Gardens and Crochet

 Always at this time of year i am going in and out of the house all day to look at the garden, take pictures of it, pick flowers, and just enjoy the magical garden days of greenery and blooms.....as well as actually weeding and planting, watering, trimming back and checking for snails of course...............

 ..........indoors i have been working on commissions to be published in future months, and also having a crochet crush............i love flower cushions ( i have decided) and here is a new one, just finished.....

 ...............first i crocheted a selection of flowers, similar to primulas with yellow centres and petals in various shades but mainly pinks and reds..............then i made some simple two colour granny squares (there is a round of green (like leaves) in the centres below the flower which can be seen if the flowers are viewed from different angles)..........

 .............i used the join as you go method to join the squares together, and then sewed the flowers on............ and added a pink border.............

 ...............in between crocheting this cushion we went to visit some flower nurseries and bought some candelabra primulas................i have wanted some of these for quite a while, but i wanted to plant them next to the pond so had to wait until it was fixed..............now it is so i have begun the planting..

 ...............i love these plants with their tall upright stems and tiers of flowers.........they combine well with the grasses and reeds that also grow round, and in, the pond..............

 ............i made a plain white granny square for the back of the cushion and joined the back to the front with a pale green border around the whole outer edge........the yarn is (almost) all from the stylecraft special dk range................

 ...............besides the crochet cushion i've also finished off the little crochet bag for daisy's birthday next weekend..........we have bought her some other surprises too.................

 ..................i made a crochet daisy flower for her little bag of course.........daisy herself spent a few hours with me today and we went for a walk, spotting daisies and buttercups in the fields and park, going on the swings and slide, then home for tea, reading, colouring and singing songs from *frozen*.............thanks to this movie daisy now knows the word 'fractals' :)..............

...........i hope she likes her little bag....i made a long strap for it as she tends to favour across-the body-bags :).............the bag's lining is the gorgeous colourful polka dot from pam kitty picnic......i love this fabric and its colours seem to blend in with everything i make.........i will have something else made with it to show you soon...................

 .............i was very lucky this week and had a gift in the mail myself...........this pretty summery lemony tea towel was sent to me by my dear blog friend robin from my nest of yarn and buttons......
thank you robin, it was a lovely surprise and will be enjoyed a lot :)................

 ..............one of the best things in the garden at the moment is that there are so many flowers to pick to make sweet scented posies for around the house, one of my favourite things to do, and everyone else enjoys them too.............

..............this is one of the old roses shown growing in the top picture, with the potting shed in the background, this rose bush is covered in buds all ready to open and i love it more every year..............
.............thank you for visiting me here, dear readers, i love to see you and your sweet comments are a real joy to receive too............wishing you a wonderful week with flowers and sunshine and happy crafty times..................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sunny Days and a Very Old House

We have had so many sunny days lately that we don't even mind the odd shower or two.........

 ..............it has been a lovely time to explore the countryside round about and enjoy seeing the lambs, the trees filled with blossom and the hedgerows frothy with cow parsley................

 ...............we visited this beautiful old, old house (built in tudor times) which looks like a fairytale illustration...........it is a moated manor house and you walk over a little sandstone bridge to enter the building.........the moat has goldfish swimming in it and ducks and ducklings too............

 .............this window is in the long gallery looking out toward the field of sheep in the top picture.....

 ...........at the back of the manor house is a small knot garden........... in the central courtyard are pots of peachy coloured tulips..........i have always been inspired by the design of tudor buildings  and tudor embroidery which echoed the black and white patterns...... years ago when i wrote my first book (*the new cross stitch sampler book*) i designed a whole sampler in blackwork and made lots of small things exploring counted thread embroidery like the key keeper below....... 

 ...........and of course we had afternoon tea in the tearoom.......though i didn't take any pictures of that so here is our own tea tray at home on another sunny afternoon...........cups of tea, small vanilla cakes......and some stitching in the garden...............

                              .............a little embroidery being added to my garden quilt.............

 ................strawberries are one of my favourite motifs for all kinds of stitchery..........

 ................the garden is just about to open all its early summer flowers this week......roses especially...........here are the last of the gorgeous forget me nots, just beginning to fade.......i love how they self seed and pop up all over the place................

 ................the potting shed is a lovely place to while away an hour or two, very quiet and secluded as it is tucked into the corner of the garden............if you sit quietly birds soon appear and it feels miles from anywhere even though it isn't really.........

..............thank you for visiting me here, lovely readers, it is always a pleasure to see you.........i do really appreciate your sweet comments too, knowing how busy everyone is :).................i hope you are enjoying a happy week with plenty of flowers and sunny days.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Spring Colours

 Between the sunshine and the showers this past week i have been in and out of the garden..........

 .............one rainy chilly afternoon after i'd been working on the computer for hours my eye fell on an old decorative white-painted birdhouse standing on my studio window sill and i suddenly knew what i would use the latest  saved selvedge strips for.......

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 ................i went down to the kitchen and spread newspaper on the table and painted the little bird house with my sky blue paint.........i did take a picture of it being painted, but hadn't checked the headline on the newspaper it was standing on which showed prominently in the photo and was most unsuitable ;-).............i had a cup of tea and when the paint had dried i used mod podge to stick the strips to the birdhouse roof............

 ...............i like my new spring birdhouse with its pretty stripy roof.............if you are inspired to craft with selvedge strips do let me know, i'd love to see what you make :).................

 ..............in the garden all is green, flowery and often soaking wet and covered in raindrops............

 .............the garden notebook is in use again and i am often adding new notes, including suggestions and ideas..........i love seeing other bloggers' gardens and flowers........and it was another blogger who inspired me to buy the adorable bodum cafetiere below..........

 ...............thank you to vanessa at the beautiful blog coco rose diaries who showed this to us..........

 ............i love it so much just to look at that i haven't actually put any coffee in it yet..........

 ...........when i wasn't working or gardening between the showers this week i have been crocheting rosie's blanket.....she was home this weekend and she loves it..............

 ...............and making a little bag for daisy's birthday which is on the last day of may...............

...............and adding some churn dash blocks to my new quilt collection............here is one and some pieces which will be the second, hopefully after tonight.............

 .........i picked the first roses from our garden this week, these are old varieties which were already growing here when we moved in.........the previous owners were keen and creative gardeners and they planted some beautiful things including lots of lovely old, highly scented roses............

 ..............i am going to do some more work in a moment, then i might have a little bit of spare time to potter in the potting shed............i should also do some spring cleaning and some sorting out of cupboards during the next rainy day...........

................thank you for visiting my little bit of blogland today, dear readers...........i am always so happy to see you here and thank you too for leaving me such kind comments..........wishing you a happy week with flowers, sunshine and some crafty times too....................back soon xxxxxxxxxxx

Pretty Little Boxes

HaPpY May everyone!............if i had to choose a favourite month then may would be the one :).......
i am loving the blossom, the new green of the trees, the birds, the flowers, even the showers....and especially the sunny days.............today i am showing you some little decorated boxes.........

 .............the little plain paper mache boxes found in craft stores always inspire me to buy a few and paint them in pretty colours.......then add decorations to the top.............this one was decorated with adhesive ribbons in a patchwork of stripes..............

.............you can put a surprise inside too, maybe some speckled eggs.............

 .............or a little hand sewn fabric brooch.............

 .............besides using ribbon you can cover the lid with selvedge strips................

 ................such a sweet way to use up your saved selvedge, something i have written about before as i LoVe selvedge strips and finding uses for my own stash of them...............

 ..............whenever i use a new piece of fabric i iron it and carefully cut off the selvedge and throw it into a nearby basket...........i use the strips as ribbons to tie things up as well as to decorate projects like cushions and pin cushions..............

 ................the colours of the selvedge we save reflects our own tastes as it comes from the fabrics we choose to work with..............mine tends towards the flowery colour palette :)....................

 .................all the little boxes shown here (and the fabric flower brooch) can be found in my book....*pretty patchwork gifts* which can be found here.......................

 ..............below is some of my recently collected selvedge ironed and ready for crafting with.....

 ..............this week i have been working on my garden quilt, adding some tiny words using inkjet transfer printing........(this may prove to be impractical but it's fun for now).............i have added some cherries and more strawberries........each day i do a little bit more to it.............

 ............the sun is shining beautifully here today, now that the bank holiday weekend is over ;)......we did lots of gardening though as it was perfect weather for that, no rain and not too warm, and i like the grey/green atmosphere of those cloudy may days as well as the sunny ones..........

.................thank you for visiting me here today, lovely readers, i am always so happy to see you and reading your sweet comments is always a pleasure too..........i leave you with some may flowers from the garden and wish you a wonderful week wherever you may be.................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxx