Patchwork and Pottering

 Two of my favourite things...patchwork and pottering in the garden....and i did some of both last weekend.....

 ...we were able to garden properly for the first time this season....i weeded and mulched one of the borders (mulching sounds quite professional don't you think?) and Mr P did lots of his favourite kind of gardening... that is, pruning things ;-).....we were both very contented and it was lovely to sit outside and have a cup of tea again in a sheltered bit of the garden, with the sun shining and the birds singing (and some homemade tea bread from the Mary Berry Baking Book).........

....and then a bit of pottering in the potting shed for me....with some new spring plants to either pot on and enjoy indoors or to decide where to plant outside......

 ....weekend breakfasts.... i just love that leisurely feel to a weekend morning....are you noticing  lot of CK things appearing here?......there is a reason for it which i will show you in a moment.....

 ...........a quilt i made a while ago, inspired by CK fabrics, especially the gorgeous blue strawberry one, my regular breakfast cereal bowl...... and a cute little CK badge on a gift that arrived this week.......

....lady luck has smiled on me again this week and i won the Cath Kidston Patch book  in the giveaway at the gorgeous Mary Jane's Tearoom....so exciting...(here it is being pictured with my Strawberry Hearts quilt..)

 ...a big huge thank you to Susan for this wonderful giveaway ...Mary Jane's Tearoom is one of my favourite blogs....not only do i love all the delicious colours and pictures, but i love to see Susan's original designs for her knitted mice and bunnies, they are so delightful....if you don't already know this blog do go and visit, you're in for a real treat.....

 ....it was lovely to be back in the potting shed again, i have swept it all out, tidied it up and found my gardening things again....it really feels like spring is here once i start to garden once more.....

 .....a bit more patchwork....this is a peek at a new quilt i've been slowly working on over the last few months...it will have more applique and some colourful quilting....i will be back with another update on it soon i hope, as well as another farmer's wife block......yesterday i taught my elder daughter how to begin to crochet a granny stripe blanket...i think she's hooked.... she rang up today to say she's now on to the third stripe :-).....

......i love my crafty things, they make me sooo happy....and it's always wonderful to hear that it makes others happy too.....thanks for popping in to visit me here today, it's a pleasure to see you.....enjoy your week, i hope you find lots of happy crafty moments, and the sun shines for you too......back soon xxxxx

In the Mail

There have been some treats in the mail over the last few days..... making a very nice change from bills and unwanted catalogues and suchlike ;-).....i was the very lucky winner in the lovely Katie's giveaway over at her crafty blog Booty-licious.....

.....there were lots of lovely gifts all sweetly wrapped in this lovely union jack paper....the toadstool and the keep calm card holder in the top picture were amongst the lovely surprises, and there were chocolates (now gone) and ribbons which i will show in another post....and a set of miniature postcards......

 .....i picked out some romantic couples today as it's valentine's week, but there are lots of others too........so a big ThAnK YoU to Katie for your gorgeous giveaway ................i will enjoy using these treats vey much.....

                                      ........ i love the postmark stamps on these sweet Greengate egg cups.......
  

....another delightful parcel arrived too this week ....my valentine/anniversary present is this sweet teapot..........i can just imagine using it for afternoon tea in the summer garden, surrounded by real flowers............

 .....not too long to wait.......the weather is definitely more spring like today, with sun peeking through, and spring flowers popping their heads up by the day........i even went into the potting shed yesterday for a little potter about......and it felt almost warm with the sun shining in there too......

....my latest farmer's wife quilt block is sooo appropriately named for this post.......because it's called postage stamp :-) i loved making this one even though the squares are exceedingly tiny.....it would mke a nice little mouse quilt.....
thank you so much for dropping in to see me here today.....i love your visits......i hope you are having  a happy week, with sunshine and things you love...and maybe some treats in the mail......back soon xxxxxx

Merry Mouse

 A little mouse crept into our house on this last weekend before christmas.......her name is Merry.....and although she is quiet and rather timid she is a very merry and smiley mouse too.......

 .....as mice tend to do, she has been popping up here and there around the house, watching as we get on with our christmassy preparations, and as we come and go on errands and trips, she is always waiting when we return......

 ....she is a little white mouse with red skandi print ear linings and she has an embroidered felt top and a dala horse printed skirt......

 ......and a red bead for her nose (i looked in my bead box and there was exactly the one i wanted)....

 ......Merry Mouse is waiting beside the new musical biscuit tin, hoping it will soon be opened and there will be some treats for her to nibble......

 .......and just after the little mouse crept in this weekend, a wonderful parcel arrived........

 ...i was one of the lucky winners in the wonderful Bee Happy blog giveaway last week and the parcel contained this beautiful scarf......so soft, in subtle pretty colours, and so warm too...perfect to wear right now....thank you to Deb at Bee Happy for such a generous giveaway gift, I am really delighted.....do go and visit Bee Happy, and see her etsy shop, and  folksy shop too....

                           ......thank you to Bee Happy for knitting this lovely warm cosy scarf........

....now i think it's almost time for a mid morning cup of tea, and a little look at my list or i should say lists as i have quite a few of them now...the work/commission list, the christmas present list, the crafts i want to make list, the food list, the christmas to do list, and the every day to do list......yes, lots of them to keep track of...i might need a mince pie as well......
Thank you for dropping in to visit me today....i hope your lists are getting ticked off and all is peaceful where you are....enjoy the countdown and keep cosy....i'll be back soon xxxxxx

Sew Festive....and a Winner!

 This weekend I have been shopping and sewing....lots of Christmas presents have been gathered ready to wrap, and there is some secret sewing under way....... but first i must make an announcement.......

                                         ....the winner of the Woodland Winter Giveaway is.........
                                                               Apple Blossom Barn
                                                         
....congratulations to Denise, and if you would like to email me your address (my email is on the sidebar there) your parcel will soon be winging it's way to your pretty home........
i would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway, i loved reading your sweet comments and finding lots of different blogs to enjoy, and hearing from old blog friends too of course....i wish i could send a gift to you all....but i will be holding regular giveaways in 2012...so good luck in the next one!

.....And now for a little festive sewing......a while ago i showed you some lovely Liberty fabrics....

....i like to use Liberty tana lawn in small amounts and this little gift bag was a perfect project for that...

 ........i used it to bind the top edges of the thick pure wool felt bag.....and made some yo yo's too.....

 .....and here it is in this month's Sew magazine, with a redwork cross stitch bird design appliqued on the front as well.......

 .....and here is a matching Christmas tag i made too, using bright beads for an extra festive feel.....you can find more ideas at Sew magazine here.......

.....this Scandinavian style applique Christmas stocking was made for my book Simple Sewn Gifts, and i loved sewing it....the fabrics were from a delightful little bundle that one of my daughters brought me back from a college trip to Amsterdam,...so it was lovely to use them in this special project.....here it is hanging on my mantlepiece at the moment, with the candles lit and everything cosy.....
Thank you for visiting me here today...wishing you a wonderful week and warm and happy times...back soon with lots of Christmassy pictures xxxxxx 

Casting On

 We are wearing our cardigans again here, and searching in the cupboards for our autumn knits....and last week I ordered some wool ready to cast on a new woolly garment....

 ...the last cosy wool knitting I did was earlier this year when I made this for my younger daughter's birthday. It's the Beth jacket by Kim Hargreaves from her book Amber....

....it's made with Rowan Big wool and  it certainly is BiG and so are the needles...rather HuGe actually and when I first began knitting it was more like grappling and quite a different experience from the usual  knitting one...but it did make a lovely garment with a lovely textured look....

 ...so now the season is on the turn and autumn is bringing us it's treats and treasures as well as damp chills and nights closing in, and I needed to have some new wool and some knitting on my needles again.....

 ....I bought this wool/cotton blend...I love all the Amy Butler colours but the blue is the one I liked best this time....

 ....the pattern is a Sirdar cardigan I've knitted before and I hope when it is finished that Dolly will model it for me....as well as a parcel of lovely wool arriving this week another surprise parcel came for me...I won a giveaway at Fin and Gabs and Andrea sent me a gorgeous collection of treats...

 ...the parcel was beautifully wrapped with a gorgeous little black and white heart charm...Andrea is a talented designer who creates all kinds of lovely stationery designs, including bespoke ones, for her shop Andrea Willis Designs, and for Crafts Beautiful magazine too....I was thrilled to find one of her pretty covered notebooks in the parcel specially personalised for me!!

 ...here are all the treats in the giveaway parcel...I love everything...thank you so much, Andrea! Do go and visit her bright and colourful blog and shop...she has some gorgeous designs .....

I love this little birdie ....when I'm knitting I often make plans and think things through, dream of things I'm going to make and things I want to do...I'm planning to do a bit of knitting and dreaming this bank holiday afternoon, after a busy weekend......click click knit knit...

I hope you have a happy week ahead with time to follow your dreams whatever they may be....thanks for dropping by to my little space today, I love your visits.....back soon xxxxxx