Tea, Cakes and Sewing Things

I have been having a very busy week here, sewing things for magazine deadlines, drawing illustrations for book deadlines....and most important of all celebrating my birthday and my daughter rosie's birthday too!

 .........it's fun having our birthdays so close together as we often combine part of our celebrations and she was home last weekend........we have all had plenty of tea and cakes during this week.....

 ........and new pip china to use too :).........we had some delicious cakes made by my elder daughter sarah helped by charlie and daisy....they are especially fond of the part where you add the sweets to the top.......

.........i made some cupcakes  in yellow cases and added yellow roses to the top.......a bit of sunshine....

 .....because i can't yet show you the sewing i've been doing this week, i am including instead this little needlecase made a while ago and featuring a tim holz haberdashery rubber stamp and a scissor button from duttons for buttons in york......i've been using this needlecase this week for my projects.....and have also got lots of my quilt sewn too so hope to show you it finished very sooooon..............

 .....i want to say a big thank you today to two sweet blog friends who gave me awards recently......first was victoria from tangled sweetpea who gave me the versatile blogger award, and then mia at handmade by mia who gave me the sunshine award.........thank you both so much, lovely ladies :) and if you don't already know their lovely blogs do go and visit them here and here............

.........a bit of sunshine for us all today, in case some are in need of it :) ......i am loving the bright yellows of these summery birthday flowers.............

..........and here is my project in the july issue of crafts beautiful......a cupcake stitched patchwork cushion using yummy pam kitty morning fabric, and with added sparkly beads sewn onto the cake....you can now download lots of the patterns, charts and templates here.............

...........and a little cupcake postcardy tag....i love making these and adding them to each project to tie in with the theme....i also love to see how the magazine photographers style the shots using my projects.......

........there are still some cakes left here at my house....here is a virtual one for you, and i'll put the kettle on and make us all a virtual cup of tea shall i?..........thank you so much for visiting me here..........i hope all my sweet american friends had a happy fourth of july......i always love my birthday for being on that special day!.......off to do some more sewing now and hopefully i will have a finished quilt to show you next time......wishing you happy days and sunshine in the meantime........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Garden Days

 I do love garden days....both the kind spent in my own garden and days out visiting other gardens, like the two i am showing you here today from our trip to the lake district....the first is the world famous historic topiary garden at beautiful Levens Hall..........we went one sunny morning and it was magical......

 ....it was very quiet, there were few visitors yet, and the gardeners were quietly going about their tasks, the sounds were of birdsong and someone playing croquet and the crunch of walking on gravel paths......

.......there were plenty of lovely floral plantings as well as the amazing topiary trees...the garden dates back to 1694...and unlike so many topiary gardens of the period which were replaced and updated, Levens Hall gardens have survived in their original design, as it says in the guide book' through a combination of circumstance and love'.......there was such a special atmosphere there, and the fact that the sun was shining added to the appeal, and to the dramatic effect of light and shade on the geometric shapes......

 .......a wonderful inspiring place to wander, especially if you have a sense of history as well as a love of gardens......you can find out more about Levens Hall here..........below are some more pages of my scrapbooky sketchpad, along with some of fee's gorgeous garden blocks which i love to include in my pictures...you can also find a fantastic giveaway at chipper nelly here..........

..........the next garden we visited is of course at Hilltop, Beatrix Potter's house, which we almost always visit when in the lakes, though we only go round the house every few years, it's nice to see the garden, the lambs and the occasional bunny........there were a lot of visitors this time queuing up the path, so i waited till they had gone in for the tour before snapping these photos :)

.....i have seen Hilltop in many weathers but never with such a bright blue sky and bathed in so much sunlight....though we do usually go there out of season......there are sweet roses growing on a trellis along the path beside the lambs' field............

 ........and a delightful vegetable garden has been established, as it would have been in Miss Potter's day...

..........up the garden path, so recently filled with visitors, many from abroad.....and there was a bunny in the grass......mr p caught the picture of the leaping rabbit for me while i was in the shop buying books for the grandchildren....... it does look very like Peter, minus the blue coat and little shoes don't you think?

.........this picture from Levens Hall of the man playing croquet in the morning sunshine captures the timelessness of that place for me.......and the lovely drifts of nepeta and other lilac coloured flowers reminded me of this quilt..........so when i got home i went and found it tucked away and unfinished......

.........i began it last summer soon after visiting the lavender farm in devon, and too many things got in the way of finishing it........but now it's back on the to do list, and will remind me of summer gardens whenever i see it...........it's a simple four patch, using lecien rose prints and other pretty fabrics in lots of shades of lilac and aqua.....i will show you more of it soon....
...i have lots of crafty things to catch up with...... lovely people to thank...... magazine projects to show........new makes and bakes....... so i will be sorting out a crafty catch up just as soon as i can......thank you for popping in here to see me, as you know, i do love your visits :).........have a wonderful weekend..........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxx

Country Cottage

 We are just back from a few days in the lovely lake district amongst the rolling hills and lush meadows....such a peaceful and relaxing time.......

 ...........i picked wild flowers and grasses from the abundant fields around the little country cottage to enjoy inside and to draw sometimes too....i am planning a flowery design so a little research is always a good thing..............

 ..........the gate to the lane...........stone steps and cobbles......all the cottages here are built from grey stone, some are rendered with white........and all the walls are drystone walls, mossy and old and rather beautiful....

...........the cottage kitchen is bright with a big window at the back.....most of the cottage is dark and cosy...

 ...out and about every day we visited our favourite places and some new ones too.....the little lakeland towns and villages were all bedecked with bunting for both the jubilee and the olympics (the olympic torch came through while we were there)......last time we were here it was daffodil time but this time it was foxglove time, growing all down the lane and in great drifts of pinky purple spires across the fields.......

............we visited some beautiful gardens....i haven't sorted out the pictures for these yet but will do so soon....and yes, that really is blue sky you are seeing .....we had three sunny days without any rain.......how amazing ;)......

 .....................................perfect for picnics and for using the stripy jubilee blanket................

 ..........lovely inspiring flowers made for a little bit of artwork in my on-going scrapbook style sketchpad....

............bunches of wildflowers in simple jars on the wide window sills look perfect to me.....i love the light frothy effect of the foliage and grasses compared to the usual garden flowers i like to make posies with................now we're home and our garden has grown a lot in the last few days, with lots of roses flowering and the first sweet peas opening....i have a few here in a glass jar on my desk to enjoy as i type........now i am off to visit your blogs and to catch up with everyone.....we had no internet or phone signal at all last week.....so i have truly been out of touch.....thanks for dropping by today to see me....wishing you a wonderful weekend..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Candy Flowers

 All this week we've been enjoying the delicious scent and colour of the candy pink roses in the house, along with other sweet flowers rescued from the rain...and it has made me think of other candy colours that i enjoy..... this little bunny is the one i made for daisy's second birthday at the end of may.............i named this bunny candy because of her sweet pink dotty ears and pink print dress.... but daisy calls her bun-bun which is just as nice i think......

 ...........i put some pink tissue paper over the top of this little gift bag for a quick reveal for the tiny birthday girl.........

 ............here is candy with the daisy, daisy print my younger daughter made her last year.....i have a copy too....now she is two daisy can sing the song herself...or at least parts of it.........

 .........i managed to get some pictures of daisy and the birthday bun while they did some crayoning....

 ...........and below are some of my own crayons in candy colours too, being gathered up with other art supplies for my week in the country......the 2 card is one of daisy's birthday cards....she received some enviable ones, this is my favourite closely followed by a wonderful toadstool one which i hope to show another time......

 ............the colourful wool i showed you in my last post is being crocheted up into small granny squares ready for a new blanket.....one i've been wanting to make since before i even began to crochet....i saw cushions like this on various gorgeous blogs looking so stylish and i knew i wanted to make a blanket with........

 .........white borders round each colourful square.....like a child's paintbox.... i love to combine candy colours and white in my quilts too so i think this blanket will go well with them.............

 ............i have packed all the yarn in a big bag, along with my spotty pink and blue crochet hook, and i hope to have made lots more of my blanket when i get back next week from my little country trip.....using the join as you go method means a more instant blanket and i rather like that :)........

 ......i hope to be sending you a virtual postcard soon from our little tarn cottage in the lovely lake district...one of our favourite places to go for a rest and a break, peace and quiet, walks, tea rooms, gardens and galleries, beautiful views, sheep on the hills and bunnies hopping down the lane outside the cottage....and i love to wake up on a lake district morning and peek out of the mullioned bedroom window to see the wonderful view.............yes, even the rain clouds rolling in look beautiful there...........

..........thank you for visiting me here today in my little bit of blogland, i love to see you.......thank you for the sweet comments you leave, and hello to my new followers, thank you for joining us :)......wishing you a wonderful weekend and i hope you enjoy happy times in the week ahead........back soon xxxxxxxxxx

Raindrops on Roses

 Here is my little potting shed spied through the sweet pink roses just coming into bloom now and all the lush growth is due to rain rain and more rain......as well as some rays of sun now and then.......

......it is certainly true to say that for a lot of this week it was better to be IN the potting shed  rather than in the garden outside it.........

 ........i kept these pretty petunias inside to protect the delicate papery petals from the blustery showers......

.........but when the sunshine did beam down on the roses they looked so beautiful and unfurled even more petals to the warmth and brightness........this is one of my favourites (i don't know the name of it)...........

.........this is another favourite too, it had a good pruning in the autumn so is less wild and vast than it used to be but still has such beautiful blooms with a delicious scent.............

 ..........among my favourite things this week was the arrival of a fabulous giveaway prize from sweet Koralee of Bluebird Notes.......it was the spring issue of Where Women Cook  and  Koralee's beautiful project below is featured in it ........i love the delicious colours and the delightful styling, just like all the gorgeous pictures Korlee uses on her wonderful blog.........i had heard of the magazine but had not had the pleasure of actually seeing it before.........

 .........it is absolutely gorgeous, so filled with wonderful pictures which take your breath away, fascinating people and features, stunning homes and decor and just so much inspiring creativity....thank you so much Koralee for sharing this magazine with me, and for the lovely little bluebird card which i will treasure......and the sweet strawberry notecards which will be appearing on here soon too :).......i do love magazines, but this one is really special and i'm looking forward to reading it from cover to cover this weekend.......

 .....and i might be inspired to do a little cooking too.......i was actually hoping for some garden days this weekend, what with a million weeds appearing and the box hedging needing a good trim, and lots of deadheading of the early roses required...........(my lovely garden days block is from chipper nelly here).......

 .................but if it's too rainy and blustery as it is right now, then i will be happy with this............

........the rosy bag filled with colourful new yarn for new crochet projects....so exciting to be choosing lots of colours again and planning new combinations..........i can hardly wait ........the red, white and blue striped jubilee blanket is finished now and i love it and so do the family....i will photograph it very soon and it will be coming to the countryside with us on a little trip in a week or so.............

.........i will leave you with some  roses with actual raindrops on them, though am not sure if you can see them, they are there....i ran out to the rainy blowy garden today to pick these and rescue them from the elements.... i always love to have roses around the house....just one bloom can scent a whole room, so lovely.......
.....wishing you all a wonderful weekend, enjoy your days whatever the weather and thank you so much for visiting me here, i always love to see you..........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx