MOH could replicate these, I do like to give him a challenge!

I do love a fern or two, and it’s something we don’t have in our garden here. After having so many growing, and self propagating, in our previous garden now that I think of it it seems odd for us to have none at all. I’m sure though, that’s something I can correct!

These sculptural mushrooms also looked right at home in the garden, I’m not sure they’re something I’d go for, and if I did I’m not sure I could make them look this natural either. At least not in the timescales required for the build for a show.

Isn’t it an amazing space, and doesn’t it make you think differently about the lush green plants that are native to where we live?

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy them as much as I did the show.

A quilty update - February 2026

It’s been a little while since I shared an update on my quilty progress, not since September in fact and so here it is today. In truth I’d been holding off this update as I wanted to have some actual progress to document, and finally I have. Well in some places anyway!

My sewing is still dominated by the random and now considered slightly silly ‘stretch’ project I set myself way back in last February, but I’m on the home stretch (pun not intended) and I know not to be quite so rash with my quilty plans for 2026!

So how am I doing?

1 The teal flying geese

Still not started, but still on the list. I’m having a rethink about how to get this one off the ground because when it does I think it’ll be flying (again pun not intended).

2 The mystery block a month

Like the ‘stretch’ project the end is almost in sight. Well almost, once I’ve made the final block for December (which I’ve not started yet), then the real work begins! That’s to join the blocks and make them into an actual quilt, and it’ll be the biggest one I’ve made in a quite a while.

I think knowing this is partly why my momentum has stopped, or slowed if we’re being kind. In my mind I know the next step is a big one and I’m already playing through the borders I could add, the backing, the wadding and the small matter of quilting it. I don’t have many answers yet, but I’m hoping once I get closer there’ll be some clarity.

Since the last update I’ve shared the following monthly blocks:

• August: Patchwork star block

• September: Basket block

• October: Ohio star block

• November: Dresden quarter block

There is definitely more to come on this one!

3 The jeans and pyjamas

I was wrong to think it would happen in 2025. The only update I have here is that I’ve added to the pyjama pile of fabric, and probably the old jeans pile too!

4 The Essex linen kisses

Yay - progress. So much progress that it’s completed, and I love it. I’ve even shared more about it in its own blog post: Essex Linen, a colour wash picnic rug.

I think I also love it because I completely made it up from a box of random scraps, finding the fabric to match online and then spending probably more time than I should have getting the colour wash just as I wanted it. But it’s those fun bits in life that we all need, right?

I do want to make a drawstring bag to make it more easily portable, but that’s for another day. All I can say is ‘bring on the picnics (and sunny weather)!’

5 My floral fancy

This continues to take up two cutting mats and sit on my craft room floor in the hope that it might make it closer to the sewing machine, but it hasn’t yet. I checked it the other day and thankfully hardly any of the cut pieces have moved, but I do need to free up those cutting mats!

In my last update I was hoping that I would gleam knowledge from my Bernina training day, and I certainly did and so it also stays on the list.

Throughout the year I’ve been collecting various greys to use as backgrounds for further panels, yes I’m still planning to do more, yes I know I haven’t picked this one up again yet… Though I think my grey collecting is over, as I checked to see what I had and it seems I definitely have a preference - for lighter greys and sparkles.

MY COLLECTION OF GREYS

Though I’ve now realised I probably need a few greens for the leaves, the collecting continues…

6 My English Paper Piecing (EPP) blue diamonds

I haven’t touched this one since my last update, my go to hand sewing projects for the past few months have been embroidery, mainly sheep on Christmas cards, but I do have another project on the go too which I think will be finished soon.

And the ‘stretch’ project

This is still the main driver for my sewing time, and I am one quilt away from saying it’s done. And it will be. It’s definitely been a challenge worth doing, but for 2026 I already know there won’t be such a defined timescale for my charity quilts.

Since my last update I’ve completed the following quilts which will be donated to charity:

• Blues and greens

• Marmalade hearts

• Ohio flower garden

• My Dresden buttercup

And I’m pretty proud of myself for all of these if I’m honest - but there’s so much more I want to sew in the year ahead, so look out for my plans for what’s on my list for 2026 soon.

Inspired by Edna, embroidered birds by Kiara Johnson

In this second graduate showcase post from those I saw at the Harrogate Knit & Stitch show, I’m sharing the work of Kiara Johnson who was inspired by her great granny Edna and a box of vintage treasures found in the loft. The box contained bird guides and intricate embroidery patterns and Kiara said she wanted to use her great granny’s lens to explore both craft and nature but with her own modern twist using machine embroidery and beading. And the results are stunning.

Kiara said ‘birds stand out in her collections and symbolise freedom, connection and fleeting beauty’ but can also evoke unease and signal loss, which are ‘elements that echo the love and loss of my granny’s life.’

But her work also draws attention to the reduction of birds in our gardens, and so she wants to observe the uniqueness and beauty of all British birds ‘from the pigeon to the lesser spotted woodpecker’.

I wish I’d got more photos, and clearer ones at that, but trust me the detail on each of these pieces is absolutely amazing.