Into the Blue

 Maybe this post should be called still into the blue..........when my blue and white checkerboard quilt top was finished i had a few squares left over so i thought i would make them into a cushion.....

 ..............it also meant that i could try out some hand quilting patterns on a small project to see what would look nice on the actual quilt...........i fancied  quilting some circles using indigo thread........

 .............and i liked the effect a lot.....also liked how it echoes the sarah jane children at play fabric used on the alternate squares..............i drew the circles on my patchwork in a rather rudimentary way, using  big and small greengate cups and a water soluble marker pen......as this didn't show up on the very dark blue squares i used a little piece of tailor's chalk to draw those parts......

 ..............now i know i really like this pattern and want to use it on my quilt i might make a proper template and buy a chalk pencil to mark the darker areas with......

 ........it is quite a quick one to stitch and i'm looking forward to getting the backing fabric and beginning this quilting..........meanwhile i have a new little summery blue cushion to enjoy......

 ..........i do love blue, even though i usually use a lot of pink and other bright warm colours in my sewing....... i have a lot of blue dresses ;)......

 ...........i added some seasidey pale blue stripes to the cushion for a simple border......

 ..............below is a posy from the cutting garden this week.....

 ..............also this week we celebrated the anniversary of 150 years since the birth of beatrix potter.....regular readers of this blog know how much i admire beatrix potter, beloved author, illustrator, scientist and conservationist.....i have loved visiting her house at hill top every so often since i was in my teens, have read her little books to my children and grandchildren countless times over the years, and have enjoyed her collected letters and the biographies of her too..........

 ............it's that time of year again when we begin to pack our bags and head off for the seaside.....

 ............i will be taking a little blog break next week and having a nice change of scene......watching my husband and others sailing in the regatta and spending fun times with family and friends...........above is a janet bell painting of beaumaris (on the sunny isle of angelsey)  that i've had a long time and which i love...........and we shall be there soon :)..........

 ............we are packing our stripy tops....and lots of books and crafty things of course......

............and just in case you are wondering if i am now totally obsessed with blue...no, still into pink too and here are some sugar pink hydrangeas from our garden specially for you :).......thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for leaving such kind comments..........it is a pleasure to hear from you or just to have you drop by........wishing you a cheery sunny start to august and plenty of  happy crafty times...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxx

Blue and White

 Maybe it was because last week it was so hot hot hot here that i decided to use cool blues for my newest sewing project.......i've been planning to make a blue and white checkerboard patchwork quilt for quite a while and like all my projects, first it is a plan in my head and then all at once it is being made......

 ..............all the blue fabrics were pulled out of the cupboard and lots of white but slightly patterned ones for the contrasting squares..............

 ............i cut the squares 4 1/2 in so they ended up as 4in squares when all sewn together......

 ........i rotary cut the squares and then strip pieced them in rows then joined the rows together......pressing the seams in opposite directions and nesting the seams helped with accuracy....

 ..............i loved the deep indigo blues and had to order some extra fat quarters of some new ones as i was running out.......i used up many pieces from my scrap bin for this quilt so there is a nice mix of different fabrics and lots of other projects to remember that they were used in too when i look at it.....

 ............my little sewing machine worked very hard, speeding along the seams.......

 .............and of course i then began particularly noticing blue and white things around me.....

 ................like blue teapots, plates, mugs and jugs........and the palest of pale blue hydrangeas.....

 ............at the weekend we went on an outing to a lovely country garden........we had a picnic lunch, a nice walk and later a cream tea in the tea room garden.........and i took some photos of blue flowers.......

 ..................gorgeous blue clematis above.....and below the pretty agapanthus............

 .............the weather here has cooled down now and is back to normal again after soaring to temperatures of 33C last week (on the hottest day of the year) and with high humidity too.....but now our mini heatwave seems to have ended.................

 ................now my quilt top is finished and i need to decide what to back it with and what kind of quilting to do.........this week i am working on more xmas designs and an applique quilt so plenty to keep me busy............also spending time this week with my sweet grandchildren as school is out for summer here and we will be doing a bit of crafting together again..............

..................thank you for popping in to my little blog space dear readers and for all your kind comments about my dimity quilt in my last post........it is so nice to hear from you and to have your visits.............wishing you sunny summer days and lots of  happy crafty times.......back soon xxxxxx

Dimity: a Finished Quilt

 Over the past week it seems i have mostly either been quilting, piecing patchwork together by hand or by machine...or taking pictures of quilts............i'm having quite a quilty crush right now.....this is the little strip pieced scrappy quilt i began in the winter........

 ................the top was finished very quickly and then i took my time hand quilting it in the evenings......watching various tv programmes and movies...........then when the quilting was complete i took a while to actually sew the binding on but now it is finally done.......the backing is a beautiful piece of tilde fabric in such pretty shades of blue, cream and pinks......

 ........the quilt uses lots of soft and subtle but interesting prints from my stash and even though some are very modern the overall feel is quite soft and vintage  which is why the name dimity seemed right for this quilt....it just popped into my head......gentle and a bit old fashioned...........

 ............i took some pictures in the pink lounge with the shaker horse...we have had that one for years, (and i was so sorry when the shaker shop over here closed down).....

 ............on the brass bed post..........and of course a crumpled quilt shot....

 ...................in the studio with my newest wooden horse.............

 ............no need to light my little fire in there this week....it has turned boiling hot and sunny here :)...

 ...............below is the farrow and ball shade card...........i have painted with the shade called dimity and loved it............very soft and warm......the definition of dimity (as you might already know) is a light strong cotton fabric with woven stripes or squares.............it is also a girl's name....i might just have to use that name for my next bunny too...............

 ..............on the aga on a rainy day.............we certainly had a lot of rain here last week.........

 ............on a chair......

 ..............and below is another close up...........i quilted round the squares just inside the seam line and then did extra quilting here and there where there were stripes to follow and so on......

 ..............the big moment was sewing on the binding whilst having a nice cup of tea and listening to the radio..............the flowers are a sweet hand tied posy from a kind friend......she knows what i like and picked lots of my favourites from her garden..........x

 ...............here is a close up of the posy..........

.............thank you for popping in to see me here in my little blog space dear readers......it is always lovely to see you and a special treat to receive your kind comments....especially as this is such a busy time of year.......wishing you all a wonderful week ahead with happy crafty days.......back soon xxxxx

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