Chrysanthemum Quilt

 I have a new quilt to show you today...............this is the chrysanthemum quilt and i actually finished it a while ago..........

 ..................now that it is published in the july issue of the gorgeous pretty patches magazine i can reveal it here..........

 ..................it was a very enjoyable quilt to make, beginning with english paper piecing the flower.....i chose lots of pink and red fabrics for this and mixed them with white and grey ones...........each flower centre was the same mid pink fabric and the backing for each block was kona white solid..............

 ..............the chrysanthemum flowers were appliqued to the backing block with white cotton and tiny stitches......

 ..............and i chose lots of red and pink fabrics for the random sashing between the blocks...this quilt is a great stash buster and scrap user up :) .............

 ..............it was finished off with a white border and scrappy binding...........

 ..............the backing fabric is pale grey with white dots and my lovely long arm quilter quilted it for me..........i love the different quilt effects like the swirls in the flower centres and the zigzag on the outer border......

 ..............if you would like the pattern for this quilt then hurry and get a copy of the inspiring pretty patches now.....the magazine has all kinds of gorgeous makes and everything is clearly explained and beautifully photographed.....the link to pretty patches is here...........

 ...............this is a little pile of summer quilts on my grey painted faux french cupboard on our landing......quilts are a must here all year round and these are some we are using around the house and garden at the moment.............

 .............as it is july 4 tomorrow we are having plenty of red white and blue quilts and cushions around too...my birthday is on july 4 and a lovely american friend on facebook told me that i am what they would call a 'star spangled baby'.........i love that :) x

 ................it has also inspired my new red and white hearts quilt....am now adding some blue hearts too and really liking it......below is one more picture of the chrysanthemum quilt in the potting shed....so happy that the sun has returned to us now so we can be out gardening and enjoying some warm bright days after a lot of rainy ones.......

...............thank you dear readers for visiting me here and for your kind and warm comments on my previous post...they were much appreciated :) .........i hope you all have a very happy week ahead whatever you are doing, wherever you may be....sending love to you all and wishing all my united states friends a wonderful july 4 celebration..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Romantic Roses

 Today we are having a little rosy celebration....beginning with a picture of the glorious roses at sissinghurst castle garden which we visited earlier this month when on our trip to east sussex.......a little sign outside the plant shop there said that vita loved the 'incomparable lavishness' of old fashioned roses...and we do too............all the pictures below are roses from our own garden.....

 ............most of the roses here were planted by the previous owners who were very keen and knowledgeable gardeners....for years after we lived here we would discover plant tags amongst the greenery saying 'great dixter' or 'sissinghurst' or 'hidcote'  and we have treasured all the plants as well as we can though we don't know many of their names.......all the roses are beautiful and scented too.......

 ..............i have always loved this bright candy pink rose for it's colour and dog rose shape...

 ................it grows in the more wild part of the garden and i usually take pictures of the view of the potting shed through it each year :).....

 ..............once picked these flowers don't last long but there are plenty of them so i keep trying....

 .............and i put them in all kinds of different containers.............below there are roses inside and roses outside, growing above the garden door.......

 ..............rosy pink cushions....one made by me with lovely lakehouse fabric and the tiny applique hearts one was made for me years ago by my lovely sister...it's one of my favourite things.....

 .............little creamy roses in glass numbered bottles along with some of my mum's vintage cotton reels on my work table............

 ............below is a view from our garden, through the roses, of the sea......

 .............and below a blue sky with cotton wool clouds makes a lovely background for a big bough of pale pink roses............

 ............i love roses so much i called my dear younger daughter after them :)..........

 .................just put roses in any container and they look beautiful.....the ones above were in my studio and scented the room for a few days...........and below i mixed some roses with sweet william and cornflowers for a vibrant contrast as well as delicious scent...........today i did some gardening and when i came in the internet wasn't working so i am a bit late this week writing my blog.....

..............thank you to everyone who drops by here to see me in my bit of blogland, and thank you so much to everyone who leaves me a sweet comment too.............i hope you have a happy week ahead and enjoy sunshine and flowers as well as some crafty inspirations........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxx

Summer Sewing

 Happy new week everyone..........it is hot and sunny here at the moment and summer has really arrived..........i have been sewing some small things over the past week..... some are for magazine commissions for future publication so have to be kept secret for now, but some i can show, like this new cushion made with lovely tilda circus fabrics.......

 ............i made two economy blocks with the red elephant print fussy cut for the centres.... and two scrappy nine patch blocks............

 ............they were joined together and two simple borders added, one red floral and one aqua stripes...

 ............i have had quite a crush on the reds and blues in this range but there are lots of lovely greens and teals to use too in other projects...........you can buy tilda fabrics from sew and so here.......and visit tilda's world here................

 ............i added a little applique star and a tilda button to the finished cushion...just love a bit of extra embellishment here and there......

 ............think i will just have to make a quilt with these fabrics...i love the look of them with spotty and striped prints too and can just visualise a nice textured quilt made with them......

 ........below is a little work in progress picture of the quilting being done.........i don't always quilt cushion fronts before making them up but i do love the vintage modern texture of these prints that quilting gives them.....

 ...........and some flowers to match....picked from the garden and arranged in my new little strawberry jug from susie watson............perfect for summer time.....

 ...........the roses are all blooming and the scent on these warm sunny days has been gorgeous.....i will do a rose post  here soon i think before the time of roses is over............

 ...............it is also coming up to strawberry time too...the little pot below was a plant i bought from the garden centre and put in the greenhouse while we were away to keep it from marauding snails and so my daughter would water it........it repaid me by producing delicious ripe sweet strawberries very quickly.....they may be early fruiting ones though as my daughter bought some of the same plants and put them in her veggie patch and has also had fruit already even outdoors..........(am so happy that both my girls are now interested in plants and gardens and growing herbs and produce!!)......

 ..............when i'd photographed the picture above i realised that i wanted to make a bigger heart quilt (the one above is a mini that i showed here a while ago).......so before i knew it i was pulling red fabrics from my stash and finding pale background fabrics for the blocks....and then i had another work in progress ;) .......that's my summer sewing for now.......more to show you soon......

..............thank you so much for dropping by to see me here lovely readers....and thank you so much to those who take the time to leave a comment....it is a pleasure to visit your blogs too and i hope to do more of that this coming week...........wishing you happy sunny days and lots of gorgeous crafty inspirations as the days unfold..................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Garden Days: Great Dixter

 Home again after a lovely week staying in the countryside in east sussex and visiting beautiful gardens...today i am showing you some pictures i took at great dixter.......above is the long border showing the ladybird poppies in full bloom......

 .............i've wanted to visit this wonderful garden for a long time so it was very exciting to finally get there on this trip......great dixter was the family home of gardener and garden writer christopher lloyd..........you can find out more here........

 ..............the flowers were just breathtaking.......so beautiful, so colourful, so densely planted and such a joyful mix.......(click on the pictures for a larger view)........

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 .........we loved all the contrasts of colour and shape........we also loved the nursery and the garden shop filled with pots and gardening implements as well as books and other garden treats.....

 ..............near the front of the house was a stunning border filled with foxgloves and poppies....

 ...........and below...more poppies in a bright tangle planted in the round steps designed by lutyens...

 ...............seeing this border below made us want to go home and plant a million more plants in our garden.....

 ...............loved the purple alliums with the yellow aquilegia....and rustic fencing and plant supports..

 ..............we stayed in a cottage on a farm a few miles outside tunbridge wells.......it was a grade II listed building beautifully converted to be comfortable for modern living but conserving many original features...........below are a few pictures of this pretty place......

 ..............i found a little bit of time for crafting in the evenings and added a few rounds to this granny blanket...........it is made up of granny squares and then a granny stripe border.........

 .............and here is a peek at another work in progress.....my new patchwork cushion made with economy blocks and scrappy nine patch blocks using tilda circus fabrics....more of this project coming soon...........and more garden pictures soon too .......

 .............one last view of great dixter's long border..........with blue sky and warm sunshine it was a paradise garden for sure.........

................thank you for dropping by dear readers it is lovely to see you and to read the sweet comments you take the time to leave too...........wishing you a wonderful week ahead with flowers and sunshine and blue skies.....................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx