Hearts and Snowdrops

 Happy new week everyone.....we have lots of hearts here today ready to celebrate valentine's day :).......this is my heartstrings quilt which is still a work in progress......

 ...........it is a lovely project to work on in between work commissions and other projects as it is easy to make a few applique hearts by hand and then join them together to make the bigger blocks by machine...

 ..............it is fun to choose lots of different red and blue fabrics for the hearts and also lots of low volume fabrics for the backgrounds............

 ..............the more varied the better and more interesting i think, like all the best scrappy quilts are.............

 ..............it has been very cold here the last few days and i have had lots of cups of tea and coffee....i like breakfast tea, lemon and ginger tea and peppermint tea at the moment and now and then a nice cup of hot coffee......

 ...............the applique hearts are stored in a pretty greengate tin until i have made enough to join a few blocks together..........

 ..................the flower this week has to be the snowdrop...........these are from our garden and they were almost buried in leaves at the bottom of a rosebush..........so now they are on my desk in a little glass jar and i can show them to you :).............

 ................yesterday we went on our annual snowdrop walk to see the many varieties that grow in botanical gardens not far away.............

 ................it was a bright and sunny day (between the hail showers) but the wind was strong and bitterly cold.....but we had to go or we might miss the snowdrops.......

 ...........it was worth braving the cold and was actually quite sheltered down in the gardens.....so many gorgeous snowdrops............and also hellebores and daphne flowering too.....such a delicious scent..

 ..............we were glad to have another nice hot cup of tea after the walk.............

 ..............and i was happy to get back to hand sewing patchwork hearts beside the fire.....

................thank you so much for dropping in to see me here lovely readers, and for your very kind comments.............wishing you a wonderful week, a happy valentine's day and plenty of crafty inspirations..................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

February Florals

 The past week has been filled with colourful yarn, thread, flowers and fabric for me.....in the picture above you can see the rainbow socks i'm knitting with west yorkshire spinners yarn in the vivid colour way called rum paradise.....(also enjoying mini eggs given to me by my elder daughter...perfect with a nice cup of tea)...........

 .............this little flower applique quilt is my project in the latest issue of crafts beautiful magazine out now..........

 ..........i loved sewing this using scraps of pretty floral fabrics and a dotty background......the border is a riley blake fabric from the gorgeous arbor blossoms collection......

 .............some close ups of the applique (i used bondaweb to apply the pieces and stitched round the shapes with blanket stitch in matching thread)......

 ..............these little quilts are fun for children to tuck their toys up with but they also make nice little mini quilts to decorate the wall too...........

 ..............it's been freezing here the past few days so the bunnies are glad to be snuggled up under this quilt and keeping nice and cosy.............

 ................and we are keeping warm in the studio too today............

 ............we visited friends yesterday and molly had such a great time she is needing a good rest today.......also at the weekend we saw all our grandchildren and had cuddles with the baby...bliss x

 ..............loving all the flowers this time of year brings....lots of tulips and hyacinths and of course masses of inexpensive and cheerful daffodils......you buy a 'bundle of green sticks' and after a bit of time in the warm kitchen you have these glowing bright yellow blooms.....

............thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for the sweet comments you take the time to leave...........it is always a pleasure to hear from you.......wishing you a happy week ahead with plenty of flowers, sunny days and crafty inspirations.....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hexagon Flowers

 Happy new week everyone.....we are having a happy scrappy hexie post today......

 ...........i love english paper piecing, especially using the hexagon shape, and enjoyed sewing this hexagon flowers quilt in seaside colours....it was a real pleasure to see it published as a project in the lovely handmade (australia) magazine.....

 .............beautiful photography and styling by the magazine......

 .................such a simple shape to use but visually always fun, both the graphic effect of the pattern itself and the way the scrappy fabrics blend and combine when the quilt is folded or crumpled..........

 ...........the issue this quilt is featured in is vol 36 no. 8 and you can visit the website here.....

 ..............there are some hexies being made here at the moment too....do you remember my blue and white hexie quilt begun last year?............

 ..............it is going to have lots of hexie flowers in the border..............

 .............and i have raided all the blues in my stash to make them.....

 ...............below is the centre of the quilt which began with one hexagon flower..........

 ............i enjoy deciding what to do next with quilts like this one, allowing the design to develop by itself as inspiration strikes! :)..............

 ..............we have enjoyed some lovely walks here whenever the sun shines and saw these cheerful early flowering daffodils in the local park.......i am going to plant some early varieties here next autumn.....

 .............and now dear readers it is time to announce the WINNERS of my recent giveaway.....thank you to everyone who took part and left me such sweet messages...i wish i could send each of you a giveaway gift....but only two could be picked and they are mickie (indiana, usa) and jo of three stories high............congratulations lovely ladies, please email me your postal addresses and i will send your lucky dip packages to you.............there will be another giveaway here very soon so look out for that.......xxxx

.............thank you for dropping by and for you kind comments......wishing you all a wonderful week ahead filled with happy times and crafty inspirations.............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tulips and Toys

 Hello and happy new week everyone...........first i want to say a big thank you to everyone who has entered my giveaway on my last post....such kind and sweet comments from so many of you that were a pleasure to read........the giveaway is open until next sunday so there is still time to enter if you'd like to.....

 ............this week i am working on several commissions at once....creating a cross stitch chart, sewing a quilt and making a toy.....as all of these have to be secret until they've been published in magazines i have taken a few pictures of some i made earlier....

 ..............all the dolls and bunnies are played with by visiting children.......most small children seem to love tucking toys up in bed and i have lots of little doll's quilts to play with too.....

 .............it has been so cold, gloomy, windy and wet here over the past week that i just had to treat myself to a couple of bunches of pink tulips :)...........

 ............the bright colours of yarn, fabric, paint and thread have always cheered me up through the dark winter days.....and of course the flowers and bulbs are especially cheery and make me think spring is on the way....

 .............the bedtime mouse has been tucked up in this seed tray which does look rather cosy....

 .............this little dolly arrived home in time for christmas from her magazine jaunt.....

 ...............here is bobbi the newest bunny now tucked up at my younger daughter's house with her newest baby..............

 ................i love making little fabric projects like these, especially using up scraps and fussy cutting.....

 ...............rabbits keeping cosy with their crochet blankets.............

 ..............more pink tulips.........special treat...a delicious scone baked by chris, my son in law x....

 ...............a glimpse of a crochet blanket....i am so busy doing sewing and other crafts for commissions at the moment that i'm not doing much crochet so i am sorry to those who mentioned they long to see crochet here....i hope to get back to it soon :)............

.............back to work now charting on the computer.....rather an exciting new project to work on....more about it soon......remember to enter the giveaway on my previous post if you haven't already, and you could win a lucky dip package of fabric and other crafty treats.............

....thank you for dropping by dear readers..........wishing you a happy week ahead and plenty of crafty inspirations............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx