Patchwork and Cottage Gardens

 Hello everyone........another busy crafty week has gone by and here is my new blog post with a little catch up.......in the sewing room LoTs of patchwork has been going on.....new and old fabrics being cut and sewn, arranged and rearranged......

 ........my vintage charm quilt was finished off with a red gingham binding.......i love this quilt and making it was so enjoyable..........new flower scissors were a gift......

 .............roses from the garden...........so many roses opening now each day and other flowers too....

 ..............luckily not much damage was done by the huge gale force winds we suffered last weekend....a few leaves and sticks came off the trees, but the cottage garden is quite sheltered and the plants there were ok even the tall ones...phew....

 ............but one highlight of the stormy winds was when part of the wisteria came loose (now fixed up again by mr p) and out fell the tiniest sweetest little bluetit's  nest (luckily with no birds or eggs in it).....the nest is a perfect little woven work of art...lined with the softest whitest fluffy down.....and studded with tiny purple wisteria flowers....and as i was staring at it i realised that woven in among all the natural nest material was unmistakably some of my dmc green embroidery thread...ahhhhhh...

 ............flower of the day today is....columbine...granny's bonnets, aquilegia...it has lots of names and i love it so much..........these pink ones are so gorgeous i had to have a close up picture............

 ...........such interesting shapes and colours..........

 ............and the lupin growing continues....on snail watch still but doing well in the cottage garden....as with all my flowers i always plant pink ones so these were a surprise but i love them......a sort of rhubarb and custard colour way.....

 ...........the next fabric play was this piece of collage/patchwork which is for a dress.....

 ...........a fun mixture of different prints with added appliques and words.....

 .............making a new patchwork dress for mabel, the big bunny, here below......she will be modelling it for us very soon............but for now here she is in her old gingham....the pattern for her (and her dress of course) is in my etsy shop link in sidebar............

............thank you for dropping by to see me here in my little blog space dear readers.........thank you for the sweet comments you leave which i always enjoy so much.....i hope you are all well and enjoying crafty, inspired, happy and cheerful moments during this strange time we are all going through......take good care of yourselves till next time............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Patchwork and Roses

 Hello everyone....i hope your week has begun well.....ours began with some gardening......the roses are beginning to open and the scent is so lovely.....

............this is my newly finished patchwork bag..........made with lots of squares of fabric that create a vintage feel, with added applique roses and then hand quilted.........the pictures of me holding the bag were taken by my elder daughter on a special social distancing visit..........

 .............then i took some pictures of it in the potting shed............the rose here is a david austin rose with a gorgeous scent..........

 ...............this rose is growing in the cottage garden...........

 ..............below is the cecile brunner rose which grows on a trellis beside the patio and is quite old....

 ..............it's so pretty with its delicate small flowers and sweet scent.......these days it mingles with the more recently planted wisteria too.........

..............we always enjoy sitting near to it at this time every year.......

 ............a pretty new french style painted sign has joined my collection....this was made by the talented little seed handmade........

 ................below is a close up of some of the applique roses on my bag.....

 ..........and here's one more pic taken by my daughter :)...............

............thank you for dropping by to visit me here dear readers and for the kind comment you leave.......hope you are all well and safe and enjoying the prospect of a little more freedom to go out and about ........(we are looking forward to going to the garden centre tomorrow!).........take care and wishing you a happy week ahead with sunny days and plenty of crafty inspirations...................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Red, White and Blue

 Hello dear readers.....here are some pictures from our week here in lockdown....we had some celebrations as you can see.....some bunting and some flags were put up in the kitchen to celebrate VE Day.............

 ............although we couldn't have a party this time (we normally have street parties to celebrate these momentous occasions) we celebrated in a quiet way with tea and cake in the garden......

 ..........and flags....i love the decorative effect of flags and was very happy to find this brand new cath kidston flag tea towel amongst my stash as well as my (bought) flag bunting, just in time......

 ...........which leads me on to the newly finished nautical checkerboard quilt......

 .............i loved sewing this quilt and love all the fabrics in it....a big mix of different fabric lines in red, white and blue with white kona cotton solid fabric to show them off......the pattern is very simple but i have written it up anyway and it's in my etsy shop (link in sidebar) in case anyone would like it.....

 ..........i hand quilted this design using diagonal lines in the white squares and crosses in the coloured ones, then straight lines in the border........the binding is a mix of two patterns and i was very pleased with how it turned out...(star backing fabric is by minick and simpson).....

 ...............shown here with little fishes on a greengate plate......(fish pattern also in my etsy shop).....

 .............and here is a pretty susie watson boat mug looking at home on my new quilt.....

 ..................little fishes are re appearing in my décor now.....i love making these in different nautical colour combinations and they are so easy to sew yet effective.....

 ............cute fish with a greengate star cup and little lantern..........and below is one more make that has now appeared in my etsy shop.....the union jack cross stitch pincushion........loved making this in pastel shades but am going to make one in strong red and blue too, maybe this week.....

 ..............so life is continuing in a quietly busy, creative way for me.....reading, sewing, gardening, cooking, designing, making and planning, writing and drawing and creating.....much as usual but with fewer interruptions to my days and weeks......hubby is working in his study or the garden and we stop and have tea and coffee breaks....i chat on the phone to my girls and friends....our shopping is delivered and we go for walks with the dog each day.......lucky to be able to do this and always thinking of those who are working at the front line to save lives and keep us safe.......i'll leave you with a picture of the cottage garden just about to burst into bloom......i decided to fill this bird bath with pansies this year as it was getting rusty and also bees used to keep falling in it because it was among the flowers......the birds have two other bird baths and a pond so i'm sure they won't mind :).....

...............thank you for visiting me here in my little blog space dear readers.......it's always lovely to hear from you and i hope you are enjoying these strange days as much as possible and keeping safe....sending lots of love to you all........take care....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Strawberry Hearts

 Another week here in our home and some more pictures to share with you dear readers.............this is my strawberry hearts quilt which i made over ten years ago and showed first here on my blog.....

 ............people have often asked if there is a pattern for this quilt and now there is.....

 .........and it can be found in my etsy shop (link in sidebar).........this quilt was made with some of my favourite cath kidston fabrics of the time including the strawberries on blue print which gave the quilt its name and also became my logo both here and on instagram......

 ............this quilt has lots of different hearts in varying sizes.....it has worn well over the years, and i'm glad to have finally written a pattern for it.....

 ...........i've been busy in the garden again.....here is the first clematis i planted last year in my little cottage garden now in flower against the white picket fence.....

........and in the greenhouse there are cuttings from geraniums, pelargoniums and tiny bellis daisy plants grown from splitting the bigger plants that were still growing in the garden....v excited about growing these new little bellis daisies..............also lots of seeds growing which you can't see in this picture......

 ...............one of our recent sunny walks...........this is an old disused railway line which became a lovely walk way edged with trees and wild flowers...........

 ...........when i found this partly finished needlebook made from pretty japanese fabrics i just had to stop and finish it...........

 ...........it's funny what you find when you are looking for something else...well, in my sewing room/studio/house that is :)........

 .............this week i got some flour....quite an exciting moment many of you will agree.....my daughter found it in the farm shop and brought me a bag so i was able to bake these mini carrot cakes....they tasted lovely...

 ............a little garden view complete with beehive, bluebells, daisies, tulips, alpine flowers trough, and rusty metal candle holder for those balmy summer evenings...........and below is some of our apple blossom..........just love it.....lots of bees do too and it's been very peaceful watching them.....

.........thank you for dropping by to see me here lovely readers and for your kind comments......i hope you are keeping well and safe during this strange time, and finding happy moments and creative inspirations to keep you cheerful............wishing you well till next time lovelies......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vintage Charm Quilt

 Hello dear readers.....hope you are well and safe reading this week's post from my little bit of blog land.......this is one of the quilts i've been working on during lockdown.....

 .............i had a lot of 5in squares left over from charm packs and decided to combine them in a charm quilt....some of the fabrics are richer and darker than my usual palette but i love them too and especially combined with lighter florals....i think it gives a very vintage feel.....

 ............i also made lots of fussy cut rose appliques (backed with fusible web) and scattered them over the quilt, sewing them in place with blanket stitch.....

 ............here's the quilt on the kitchen table a couple of weeks ago having the layers pinned together......

 .............and here's a picture of the quilting style.....straight line quilting at 1/2 in intervals on some squares and on others different patterns using the stripes as a guide or quilter's tape to form diagonal lines......

...............have been reading a lot, both new books on my kindle and some old favourites that i'm re reading like nella last's diaries here......

 ............and on a sadder vintage note.....our lovely cath kidston shops all across the uk are closed...not just because of coronavirus like many shops but permanently :(....so sad to see those pretty pastel painted shops disappear from our high streets though luckily we can still buy online from their website.....here is a table full of CK china ready for afternoon tea.....

 .............and here is a big treat we had this weekend.....a homemade strawberry and raspberry trifle...

 ...........tulip time now......these were some planted in a pot on the patio....later i'll put them in the cottage garden so i can be sure of some pink ones in there next spring.....

.............i want to say a big thank you to those lovely readers who told me the blossom i showed last week looked like crabapple blossom....yes, and isn't it just the prettiest......am now wondering if we can squeeze a little crabapple tree into our garden......thank you everyone who left me a comment about it :) x

 ..........today is a little bit grey and rainy here after all that endless sunshine and blue sky....but the garden will be glad of the rain and we planted the sweetpeas yesterday so a nice drink will be good for them....so the seasons and the flowers continue in nature despite all the turmoil of the world at the moment...........just keep on keeping on everyone.....

.............thank you for your visits here lovely readers and your kind comments......wishing you a peaceful week with sunny days, happy moments and plenty of crafty inspirations....stay safe and take care..............................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx