Flowers and Fishes

 Happy new week dear readers.......here is a picture of my work table taken the other day when i was making some heart blocks for a new pink version of my heartstrings quilt...........

 ...........there are lots of pretty fabrics here already of course but i had to treat myself to just a few new ones as well....work wise i'm very busy at the moment as i've just signed up to do a new book which is very exciting............

 ...........in the garden the sweetheart rose (cecile brunner) is now flowering and twining amongst the wisteria...........

 ..............it's even more like a waterfall this week.......and so deliciously scented.....

 ............the greenhouse was full of cuttings and seedlings and i finally got round to planting some out....

 ..............pelargonium cuttings from one of my favourites.......

 .............lots of seedlings............below is the seed tray i showed here a few weeks ago.....now these cosmos are bigger still and planted out in the cottage garden....i grew millions of seeds this year...or it felt like it when i was planting them all anyway ;).....

 .............and now my latest little fabric fishes...........made from the pattern in my etsy shop......

 .............i found some cute tins which inspired a little more fish stitching......

 ..............the dotty fabric is from lecien's flower sugar rose kiss collection which i'm really enjoying sewing with at the moment.......

 ..............more fishes....some i made last year.....

 ............in fact there is now a whole crateful..............and i am pretty sure there will be more.....

............thank you so much for dropping by to my little crafty space here and sharing my flowers and sewing...........it's always such a treat to read your kind comments too..........wishing everyone a happy week with flowers and crafting......and a thought for those who are maybe not having such a happy time.............sending love to you and wishing you well..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sewing Little Things

 Happy new week dear readers..................i've been sewing some little things this week...and also some bigger things which have to remain a secret for now.....

 ............i unrolled the beautiful lecien fabrics sushi roll and began to make some little things with it....like these tiny hearts, each one a celebration of the pretty flower sugar prints.............

 .............i love my collection of vintage spools, all of which came from my mother and my mother in law.............i love the names given to the different colours and just having them around reminds me of childhood and my mum always sewing lovely things for us................

 .............they are good for styling photos too.......

 ...............here are some in a glass jar and below echoing the colours in a small project.....

 ................inspired this week by the colours of our flowering wisteria and by the lovely lilac fabrics in my sushi roll (see last post for pics of both) i made another log cabin block for my collection....

 ................such pretty and inspiring fabrics...........more of these soon......

 .............in the garden now.............daisies flowering in a grey pot outside the potting shed....

 ............and here's an old table that i painted years ago when i was into stencilling.....i thought i might gather some plant pots on it for some garden table photos......

 ...........and the may blossom is out all across the fields and hedgerows on all our walks.....so beautiful to see and such perfect little flowers................

 ............from green leafy clumps we suddenly have french lavender in flower......so much happening in the garden at the moment every day brings something new......i have planted some new flowers today....self seeded or volunteer plants that grew in the gravel paths have been carefully dug up and planted in the cottage garden......must go and water them in now......

...............thanks for stopping by to see me here lovely readers and thank you to everyone who takes the time to leave a sweet comment...so nice to hear from you and so much appreciated :).......wishing you a wonderful week ahead with sunshine and flowers and happy crafty times......back soon xxxxxx

May Time

 Here we are after a lovely lazy long weekend....sunny though chilly....and with some pretty new lecien fabrics to enjoy in the sewing room............

 .............the pattern for my new gather the flowers quilt is now in my etsy shop.........and here it is in my cottage garden where the new season's flowers are growing happily.....

 ...........the quilt is soft and romantic with flowers appliqued in the centre using the fusible web method which i love....there are patchwork flying geese and then more applique flowers dotted around the wide striped final border...........i hand quilted it all and it was a pleasure to make......

 .............the fabrics were mainly scraps of lecien, pam kitty morning, moda, tilda, liberty.....

 .............i have an idea for a new quilt now and also some other exciting new work to do.......

 ..............the cottage garden is a pleasure to tend as it is small and compact and all the small dormant plants i put in during those quiet autumn days are now beginning to grow and bloom.....

 ...............like this beautiful columbine..........

 .............through my sewing room window i can admire the wisteria.....

 ............it is like a huge waterfall of scented lilac coloured blossoms...........quite hard to capture its beauty in photographs though.....

 .............thank you to everyone who entered the draw to win tickets to the fantastic festival of quilts 2019......the winners have all been notified now but you can still use my discount code of HELEN19 to order tickets in advance online here or by calling: 0844 581 1319.........

 .............off to do some work now....lots of pretty fabrics arriving is the best inspiration...lettuce thinks so too...........

.............thanks for dropping by to see me here dear readers.....it is always such a pleasure to hear from you......hope you are enjoying the first days of may with sunshine and flowers and lots of crafty inspiration...................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

April Days

 Happy new week dear readers...............i can't believe that april is almost over.......such a lovely month.......this little pentagon ball made from tilda apple butter fabrics is my project in the latest issue of crafts beautiful magazine..........

 .............it is part of a project which also has a little cross stitched matching card.....and below is a peek at the magazine page..............

 .................meanwhile at the start of the week the weather was glorious and i took lots of garden pictures while i was out there weeding and planting.....

 ............including these of my heartstrings quilt............

 ............love the picket fence my hubby made me in the autumn........and love seeing the flowers growing up around it now.............

 ............however, after our few gorgeous sunny days we suddenly had a huge storm....the full experience of gale force winds and lashing rain...........lots of the tulips lost their petals and lots of blossom was dashed to the ground as well as young leaves off the trees............

 .............the daisies were ok though :)..............and the seedlings in the greenhouse were too........here is the seed tray we brought back from our visit to the beautiful garden at great dixter now growing lots of cosmos seedlings.........

 ............so while it rained and blew outdoors at the weekend i cleared and tidied my sewing room.....we needed some photos of it and tidying was certainly required first..........below are some of the little doll quilts i've made with two tiny bunnies on top.....(all the patterns for the bunnies in this post and the heartstrings quilt can be found in my etsy shop)...............

 ..........and here's mabel looking out of the sewing room window at the rainy stormy day....(probably hoping the wisteria would not be damaged)................

 ............apart from a few little purple flowers on the patio the wisteria is unharmed and growing well......such a show stopper.......hope to take a full photo of it all this week.....

 .............and here is a sweet little viola that i'm enjoying indoors for a few days before i plant it out....

...........thank you for visiting here lovely readers and for your kind comments...........don't forget that you can still enter the giveaway on my previous post to win tickets to the amazing Festival of Quilts 2019....................wishing you a wonderful week with sunny days and lots of crafty inspiration.....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Festival of Quilts Tickets Giveaway

Just popping in here today with some exciting news.....i have five pairs of tickets to give away for the wonderful Festival of Quilts 2019......read more about this amazing event here.....to enter just leave me a comment on this post (and an email address if you are a no reply blogger so i can contact you if you win)......the winners will be announced next friday :)

Ticket lines are now open and i also have a discount code which is HELEN19 for advanced bookings online here: or by calling 0844 581 1319

i'll be back as usual on monday.........have a wonderful weekend dear readers and good luck in the giveaway xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx