Rosy Lavender Quilt

 This little quilt in soft and pretty rose and lavender fabrics is finally finished and hanging in my studio for a few days for me to enjoy looking at.......i began making the four patch blocks and joining them together by hand last summer after being inspired by the lavender farm at cheristow in devon.......i got as far as partly quilting it also by hand, when a top secret project intervened and it was put away till now..........

 ...........i used a lovely piece of lecien rose paisley fabric for the main patches and the binding....this fabric just made me think of vintage eiderdowns as soon as i saw it.........the lavender fabrics and the aqua ones i used for contrast all came from my stash............

.............i love all the shades of purple around in the garden at the moment too..........

 ...........some of the lavender is in flower especially the deep blue purple and the french kind with the mauve frilly tops.......and there are lots of sweetpeas in these shades.........these are from my cheap and cheerful pots bought from the greengrocer at the start of the season and quickly planted in the cutting patch with a wigwam of canes......the other sweet peas i ordered from a leading grower were very late arriving and are still tiny, nowhere near flowering yet........i'm hoping they will make up for it soon but in the meantime the cheap ones are providing me with a sweet posy or two every day..............

 ................i received some pretty presents for my birthday like this gorgeous greengate latte cup.............

........the rosy lavender quilt was washed and tumble dried to achieve that wonderful crumpled vintage look....my new favourite thing........i can't wait to make another quilt now :)............

 ..........a little bunch of our own lavender that i managed to harvest this week when it had dried off a bit in the brief sunshine we luckily had...........i love to dry big bunches of it and save it for lavender bags and to add to pincushions and pillows..............

 ...........these are the cakes i made for my daughter rosie's birthday last week..........she was with me when we found the vintage rose cake toppers and cases in a tiny shop in manchester, so i knew she'd love them on her cakes.............

 ...............a sunny moment for a quilt photo, yes... we are having a few of those this week so it's not totally grey and rainy here but it certainly hasn't been feeling very summery that's for sure.........

 

......................before i go today i want to say a special thank you to claire at the gorgeous design blog heart handmade .......i was thrilled when claire featured my quilts and crochet on her wonderful blog recently, do go over and see her......such an inspiring place to visit, if you don't already know it you'll love it...........i am off to work on my book illustrations again now, they are almost finished......and then i am going to be making something especially for my lovely readers as it is almost time for another giveaway here in my little bit of blogland :)...............
................wishing you a wonderful week and hoping the sun shines (but for those lovely readers in other places who are too hot then i hope your temperatures become just right :)......back very soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx