Hello Spring

 Some spring days are so uplifting and perfect...even though it can easily turn chilly and wintry again those special days are a real treat.........we've had a few of those lately here.......and picked a few flowers from the garden to enjoy indoors...........

 .............i have opened the creaky old door of the potting shed again ready for the new season's gardening......and i took a few pictures there of my new quilt....this is the little apples quilt that i showed recently as a work in progress.....

 ...............it's a cot or lap size quilt and made with tilda apple butter fabrics and some ticking fabrics for contrast......

 ............there are apple appliques added to the squares here and there and along the top border....
this little quilt pattern is now available in my etsy shop..........

 ...........some floral pickings from the cutting garden this week matched the colours in the quilt.......

 ..............lovely to see tiny cowslips blooming again..........

 ............here are some button house plant sticks amongst the hyacinths and tulips....

 .............they are a nice touch to add to a plant or floral gift or a new home present....the little tag is one of a set designed for me by my younger daughter who is a graphic designer.....

 ..............below are two more little houses with matching flowers............these were the plants that we bought at the garden centre last week.........

 .............and a quick picture in the greenhouse where things are growing fast......

 ..............a little spring flower flat lay picture..........love all the pretty little blooms which are so fleeting that it's nice to capture them like this.............thank you for your visit here dear readers and for the kind comments you leave me............wishing you happy sunny days this week and lots of crafty inspiration....................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Bunny and a Quilt

 Happy new week dear readers..........today we have the newly finished quilt called 'gather the flowers' (named from a line in a poem)............

 ..............i really loved making this quilt, choosing the fabrics and planning the design and then quilting it by hand.......now i'm writing the pattern so i can eventually share it..........

 .................gather the flowers but spare the buds............wise words :) ..............

 ...........the fabrics i used are mainly moda, lecien, pam kitty morning, liberty....so lots of my favourites in there.....

 ..............the next thing i've been making is a BIG bunny......this is mabel and she was named by my grand daughter daisy, and inspired by her too ('nannie i think it's time you made some big bunnies')...

 ..............mabel is the biggest bunny i've made so far and i had to design her dress to fit her unique shape too .........i made her a smock dress, the kind i love myself......

 ...............here she is sitting on my work table along with the bow tie quilt (the pattern for this quilt is now in my etsy shop).............

 ..............and here is mabel with the gorgeous spring flowers that i rescued from the storms.....

 ..........we have had a lot of stormy weather this week, rain and wind and not at all good gardening weather.....so we went to the garden centre and enjoyed the flowers there undercover...and bought a few things to keep in the greenhouse until the winds die down......

 ............having said that, the spring bulbs are amazingly resilient..........

 .............this is a view of our garden and some of the bulbs which survived storm gareth this week....

..........thank you for your visits here and for your kind comments...it is always so lovely to hear from you...........wishing you a happy week with sunny days and pretty flowers......and of course plenty of crafty inspiration too............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flowers and a New Quilt

 Happy new week dear readers.............here i am again complete with a quilt, lots of flowers and cups of tea...............

 ..............this is the little apples quilt in progress...........made with tilda apple butter fabrics and also some ticking fabrics for contrast............

 ..............am loving sewing this one very much......

 ...........the pretty florals make me happy the way real flowers always do..............

................this week we have sweet primroses and gorgeous pink bellis daisies...........

 ..............these have grown very pom pom like :) ........

 ..............after i've enjoyed them indoors for a bit i plan to plant them in the cottage garden......

 ..........here's a picture of the flower bed next to the patio which has lots of pretty spring flowers popping up now even though we've had cold, rainy and windy days since last time i wrote.....

 .............above is one of my older pincushion designs and below is one of my newest......

 .............thank you for all your kindness about my etsy shop where i am selling some of my little patterns........and thank you for visiting me here in my bit of blog land too......always lovely to have your visits and to read your kind comments......i leave you with a little collage of garden pictures....the pussy willow is out in the cottage garden now and all the plants are waking up......happy week everyone........hope you have sunny days and flowers to enjoy.....back soon xxxx

My Crafty Week

 Happy march dear readers...here is my february mosaic just a little late.....what an amazing month it was beginning with snow and ending with warm summery days..........

 ............this is my project in the new issue of crafts beautiful magazine......and below is a peek at the pretty page in the magazine.........i loved making this cross stitch box project........

 ...........my applique flower quilt is now all quilted and ready to be bound....just waiting for some more fabric to arrive as i didn't have enough of the one i wanted to use....

 ...........the wax flowers (i now have it on good authority that they are wax flowers...thank you everyone who told me x) have lasted all week and looked so pretty on my sewing table......

 ...............now this quilt is finished i have begun hand quilting another...it's so relaxing to work on a quilt in the evenings like this......... pictures of that one next time.....

 ..................this weekend we opened my new etsy shop.......something i've been meaning to do for ages....selling pdf patterns for sewing and patchwork projects.....it means i can make my little patterns available quickly and easily for anyone who wants to try them....(in case the link doesn't work here is the address: https.//HelenPhilippsDesigns.etsy.com)......

 ...............lots of my favourites are in my little shop already......

 .............this is the new flower square pincushion made with tilda apple butter fabrics.....

 ..........it's always nice to make a few......

 ............more designs to add this week and some quilt patterns being written right now....

 ............thank you for dropping by to visit me here lovely readers and your kind comments.....wishing you a happy sunny week ahead and sending love from lettuce the sugar bunny and me.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sunny Flowery Days

 Happy new week dear readers..............hope you are having a good start.....here are some pretty flowers to begin my post, both real ones and floral fabrics too......

 ..............this is the patchwork i've begun with my tilda apple butter fabrics.....

 .................it is having little red applique apples added to some of the squares.......and next up is a picture or two of the kitchen shelves 'we' put up recently.............made of scaffolding boards with victorian style black brackets they have a bit of an industrial feel............

 .............they are so useful to hold all the things that don't fit in the cupboards and make it easy to tidy up the work tops.......

 ..............this week's flowers are from a little florist's shop in our small town......they stock some very pretty more unusual flowers like these tulips............

 ...............i added the tiny pink flowers to my bunch....i think they are called wax flowers .....but may be wrong ;).....

 .................i love looking at these flowers especially as the tulips are opening now and revealing their wonderful ragged petals................

 ...........this week molly had her picture taken specially for 'love your pet day'.........though of course we love her to bits every day......

 ................progress is being made on the hand quilting of my latest quilt below....the stitching is helped along by having some mini eggs to dip into.............

 .............we have done lots of gardening and everything is looking so fresh and bright in the early spring sunshine...........the cottage garden has masses of bulbs peeking through the soil and i'm looking forward to the flowers soon.....

 ................here are some of our crocus blooming in the flower bed beside the patio.......love these cheery little flowers and their pretty colours........we cleaned the greenhouse out yesterday and got all the seed trays ready to start sowing this week.........thank you for visiting my little blog space lovely readers and for you kind comments...it is a treat to hear from you......wishing you a wonderful week ahead with happy, crafty, sunny, flowery days.........................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx