Monday 26 February 2018

Tilda Lemon Tree Blog Hop

 Welcome to my stop on the tilda lemon tree blog hop today...........here is miss lemon wearing her pretty dress made in the lemonade print fabric (and her ear linings are the flowerfield print).......
 ...........i was delighted when sew and so asked me to take part in this blog hop and loved the fat quarters of lemon tree fabric they sent me.....the bright fresh colours and mix of bold and tiny florals have a modern vintage feel and are great for all kinds of projects............
 ..............at the moment i am designing a modern patchwork quilt using squares and half square triangles in various ways.....so i used one of the blocks for a cushion in lemon tree fabrics.....
 .............then i made a drawstring project bag from the lemon tree fabrics in reds and blues colour ways, adding in some older tilda spots and stripes too.....these fabrics work beautifully with earlier tilda ranges and also look gorgeous with solids in matching shades.....
 ............the bag drawstring is decorated with a little heart in flowerfield fabric..........
 ............and i sewed some decorative felt bobbles to the bottom of the bag.....
 ............here's miss lemon again with the patchwork pillow which looks lovely in our sunny kitchen..
 ..............and here is the next project..... linen tea towels with dresden plate appliques........
 ..............they make nice gifts too............here are two hanging on the aga......the button centres could be replaced with fabric circles or yo yos if you preferred that..........
............in my book modern vintage gifts there is a pattern for a cherry pot holder which i used to make this project in lemon tree fabrics....and of course i had to change the cherries to lemons for this one.....
 ..........i am looking forward to ordering some yardage and making a quilt now that i have had a nice play with these pretty fabrics on my little projects............
 .............i hope you've enjoyed my stop on the blog hop today :)...........to see more about the tilda ranges and the blog hop please visit sew and sew ideas here.............
..............thank you for dropping by dear readers and for the kind comments you leave.......(you can also visit me on instagram and facebook too in between blog posts)..........wishing you a wonderful week filled with crafty inspiration.............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 19 February 2018

Bright Hearts

 Happy new week everyone............here are some more hearts :)......
 ..............these little hearts were made using scraps of some of my favourite pink and red fabrics...
 ................here they are on a pip studio plate, ready to be tied onto pink and white baker's twine....
 ............the alstroemeria flowers have been blooming here for at least two weeks....i also had some beautifully pretty valentine's flowers which i will show another time as these brights matched today's psot :)....
 ...........lots of daffs too....here is the rainbow sock as a work in progress.....in a moment i'll show you them both finished!...........
 ...............loving all the cheery flowers.............perfect to brighten up grey winter days and feel like spring......
 .................it even makes me want to tidy up and clear out the cupboards (again!).........
 ............i love the vase below especially as it was a present from my mum ........
 ...........finished rainbow socks..........
 .............lovely yarn by west yorkshire spinners in the colour called rum paradise.....
 ............this weekend we had family to stay...it was wonderful to spend time with both daughters and their families....playing with the grandchildren, reading to the toddler and cuddling the baby......
 ..............we had a birthday celebration meal out and a birthday breakfast for my son in law chris .....happy times x ..................
..................the quilts were in use this weekend...do you remember this one? (the farmer's wife sampler quilt).............
....thank you for dropping in here to visit me dear readers and for your kind comments......wishing you a bright and happy heart this week and plenty of crafty inspiration..........back soon xxxxxxxxxx

Monday 12 February 2018

Hearts and Snowdrops

 Happy new week everyone.....we have lots of hearts here today ready to celebrate valentine's day :).......this is my heartstrings quilt which is still a work in progress......
 ...........it is a lovely project to work on in between work commissions and other projects as it is easy to make a few applique hearts by hand and then join them together to make the bigger blocks by machine...
 ..............it is fun to choose lots of different red and blue fabrics for the hearts and also lots of low volume fabrics for the backgrounds............
 ..............the more varied the better and more interesting i think, like all the best scrappy quilts are.............
 ..............it has been very cold here the last few days and i have had lots of cups of tea and coffee....i like breakfast tea, lemon and ginger tea and peppermint tea at the moment and now and then a nice cup of hot coffee......
 ...............the applique hearts are stored in a pretty greengate tin until i have made enough to join a few blocks together..........
 ..................the flower this week has to be the snowdrop...........these are from our garden and they were almost buried in leaves at the bottom of a rosebush..........so now they are on my desk in a little glass jar and i can show them to you :).............
 ................yesterday we went on our annual snowdrop walk to see the many varieties that grow in botanical gardens not far away.............
 ................it was a bright and sunny day (between the hail showers) but the wind was strong and bitterly cold.....but we had to go or we might miss the snowdrops.......
 ...........it was worth braving the cold and was actually quite sheltered down in the gardens.....so many gorgeous snowdrops............and also hellebores and daphne flowering too.....such a delicious scent..
 ..............we were glad to have another nice hot cup of tea after the walk.............
 ..............and i was happy to get back to hand sewing patchwork hearts beside the fire.....
................thank you so much for dropping in to see me here lovely readers, and for your very kind comments.............wishing you a wonderful week, a happy valentine's day and plenty of crafty inspirations..................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 5 February 2018

February Florals

 The past week has been filled with colourful yarn, thread, flowers and fabric for me.....in the picture above you can see the rainbow socks i'm knitting with west yorkshire spinners yarn in the vivid colour way called rum paradise.....(also enjoying mini eggs given to me by my elder daughter...perfect with a nice cup of tea)...........
 .............this little flower applique quilt is my project in the latest issue of crafts beautiful magazine out now..........
 ..........i loved sewing this using scraps of pretty floral fabrics and a dotty background......the border is a riley blake fabric from the gorgeous arbor blossoms collection......
 .............some close ups of the applique (i used bondaweb to apply the pieces and stitched round the shapes with blanket stitch in matching thread)......
 ..............these little quilts are fun for children to tuck their toys up with but they also make nice little mini quilts to decorate the wall too...........

 ..............it's been freezing here the past few days so the bunnies are glad to be snuggled up under this quilt and keeping nice and cosy.............
 ................and we are keeping warm in the studio too today............
 ............we visited friends yesterday and molly had such a great time she is needing a good rest today.......also at the weekend we saw all our grandchildren and had cuddles with the baby...bliss x
 ..............loving all the flowers this time of year brings....lots of tulips and hyacinths and of course masses of inexpensive and cheerful daffodils......you buy a 'bundle of green sticks' and after a bit of time in the warm kitchen you have these glowing bright yellow blooms.....
............thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for the sweet comments you take the time to leave...........it is always a pleasure to hear from you.......wishing you a happy week ahead with plenty of flowers, sunny days and crafty inspirations.....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx