Inspiration for Block Three
Alison Owens
Either this is a very tall sunflower or I have shrunk!
Inspiration for our block this month are sunflowers, blackberries and beach life. Just those three words conjure up images of joy, friendship and I can almost smell their loveliness.
Sunflowers
One of the good things that came out of lock down for me was the setting up of a What’s app group with my cousins. We only seem to see each other at funerals and weddings and the latter has gone out of fashion with my lot, so getting together and sharing our family photos has been a real treat. We started a sunflower competition to see who could grow the tallest sunflower. I came second but my flower head was by far the biggest! It was good fun and my grand kids loved measuring as it grew and making feeds for it from nettles and comfrey. You can see my giant on the picture page.
Blackberries
We have a small stable block where my husband works and I store our goodies. There are lots of brambles down there and Bert, 7 and I have been watching and waiting for the blackberries to ripen so we can make jam together. Bert now has a small produce stall out the front of the stable block selling runner beans and parsley! He can now add blackberry jam. I am his biggest customer!
Bert’s Blackberry Jam
Beach Life
The news portrays beaches full of non-distancing people, we love our beach life and the sanctuary it provides but have inside knowledge and go off piste to little wilder and more natural areas. We live near the prestige beaches of Eastbourne and even though this Victorian beauty is perfect for an evening stroll, we go west to Pevensey and take the paddle boards. Both these beaches are pebbles which inspired your sweet treat this month!! Clever eh? Is it my age or something but walking on those pebble is mighty painful there’s days?
We do retreat for the longer weekends to West Wittering whose sandy beaches must be the loveliest in the county. Those sandy beaches cause great anxiety when it come to food though!, I guard the cool box like a lion guards her cubs. What are you, Pebbles or sand? Whatever, find the simple things in life to give you the greatest joy.
Growing sunflowers, picking blackberries and spending a couple of hours with my family on a beach are my joy, oh and of course a little stitching!