Cosy Winter

Winter is really here this week.....it's been sooo cold and the wind has been howling round our old house.....time to keep the heating on, get out the scarves and boots.......light the candles.........and have lots of hot drinks..........

..........and to do some cosy crochet too, inspired by a recent visit to the nearby botanical gardens we love to see, and a tree there filled with bright pinky red berries growing in huge lustrous clusters..............

 ..........i made this winterberry cushion to add some crochet cosiness to our sofa this winter................

 ...........i am now planning another crochet project.......i almost forgot how much i enjoy it with all the sewing i've been doing lately........it may be winter outside but in my studio it's spring.......i've been drawing, stitching, sewing and embroidering some cheery spring themes for magazine commissions this week.....it's birdies and blossom all the way........:)

........i have been doing some xmas shopping too....online and handmade........and some of my gift buying was from chipper nelly here..........the lovely fee made this adorable little box containing.............

.....this little treasure ( might have to get one of my own)......i also received some beautiful swap blocks too which i will show next time, and the presents for my dearies will have to be secret until after xmas.......you can also still enter fee's  gorgeous giveaway over one her chipper nelly blog here.............

........in my cosy winter sewing room this week i am using this delightful pincushion from my long time lovely blog friend debbie whose work has always been my cup of tea........i love her sense of colour and design.....you can find her pretty blog here and her etsy shop here..............

 .........this bright and colourful bookazine has just been published containing plenty of projects by lots of  international cross stitch designers........i have a project in it featuring two cross stitched linen bears ..........

...........and to keep me cosy in the evenings while watching some good dvds and sweet old festive movies, is my farmer's wife quilt steadily being hand quilted.........i am loving sewing it, and as each block is different it makes the quilting so varied and interesting........i wonder what i will do when it's finished, i've been working on it so long i think i'll miss it :0............

...........thank you for dropping in to my cosy bit of blogland today......it's a pleasure to see you and thank you for leaving me such sweet comments and for your emails too......(if i haven't got back to you yet, i will very soon)...........i hope you are enjoying this countdown to christmas and feeling the christmas spirit whether you are in chilly old blighty, somewhere even colder or somewhere much warmer..........enjoy your winter week to the full..................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

More Merry Making

This is what i made with the hexies i mentioned a couple of posts ago........the ones i took to london with me to sew if i got a spare moment or two...... i sewed up the hexies into a flower shape, made a matching one for the back, sewed the two sides together and padded the decoration with toy filling.........i decided to make the little decoration even more festive by adding a red applique star in the middle...............

............and some jingle bells.................. 

..........everyone here liked the red and green hexie decoration with the star in the centre so i decided to make a red and white one too, using much smaller hexies............it is such a good way of using up very tiny scraps of sweet fabrics............nothing goes to waste with little projects like these...............

...........i will probably add some silver jingle bells to these and a little more handstitching to the liberty floral and pink dot  hexie decoration shown below.........

 ............besides hanging them on my red and white themed christmas tree i am thinking they would be nice to tie on the outside of a gift or to hang on a gift bag handle as an extra handmade touch, and to be kept as an ornament by the recipient............you could also make them in vintage sheet fabrics or in bright jewel colours with lots of metallic thread embroidery..............

                              ..............here they are hanging on my dresser at the moment..............

.......and at night hanging in the kitchen where the fairy lights have magically appeared just as we are about to step in to december, and just as the satsumas always do too :)....................... below right is a picture of the last of my new christmas hearts, this time made from a lovely bright red pam kitty morning floral, with a shiny green jingle bell, rubber stamp image and mistletoe sprig made from green felt and a white button...........

...........this week we celebrated my lovely mr p's birthday........ i gave him some brown paper packages tied up with string and adorned with special tags from old motor magazines that i found in my scrapbook supplies stash..........he had a delicious birthday cake made by sarah.............he also had some yummy homemade biscuits to enjoy ;)............yes, i did use my new cookie stamp .....................

............it worked  quite well...... these are the test ones, so i now know to press the cookie stamp quite firmly to make the word impression clear but not so hard that the cookie needs to be prised off the board with a palette knife and becomes stretched and misshapen ............home made means a bit quirky, yes?

..........some gorgeous roses given to me by daisy (as a thank you for looking after her for a few hours).....they look so fresh and beautiful and i combined them with some of the amazing  hydrangeas from the garden which are turning so many wonderful shades of soft red, pale green and lavender...........

...........thank you for dropping by to see me here, it is always wonderful to have your visits .......i am going to do some blog visiting myself now :)......i hope you all enjoy a very happy weekend as we enter the most festive month of the year.....................back soon xxxxxxxxx

Some Simple Sewing

I have been working on a few different work projects this week, some cross stitch and some sewing and a bit of writing.....but this post is about some sweet and simple sewn projects i've made recently using fabrics from the simple life collection, designed by tasha noel...............i love these pretty little prints in delicious colours very much..........

 ........i have been making sewing notions with them.....perfect for little gifts, christmas tree presents and stocking fillers......the designs look lovely for postage stamp patchwork projects as well as larger ones..........

 ..........i bought my fabrics from sew deerly loved all the way across the pond......they arrived very quickly......and for a while i just had them stacked up to look at, not really wanting to start chopping them up :).........

...........but then i did, and so enjoyed combining the little patterns in this quilted needlebook.........

.........i added some applique hearts, some red embroidery here and there and a stripy button......to make a loop for closing i took a strip of selvedge from one of the fat quarters, rolled the raw edge in and sewed a running stitch along the centre with red cotton.........the scissor keep has two sides the one below and the one in the top picture......love the tiny words, so cute............

.......the collection has some gorgeous fabrics featuring little girls which will be perfect to make something for little daisy dot....maybe a doll's quilt or a cushion for her little pink bedroom......it will be something pretty anyhow.......

.........hanging on a chair in my sewing room at the moment is this pretty bag......i got it at the country living christmas fair when i bought some presents at the dot com gift shop stand.......they put your purchases in these very nice (free) bags ........such a good idea :).........

...........the next thing on my list of making is a tray of biscuits so i can try out my new cookie stamp.....i sometimes make biscuits as small gifts, put them in cellophane bags, tie with ribbon, twine, raffia, or stripy baker's string, add a handmade tag.....it is such a lovely little gift and i always love it when people make similar treats for me too................

...........i will take a picture of the new cookies to show you .........if they look nice of course ;) ......then we'll eat them and i'll make some more nearer christmas to give as gifts.......these will be my test ones......

........some flowers from my garden today.........there is a tree half way up the garden weighed down with these red berries looking so bright and colourful against the changing sky....blue through to dark grey over the day today......the other flowers are daisies still flowering in a pot, geraniums still flowering in a window box, a pot mum that i thought had died but came back to life and flowered after i put it outside, and some candy pink cosmos from the cutting patch still flowering happily and strongly.......the pink effect on the paintwork behind the flowers is just the reflection of the pink cosmos with natural light from the window coming in.....we don't really have pink painted window frames (yet)............

.....last time i showed you some hexies and i haven't forgotten them, they are part of a project which developed a bit further......... it is not quite finished yet but will be coming soon...........

........thank you for dropping in to see me here i always love to see you and hear from you too....thank you so much for your sweet comments and emails............happy thanksgiving to my lovely usa readers..........and a very happy weekend to everyone :)...................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Merry Making

 Now i'm back from my london trip i find i am feeling very inspired by christmassy things...so it's the perfect time to make some merry little decorations for my home and for gifts for family and friends too.............

.........some of my favourite festive colour combinations were selected from the sewing cupboard.......red buttons tipped out to choose from too...........and green felt to stitch for holly leaves.........

............i have made two hearts and am about to make a third one in this red pam kitty morning fabric......

..........i have used festive rubber stamps and pretty shiny jingle bells from a sweet embellishment pack that is a freebie with this month's crafts beautiful magazine.......below is my own project in the mag this month.....

........i made the hearts from the pattern in my book simple sewn gifts....i love this long thin folk art shape...

............here are some of the treats i brought home from the country living christmas fair :).....some of the things i bought are for xmas gifts for my dearies....some of whom might be reading this so i will keep them secret for now.............but these were for our house...........

.........i loved seeing the work of so many talented crafts people.....one of my most favourite was kate toms at angel bill trading company.......... her stand was a quirky delight (with a LoT of people jostling to see it).....and i just love her sweet makes and wonderful vintage finds.........i bought this cushion, the christmas pudding and the wooden hare in the little collage above too.............

............i took this little tin with me last week (just slipped it in my suitcase at the last moment) in case i *needed* to do a little crafting while i was in london.....some festive hexies were made and stitched together when i had a few spare minutes before dinner a couple of nights........i have almost finished the project they were for......hope to show it next time............. 

............now i am off to do some work and to enjoy a nice cup of tea in my ck london mug............

wishing you a wonderful weekend and hoping the glorious autumn sunshine is shining on you as it is here .........thank you so much for visiting me in my little bit of blogland, it's always lovely to see you :)...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

London Days

 London town is where we've been for the last few days, so if i've seemed rather quiet in blogland this week that's why :).....i do love a bit of london time....all the hustle and bustle......lots to see and do......we often stay near kensington high street....i used to stay there with friends when i was an art student years ago and since those days have often been involved in the stitching shows at olympia just down the road..........

..........love to travel in a london cab seeing well known street names and buildings as you go from place to place.......amongst other things this trip we had a day at the country living christmas fair at the business design centre in islington.............

...........a stunning array of stands with everything looking gorgeous and soooo festive..........i haven't sorted out all my pictures yet as we have only just got back, but i will show you some of my treats in another post.......

.........but here are some treats i had earlier......my adorable london blocks made by wonderful fee at chipper nelly for our recent london swap........they are made from an old ladybird london book and i just love them....i love the sweet tag that came with them too and the way they are packaged with dotty cellophane, red and white ribbon and a vintage button...............you can see fee's gorgeous new christmas makes here.................

 ............i made the little london house on the spur of the moment just before i went away....you know how inspiration suddenly strikes and you have to quickly make something ;) .....i used some scraps of the benartex cool brittannia fabric left over from my jubilee makes, and the new sewing print text fabric is from sew and quilt here which i know i will be using a lot................

...........the new magazine below is out now to inspire your xmas making.......can you see one of my little houses (made quite a while ago) on the front of this lovely cover?..........the magazine has lots of ideas and also festive at home features with debbie bliss, nicki trench and...me as well!!..........so exciting..........

.............i would like to say a big thank you for all the sweet comments about my farmer's wife quilt that i showed in the last post.....i have missed sewing it this week and am looking forward to a lot of quilting again now.......a warm welcome to my new readers and followers and my old blog friends too.....i love your visits.......wishing you all a wonderful weekend with cosy crafty times................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxx

Joining the Blocks

 The farmer's wife quilt top is finally finished and today i have lots of pictures of it to show you.............

 ..........after trying various ways of photographing it i ended up putting it on the wall of my sewing room.....i am used to taking pictures of small things close up so this was quite a challenge :)..........i am thrilled with the effect of the quilt now that it has all been pieced together with the sashing and the little cornerstones......

..........i tried lots of different plain shades against the blocks until i found the one that i felt worked the best, this very pale pink picked up the colours in the blocks and contrasted just enough with the white fabric i'd used a lot in the blocks...........the fabrics in the quilt are some of my most favourite ones from lecien and pam kitty morning and cath kidston, plus some dotty and stripy ones which i always love to include in patchwork projects too.................

..........i'd like to say a big thank you to the author of this inspiring book, laurie aaron hird........it has captured so many crafters' imaginations and the great thing is that everyone has their own interpretation of the theme and each person's quilt is special to them.........

 .........i made the blocks gradually until i had the right number to make the small quilt..........it was a pleasant slow project alongside the work projects i had going on at the time, many of which had to be kept secret....

 ..............lots of shots of the different blocks on different angles......they have a mosaic like feel........

 ..........after i'd taken (dozens) of photos of the quilt top i took the backing (white with red polka dots) and the batting (wadding) and made the quilt sandwich using curved basting pins which is the method i find works best for me, as you can keep adjusting the pins as you work,  and smoothing out the area to be quilted so it is nice and flat.....i learnt this technique from my two sisters who went to a quilt class run by a canadian lady living in the uk :)...............

...........and now the quilting has begun..........lots of cosy stitching to occupy my autumn (and winter) evenings...........and as we are talking about patchwork today i thought i'd show you this exciting sneaky peek of my new book to be published in the spring time ...................

 ..........this is the top secret thing i have been mentioning occasionally over the past year and a half.....it was very hard to make a project i was excited about and then put it away ready for the book photoshoot  instead of sharing it here :)..........there are twenty five such projects in this book, and i look forward to sharing the making of them next year when the book comes out.........it is published by david and charles, and i will add all the details here nearer the time.............

                                      .......but for now it's back to my farmer's wife quilting......

....thank you  so much for the kind wishes for charlie's birthday, he had a very happy time and his halloween party was a great success, enjoyed by all the little witchlets and wizards...............sending you all warm wishes for a happy november.........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx