Home and Garden

 Happy October to all my lovely blog friends.......hoping it is a good month for you all....here is a little collage of my september pictures....such a lovely month with lots of crafty, cosy home and sunny garden times....

 ..........i was taking a picture of this new shabby chic little shutter mirror to show my daughter and caught this view of the sitting room with the quilt cupboard and a bit of my heartstrings quilt too....

 .............and here's another quilt from a while ago.....taken in the garden and giving a sneak peek of our soon to be cottage garden with its white picket fence made for me by kind mr p.... the things we do for love ;) xxx.....

 ............the fence isn't finished yet but i planted a few things anyway.....

 ......the layout followed the one that was already there, with a small ornamental tree in a centre circle surrounded by four flowerbeds separated by small grass paths...we are going to change to gravel paths and i've dug out all the old plants and woody roots ready to fill the beds with cottage garden flowers (let me know if you have any favourites or suggestions!)..........

 .............here is a finished corner...........

 ...........and a big pot of lobelia..........in spring there will be bright tulips growing here (hopefully!)...

 .............i am enjoying reading the garden catalogues for autumn planting and have taken a lot of cuttings to grow in the greenhouse.....a friend gave me some physalis or groundcherry plants she'd grown  and this morning she dropped off some of the fruits from her own plant for me to try...so pretty......

 ..............choosing cosy cushions and quilts for the new season......

 ..............and of course busy crafting as usual...i love it as you know......and i love finishing things like this little daisy dot pincushion made from a spare block....

 .............the carousel quilt below is a pleasure to make (from the everyday quilts pattern).....it has pretty borders one of which has yo yos appliqued on to it so i've been making a few of those.....

 ..............and now october is here there will be more pumpkins of course......

............thank you for your visits dear readers and your kind comments......wishing you all happy autumn (or spring) days and lots of crafty inspirations................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Autumn Fruits

 I love this time of year especially for the natural treasures to be found in the woods and gardens, orchards and hedgerows round about...........there are berry stems in the shops too and the snowberries in the jug above were a gift from my daughter......... i've so enjoyed taking pictures of them, they look so pretty with their pale pink blush....

 ..............a fabric apple in a pretty pink and white bowl in the september sunshine..........

 ............i made a couple of apples using the pretty red and white little sweetheart fabric from andover fabrics.........the green leaves were scraps from my stash..........

 .............and for the first time after a lifetime of baking apple crumble every autumn i tried making apple crisp....it was delicious :)..........there is a recipe here and i am sure my lovely readers across the pond will have their own favourite recipe :)

 ...........it differs from our usual apple crumble by having oats, nutmeg and cinnamon among the ingredients and a bit more butter...

 ............always on the hunt for interesting autumn specimens of the berry and mushroom kind......

 ..........these berries and rosehips were all from our garden and i made the cute little mushroom from a sweet pattern by vechernie posidelki here...........

 ..........i finished the new mushroom pillow and added some surface stitchery this time and some tiny buttons to the original applique and patchwork design...you can find the pattern for this in my book modern vintage gifts..............

 .............more berry inspiration....drawing them onto cream fabric ready for some embroidery....

 ...............last week we had a huge storm here and the gales blew so many leaves and fruits off the trees......below is a picture of the path to my favourite cottage round here (would love to live in it one day) showing all the windfall apples and pears the next day.........

 .............our own garden was covered in leaves and bits of twig and bark from the trees......but the flowerbed near the house was unaffected and my little hollyhocks are flowering!.......i got the seeds for these dwarf hollyhocks last christmas and grew them in the greenhouse....so happy that they are healthy plants and growing well now.....

 ............another autumn gift below.....this is one of our garden side doors...the one we don't use much...and it is adorned with nature's leaf garlands this week.........so pretty and colourful.....

.............thank you for visiting me here dear readers and sharing these little moments of mine........it is lovely to hear from you and so kind of you to take the time to leave me a comment, but also just lovely to know that you are reading along too..............wishing you happy autumn days...or spring ones if you are on the other side of the world (i do enjoy getting a spring flower fix by visiting my lovely blog friends on the other side of the world!).............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flowery Four Patch Quilts

 Today i am showing you some pictures of the two flowery four patch quilts i was working on last year using many of my favourite floral fabric scraps (lots of pam kitty morning and lecien pretties in there)...........

 ............i began making a straight four patch quilt and then decided to make a floating four patch one as well so i was working on two co ordinating quilts at the same time......

 ............here they are together............

 ............i love the four patch block....such a timeless traditional one but it can look so different according to the fabrics, colours and arrangements.........i want to make a red and white one next for a christmas feel....

 ............below is the floating four patch on my sewing room wall..........

 .............and a close up....the gorgeous swirly quilting was done by talented longarm quilter debbie holland...........

 .............. i backed both quilts with polka dots on white..........and both had different stripy binding....

 ................a few crumpled quilty close ups....you know how much i love those....

 ..............they are very light and summery designs ...........ready to be put away in the quilt cupboard now for a little while.....

 .............meanwhile it's never too soon to get crafting for christmas and here is a cross stitch and patchwork festive cushion which is my project in the new issue of crafts beautiful here......

 ............there is also a little christmas houses cross stitch ornament to make too............

............thank you for visiting me here this week dear readers, it's so lovely to see you and to read your kind comments......i hope you are having a happy cheerful september and enjoying sunny crafty days......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

September Times

 September days are special for me.....they always seems like the start of new and positive things and exciting possibilities.........september makes me feel nostalgic for schooldays and my first days at college..........

 ...........and my first baby was born in september ......quite a while ago now ;)......

 ...........i love these cosy days when we do lots of gardening and then come in for a cup of tea....and make some soup and a plum or apple crumble in the aga.....

 ........this is the little mushroom pillow i've been making this week....it is from the pattern in my book *modern vintage gifts*...........

 ..........this one is having lots of quilting and some extra embroidery too.........

..........sorting out some plates....sorting out some other kitchen bits and pieces....

 ..........lots of apples from friends and family......we don't grow many but i usually have enough for plenty of crumbles.....

 ..............some days have been cool and grey but some have that spectacular september sunshine and blue sky highlighting the berries on the rowan tree............

 .........i've started collecting my two older grandchildren from school again some days each week....it's so nice to have this time with them, to walk home together and hear about their day and all their news......

 ..............the pretty roses below were a gift from a lovely friend and the other flowers came from the garden......

 ..........here are some pictures of my version of the carousel quilt a pattern by sandra boyle for everyday quilts..........i really wanted to make a quilt with circles and i love this one....more about this coming soon......

 ............back to my kitchen now.....time to make some dinner ......

...........thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for your kind comments......i hope you are having a very happy sunny cosy september with lots of joys of the season and plenty of crafty inspiration too...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx