September Times

Hello again dear readers.....it's a beautiful september day here with that special low mellow autumn sunlight....we have lots of apples to share....stitched on my little apples quilt and patchwork apples made from rosy red scraps of fabric.......

........i first made fabric apples many years ago and now i have finally put the pattern in my etsy shop link in sidebar......the little apples quilt pattern is there too, made from tilda apple butter fabrics with appliqué apples.....

..........some apple inspiration from our visit to the courts garden in wiltshire (while we were staying in somerset).......loved seeing the apples trained to grow over an arch.....

.......the fallen apples were gathered up in baskets to sell to visitors........

.........such a peaceful and delightful english country garden......

........september sunflowers and a burgeoning vegetable garden.....

..........a view of the beautiful old house with some late flowering roses.....

........my favourite fabric apple with it's little surface stitches.......

...........autumn plate........patchwork apples and strings of honeysuckle berries........

........this week began with a very moving and intense day when we said our final farewell to our beloved Queen Elizabeth II at her state funeral......a day of such rich tradition and pageantry.....so sad and so final......we will miss her so much as life goes on.........and now we say god save the king......

..........bright poignant september days........with dahlias, japanese anemones, winter pansies and hydrangeas beneath the low autumn sun......

.....thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for the kind comments you leave me......wishing you a happy week ahead enjoying the fruits of autumn (or spring if you are on the other side of the world)....and some sunny crafty days too...........take care lovelies....love and peace..........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

The End of an Era

Hello again dear readers.....back from our visit to the somerset countryside.....on our last day there we were shocked and saddened to hear that our beloved queen had died.........as we drove home up the motorway huge pictures of her majesty with the dates 1926-2022  appeared on the hoardings (billboards) at the roadside....it just seemed so unreal....... 

.......over the past week while the nation was in mourning i've been watching the tv coverage and designing and stitching this little Queen Elizabeth II keepsake.....just a small token but stitched with love.......

.....grateful that we had the wonderful jubilee celebrations for the queen's amazing 70 year reign in the summer......celebrating her wonderful qualities of steadfast dedication, constancy, wisdom and humour....we will all miss her so much....

......our somerset trip involved visiting lots of historic places....many mentioned in the domesday book.......

..........just a few pictures to share today........

......some views of castle combe...........such a timeless place....unchanged and filled with a powerful sense of history....

.........walking along the main street in the sunny autumn morning........and stopping for delicious coffee at this little table outside the castle inn...........

.......on another day we visited dyrham park, nestled below at the bottom of the grassy hill.....more pictures of this beautiful house to share another time.......

.........outside our little cottage the crabapples were ripening.........

.........the second elizabethan era has finally come to an end.......

......one more version of my little Queen Elizabeth II keepsake, this time stitched on cream as a companion piece to the jubilee ornament stitched in the summer.........(the pattern is in my etsy shop link in sidebar)......

...........thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for the kind comments you leave me..........wishing you happy autumn times with flowers, sunshine and crafty inspirations to brighten your days........take care lovelies........peace and love.....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

Signs of Autumn

Hello dear blog friends.......it's been a busy week here, finishing projects, sending quilts to be longarm machine quilted.......writing patterns and drawing diagrams.......

.....this is my latest version of the heartstrings quilt (pattern in my etsy shop link in sidebar).....

........lots of different fabrics from my scraps and stash, from all sorts of different collections.....love seeing how they work together and finding new and pretty combinations.....

.........as well as hand quilting this quilt i've been sewing together my tilda rainbow postage stamp quilt

..........these are the yellow and orange sections.........

......the fabrics in this quilt come from all the tilda ranges in my stash and show how well they work together....

..........autumn is slowly creeping in here, with berries appearing in the garden and hedgerows.....

.........lots of blackberries but not sure they had enough water this year to ripen fully......

...........gorgeous purple heather on our walk....i remember loving this colourful sight as a child......

...............some pretty rosehips against an old fence........

.........and a nice splash of colour on the window sill from these dahlias.........

 .......thank you so much for dropping by and for your kind comments dear readers........i'll be away at the end of next week so taking a little blog break then.....will be staying in a country cottage and seeing some amazing textiles the following week :).........wishing you happy peaceful crafty times till then.....take care lovelies..........love and peace.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

August Days

Hello again everyone.......we have had a more normal august week here with cooler temperatures and some rain which helped refresh the poor parched garden ..........

.......i was able to enjoy the usual garden activities like styling quilts on the picket fence ;)......

...........this is one of my vintage charm quilts which is made from left over charm packs as well as old scraps from my stash........this time i added appliqué fruits and roses.......the pattern is in my etsy shop link in sidebar......below you can see that the back is pieced too.....and i loved the pops of bright green in the prints so used a bright green stripe for the binding.....

............on the hottest days i took refuge in the coolest room ....our pink lounge below.....

......mabel was there too in her patchwork dress (big bunny and dress pattern also in my etsy shop as before).......the star quilt is having a little airing at the moment....it was featured in my book modern vintage gifts.....below is a wider view showing the susie watson jug with flowers from our garden......

..........here are a couple of close ups of the flowers......day lilies, ivy, eleagnus, daisies, dahlia, sweetpeas, petunias, poppies and poppy heads.......

......i love arrangements from the garden and seeing other peoples' garden posies, all so different depending on the plants they grow and choose to combine.....

........we had a lovely walk today and met some sheep....a mother and her two children....

......and in a local village we saw this cottage being re thatched..........

......we still have some roses blooming and i am making the most of them.......holding on to summer till the end and enjoying every little summer joy there is (apart from that heatwave)........

........it's lovely to be able to garden again without being too hot.......cutting back, clearing some things which have gone over and looking forward to putting in tulips soon........

......thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for your kind comments and messages....so much appreciated.......wishing you happy cheery august days, with flowers, perfect temperatures and crafty inspirations..........take care lovelies..............peace and love............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

Roses and Other Flowers

Hello dear readers from a very hot corner of the uk today........sharing some rosy pictures this week....

......i love this lecien rose print fabric and decided to fussy cut it for a nine patch for a new rose patchwork.....

........gathering lots of rose prints together from my stash.......

..........and picking the second flush of flowers from the rose growing on our patio trellis.......

....they are sweetly scented and so pretty........i put some in the rosy greengate jug......

.........and some in the large, chunky dundee marmalade jar i found in the cotswolds last year.....

......despite the intense heat we've managed a few nice walks......below is a view of our little town and the estuary beyond (the tide is out), seen from the top of the common where we've walked all our lives......the land in the distance is wales which looks nearer than it actually is......

...........blue as the sky are the sweet love-in-a-mist flowers this week.......

...........on another walk, alongside the marshes, we saw apples turning red........

...........and these bright berries.........this walk was so hot we were glad to find a cafe and stop for an ice cream........

......still sewing here though, as there are some cool places in the house to take advantage of.......have got lots of projects on the go at the moment :)..........leaving you with a picture of the rosy patches and the little  milking stool my hubby made me from reclaimed wood....it's so cute and useful too........

 .....thank you so much for visiting me here sweet blog friends........and for the kind comments you leave me and the messages too.......wishing you all a happy peaceful week with flowers and crafty inspirations..............take care lovelies.....................peace and love...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx