Early Autumn, and the new stained glass

Now that we seem to have come almost to the end of the 'Barbeque Summer' that never was, though we did have a rather good May and June - Wimbledon went off almost without a hitch.... Anyway, now the allotments are burgeoning, and we are on the brink of a glut of beans and tomatoes.

There are also a few more exotic vegetables such as this artichoke. (We once caused what we have always thought of since as 'the middle-class kitchen catastrophe of all time when we jammed solid the waste disposal with artichoke leaves.)

Lots of sunflowers which, having satisfied the bees with nectar, are now providind a food source for the birds.


And, rather surprisingly for July, the Blackberries are already ripening.

There's also lots of this - Bindweed; the bane of our own garden. Funny how some gardens, like our last, are totally free from it, while it springs up everywhere in the present garden.

I've taken to looking very carefully at all the local stained glass in order to learn how it was done. Joints and came thickness are all a bit archaic.

So, I started a new design for the second window I intend to replace. I thought of something a bit more adventurous this time, with slightly more complex shapes and rather more elegant borders. This is the design after I changed my mind about putting some bevels in and had to make a couple of changes to accommodate them.

I started to cut, and was rather pleased with the choice of glass, particularly the Kokomo Restoration glass in Wedgwood Blue. The small diamonds look a bit like jewels.

I was busy cutting the borders from the glass I originally bought at Pearsons when I went up for my day class in leaded lights. I really like the green water glass.

But it cuts so easily that when I made one cut and picked up the sheet, it fell away and I broke the stupid thing!

So now, I'm short of one green border section and have had to send to Tempsford (my best supplier) for some more.

Meanwhile, taking the dog for a walk along the backs, I saw this rather Mackintosh-looking bindweed. I think I'm starting to see everything in terms of stained glass designs!