Sowing Season

At last the spring we've been waiting for has arrived here and we can do some proper gardening again.....sowing, planting, watching the blossom open and the trees turn green............the cute little pins shown here were a gift from the easter bunny...........he knows i like crafty things as well as chocolate.............

 ............the pins have their own little pincushion which i made from a mix of flowery and veggie fabrics, some from a beatrix potter fabric line left over from a previous book project.......

 ............somehow once i saw the carrot pins it inspired me to make some fabric carrots too..........

                                         .............i like them as much as real carrots............

                                                     .............and so does ruby.................

 ................she is a very quiet and peaceful rabbit to have around the sewing room................

...............more sowing and planting was going on in the cutting patch this week, though first we had a day and night of sudden gale force winds which were very destructive to lots of trees and plants, though thankfully not here.............

                          ............ i brought these plants inside late at night to protect them......

 ...........i often keep flowering plants on a little table outside the back door in spring and summer...this is the first time they have ended up in the kitchen overnight......

 ..........they looked very happy to be out of the wild winds, and i have to admit that this time our kitchen really did look like a garden centre................................

..........i have had soooo many questions and emails about the ripple blanket i showed last time that i decided to answer everyone here :)...........first, the pattern is lovely lucy's from attic 24........her tutorial is so clear and easy to follow, it is a lot of people's favourite and now it's my favourite too :)...........secondly, the yarn i chose is all stylecraft special dk and the colours for the stripes are used in the following order: bluebell, cloud blue, citron, lemon, wisteria, clematis, shrimp, apricot, aspen, sherbet, magenta, clematis (used twice), pomegranate, fondant, candy floss...then repeat again ............you can buy the yarn online here............

 ............i was very lucky recently and won a treat in jane's giveaway....this sweet busy bee bag charm arrived and i love it............jane is a longtime blogging friend, and she also made me one of her special personalised cards, with patchwork hexagons forming the background....what a nice idea for a patchworker, thank you jane :).....you can find more of jane's lovely cards and beautiful jewellery in her etsy shop here..................

                           ..............jane's special card on my dresser, matching the daffodils :)..............

.............one last picture today............i bought this issue of prima spring makes because i loved the cover..........it is shown here with my latest granny squares.....(more of those another time).........and when i began reading the mag i discovered there was a nice review of my book, *pretty patchwork gifts* in it too ..........there are lots of lovely ideas in here...........don't you just love springtime crafting??...........thank you to everyone who has sent me an email this week.......i will be answering you very sooon :)..........and thank you to you all for dropping in and reading this, i love to see you......wishing you a wonderful week.................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooxxxxxxxx