Making Things

 It's cold and chilly here with gale force winds blowing the sea onto our promenade almost every day.........the perfect time to be indoors and making things...........i have been very busy over the past week working on magazine commissions which have to be kept secret for a little while yet.......but here is something i made earlier...........a birdie flower wreath decoration............

 ..........i made this last summer (here it is in the potting shed) when i made the long string of birds but haven't shown the pictures till now..........i was inspired to make it when i saw some similar decorations in a local shop...........you can find wire circles at many florist's shops, cover with fabric or ribbon, glue on embellishments like buttons and flowers with a glue gun and add a little stuffed fabric bird on a beaded string to hang in the middle..............

 ..........it is a cheery and colourful addition to my dresser now that the xmas decorations have come down.........i miss the twinkly little fairy lights and candle bridges and the lights in the tree in our front garden.........as well as sewing with my pam kitty picnic fabrics for work purposes, i have used lots of little scraps to sew two tiny patchy pincushions............this one has beads sewn in the four corners...

 ...........and applique hearts...........and a couple of buttons.......the other is simply made with postage stamp patches...........working with colourful fabrics, like working with colourful paint, is  wonderfully uplifting during dark wintry days............

 ...........i've been reading a lot lately too, lots of lovely new books came my way at christmas.......

 .............the picture below is a double page spread from *the world of cross stitching* magazine, showing the sampler i designed for issue 212 which is out right now in the shops or online here....

 ................this sampler includes some lovely new little charms and lots of homely, pretty motifs.....

 ...........i love the cupcake charm..........and tea and tea pots are a big part of my day :)........

 ...........so are bulbs at this time of year, i love these sweet hyacinths just opening now...........

............i looked in the garden for something for my special vase and found: daisies, a tiny bud of an anemone, some little pink flowers in a pot from last summer, and some huge hydrangea heads bobbing about in the wind...........not much else at the moment, but lots of green shoots and buds and promise of plenty to come in the next few weeks.............

 ...........here is my new ripple blanket which is such a pleasure to work on, i am loving the stripes and i am sure working on something with lots of colours speeds up the crochet...........

 ..........i also want to make something with the crochet flowers i made last spring, but have to find them first....put away in a tidying up session, they have vanished into my studio somewhere......

.............thank you, lovely readers, for your very kind comments and new year wishes.......it is so lovely to have your visits here and to 'meet' you through the blogosphere............i hope you are keeping cosy in all the bad weather (unless you live in warmer, summery places, of course :))........and enjoy some making and crafting to brighten up the chilly days...............back soon xxxxooxxxxxxxxx