Seaside Rock and Granny Stripes

 It still feels summery here on this long bank holiday weekend....though there are little hints of autumn in the air i am not taking any notice of them yet ;).............i showed you a little peek of this latest granny stripe blanket a while ago and now it is finished........

 ............it was inspired by the colours and stripes of seaside rock that i took pictures of a couple of years ago when we were at the devon seaside................

 ..........i love making granny stripes, so easy and rhythmic to do and always a new colour to join in and enjoy............easy to do while travelling or talking or movie watching too........and i do loooove the stripes in seaside rock.............

........so this has been my easy crochet project for the summer and suddenly last week it was finished.........i did a simple border in turquoise blue to finish it off....... all the yarn is from the stylecraft special dk range.........the colours are intense and varied, the yarn is soft to crochet with and i love how you can always get an extra ball very quickly and it doesn't become discontinued like some ranges too when you are in the middle of a project :).........

 ...........some little balls of yarn left over maybe to make some flowers or granny squares next?.....

...........this year's seaside rock brought back from the sunny isle of anglesey along with a few shells to add to my studio mantelpiece and remind me of summer long after it has gone..............

 ..........the blanket is composed of groups of simple stripes divided by one row of white - like the rock stripes often are - which makes the colours look clear and really pop out..............

 ................this little pincushion is another of my cross stitch motif makes, the little boat shown here, and the beach hut shown on my previous post are both charts from my book *simple sewn gifts*....

                                                  ...........i love all these colours...........

 ...........this week i did some baking and made the family a batch of cherry buns...........it suddenly felt like time to bake again and i had been wanting to make some cherry cakes for quite a while......

 ...............now that it's almost autumn i am remembering the cakes and crumbles, fruit loaves and flapjacks that we enjoy when it's cooler.............the cherry cakes are just the beginning of the next big baking spell i think.............

 ...........more pictures of the seaside rock blanket...........i think the grandbabies are going to like using this one a lot..................

 .............they have already snuggled under the end of it while i was still crocheting it :)...............

 .............now it's time to move on to a new crochet project and i can't wait to decide what it will be and to get started on it....i like to have a project ready in a basket to just pick up and put down when needed.............i'm also working on my seaside flowers hexie quilt which is growing fast................

...........thank you for popping over to see me in my little blog space today :)...........thank you for the helpful recommendations for longarm quilters in the uk, that is so much appreciated...........and thank you for all your sweet comments, lovely readers................wishing you a happy week enjoying the rest of summer with lots of sunshine and crafty times...............i will have some autumn makes to show you next , i think :).................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooxxxxxx

Sunny Seaside

 We're back from the sunny seaside after a really lovely time..........regular readers of this blog will know that we usually go to the beautiful isle of anglesey at this time of year, to stay in the pretty little seaside town of beaumaris while my hb sails in the menai straits regatta...........

 .........this is penmon lighthouse, one of my favourite views........i love the pebbly beach there too......

............ this little beach hut cross stitch  was made into a quick seaside pincushion that i took with me.....i'm still using up lots of little motifs in this way :).........

.............we were joined for a few days by the family too and had a fun time with them, as well as meeting up with other sailing families, friends and acquaintances............charlie and daisy love the whole seaside experience, and we also visited a country farm this time and saw lots of baby animals but i'll save that for another post..................

 ..........i took along my little greengate tin of red, white and blue hexies ready to begin sewing them together..............

            ..........i tried a few different layouts, but this was the one i liked the best...............

 ................and the hexies were very quick to sew together into the seaside flowers...............

 ..........when i began going through my fabric stash looking for red, white and blue fabrics i found some pretty nautical prints which were perfect to include.........and lots of the lovely blue and red prints from pam kitty morning looked gorgeous too.............i am surrounding the seaside flowers with hexies made with white kona cotton from sew and quilt here......

............when we visit beaumaris we always love going to the janet bell gallery and this year was no exception............it was lovely to see janet again and her beautiful new paintings and other happy seaside products like calendars and cards, textiles and cross stitch kits...............

 ...........and it was exciting this year to discover that janet now has another lovely shop.....a children's boutique that she has opened with her friend zoe............it is called tinkers and belles and has the most lovely colourful and well designed clothes for little people and lots of adorable toys.......(and who wouldn't love a shop with a little corner cupboard filled with maileg bunnies and mice?)...........

.................my hexie quilt made steady progress for the first part of the holiday, not so much later on, but now i'm home i shall be getting on with it again..........btw thank you for all your kind comments about my home sweet home quilt in my previous post........i am planning to send it away to be professionally longarm quilted, something new for me to try.......i do love the look of those closely quilted ones and i think the design lends itself perfectly to that...........i will keep you posted...........and do please let me know if you have any recommendations for longarm quilting in the uk.............

..........i will leave you with this peaceful view.........i also wanted to include it because if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see an air sea rescue helicopter which is one of the ones that prince william flies here on anglesey.........he might even have been flying this one :)...........thank you for dropping in to see me here and for your sweet comments and emails...........i am so looking forward to catching up with everyone now and being back in blog land again.............wishing you all a happy sunny week............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Home Sweet Home

 The home sweet home quilt top is finished.......each little patch and applique shape is now stitched into place............i have some buttons to add too but will wait to sew them on until after the quilting has been done......

 ............the partly finished quilt top kept me busy in any spare moments over the last few weeks........

 ...........most of it was hand-pieced...........it was a nice project to do outdoors while chatting.......

 ........i spread it out on the bed to take a picture but will take some more when it's been quilted.....

 .............here are a few details......a little garden with birds and flowers................

                                       ...........more flowers, a beehive and an apple tree.............

.........and while we are in a quilty mood, i must tell you about this brand new magazine from the makers of mollie makes and simply crochet.............love quilting and patchwork magazine is for everyone who loves modern quilting whether you're an avid fan or someone who wants to learn.....it's available now in shops everywhere and online here............ each issue comes with a free gift to spark your creativity even more :)....... i am excited to have my patchwork and applique blocks in the fall issue...........(it will be published in the united states too in a few weeks time)...............

 ...............besides sewing and other crafty stuff this week i have been enjoying the sweetpeas and taking lots of photographs of them in all their colourful glory...........

 .........i found this blue glass in grannie's attic and love how it looks filled with flowers.....

 ................the little pink play house, matching the growing sweet peas.........and some pretty flowers filling the little green bucket in the potting shed.................

..............we are off to the seaside in a day or two, leaving behind our home sweet home for a little while.......we are looking forward to a nice break, mr p is sailing in the regatta and we'll be catching up with old friends too.....the family will join us for a few days as well..............i am packing my crochet and patchwork supplies, and lots of books to read..............thank you for visiting me here in my bit of blog land.......your visits and  sweet comments make my day :)...........sending you lots of love and wishing you happy, sunny, crafty days while i am away.............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx