Happy New Year

It is hard to believe that another year has flown by and we are here on the last day of the year already..........

............we had a lovely family christmas, with cosy happy times, and lots of fun and relaxation.....i am still enjoying the cards and candles, but will take the decorations down in the next day or two and clear up the house ready for normal life to be resumed..................

 ............i have made some things during our christmassy time........some pam kitty picnic blocks.......

                             ...............love these beautiful colours and sweet patterns................

 .........there will be lots of stars in this quilt, mixed in with other favourite blocks...................

 ................one of the things i love at new year is to have lots of green and growing plants and flowers around the house, and i received some lovely floral christmas presents this year to enjoy over the coming days and weeks................

                                             ..............a pretty berry covered plant...............

                                   ..............bright tulips and fir cones in a wintry posy............

 ..........it will be a while yet before the garden tulip patch flowers, though the out of season anemones are still producing blooms, despite being battered in the wind and rain they are still popping out another flower and then another to bring in for my new little vase...............

 ............i have enjoyed some crochet over christmas time too, beginning a new ripple blanket......

 ............there will be lots of greens and blues in this one as well as white, pink and grey.............

 ............i am looking forward to plenty of new projects as the new year unfolds.............some are work commissions with lots of exciting plans, some are things i just want to make and my ideas book is filling up for the coming months..........i love the whole world of creativity that we share here......

.........thank you, lovely readers, for your visits to my blog and your sweet comments which i love to read.......i wish you all a very Happy New Year..............i hope 2014 brings you love, peace and happiness....................i so enjoy sharing our creative connection around the world and look forward to this in the coming year.............sending love to you all............back soon xxxxxoooooxxxx

Merry Christmas

 We are all ready here for christmas.....tomorrow it will begin properly and i am looking forward to it.....my lists are ticked off.....hope i haven't forgotten anything ;)..............i made this little red bird when i should really have been doing other jobs, but it didn't take long to sew.......

 ..........i bought the little holly heart at our local flower shop and thought a birdie in it would be perfect..........this birdie pattern is the same as the long string of birds i made ealier this year.....i had many enquiries about the pattern and now i am glad to say it is available, in the new (january) issue of crafts beautiful, as part of a cross stitch and fabric birdie project............after i made the string of birds, inspired by an old one i had years ago, i decided to stitch a beaded cross stitch string of birds.......

 .............you can find crafts beautiful online here, and download patterns and charts........

 ...........my daughter sarah brought us some delicious homemade mince pies with starry tops and a white starry dish to put them in :)............i gave her some of my peppermint bark...........i made some little book page wrapped tree presents, embellished with decoupage flowers, rubber stamped tags and red and white baker's twine..............

 ................the festive little deer pillow is on the sofa now, the pattern is in here............

 ...........so is the little deer hanging ornament...........i finished my alpine scarf just in time......

..............i added a picot edge which i think finishes it off nicely........my small blanket made for a present is now done too (quite a task) and wrapped up under the tree, pictures after christmas :).... now i am trying to find a moment or several to begin a new ripple blanket.....but i need to concentrate on that all important first row so this may not be the best time to begin........

 ..........i have been sewing just a little with my beautiful pam kitty picnic fabrics.......beginning a picnic blanket :)..........here are the first two blocks for it..........below is the next one ready to assemble....i am english paper piecing these which means i can be sewing them over christmas.....just a bit of snipping and lots of quiet hand sewing..........perfect............

 .............the good news this week is that the pam kitty picnic fabrics are now available online in the uk from sew and quilt here :D.............the birdie below was the first thing i made with this collection.......i love the happy colours and the mix of patterns like recipe prints, gorgeous florals, dots and spots, stripes and novelty prints which all work so well together...........more soon.......

...............i am looking forward to the family gathering beginning tomorrow, and am about to start some cooking...........outside it is wild, wet and windy, but indoors it is warm and calm and bright.....

.............thank you for visiting me here in my bit of blogland, lovely readers, both now and throughout  the year, and thank you to those of you who leave such sweet comments too .........i send you all my warmest wishes for a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.............back soon xxxxooooooxxx

Christmas Angel

 It certainly feels like christmas here now..........calm and bright and with lots of magical moments over the past week..........time to show you this little doll........angelica the christmas angel..........

 ............i made her a little while ago, and she waited patiently to be finished.............

 ..............i needed to add the halo and the wings............her flowery dress is trimmed with vintage style lace and a pink net underskirt...........i took the photo below to show the shape of her wings...

 ..........before i attached the wings i checked what the text actually said to make sure it was suitable for an angel...........i think so..............especially a stitched one............

 ............we had a magical christmassy day out at the weekend, when we met up with rosie and chris in manchester, and caught the metro into the city centre where we wandered through the christmas markets and went to the radisson blu edwardian for a splendid afternoon tea.......their treat to us as part of my birthday present from the summer....we saved it up for this special day :).............

 ............i loved the colourful stalls, the little lights and the warm festive atmosphere............

 .............this is a sneak peek at a wonderful treat which came my way this week from the lovely pam of pam kitty morning..........a big parcel of brand new, straight from the printers, beautiful pam kitty picnic fabrics for me to work with.............regular readers will know i have loved each collection of pam kitty morning fabrics and have used them a lot in my designs.........the new fabrics are just as  gorgeous and i am already planning lots of projects that i want to make with them.......more about them soon.......and more pictures soon of the fabrics too.......you can buy pam kitty picnic fabrics right now here.........

 .............after having the invaluable help of charlie and daisy to put up the red and white christmas tree in the sitting room i put up the frosty pastel tree in the main lounge myself a few days later.....one year i bought masses of white, pastel, snowflakey ornaments, silvery beads, icicles and glass baubles and i have not needed to add anything to this tree until this year when i saw this sparkly white mushroom....

 .............lots of candles are being lit here, love this angels and stars candle ring which i have shown on previous years....some new red and white heart patterned candles this time...............

 .............besides working on my projects for january commissions, i have been trying, like everyone else, to tick off my christmas lists, not all that efficiently, rather slowly and distractedly but i expect it will all be all right in the end.........and i have found time to make some pretty peppermint bark with chocolate and candy canes and buy a bright christmas tin, perfect for keeping it in...........(not sure how the little dog got into the picture but maybe something to do with the name of the candy....)

 ..................i love making christmas candy and sweets, and this year am preferring it to baking.......

...............one last picture of angelica and a sugar mouse..........thank you for popping in here to visit me, lovely readers, despite the busyness of the season and thank you for your sweet comments..... i hope your lists are getting nicely ticked off and wish you all a magical week......i will be back again before christmas...............so see you soon xxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooxxxxxxxxx

Merry Makings

 It has been another busy week here...even busier in fact.......and there seem to be more and more things to do.........but i have been finding odd moments to decorate our house for christmas, using things i have made and things i've collected over the years...........

 .............the jolly holly stocking pattern can be found here, and the birdie cushion was in this month's crafts beautiful magazine here..........the holly coasters are some i've just made and i love the fresh colours, especially with my china........

.............the mugs were a christmas present last year........(they are laura ashley ones)......and they are now holding hot chocolate and one or two marshmallows............

 ..........i love my little pip studio robin cup and i use it all year round but this is the perfect time.........

 .............................the red and white quilts and cushions are all in use now..................

 ..........another cheery christmas stocking from my collection of festive makes..............

 ................now that i have painted the old dresser with annie sloan chalk paint it is much prettier to arrange things on :)............much lighter and brighter..........

 ...............the christmas lights are still my favourite things, and the scented winter candles too.......

 .............i've been into the garden and picked some greenery and berries and some still flowering anemones to make some festive flower arrangements in jugs, glass bottles and on wreaths............

 ..............i have just got my exciting new copy of *love patchwork and quilting* and am delighted that my little patchwork birdies have made the front cover, such a cute little picture of them......the magazine is filled with wonderful modern quilts and exciting projects and packed with interesting information and stunning photography.................and a fab free gift too.........you can find it here......

 ..............below is the picture of my patchwork birdies featured in the magazine.......i loved making these, inspired by the shape of the robin that visits our garden, and using some of my favourite prints......you could make the birds in any fabrics and make them your very own..........

 .............and here are some of those amazingly bright anemones that have been cheering up my otherwise wintry cutting patch lately........i love these flowers and their jewel bright shades..........

thank you for coming to visit me here, lovely readers, and for your sweet comments too.......i know it is extra busy for everyone now, so a visit is even more special at the moment :).........wishing you a wonderful week, with lots of happy crafty times among all the busyness............back soon xxxxxx

Sew Sweet

 We are having the usual busy time here this week, just like everyone else is at the moment......i thought we could do with a bit of sugar today :)................the red and white scandinavian look has long been one of my favourites for the home and especially at christmas time...............

 ............so i loved making stripy fabric sweets and candy canes...........

 ...........and some pink and white sugar mice...........

 .................what could be more yummy than a jar filled with red and white sweeties and lollies?.....

 ..........the lollies were made using pinwheel patches and i have been making a red and white pinwheel mini quilt this week too.............the patterns for all the fabric sweets and the sugar mice can be found here......................

 ..............some real sweets, of course, i needed to buy some jelly beans for a recipe i was making.......

 .........which reminded me of this wonderful wrapping paper i bought a while ago, covered with sweetie jars........i bought it in the cotswolds months ago and just can't cut it up..................

 ...........i needed the real jelly beans for this recipe........white chocolate rocky road, which every one loved so much i have to make more......(the recipe was from the inspiring madelief's blog)..............

 ..............charlie and daisy came to tea here yesterday and i put up the small sitting room christmas tree for them to decorate (i will be doing the main tree a little later).......the children are fascinated by things like these decorations that look like sweets but aren't really..........

 .............they did a great job distributing the decorations on the tree quite evenly, apart from two santa ornaments on one branch arranged by daisy, but there was a reason for that, they were keeping each other company :)................after tea they each had a (real) chocolate lolly in the shape of rudolph as a special treat for helping me...................

...............i know most of my crafty posts of late have been about patchwork and i still have a bit of a crush on it, but my crochet is not forgotten..........i have been making a throw in neutral shades as a gift for one of my dearies, and also this little alpine scarf is currently being hooked up........more about my christmas making sooooon.....................

..............thank you for your kind wishes for mr p's birthday, he had a lovely time and we all enjoyed our sweet niece emily's 21st birthday party too.............thank you also, lovely readers, for coming to see me here at this busy time, i do appreciate your visits and your lovely comments .................i hope lots of sweet things come your way this week..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooxxx