Garden Quilt

 Hello again everyone...from my sunny and rather hot cottage garden today......

 .............showing one of my older garden inspired quilts....a scrappy four patch made with beautiful lecien and pam kitty morning florals, including the pkm floral catalogue print which is one of my very favourites....

 ..........bright geraniums against my quilt and the quilt spread out on the cottage garden picket fence....the big daisies have grown taller than ever this year....

 ...........lovely lavender in a pot from the rhs show last year......

 ............a close up of the garden inspired quilt...........

 ...........in the veggie patch......runner beans growing well and will soon be big enough to harvest....

 ..............sweet peas every day now......and beautiful tomatoes ripening..........

 ..............hubby has been tending them and brought some in for my salad making.....

 ..............it's been a lovely sunny week so far with a huge downpour of rain in the night....lots of poppies have popped up like weeds among the sweet peas but they can stay because i love them....

 ............last week i had a lovely surprise when i won a giveaway over on instagram.....a book signed by the author sophie claire and other treats too like gorgeous provence style lavender bags and a packet of forget me not seeds.....i'm enjoying the book and it is scented with lavender from the pretty little sachets that came with it in the parcel :)..............

 ............by the way sophie's books are available at all good book shops, on amazon and in supermarkets.......and she sewed the pretty lavender bags herself too ......

............off to do some watering of the pots now and then some hand quilting this evening.....thank you for dropping by dear readers.....it's always a pleasure to have your visits and your kind comments.....hope you are having a good week, enjoying these august days and keeping safe.....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sweet Peas

 Happy august dear readers.............here i am with a whole lot of colourful sweet peas from our garden......i wish i could bring their gorgeous scent here too..........

 ..........i love my new birthday jug...the foxglove design from susie watson that hubby gave me.....

 .........we were late this year getting and planting our sweet peas and they were late flowering too....

 .............but now they have made up for it and we are enjoying a nice bunch every other day....

 ..........sweet pea and other flower colours often inspire my designs.......like this little log cabin quilt....

 ....and this floral pincushion with applique roses and lilac fabric..........

 ...........love these words (from a lakehouse fabric).....the seeds you sow...

 .............another birthday present here too.....a pretty candy pink and white striped cornishware mug....

 ...........sweet peas are one the most evocative summer scents for me......

 ............i've been growing them for many years yet they still bring me the same delight each time...

 ...........rainy purple sweet peas......

 ..............just for a change big daisies and clematis in the cottage garden :)........and below more sweet peas in the garden.....i've since removed all the twining tendrils (as reminded by gardener's world) and they are growing even better...

........thank you for popping in here lovely readers and for your kind comments......wishing you a happy week ahead with sweet flowers and sunny days......stay safe and keep well lovelies.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Star Gazer Quilt

 Happy new week dear blog friends.............here is my recently finished star gazer quilt hanging on my quilt cupboard door......it was such a pleasure to make this design and to hand quilt it........

 ...............it was named for all the star gazing hubby and i did on warm lockdown nights sitting out on the patio.......

 .............i used soft reds for the applique stars and a small starry print in two different colour ways for the applique circles......the background squares were pale prints and blue and white stripes..........mostly my favourite colours for quilts :).................

 ...........the hand quilting was simple..........straight lines and round the shapes......

 ............some flowers to match......and a hera marker that i sometimes use for marking the quilting lines....i also use a frixion pen for marking too.........

 ...........a nice cup of tea in my star decorated blue mug............

 .............and here at the last stage.............sewing down the striped binding...........

 ............this is a lovely quilt for summertime............but the red stars make it cheery and suitable for all year round too..............here it is on the white rocking chair.......

 .............and with one of my favourite geranium plants...........the star gazer quilt pattern is available now in my etsy shop link in sidebar......

..........today i have mostly been gardening out in the blustery but warm air.......lots of cutting back needed in the cottage garden......and because of the high winds this week lots of leaf and other tree debris to pick up........

 ...............a tiny brown butterfly was sunning itself on the picket fence............so pretty.....

..............thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for all your kind comments......i hope you are having a happy week with sunny days and lots of crafty inspirations..........take care and keep well......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My July Flowers

 Hello again dear readers..............lots of flowers today....these are from my birthday bouquets....

 ............i LOVE to receive a big bunch of flowers, it's always a joy.....and after a few days i love to take out the individual flowers and put them in smaller containers like little pottery jugs to enjoy on my work tables, next to my computer, on the kitchen table and so on......

 ............i love to look at the individual flowers...and berries...closely...i've realised that this might date back to the days when i used to paint flowers all day for textile and surface pattern products...

 ...........here are two susie watson jugs filled with posies.......

 .............and a little blue enamel jug with pink berries......my eldest daughter found the pink berries to add to my flowers....we both love them.....

 ............the quilt here is my vintage charm quilt 2 (pattern in my etsy shop link in sidebar).....

 .........here it is in the potting shed on the blue chair after a bit of garden sewing......

 ...........i'm doing a lot of hand quilting at the moment and it's so easy to carry my sewing out to the garden to add a few stitches and enjoy the fresh air...if the weather allows of course ;)......

 .........flowers in the potting shed....and below colourful little cakes made by my younger daughter and small grandsons......

 ............we had a socially distanced family gathering to celebrate both my birthday and my daughter's too....she came up with the idea to have individual cakes so we could still have our candle lit for 'happy birthday' moments.....it worked a treat.......it was gorgeous to see the family again, haven't seen my youngest ones in person for several months......

 ...........and finally a bit of the garden with blue sky and beans twining to the top of the sticks....we have harvested lots of peas this week (little grandchildren eating them straight from the pod for the first time....)....lots to do in the garden this week and lots of things to sew too.....

...........thank you so much for dropping by lovely readers......and for the kind comments you leave me too....so good to hear from old friends and new...........wishing you a happy week ahead with sunny days and crafty inspirations...and some lovely flowers too...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Refreshing and Relaxing

 Hello again dear blog friends.....here i am back from a nice break...i switched off my computer for a while and even my phone for a few days and feel much refreshed now.......

 ...........i had a lovely birthday during my time offline.....and this adorable little bunny was one of my favourite gifts...............beautifully designed and made by my lovely blog and instagram friend vivienne of green rabbit designs.....my bunny is a french bunny and her name is helene......she looks so sweet in these pictures and is even more sweet and tactile in real life...........

 .............all the flowers in our garden are blooming happily especially these petunias..........they liked the rain........

 .............delicious homemade scones arrived for me.............

 ...........and a specially customised red cornishware mug with the perfect words for me......

 .............lots of other lovely flowers and gifts will be appearing in my photos too, soon......

 ............things are growing in our veggie patch.......peas are ready for popping...i love to eat them straight from the pod :)......

 ............and hubby's expertise in growing tomatoes has really improved this year......we have two kinds.....and both are doing well.....

 ..............i have only done a small amount of sewing on my break as i've been knitting socks mainly..............but i did finish the quilting on my star quilt and here is the binding being attached..........more pictures of this new summer quilt coming soon....

 .............another close up of my beautiful birthday flowers......

..............thank you for dropping in to my little space here in blog land dear readers and for your kind comments.....i have quite a bit of catching up to do now..........wishing you a wonderful week and lots of flowery, happy crafty times............take care my friends.................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx