Flowers, Fabric and Stars

 Flowers are everywhere this week...on my fabrics and in my garden.....some of the garden ones are growing so wildly due to all the rain and sunshine that i've had to cut them back a bit, like the mallow in the basket above.....

 ..............i finished quite a lot of projects recently which means it's time to start some more ;).....i got out lots of delicious fabrics from my stash and began cutting out some speedy machine pieced stars....the fabric above is from the gorgeous strawberry biscuit collection by elea lutz...............

 ..............and below some of the beautiful flower sugar from lecien.......i do love some flower sugar in my quilts :) ................the cheater prints from both ranges make great centre squares for the stars, i think.......

 ...............i have been sewing happily, ignoring the rain and cutting and pinning very carefully so my seams nest nicely.......it took me a while to get used to rotary cutting, and machine piecing after a lifetime of english paper piecing but now i love both techniques in different ways......

 .................one more fabric shot because it looks so pretty..............

 ................after i'd made the small-ish star block below i decided to try making a big one, maybe as a mini quilt for the sewing room wall.............

 ..................it took a while to work out the proportions but here is a peek at the larger one......

 .............and then i needed to order some more fabric to make some more because i really liked the big version............more of this summer stars quilt coming soon............below is the birthday weekend garden, with bunting hung up by my elder daughter :).........it was my youngest daughter's birthday the same weekend and we often celebrate it together which is lovely......and the sun shone for us that day too......

 ...............below is miss daisy and miss molly dog, always together as they are the best of friends....

 ...............some peaceful garden moments with a quilt and a crochet pillow in a flowery spot.....

 ...........a nice cup of tea and some time to sit and dream...........

 .............a new garden crate filled with quilty produce this time.......

 ...................and those pretty mallow flowers again......love this plant and it's abundance of blooms...........

..............thank you dear readers for all your kind birthday wishes on my last post, and i am glad you liked seeing the pictures of my studio.........i will show some pictures of my sewing room soon, too....when the fabric is tidied up a bit ;)........wishing you a very happy crafty week with plenty of flowers and sunshine to enjoy.............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the Studio

 This post is all about my studio as that is where i have been spending much of the past week.......long ago before i moved into creating fabric craft projects as my main work i used to paint flowers all day long...............and sometimes i still do......

 ..............i gathered lots of sweet little roses to enjoy and decided to paint some of the bright pink rosebuds........most of the time last week though i was drawing templates and diagrams and writing quilt patterns............

 ..............one day it just poured with rain and the garden view from my studio window was a green blur..........the flowers scented the room and it was a pleasure to be in the cosy surroundings listening to the rain pattering outside............

 ................some little pictures around the room.......my old salt nautical clock......tubes of gouache.....and cath kidston boxes for storing paperwork......

 .................i recently had a huge magazine cull which was long over due and now my studio feels much clearer and tidier and nicer to be in...... beautiful iris on my desk here.......a lovely gift.......

 ..............such perfect flowers and i love that shade of blue.............

 ..............there always seem to be a few quilts here in my studio, these are piled on top of the basket where i keep lots of the small projects i made for magazines.............the horse is special and new (to me) and i love him :) ......

 ...................crochet isn't often done in the studio, more likely downstairs in the sitting room or kitchen, but sometimes the basket with the latest project does accompany me here in case i need a little crochet break from all the intensive drawing going on.....

 ..............this rose has such a sweet perfume as well as lovely smooth pink petals.....

 .............i have lots of pictures on the wall, many i have shown here before......but i don't think I've shown this little one, a postcard of a lucy boston quilt........i have a set of these postcards and love them.....i put them in little frames from ikea to be able to enjoy them all the time.....

 ..................here is another one propped up on the mantelpiece with a vintage  tea cup and a posy from the cutting patch...............

 ................i hope you liked this little peek into my studio today.....this week i will be mainly downstairs in the sewing room making a new quilt and maybe even sewing a bit in the garden too....and of course there will be crochet........

.............before i go i would like to wish all my friends in the usa a very happy july 4th......i will be celebrating with you as today is my birthday :)...........thank you to everyone who visits me here and special thanks to those who take time to leave a comment....i love to read them all........wishing you all a wonderful week...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Chrysanthemums and Other Flowers

 My plan recently has been to finish off as many works in progress as i can and the plan seems to be working.............this week the little chrysanthemum flowers quilt top was completed.........

 ...............it was a pleasure to sew these pretty paper pieced flowers.......you can find the paper pieces for these and many other inspiring shapes at the wonderful sew and quilt.............

 ................some of the flowers use a bit of grey fabric which looks really pretty with the pink and i was going to use grey sashing originally but the scrappy pinks and reds looked nicer in the end......i will be using a grey polka dot fabric for the backing though..........i hope to have it beautifully long arm quilted now by a clever lady.........will show you it when it is all finished of course......

 ................a close up of the chrysanthemum flower appliqued onto a white background and with a red stitched line around the edge...........below are some pictures of when i began making this quilt top and the little sign i had just acquired.............

 ................flowers are everywhere around me this week.............and my crochet is all in flowery colours too...........

 ..............these flowers from the garden are displayed in an old mustard pot that we brought home from france a couple of years ago...........

 ...............the ones below are from a huge shrub in the garden, covered with these tiny pink flowers which are in turn covered with bees :) .............

 ..............sweet summery pale pink peonies....not from the garden though, i bought these from the supermarket as we no longer have any growing in the garden....not sure what happened to the peonies here but they have somehow disappeared..............

 .................below is a little jar of pinks (or carnations or gillyflowers) which i pick for my work table....the delicious clove sweet scent reminds me of childhood and my grandma who loved them too......the fussy cut paper piece squares are ready to be added to another work in progress and the flowers just happened to match....always fun to find these serendipitous combinations......

 ..............out into the garden now to see how my cutting patch is getting along......each day new flowers open and others fade.......there are lots of tiny seedlings in there which are growing well so i hope to have even more colour there in a month or two......

 .............the orange flowers are gazanias which i planted a couple of years ago thinking they were pink ones......they grew and bloomed and now they have self seeded so i have a lot more of them......although i didn't choose orange they do add some zing to the other colours so i think i'll let them stay.......

 ..............perfect little roses that grow over an old wall by the patio......they were established when we moved in here and i love the scent, the tiny round deep pink buds and the multi layered creamy flowers when they open......

 .............the rain keeps the garden flowers happy and blooming and there has been enough sunshine too to sit outside sometimes and enjoy it all.....with a bit of sewing or crochet to do too while listening to the birdsong..........happy summer x

...........thank you for visiting me here lovely readers...it is a pleasure to see you and i so value your sweet comments which are always a joy to read.............wishing you a wonderful week ahead enjoying the summer, the flowers and some crafty times...........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Roses and Patchwork

 It's all been all about the roses here over the past week.......with the garden full of roses and the air full of their scent, i've been snipping lots of posies of them to enjoy around the house......such a lovely season......and here is my rosy patchwork too...........

 .............above are some views of our garden......it has a lot of rambling roses which are a joy every year......they had already been planted here when we moved to this house and we feel so lucky to have them.........below is my trip around the world mini quilt being made............

 ................as i've mentioned here before many times, i love sewing patchwork squares and this time they are arranged to form the trip around the world pattern in a mix of pink and green fabrics (they are by pam kitty garden, lecien and lakehouse studio).......

 ..............some of the squares are fussy cut which i'm really enjoying doing .........

 ..............the mini quilt top is complete now and i've added white borders......i need to decide on the quilting next....maybe just keep it very simple......hope to show you it on my sewing room wall soon....

 .............these pretty pink roses are giving me so many photo opportunities..........i think they look lovely combined with the fluffy yellowy green alchemilla mollis flowers too..........

 .............there are roses on my work table, roses next to my computer, and roses all over my patchwork fabrics too....this is one of my most favourite fabrics being used to make paper pieced patchwork chrysanthemum flowers for another almost finished project......i am working my way through lots of works in progress this month......

 ............sweet pale pink roses near the pond..........

 ...............favourite bright pink rose near the potting shed.............

 ..............and in a jug in my sewing room........

 .................little flowery snippets with my new big granny square blanket (it will be huge, colourful and random!)...............

 ..................as soon as i finish one work in progress another one seems to take its place :) .....

 ................little pink iced cakes were made for everyone in the family to enjoy.......even the flags were rosy ones this week..............

................thank you for visiting me here in my little rosy bit of blog land dear readers, it is so nice to see you and always a pleasure to read your kind comments...........i hope you have a wonderful week with crafty times, sunshine and some sweet roses scenting your days..........back soon xxxxxxxxxx