Granny's Attic

Last sunday we decided was going to be the day for starting to clear out granny's attic....and as the rain had set in for the day it seemed like a good decision.......my lovely mother in law died a few years ago, and my father in law a few years before, but my hb's auntie has been living in the house since then and only recently has moved to a suitable flat.....so now the sorting out has begun for us.......

 .......so many memories..... i bought a special box last week to store the letters and cards that we want to keep and to treasure....on sunday we found lots of wonderful old toys ....mr p was delighted to revisit his childhood memories though some of the toys are older than him so must have been passed on through family or friends...

....i love the patterns and illustrations on these tin toys.....the spinning top, the sweetie tin, a little tank which rolls over and over when wound up, and a wind up musical box ......i really love all these!

..........there are lots of pieces of china too, like the rosy ones in the top picture which look nice on my dresser along with my new ck set , they all blend in so well.....my mother in law was a really sweet and kind person, everyone loved her and lots of the old letters show that too....she loved people, animals (especially dogs), and flowers...lots and lots of flowers....she liked to put tiny posies around the house and i like to do the same.....

 ....clearing out a house of our parents' generation usually means finding a lot of cutlery, especially sets of fish knives and forks....every one had them in those days.....along with lots of other unidentifiable items of cutlery...a piece for every possible use it seems....i have had the silvo out to polish some of them up, and will share them out with our girls to keep and use if they'd like to..........lots of pretty embroidered napkins too :)..........

 .............there were so many wonderful vintage and retro cards that as a designer of surface patterns it was quite a treasure trove for me......below is a classic rose card.....but when opened up.............

            ......it has a whole paper engineered 3d bouquet of roses looking so bright and fresh still..........

..........we are about half way through getting the attic cleared out, so still lots to do next weekend........

.......i had a look in the farmer's wife quilt blocks to see if i had anything to fit in with today's theme of granny's attic....and i found this one....it's called attic windows :)
..........thank you for calling in to see me here today, it's lovely to see you, and thank you to my lovely new followers too...........i hope you have a wonderful week and that the sun comes out for you :) back soon xxxxx

Sewing Squares

If you read my blog regularly you probably already know that i like making patchworks using squares...and i am happy to say that my latest one, the flower patch quilt, has just been finished..........i showed you some of it a few days ago but now here it is all done..........

 ...........i sewed on the binding at the weekend........always a nice job to do, that last bit of slip stitching at the end when the binding is neatly closed over the quilt edge.....you finish off the stitching, snip off the thread....and suddenly you have a finished quilt......

 .........here is the quilt fresh from the drier, with that crinkly look so many quilters (including me) love......

 .....i love both the crumply washed quilted look and the smooth patchwork effect, like in the pincushion below...

 ...i made this flowery pincushion especially for fee as one of our swaps......in return i received some really gorgeous blocks.........find fee and her chipper nelly blocks here...........

....these sweet blocks have been looking so pretty and colourful mixed in with the fabrics around my studio.....i still have lots of squares left over from my quilt, so i think a patchwork cushion will be next........

.....and here is a (mainly) square pieced block from the farmer's wife quilt book.....this one is called checkerboard and i love it.....above on point and below a straight square block.....the book pieces the quilt blocks together on point and i think i probably will too, but that's quite a way off yet ;)......

......there are lots of things i want to make at the moment, i have a big long list of them.....more bunnies, another quilt, a cushion, my jubilee blanket, new paper crafts to try, and seeds to plant in the garden.....lots of crafty pleasures to enjoy over the next few weeks and i'll be back soon to share them with you......thank you very much for visiting me here today and i hope you are having a lovely week and happy crafty times too.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Make Do And Mend

 Many months ago, when planning this year's commissions with the lovely magazine editors i work with, i realised that the red white and blue colour way (one of my absolute favourites) was going to be BiG this year, what with the jubilee and the olympics too.....and i  also found that there were lots of lovely products on an old blighty shabby chic theme to be bought in the crafts shops.....crafty heaven :-) .....so, this is my project for this month's crafts beautiful, in the shops now.........i've been looking forward to showing it on my blog and to actually hanging the hanger up in my studio .............

 .........and to using the make do and mend notebook for recording sewing tips, plans and ideas, snippets, pictures, sketches and cuttings all on a stitchy fabric-y theme......i used portobello road embellishments from papermania and haberdashery rubber stamps by tim holz on this book cover....you can read all about it in the magazine and find lots of other crafty inspiration on the crafts beautiful website here........

.........the letters in this picture are real old letters that we were sorting out last weekend...they belonged to my late mother in law, and were sent to her when her son ( my mr p) was born...they are such lovely letters from her sisters in law and other family and friends, and tell such a story of a past time and a different world...very moving too.....

 ..........little collage, showing the cover of cb with my project peeking out (even after all these years it's still nice to see my designs appear, especially on a cover) the magazine has a lovely (free) vintage rubber stamp and lots of papers too which i will be putting to good use......the first bluebells picked this spring (from our garden, not the bluebell woods we walked in on sunday)..........the bluebells have only just begun to open here, so the carpeting effect hasn't happened yet...maybe next weekend, if the sun shines a bit more.......

....................red white and blue pincushion and vintage birdie tin filled with red white and blue buttons all ready for sewing onto lots more projects..........

 .........and my new crochet blanket which i mentioned in my last post is also fitting in with this year's theme....i've begun making a granny stripe jubilee blanket........i love it already, and it will be perfect for seaside picnics (even matching the red and white spotty picnic cool bag)......if i hurry up it might be ready to take to the jubilee party too........i think my love of this colour way really stems from the nautical things i grew up with........living in a sailing resort, surrounded by boats and flags and lots of objects painted in these colours.........

 ..........we love living on the coast and i love being near the sea.....i can see it from our house, and walk down to it in a few minutes......i used to take it for granted when i was young, until i lived inland for a few years and missed it so much...........

.......some granny squares have quickly been hooked up too, while watching a film at the weekend.....these are for a jubilee cushion to go with the blanket for perfect picnics this summer......so that's my making and doing for this week...and i have even done a little bit of mending too....i sewed up a hole in a jumper and the hem on a skirt :-0
Thank you for dropping by to my little bit of blogland, it's so lovely to see you.........wishing you a wonderful week and i hope the sun shines for you...........back soon xxxxxxxx

April Kitchen

 It's bright and sunny again (at last) here today....after a few rather chilly days and a very damp easter, today the sky is blue and the birds are chirping outside my window again.....i made some little spring inspired cakes the other day......

 ...it was nice to do a bit of baking after mostly working intensively over the last couple of weeks....lovely to have a bit of time to do other things like baking and crafting just for fun......

 .........a while ago i did a review of tea towel designs for al at all tea towels, and when i decided to give one of them away as part of my winter giveaway, al kindly said i could pick another one too.....so i chose the one in the pictures above called a nice cup of tea.....i discovered that the artist who designed it was the same one who designed the first tea towel i picked....linda edwards, whose lovely website can be seen here......the tea towel, like all the ones stocked by al is lovely to use and i love the colours in my april kitchen.....

 ................and a very SwEeT block here along with the coloured chocolate flowers.....from fee, of course....

 .........lots of spring flowers brighten up my kitchen at the moment....some of my favourites are the natural primroses which i grew from tiny plug plants a few years ago.....i have quite a big primrose patch in the garden now, and pot up a few as presents or to enjoy indoors for a while.......

 ............some daisy cupcakes in spring green paper cases........all gone now.......we still have some chocolate flowers left though, as well as some easter eggs still to nibble..........

 ......i had a bit of time to make some more blocks for the farmer's wife quilt over the weekend break....

.........i had to include this one today because it's name is...broken dishes.....i love this block pattern, i remember first discovering it years ago and thinking how the little pieces did look like shards of broken dishes........ i have a couple more blocks to sew together, and my flower patch quilt is nearing completion now....and i've begun a new crochet blanket but will save that until next time :-)
.......thank you for calling in to see me in my little bit of blogland today.....i hope you are having a sunny week and enjoy the coming weekend too.........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Easter Time

 Spring time...easter time....flowers, blossom, sunshine, speckled eggs, pretty coloured easter decorations....no wonder it's one of my favourite times of the year.....i do love to get out the box of easter treasures and arrange them each year, and maybe add a new one or two......

 ....this time i have been a bit late getting the house decorated....but gradually the eggs are appearing....

 ....and some chicks and bunnies have hopped into place too.....as i mentioned before, i have been busy painting and drawing book illustrations,  and though i can't show them until they are published, i can show you this little watercolour i did of two of my favourite bunnies, flora and little maisie..........

 ............we often get together with family over easter and this year my sister ruby is having a  party on easter day   :-).........we also love to garden of course and have already had a visit to a beautiful garden centre today and bought some new plants...........i picked a few flowers for this tin in the potting shed......

 ....just need the weather to warm up and the sun to peek out a bit more and we'll be happily planting seeds...

 ....below are some of my beautiful new blocks from fee at chipper nelly....i really love these birds' egg ones, and they decorate my studio so well especially combined with lots of things i've collected, like the tiny hen in the chipped flower pot nest i've had for years....these blocks are so pretty i love finding different ways of displaying them......

 .....the sweet gingham ribbon has arrived for my easter hearts and i have almost finished making them now...

              ..........sewing on the last buttons before wrapping them up in coloured tissue paper..........

....last view of the flowery, speckled egg wreath on the potting shed door......before i go i just want to say a big thank you to everyone who contacted me about my little broken bottle with suggestions of where i could buy a replacement....i'll keep you posted...it's looking good so far ;-)
........i'm looking forward to the weekend to come and i hope you are too....thank you for popping in here to see me, i love your visits.......wishing you a wonderful weekend and a very Happy Easter.....back soon xxxxxxxxxx

Flower Patch

The flower patch quilt is steadily coming along, stitch by stitch.......there are just four applique flowers in the centre.....the rest of the white squares i've left plain to show off the flowery fabric patches....though i have dotted a little butterfly here and there....................

 ..........after a day working on the computer or on drawing and painting, it's nice to pick up a needle and thread and do some of my quilt in the evening...........very soothing and a bit addictive......just one more patch.......

                       .....as you can see there are lots of butterflies fluttering over this flower patch...........

                                                                              ....one more.....

.........here's a view of the flower patch quilt spread out on my desk......with a big bright chicken bringing a seasonal feel to the picture.....(it's a very useful chicken money box, that i'm putting all our loose change into)...

 ...........besides finding things to decorate the house with for easter i've made some more little hearts as gifts...

 ...........they're not finished yet, i was waiting for some gingham ribbon to arrive and now it has, so i'll be sewing it on and adding a few buttons too..........hope the girlies they are for are not reading this ;-)

 .......here is a picture of a real flower patch......a bit of my garden that i am filling with flowery plants....i have got all sorts of things planned to go in here, some grown from seed, some ordered from a special nursery, some from our local greengrocer's and some from a car boot sale....i love to pick up plants anywhere and everywhere....

...........these are a few snippets from the flower patch, in one of the little bottles from my tiny crate of six....except that it is no longer a crate of six as one little bottle got BrOkEn last week :-( ...........if anyone knows where you can buy just one of those little bottles from do please let me know...my email address is on the sidebar :-).........
Thank you for calling in to see me today, it's always a delight to have your visits....wishing you a happy spring week......we are looking forward to the easter break and have already cracked open the first mini eggs.........i hope to be back here before easter though so see you soon   xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx