Hello Spring....and a Winner

 Hello March and (this week anyway) hello Spring too.............the sun has been shining, the birds have been singing and the garden has new spring bulbs opening every day.............

 ............today is another lovely sunny day here and i have already had a little potter in the potting shed, which i have now tidied out and organised ready for the new gardening season..........

 ...........i've swept out the cobwebs and disposed of some things we no longer need...............

                   ...............brought in a few pots of grape hyacinths and primulas.................

 ...............and dusted all the shelves and the pretty things i use as props for photoshoots........

 ...............it is lovely to be out there gardening again, and mr p has re made the pond so now we have it filled with water again, reflecting the trees and moving clouds, and the birds have already happily discovered it too......we still have to add the edging and plants but the main bit is done........charlie is looking forward to when there are frogs in it :).................

 ...........the tete a tete are flowering now....the bigger daffodills are still in bud..........

 .............the colours are so bright and spring like in my crafting this week too.......

 ...............i have been quilting my kitty quilt a LoT of the time, but for a change i began a new hexie patchwork using the bigger hexie templates that i made for joining my star quilt together..........

 ..........love these fabrics, they make me think of seed packets........they are more fabrics from the pam kitty picnic collection.....i am loving using my stash of this as i expect you can tell ;)...............

 .............a lovely old needlework book came my way this week..........fascinating to read...............

 ...........and we had a walk in our favourite local gardens and saw the crocus field in flower.......so magical every year, such a pretty sight, the old gnarled trees make a wonderful backdrop...........
it is time now to announce the winner of the tickets for the country living magazine spring fair.......the first name out of the hat was........sweetpea family .........congratulations to you, sue, and if you can let me know your address i'll post the tickets off to you straightaway................thank you to everyone who entered, and there will be another - worldwide- giveaway here very soon :)

...........thank you, lovely readers, for dropping in here to see me, and for your sweet comments which i love reading...........i wish you a happy crafty week, with sunshine and flowers and a feeling of springtime in the air...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxx

A Quilt and a Give Away

 Last week i began quilting my new pam kitty picnic quilt and here are a few sneak peeks............i love the new collection, it has some bold new navy blue prints, some of which i'm featuring in this quilt...........i decided to repeat some of the blocks, so i made four navy floral stars and five economy blocks, each with a kitty from the kitties and ballons print in the centre...............

                              ............i am enjoying doing lots of hand quilting this week............

     ........here is the centre panel before i added the borders..........i will show you the whole quilt soon....it was tricky taking pictures of it this week and i only managed close ups.........

 .............and here is a bit of the backing fabric....it had to be the kitty print featured in the economy blocks, a lovely lively design inspired by vintage children's books...........daisy and charlie just love this quilt already and will be snuggling under it and taking it on picnics this summer.......they are already calling it their kitty quilt :) .................btw you can find pam kitty picnic fabrics here and here

..........i didn't have much time to quilt last week, with half term and visitors and lots going on here...

 .............here is ruby who came out to play with the children, wearing her winter sweater and pantaloons...........we had all the toys out for half term week.............

 ..........and books, and games........we even spent a few hours gardening on a sunny afternoon and the children picked up sticks, did some digging with trowels in the border, played football, ran about a lot and had a great time in the fresh air..........and we had our first al fresco snack this year, chocolate crispy cakes and juice/tea in the sunshine at the garden table..............

 .............the flowers this week are this pretty mixture..........i love hyacinths used as cut flowers....the delicious colours are so pretty mixed in with other spring flowers.......

 .............today i have a surprise spring give away ...........i have been given two tickets for the country living spring fair to be held 19-23 march at the business design centre, london.......two tickets, that is, to give away to one of my lovely readers................

 ..........i love the country living fairs, you really can see the pages of the magazine come to life....there are so many inspiring ideas for your homes and gardens, treats to buy and sample from specially chosen makers, small producers and crafts people from across the country.......

 ..........there is a beautiful spring garden feature, lots of crafting workshops and demonstrations.......

 .............to win the tickets to the spring fair all you have to do is mention you'd like to win them in your comment on this post and i will enter those names in the draw and announce the winner next week.......and if you don't win but would still like to visit the fair i also have a special code for all my readers..... when you book just enter the code Blog06 and save :)...... you can book by calling 0844 848 0150 or online here.......

..........thank you for popping in here to visit me, lovely readers and for all your sweet comments, you know how much i love to hear from you.......i will be holding my crafty spring giveaway as usual soon too so look out for that in a week or two.............wishing you a wonderful week ahead with lots of happy crafty times, spring flowers and sunshine..............back soon xxxxxxxooooxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Past and Present

 On valentine's day we packed a bag (well, several in my case, including one containing crochet) and set off to spend the weekend in historic stratford on avon (checking the flood warnings first but all seemed ok there).......

.......on the way we visited the university of birmingham where my husband was a student many moons ago........we enjoyed seeing the beautiful old buildings and having a wander round the campus....it was quite a trip down memory lane for both of us.................by the time we arrived at stratford it was very stormy and rainy, but saturday morning was not quite so bad and we enjoyed the day exploring.........

 ...........above is the house where william shakespeare was born.....we have been before but it was interesting to see it again after many years...........i liked seeing the kitchen.......i love domestic details from the past, and the old stairs, floors and tiny windows................

 ..............on sunday it was sunny with a bright blue sky and we visited anne hathaway's cottage which was her family home before she married shakespeare, and is a really pretty romantic place......the cottage windows with shafts of sunlight coming in and the sweet flowery cutains were so evocative.......the curtain in this picture was patched and mended which i liked a lot......in the summer this garden is famous for its wonderful flowers, but now it is waiting for the spring to come, with the tips of bulbs just peeping through...............there were lots and lots of snowdrops already.........

...............home again now and this is an old sampler design of mine from the 1990's, when i sometimes used to create new/old reproduction style samplers for books, kits and magazines............i later re stitched this one in brighter colours on white linen and then made it into a cushion..............

 .............i love sampler cushions and the effect of the stitchery when used on something 3D......

                                 ..............the verse and motifs are from old samplers...............

 ............this week i am stitching tulips for a magazine commission, inspired by botanical prints......

 ..............this was my present from stratford.......we found a gorgeous shop called *the arter* filled with original art and handmade treasures.......it was a heart skipping moment when i saw this little design by claire brierley........the spool, the little house and the heart with text....well, it just had to come home with me.........

 ...............haberdashery is one of my favourite things....old and new i love it and am fascinated by it......whenever i can i like to incorporate it into my design work and here is a whole project inspired by it in this month's crafts beautiful..............

 ..........there is a card, a useful storage pocket, a spool cross stitched pin cushion and a little pin keep to make in this project............love the design of the magazine pages too.............

................when we arrived home i found my fabric had arrived at last so i can now put my latest quilt together which i am delighted about :)..........this week is half term so i will be spending some time with my sweet little grandchildren........just off to make them some chocolate crispy cakes now.......
.................thank you, lovely readers, for popping in here to see me, i love your visits and your kind comments very much............wishing you a happy crafty week..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Springtime Hearts

 As it is valentine's day this week, i thought i'd show you some fabric hearts i've made.......first though  is a picture of the chair in my studio, with the amazing book i've been engrossed in lately *the goldfinch* by donna tartt..............

............and folded beneath it is the new quilt top i have almost finished, just waiting for the border and backing fabric to arrive and then i can begin the quilting and show some more pictures............

 ............i often make hearts for design commissions, they are always popular to make and to give, and there are so many ways to decorate them..............i made these two using pretty lecien old new fabric, just using the wide lace effect blue and white border to make the hearts (and fussy cutting them so the lace edge appeared in the right place)............then i used bondaweb to applique the floral posies, cut from another lecien print.................

 ..........hanging in the window of my sewing room where the long string of birds usually hangs.....

      .............here are some of the ready to iron-on flower posies i made earlier...............

 ...........some printed fabrics are so decorative that you can just fussy cut them, sew the heart, add a little pearl bead and some ribbon and they are cute just like that.............i have found some faux old keys lately which look nice with old book pages, pretty hearts and ribbons for springtime gifts.......

 ............like many of you, i have hearts hanging here and there around the house, and like to tuck lavender hearts in among the clean sheets in the linen cupboard.............

...........i keep a basket filled with hearts to add to gifts for family and friends, they can use them as lavender bags or pincushions or just for decoration........each batch is different because i use new fabrics, or vintage fabrics, and different ribbons and decorations each time so they are varied and interesting to create..............( all the hearts here were made from the sewing heart template in my pretty patchwork gifts book).............

 .........these hearts are stuffed with dried lavender from last summer's plants in our garden............

 ..............below is another ck cutlery tray that i found in my tidying up and painted with some of the sky blue paint i used for the doll's bed..............now i have a pink tray and a blue tray and find them so useful for keeping all the bits of a craft project together, especially small paper pieces, cotton reels, scissors and buttons.............

 ...............here is my project in this month's cross stitch collection magazine...........a little dream cottage set in a spring garden surrounded with a flowery border..............it was inspired by house and garden samplers from the past, but stitched in bright fresh springtime colours..............

 .................in this issue there is also an interview with me by the lovely jo ryan, all about my work and crafting life..............find out more about cross stitch collection here.............

.............thank you for coming over to my little bit of blogland, lovely readers, it is a pleasure to see you here and to read your lovely comments too............i hope you have a lovely valentine's day and a sunny, happy and crafty week...................back soon xxxxxxxxxoooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxx