Red White and Blue

 Happy new week dear readers.......those of you who read here regularly know that i love using the colour combination of red white and blue in my designs and my crush on these colours just grows stronger :)...........many of the pictures in my camera this week featured these colours too because of the beautiful royal wedding..........lots of bunting and flags everywhere......

 ............and i got out all my red white and blue quilts........but decided i really want to make a specifically royal/patriotic one so am beginning to plan and to gather fabric for that idea.....

 ...........here are the little bears choosing their bows ready for the special day......

 .............the gorgeous ribbons were from hobbycraft and my little bear pattern is now available to download at sew and so here..................

 ...............love hearts quilt....nearly finished this one now......

 ............we had strawberries....and all the other english afternoon tea treats too...........

 ...........some of my quilts were made a while ago and have some favourite fabrics in them....

 ............some are more recent and it's exciting to find new fabric designs i love to sew with....i find it interesting  to work within a colour palette and to see the different effects you can create........

 .............a hexie quilt to snuggle under............and the little cot quilt being hand quilted below....

 ..............love my union jack mug from emma bridgewater....it was essential for my tea all weekend.......

 ..............the bunny below fitted the theme with her red white and blue liberty print ears and her dress made from cool britannia fabric by benartex from a few years ago..........you can now find the sugar bunny pattern at sew and so too.........

 ..............the garden is full of flowers....still lots of bluebells, masses of lily of the valley which has spread beneath the trees and has such an evocative scent, roses in bud and some just opening, alliums all beginning to open too so i must take lots of garden pictures this week......

..................thank you everyone who visits me here...so many of you have become friends over the years and it's so nice to know you by name and to read your kind comments.... wishing you a very happy week enjoying the may days, the colours, the flowers, the sunshine, and of course plenty of crafty inspiration................................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fresh Florals

 Here is my finished flowery four patch quilt...........perfect for the spring days we are enjoying at the moment.............

 ...............last spring i began cutting and piecing four patch blocks using a mixture of my favourite scraps of lecien, pam kitty morning and riley blake fabrics.....i planned to make a floating four patch quilt.....which i did (will show you that another time) and here are those first blocks as a work in progress last year......

 ..........i also loved the simple look of the plain four patch blocks so i made that one as well.....

 ..............it was quilted for me by the talented longarm quilter debbie holland in this gorgeously twirly design......

 .............it's all about the flowers and the spring here at the moment......last autumn i planted some tulips under the cherry tree in the front garden and now here they are............

 ............looking so pretty with the bluebells...........

 ...bulbs are so easy and so rewarding.......reminding myself *must plant more bulbs next autumn*..........

 .............when i was at my daughter's house at the weekend i snapped some pictures of their lovely lilac tree........that is my granddaughter daisy's little playhouse tucked behind the lilacs and rhododendrons.............

 ...........such beautiful blooms....the lilacs in our own garden are only just opening and i look forward to cutting some for the house soon......

 ............i have lots to do this week and it's very tempting to slow down and enjoy the sunshine and potter in the garden isn't it?............every day brings new flowers and nice floral surprises........

.............thank you for dropping by dear readers and thank you to those who are so kind and leave a comment for me...i love to read them......wishing you a wonderful week ahead with sunshine and flowers and plenty of crafty inspiration..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

St Ives Quilt

 It's been the brightest and sunniest bank holiday monday ever here today......and here i am at last to share more pictures of my st ives quilt......

 ............st ives is filled with magical memories for me....from childhood times, family times, to romance and a love of art and history st ives has always had a special place in my heart and my imagination.....so i decided after our visit in 2016 to begin a quilt to capture the feeling and memories for me..........(in the picture below the little heart was made by the ceramics designer maggi gooding).....

 ..............i was inspired by antique quilts but with a modern touch.....i'd been planning to make a quilt inspired by the quilts i saw at the V&A 2010 exhibition and had looked at the book i brought back with me many times as i chose design elements that i wanted to use one day.....when i was an art student in the 70's we studied historic textiles and i've always had a love of old as well as new designs.....

 ...........i made a medallion for the centre like many old english quilts had.....

 ...........and i added 8 inch square blocks around the centre, each with an applique design....birds, boats, cottages, stars, fish, anchors and some geometric motifs from the old quilts.....all the colours were kept soft and neutral as i wanted it to feel older and less bright than a lot of my work is .......

 .........i did add some subtle reds to give the design a bit of zest though.....

 ...........i had some lovely number printed fabric by tim holz that i wanted to use...my husband sails as a hobby so i put his boat number onto the quilt, and then his previous boat number....and then i liked the numbers very much so added a few more....

 .......in the collage above is one of the inspiring antique quilts from the 2010 exhibition book....the star from my quilt centre.....postcards from st ives......and the sweet banner from a quilt show held in the church at zennor (close to st ives) that we saw in 2016.........my family used to stay in zennor in a lovely old cottage every year and it was there that i sewed my first hexagon patchwork one summer in my teens.....

 ............here is the bedroom of this year's little house in st ives (i showed you a different view of it in my last post)........i love staying in different houses and taking pictures of the interiors (especially with my quilts in them), looking out at the views and enjoying different atmospheres...........

 ...........lots of tiny stars twinkle around the border of my quilt.................the clamshell design was so beautifully quilted for me by debbie holland of longarm quilting.......

 ...........my quilt is all done now and i am happy it has captured lots of memories for us.....here is a print called the st ives typographic heart which you can find here and below another little view of the harbour..........

 ...........one last picture of the waves at porthmeor beach.........

............thank you for dropping by dear readers, and thank you for the lovely comments you leave me...it is such a pleasure to hear from you........wishing you a happy week filled with crafty inspirations................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

St Ives

 Back again from a lovely break in one of our most favourite places.........here's a view across the harbour from just outside the little house we stayed in......

 .............and here is a sight i always love...waves crashing on porthmeor beach.....

 ...........we had lovely views over porthminster beach and it was so lovely to stitch a bit of my hexie quilt in the sunny window with that view to look at too ......

 .............so peaceful and beautiful......we have loved st ives since childhood visits and it still has a special magic for us......

 .............a little while ago i finished my st ives quilt which i began after our last visit......it was quilted for me by the talented long arm quilter debbie holland.....i decided to take the quilt with us and to take some outdoor pictures of it in situ.....

 ..............this was not an easy thing to do what with the sea breezes and bright sunshine but we managed a couple :) .......

 ..............the one above was taken in the pretty little bedroom of the holiday house with its cute little green rocking chair........and the one below was on the soft golden sand of porthminster beach.....i will be writing about making this quilt which is a kind of memory quilt in a post soon....

 ..............there were spring flowers everywhere and i loved seeing them against the sea views...the flowers below are called three cornered leeks or snowflowers.....

 ............and on a walk up the coastal path we kept spying pretty views through the blossom....

 ...........one day we went to penzance so i could call at the sew and quilt shop there, run by jessie and robin.............i've known lovely jessie through blogging for years and it was so nice to meet her in person.....their shop is a pleasure to visit and of course i bought some fabric which i will show you soon.....their online shop is also full of beautiful fabrics, block of the month clubs, quilting and sewing tools and of course their famous and fabulous english paper pieces.......

 ..............love the little bundles of liberty and other quilting fabrics that jessie curates....

 ..........we had a lovely time wandering the tiny streets of st ives and we saw the exhibition of art inspired by virginia woolf's writing at tate st ives.......lots of smaller galleries to visit as well...

 ...........i love that cornish blue and the light here really is amazing which is why so many painters came here to work......

..............thank you for dropping by dear readers, it is always lovely to have your visits and to hear from you too.......wishing you all a happy, crafty week ahead..........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx