Trip Around the World Quilt

 Hello again lovely readers.....here i am (a little later than planned this week due to computer issues) with my big trip around the world quilt freshly quilted in a pattern called sticky buns :)......

 ............i have shown this quilt as a work in progress here before........it was a challenge to choose fabrics for each round so there was plenty of contrast but so it still looked pretty to me.....i love making traditional patterns in fresh colours..........

 ...........i pinned it up on the wall in my sewing room to try and show the whole quilt in one shot....it is not easy to photograph quilts sometimes....lots of climbing about can be involved :)............

 ...........here's a random shot where you can see the spotted border fabric in navy and white and the spotted backing fabric in red and white as well as the binding............

 ...............on the wall again behind my sewing table.........

 .............the squares measure 2 inches and this quilt was sewn by hand during lots of peaceful evenings...........it was longarm machine quilted for me by the wonderful debbie holland at longarm-quilting.com............

 .............for a few of the rows i fussy cut the patches...........two flowery rows and the row of little elephants on red (from jodie carleton's backyard circus collection) ...........many of the fabrics are from the beautiful pam kitty morning ranges......lots of my favourites are in this quilt..........there is also a row of turquoise fabric that i got at the v and a quilt show a few years ago, specially printed for the show by liberty..............

 ..............i love the swirly quilting pattern and how it contrasts with the squares.........

 ............and here's the quilt below on the spare bed..........

 ...............and neatly folded with a bunny on top (this is lettuce)............

 ...............besides taking quilt pictures, having computer stresses, and lovely visits to and from sweet friends over the last few days i've also been spending lots of time in the garden....weeding mainly, listening to the bees and birds and watching the butterflies and dragonflies....looking up at the blue sky and enjoying these summer days.........i cut some of our plentiful hydrangeas to bring in for instant colour...........

................thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for your kind and lovely comments.......i hope you are having a wonderful week and enjoying your summer (or winter) days wherever you may be................have a happy time filled with crafty inspirations.............back soon xxxxxxxxxx

Summer Daisies

 Every summer we buy a big pot of daisies to have on the patio....some of the plants are planted in the borders later and carry on growing.............this year we found these daisies in such soft and unusual colours we had to have them........

 ..................i love the mix of shades within the single plant...............

 ................and realised the colours reminded me of my little stash of tilda bumblebee fabrics......

 ............so warm and soft and so pretty together........i got them all out for a little look and decided to make something new......

 .................i also took some pictures of the tumbler patchwork pillow i've already made....

 ...............here it is with the little bear i found in a modern vintage shop....his arm was falling off but i knew it would be easy to fix it.......

 ............when your flowers match your fabrics.......perfect summery pillow.......

 .....(the pattern for the tumbler patchwork pillow is in my book modern vintage gifts btw).....

 ............the garden notebook cover below also has a similar colour palette....it was for last month's crafts beautiful magazine project............

 ...........more of the beautiful daisies.........they are enjoying a nice drink of rainwater out there today....

 ............i have lots of sewing to do this week...some on a christmas theme ....some incorporating my current red white and blue crush and of course some with these soft and golden shades.........

 .............i hope you are enjoying a crafty week and some beautiful colours too......

...............thank you so much for dropping by to my little blog space....it is always so lovely to see you and to read your sweet comments...........wishing you a wonderful week everyone....back soon xxxxxx

Chrysanthemum Quilt

 I have a new quilt to show you today...............this is the chrysanthemum quilt and i actually finished it a while ago..........

 ..................now that it is published in the july issue of the gorgeous pretty patches magazine i can reveal it here..........

 ..................it was a very enjoyable quilt to make, beginning with english paper piecing the flower.....i chose lots of pink and red fabrics for this and mixed them with white and grey ones...........each flower centre was the same mid pink fabric and the backing for each block was kona white solid..............

 ..............the chrysanthemum flowers were appliqued to the backing block with white cotton and tiny stitches......

 ..............and i chose lots of red and pink fabrics for the random sashing between the blocks...this quilt is a great stash buster and scrap user up :) .............

 ..............it was finished off with a white border and scrappy binding...........

 ..............the backing fabric is pale grey with white dots and my lovely long arm quilter quilted it for me..........i love the different quilt effects like the swirls in the flower centres and the zigzag on the outer border......

 ..............if you would like the pattern for this quilt then hurry and get a copy of the inspiring pretty patches now.....the magazine has all kinds of gorgeous makes and everything is clearly explained and beautifully photographed.....the link to pretty patches is here...........

 ...............this is a little pile of summer quilts on my grey painted faux french cupboard on our landing......quilts are a must here all year round and these are some we are using around the house and garden at the moment.............

 .............as it is july 4 tomorrow we are having plenty of red white and blue quilts and cushions around too...my birthday is on july 4 and a lovely american friend on facebook told me that i am what they would call a 'star spangled baby'.........i love that :) x

 ................it has also inspired my new red and white hearts quilt....am now adding some blue hearts too and really liking it......below is one more picture of the chrysanthemum quilt in the potting shed....so happy that the sun has returned to us now so we can be out gardening and enjoying some warm bright days after a lot of rainy ones.......

...............thank you dear readers for visiting me here and for your kind and warm comments on my previous post...they were much appreciated :) .........i hope you all have a very happy week ahead whatever you are doing, wherever you may be....sending love to you all and wishing all my united states friends a wonderful july 4 celebration..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Romantic Roses

 Today we are having a little rosy celebration....beginning with a picture of the glorious roses at sissinghurst castle garden which we visited earlier this month when on our trip to east sussex.......a little sign outside the plant shop there said that vita loved the 'incomparable lavishness' of old fashioned roses...and we do too............all the pictures below are roses from our own garden.....

 ............most of the roses here were planted by the previous owners who were very keen and knowledgeable gardeners....for years after we lived here we would discover plant tags amongst the greenery saying 'great dixter' or 'sissinghurst' or 'hidcote'  and we have treasured all the plants as well as we can though we don't know many of their names.......all the roses are beautiful and scented too.......

 ..............i have always loved this bright candy pink rose for it's colour and dog rose shape...

 ................it grows in the more wild part of the garden and i usually take pictures of the view of the potting shed through it each year :).....

 ..............once picked these flowers don't last long but there are plenty of them so i keep trying....

 .............and i put them in all kinds of different containers.............below there are roses inside and roses outside, growing above the garden door.......

 ..............rosy pink cushions....one made by me with lovely lakehouse fabric and the tiny applique hearts one was made for me years ago by my lovely sister...it's one of my favourite things.....

 .............little creamy roses in glass numbered bottles along with some of my mum's vintage cotton reels on my work table............

 ............below is a view from our garden, through the roses, of the sea......

 .............and below a blue sky with cotton wool clouds makes a lovely background for a big bough of pale pink roses............

 ............i love roses so much i called my dear younger daughter after them :)..........

 .................just put roses in any container and they look beautiful.....the ones above were in my studio and scented the room for a few days...........and below i mixed some roses with sweet william and cornflowers for a vibrant contrast as well as delicious scent...........today i did some gardening and when i came in the internet wasn't working so i am a bit late this week writing my blog.....

..............thank you to everyone who drops by here to see me in my bit of blogland, and thank you so much to everyone who leaves me a sweet comment too.............i hope you have a happy week ahead and enjoy sunshine and flowers as well as some crafty inspirations........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxx