Stitching All Day

 In the mid ninties i began working as a cross stitch designer....almost by chance...i had been designing surface patterns to go on all sorts of products, for years, from cards and gift wrap to chopping boards and china...i called it painting flowers all day and loved being able to work freelance this way (it also fitted in well when my children were growing up).......at the same time i designed and stitched cross stitch samplers for my home in my spare time........as well as making quilts and knitting jumpers...i was always a busy crafty bee....

...one day a friend of mine from the US who was living over here at the time and loved stitching and crafts as much as me, gave me a stitching magazine which had a little piece in it asking for designers to submit stitching designs to them......so i did.......

 ....and the next thing i knew i was stitching all day....i would wave my husband off to work, take my girls to school and then stitch the day away creating new designs as i went along...sometimes adding buttons, charms or beads to the samplers and having such an inspiring time......

 ....eventually, as well as working for magazines, i also wrote my own cross stitch books, and contributed to lots of others..................one of the first magazines i ever worked for was Cross Stitcher.....

 ....and out right now is the 250th issue, as Cross Stitcher celebrates its 20th birthday this year...so Happy Birthday Cross Stitcher....it's been a pleasure to work with the team all these years....and the magazine is looking fresh, new and inspiring....you can find out all about it here.... and join in with the celebrations and amazing competitions .............

 .....some of the recent charts i've created for Cross Stitcher, and some of the little cross stitch tags and charms i love to make and add to things.....i don't always stitch using a hoop but sometimes it's a good idea....

.......as well as making samplers for framing i love to make a sampler style design and use it for objects like needle rolls...love the words amongst the patterns and motifs, i think that is what drew me to samplers in the first place...

 ....at the moment i am interested in exploring vintage cross stitch motifs like silhouettes and monograms, and combining them with other crafts such as papercrafts, sewing, patchwork and collage........

......and i still love how just a few stitches in various shades can bring a small motif to life as you sew....

Thnak you for popping in to see me today...as you know i love your visits :-)  Wishing you a wonderful weekend with sunny happy times and maybe a little crafting too.....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Patchwork and Pottering

 Two of my favourite things...patchwork and pottering in the garden....and i did some of both last weekend.....

 ...we were able to garden properly for the first time this season....i weeded and mulched one of the borders (mulching sounds quite professional don't you think?) and Mr P did lots of his favourite kind of gardening... that is, pruning things ;-).....we were both very contented and it was lovely to sit outside and have a cup of tea again in a sheltered bit of the garden, with the sun shining and the birds singing (and some homemade tea bread from the Mary Berry Baking Book).........

....and then a bit of pottering in the potting shed for me....with some new spring plants to either pot on and enjoy indoors or to decide where to plant outside......

 ....weekend breakfasts.... i just love that leisurely feel to a weekend morning....are you noticing  lot of CK things appearing here?......there is a reason for it which i will show you in a moment.....

 ...........a quilt i made a while ago, inspired by CK fabrics, especially the gorgeous blue strawberry one, my regular breakfast cereal bowl...... and a cute little CK badge on a gift that arrived this week.......

....lady luck has smiled on me again this week and i won the Cath Kidston Patch book  in the giveaway at the gorgeous Mary Jane's Tearoom....so exciting...(here it is being pictured with my Strawberry Hearts quilt..)

 ...a big huge thank you to Susan for this wonderful giveaway ...Mary Jane's Tearoom is one of my favourite blogs....not only do i love all the delicious colours and pictures, but i love to see Susan's original designs for her knitted mice and bunnies, they are so delightful....if you don't already know this blog do go and visit, you're in for a real treat.....

 ....it was lovely to be back in the potting shed again, i have swept it all out, tidied it up and found my gardening things again....it really feels like spring is here once i start to garden once more.....

 .....a bit more patchwork....this is a peek at a new quilt i've been slowly working on over the last few months...it will have more applique and some colourful quilting....i will be back with another update on it soon i hope, as well as another farmer's wife block......yesterday i taught my elder daughter how to begin to crochet a granny stripe blanket...i think she's hooked.... she rang up today to say she's now on to the third stripe :-).....

......i love my crafty things, they make me sooo happy....and it's always wonderful to hear that it makes others happy too.....thanks for popping in to visit me here today, it's a pleasure to see you.....enjoy your week, i hope you find lots of happy crafty moments, and the sun shines for you too......back soon xxxxx

In the Mail

There have been some treats in the mail over the last few days..... making a very nice change from bills and unwanted catalogues and suchlike ;-).....i was the very lucky winner in the lovely Katie's giveaway over at her crafty blog Booty-licious.....

.....there were lots of lovely gifts all sweetly wrapped in this lovely union jack paper....the toadstool and the keep calm card holder in the top picture were amongst the lovely surprises, and there were chocolates (now gone) and ribbons which i will show in another post....and a set of miniature postcards......

 .....i picked out some romantic couples today as it's valentine's week, but there are lots of others too........so a big ThAnK YoU to Katie for your gorgeous giveaway ................i will enjoy using these treats vey much.....

                                      ........ i love the postmark stamps on these sweet Greengate egg cups.......
  

....another delightful parcel arrived too this week ....my valentine/anniversary present is this sweet teapot..........i can just imagine using it for afternoon tea in the summer garden, surrounded by real flowers............

 .....not too long to wait.......the weather is definitely more spring like today, with sun peeking through, and spring flowers popping their heads up by the day........i even went into the potting shed yesterday for a little potter about......and it felt almost warm with the sun shining in there too......

....my latest farmer's wife quilt block is sooo appropriately named for this post.......because it's called postage stamp :-) i loved making this one even though the squares are exceedingly tiny.....it would mke a nice little mouse quilt.....
thank you so much for dropping in to see me here today.....i love your visits......i hope you are having  a happy week, with sunshine and things you love...and maybe some treats in the mail......back soon xxxxxx

Sweet Valentine

 We will be having some sweet treats here this weekend.......celebrating a little, partly because it's so close to Valentine's Day..... and partly because tomorrow is the anniversary of the day that Mr P and i first met ( a gazzillion years ago) at a schoolfriend's party.................

...........so reason enough to bake and decorate some pretty cakes to share with my dearies...........

 .......and time to use this sweet cake bunting which was made by the lovely Jooles at Sew Sweet Violet here....

....i love all the things that Jooles makes, they are so perfect and pretty....romantic, stylish and contemporary...

 ......love this little sign too.....i will be using this bunting for other special occasions besides Valentine's Day...

........a new romantic chopping board...too pretty to put to use in the kitchen just yet, so i am enjoying just looking at it in my sewing room for now........the sun has been shining in through the sewing room windows this week and making all the fabrics look so bright and cheery....even though the temperatures have been very low and my clothes layering is back in full force.......

            ......i had to show you this Farmer's Wife quilt block today because it's called Bouquet.....

.......and some little valentine tags, as part of my small tag set begun in the last post........i'm looking forward to making more post mark-y things very soon.......
....thank you for dropping into my little bit of blogland today, it's a real treat to see you....I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, with sunshine and sweet things coming your way......back soon xxxxxxxxxxx

Hearts and Flowers

I expect lots of hearts will be being made and bought as valentine's day fast approaches ...of course i am making some too....but then i am always making hearts here for one reason or another ;-).....................

 .....this blue flowery one is a sewing themed one for someone who *hearts* sewing just as much as me....

....and as well as hearts we have some flowers today .....this week i was given some beautiful tulips by my elder daughter which were chosen specially for me by my little grandson Charlie :-)) ..... they have really brightened up the house which was rather grey on one or two days and absolutely freezing cold....or sunny and still  absolutely freezing cold....but while the rest of the uk is now out playing in the snow we haven't got any at all!! .....not a single flake...

 ....i eyed the sledges in the cellar today rather disappointedly :-( ......but never mind the good news is that here the temperatures have gone back up and i can remove at least one layer of rowan felted tweed cardigans and one woolly scarf........

 .....do you remember this little yellow home sweet home heart i showed here last year? i am going on a stitched heart hunt around the house (and potting shed) to collect them all together and hang them up for valentine's day.......

 ....the baby bunny heart here is my project in this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine...read more about it here.......the name Ruby is one i really like, it is also the nickname of one of my younger sisters x.....

 ......naming things is something i always enjoy, and i love the names of the quilt blocks in the Farmer's Wife Quilt book....here are two new ones i've made called Spool and Old Windmill..........

....and here is a quick picture of my cosy Spring Flowers blanket, still striping merrily along and keeping me cosy at the same time....it's always a good idea to hand sew a quilt or crochet a blanket when the weather is chilly isn't it?
Thank you for dropping by today, it's so lovely to see you.....i hope you are keeping warm if you live in the colder parts of the world...(or just right if in the warmer ones).....and that you have a wonderful, happy flowery week....back soon xxxxxxx