Sheer curtains for my patio doors

These patio window sheers are a small project for my own home that I fitted in during the school holidays.

The patio doors are in our garden room extension that we had built a couple of years ago. They face south, which means that although they flood the room with light, it can also be quite dazzling at times. The sheer under curtains are light,  floaty and can be drawn across to screen out the direct sunlight.

I chose a simple cotton muslin for my sheers and pre-washed it to reduce the risk of shrinkage on future laundering. I added a fun pink bobble fringe - because I was in that kind of mood! The great thing about a haberdashery leading edge trim is that it can always be changed.

I opted not to "pool" my sheers on the floor as I was concerned about the practicality of this on these doors, which see a lot of traffic in a family home.  Maybe I was being a little too practical - they can go in the washing machine after all.

The main curtains here are simple cotton curtains with a tape heading and a contrast leading edge trim. I made them some time ago (well before doing my NDA Diploma) and they have been relocated to this room.

Summer Holidays

It's been a hectic couple of weeks since the schools went back, but before we finally leave summer behind here's some of what we got up to in the holidays.

We went to North Wales for a week and stayed in a holiday cottage on the Llyn Peninsula. This is the view from a little over half way up Mount Snowdon.

 We walked up ( and down) as we couldn't take the mountain railway because dogs are not allowed on the trains. The views really were amazing until the clouds rolled over at the very top. The path was mostly quite walkable, apart from one or two stretches that were a bit of a scramble.

 You can see the railway tracks here alongside the path, for those with more sense ( and no dog).
 A lot of people took the train up and then walked down. We saw one lady walking down in flip - flops, a brave and interesting footwear choice for the terrain.

Pippin on the way back down.  A deranged mix of complete over-excitement and exhaustion. Her four paw drive and low centre of gravity were extremely useful though.

There was a lot to see in this part of Wales - this is one of the trains on the FFestiniog Railway.
Dogs were welcome on this mountain railway and we all had a lovely day out - enjoying a coffee and the stunning views as the train took the strain!

This is the wild and windy beach just a short walk across the fields from where we stayed. You can just about see the foothills of Snowdonia in the distance. Not exactly sunbathing weather..... but great for flying our new kite.

This is the view from the living room. Fields, cows, sea AND distant mountains. Can't really beat that.

For a low budget holiday for 3 and a dog it was life enhancing and very little suncream required.

Meanwhile, back in sunny Surrey, zinnia's were flowering on the patio.

I started growing these from seed a couple of years ago - as I fancied a change from the usual geraniums and bizzy lizzies.

Annual lavetera, also my own creation. I just love the day-glow pinkness of these and they seem to survive the resident slug population.