Make and Do

It's been a busy week here, and i've been making something i'd love to show you.....but it's for a magazine project for next year so i can't yet........but i've been doing other things too that i've taken a few pictures of, like enjoying the last flowers and the bright red berries from the garden.........

 .............there is a gorgeous mix of late summer and early autumn flowers which i'm making the most of......

........the very last sweet peas, and the last of these cake decorations and sugar flowers too....we have had a lot of these over the summer and my stocks are low so time to buy some more.......i love the green icing........ i think halloween cakes will be next though.........

.............i can also show you a peek of my current crochet blanket too.........the dotty pink and blue crochet hook came from my  lovely blog friend robin here.........i will be ordering some more pretty crochet hooks for christmas presents soon........

 ...........the hidden gardens blanket is almost finished, i'm now onto the shell border so will hopefully have it all done soon...............

.............the sewing room is still being organised, at the moment i'm just sorting through the ribbons and trims.........thank you so much for all the great ideas you gave me for fabric storage.....especially what to do with unrolled jellyrolls :)...........such wonderful tips you gave, dear readers, and i will be implementing them all very soon............(and taking some pics too).........

 ...........the fabric ironing, folding and stacking continued into this week.........it took such a long time......

                                                   ............now the cupboard is filling up...........

                                               ..........i finished stacking the yellow fabrics.............

                                                           ...........and the green................

..........and here is what i did with the big bright orange button i mentioned last time.....it was to sew onto my crochet project bag.....i knew it was just the right button as soon as i saw it.......it reminds me a bit of a licorice allsort too.......and how nice to discover that the book someone lent me matches my project bag so well :)............
......a couple more things to say thank you for before i go today.........one is to say thanks for all your kind words about my two christmas projects in the last post and to those who asked about the red and white fabrics in the gingerbread houses, they are scandinavian fabrics from fabric rehab.........thank you too to those who have written to me to say that they have used my patterns either from my books or magazine projects and shown them on their blogs and credited them back to me.....Thank You so much for this, it means a lot :)............
...........i hope you are all enjoying these early october days, with lots of autumn sunshine, homely times and cosy crafting as the days shorten and the evenings draw in........thanks for visiting me here..........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sewing Room

There has been a lot of fabric sorting going on here in my sewing room, inspired by the arrival last week of a new white cupboard...........

............the fabric stash has been organised, lots was given to the charity shop, some chosen by my daughter to make party bunting........and the rest is being lovingly ironed, folded and stacked...........

............as you can see i'm using the colour stacking system which seems to suit me best :)............

.........the left over layer cakes are rolled up and tied with pieces of pretty selvedge which i always save and hoard........not sure how to store unrolled jellyrolls before using them.........any ideas???

.............i found these sweet ribbons last week, pink rosebuds on blue, pink and white.......the big bright orange button was bought specially to go on a particular project which i'll show you in a future post........

...........i wonder what i'll use these for.......i love these adorable new lecien prints...........

...........in other crafty news here is my happy festive project in this month's crafts beautiful magazine, a gingerbread houses cushion with cross stitched houses, patchwork and lots of little decorative extras...........

 ..........and two tags, one shown below....the other is very christmassy so i will save it till nearer the time :)

...........my rustic robins design is featured in cross stitch collection magazine this month, and there is an interview with me in this issue too, with a lovely write up ...........to find out more visit the making spot......

...........i love the red and white look for christmas and am looking forward to making some more decorations this year beginning very soon.......as soon as i've finished filling up the fabric cupboard and piecing together the farmer's wife quilt that is...........

.............i've found lots of lovely pieces of fabric that i'd forgotten about so it has been a really good job to get done....and now it's all colour coded i can select it more quickly for new projects, though i might not want to take it off the shelves in case it messes up the tidy stacking system............ next i'll be sorting out the ribbon collection...who knew i had so many gorgeous spools and bundles of that stashed away??

........lots of people have kindly asked where they can get the love patchwork bookazine mentioned in my last post.........it's available in the uk from w h smiths stores..........another question i've often been asked recently is what do i use to stuff the pin cushions i make?......the answer to that is polyester toy filling :).........thanks to everyone who gets in touch either by comments or email........and thank you to everyone who pops in here to read my blog..............wishing you a wonderful weekend......back soon  xxxxxxxxxxxx

Patchwork

Lots of pictures of patchwork today.....this is a large new pillow i've just finished sewing.........

 ..........it makes me think of seed packets and flowery gardens and was inspired by the flower patch pincushion shown below......i loved the effect of the plain white patch here and there.......

 .........i took it down to the potting shed on a sunny afternoon to take a couple of pictures there too...

 ......in the background you can see some of the old flower pots i found, now scrubbed clean :).....

 ...........besides sewing patchwork this week i've also been reading about it in this fabulous new bookzine.........i was so glad to finally get hold of my own copy and am thrilled that i am mentioned in it too....

.................and so is my lovely long time blog friend debbie from the gorgeous and inspiring blog happy little cottage, and newer blog friend jessie at messy jesse whose adorable blog i recently discovered.............one of my photographs is also featured to show how i find inspiration and colour ideas from all around me...........there are lots of wonderful patchwork ideas in this bookzine, even cath kidston is in it :)..........

...... my new flower patch pillow has a little bit of applique on it......a flower pot with some tulips in, a spotty green watering can, and a little bee skep with a bee button.......the bright pam kitty morning fabrics are perfect for this theme i think..........

 ......and the colours go with my spring flowers granny stripe crochet blanket, ready to remind us of the garden when all the flowers have faded away during winter...........

........thank you for your sweet birthday wishes for my eldest girly's brithday last week.....she had a lovely time....this is the big yummy birthday cake made for her by my mum (great nanny).....with pretty cake bunting made by jooles at sew sweet violet here........
.......it's been a mainly sunny week here as you can see by my pictures, though we have had some torrential rain in between.....the air is nippy and the leaves are beginning to fall as the trees change to their autumn shades........wishing you a happy weekend with LoTs of crafting  and peaceful times.......thanks to everyone who pops in to see me, i love your visits :).....back soon xxxxxxxxxxx

Autumn Week

First of all today i want to say a great big thank you to everyone who entered my recent giveaway for the rosy lavender sewing notions.....it was wonderful to read all your lovely comments and i just wish i could give everyone a little gift.......the random number generator did its work and chose the four winners.......

.......and they are: heather from vintage grey, maria from dinki dots, susan from mary jane's tearoom, and tammy from t's daily treasures.....congratulations to you all :) .....please email me your postal addresses so i can send you your gifts............i will have another giveaway soon so if you didn't win this time, you just might next time :)...........

.........the last couple of days have been that mix of weather we often get in autumn, when the temperature veers between bOiLiNg and fReEzInG....so you never know what to wear but it's usually too warm or too cold........we've recently had two sunny and beautiful weekends though, and spent time clearing the garden at granny's old house ( mr p's childhood home).......we chopped down the brambles, honeysuckle and nettles to reveal the little old back garden gate which used to be in constant use.........lots of happy memories.........

.......during the week the house and garden are full of workmen as it is all being renovated, but at the weekend it was quiet and peaceful as we cleared the tangle of wild plants, which were rather beautiful in their way (just not filling the garden )..........when we sorted out the house and the garden shed  a while ago, i wondered where all granny's flower pots were......i knew she's had some, years ago, but couldn't see them anywhere....

........and then i found them, in a big pile, almost buried in weeds and brambles at the boundary edge, some of them covered with moss........i was really pleased to find them and have brought them home with me now....they need a bit of a clean up and then i'll put them in the potting shed :)......... 

.......crafty wise this week i have been putting the finishing touches to a christmas project for a magazine, and working on easter designs for another magazine...all top secret for now......the fabric above is attracting my attention for new projects............sew pretty isn't it?..... lots of lecien prints stacked up and inspiring lots of new ideas..........

.........this is a picture of my peachy new dahlia blooms......i am quite thrilled with them, having never grown dahlias before....they are from my cutting garden and next year i plan to plant more of them ........
........this weekend we shall be celebrating my daughter sarah's birthday.....how fast the years are flying by.....thank you for visiting me here.....wishing you all a wonderful weekend.......back soon xxxxxxxxxx

September

We have been having such gorgeous golden september days this week..........all the autumn colours are beginning to appear, lit by the mellow sunshine which has that special september glow about it, making me nostalgic......remembering the start of school and uni terms over the years for me and later for my girls.....

.........i sewed these two new little pincushions in the sunny sewing room, with butterflies fluttering amongst the flowers outside at last......it was so wet most of the summer this year we hardly saw any.........

.......i used lecien fabric for the pincushions, and cut pieces of trefle printed fabric for the applique, plus my favourite tim holz rubber stamps, some ric rac braid tied round.......and some new stripy buttons and some old vintage ones from the button jar..........

......fun to make, fun to give......and playing like this is also my work, because that's how i get ideas for my books and magazine features ;)........love the colours of the kona solid fabrics in the background of these shots too............so many delicious shades...........

........a little collage of some september things..... i have an autumn sampler featured in this month's cross stitch collection magazine.......find lots more designs at the making spot here..........it was charlie's first day at school this week......oh my how can he already be old enough to go to school?......he enjoyed his first day and  later in the week when we saw my parents he told them all about it....it's always lovely to see the 'greats' and the 'grands' chatting together..........and the last picture in this mini collage is my first apple inspired make this autumn ......an apple and cinnamon cake....although it's a cake recipe, i served it warm in the dish as a pudding......so delicious, it is topped with flaked almonds and sprinkled with icing sugar......

..........and here is a picture of the old (brown) hall table from granny's house, painted in annie sloan's chalk paint in old white........i love this paint....when i read it needed no preparation i was sold at once :).........

......my daughter bought me the yellow gladioli yesterday but daisy chose them...insisted with a two year old's insistance that they were the ones, even though she usually goes for things in pink ......i love the look of the yellow glads in the hall, gracing the new/old table...........

..........i finally opened up this gorgeous jellyroll of fabrics, after admiring it for a few days and taking lots of photos of its rainbow beauty, i took off the ribbon and the elastic bands beneath, and unfurled all that colour........i have spent a bit of time planning my farmer's wife quilt with the help of these strips........

........thank you for visiting me here, i am planning to visit lots of blogs in the next few days and to catch up with everyone.....my giveaway is open till midnight on sunday 9 september (scroll down to the last but one post if you missed it)....i will use the random number generator thingy to choose four winners and announce them next week...good luck :).............wishing you a wonderful bright and sunny weekend doing things you love.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hidden Gardens

First of all today i want to say a big thank you to all the lovely readers who have already entered my giveaway on the previous post....so lovely to read all your sweet comments :)....if you'd still like to enter the giveaway you can as it is open until september 9...just scroll down to join in :)...........

 ........these pictures were taken at the hidden gardens at plas cadnant which we visited while at the menai straits regatta.....these gardens have been recently restored, in fact they are still under restoration, and are absolutely beautiful......you can read more about them on the website here...........

.......i loved the mixture of formal and informal, and the sheer exuberance of borders like this with apple trees laden with bright red fruit surrounded by colourful flowers............

........there is a newly opened tea room too with delicious baking.... and here is a peek inside it at the lovely blue grey lloyd loom chairs .....hydrangeas are growing everywhere in the most lovely shades..........

........in our own garden now....the bottom part of the garden is so over lush with all the summer rain we've had, it's easy to hide a little daisy in amongst the cranesbill and mallow growing there at the moment.....the little lemon tea card shown here is part of my tea and coffee cards project for this month's crafts beautiful magazine....see more crafts beautiful things here..........

.........a few weeks ago a friend invited me for afternoon tea in her lovely garden.....she hasn't lived in the house long yet has already made the garden her own style.........i spent a happy afternoon there with my friend and her family, plus small woolly dog and parrot in a cage :)........the garden had so many lovely features, it was very inspiring....i especially like the idea of using little rose trees and borage plants as a screen along a path edge.........and of course i loved the bunting too :)

..........a blue potting shed....and a potting table out in the sunshine too......and an old garden lawn roller with a new look....... i just love visiting other people's gardens, it must count as one of my favourite things..

........some crafty news now....this is the farmer's wife quilt block called peaceful hours, included today because of all those peaceful hours i've spent in gardens this spring and summer, and because it is the fiftieth block i've made....so i am going to put all the blocks together now and make the lap quilt......

.........just have to decide what colour to use for the sashing now :).......the kona solids roll of 200 colours should help me to choose which would look best...........but it may take some time to make up my mind...........

..........this is my flower garden crochet blanket being made, in soft pinks and greens, with the added zing of a bit of magenta in some of the flowers......will show you more of it soon..........don't forget to visit my last post for the giveaway which is open until september 9...........thank you so much for visiting me here today...........i wish you all a wonderful weekend.............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx