Little Birdhouse

 It's a little bit wintry here, just a few degrees colder.........and a few festive things are appearing in my crafty space almost by magic.............

 ...........not actual xmas decorations yet, of course......it is much too soon for that ;) .........it is my husband's birthday at the end of november and about a week after that we begin to think about christmas...............i have been wanting to decorate a little wintry festive birdhouse and this weekend i found a bit of spare time to do so...............

 ................i had lots of red and white printed selvedge in my craft cupboard........and some rubber stamps and a soft red ink pad gave the effect i hoped for..................

 .............there are a few little decorations being made in my sewing room.........

 ................and little by little a few candles, lanterns, berries and red china are just popping up here and there..............

 ...........here are some of my crafty things from this week's projects all laid out neatly........

 ...........each of these has featured in my work in one way or another...........i have made some tiny things for work and for fun............the tiny pin cushion below has a vintage button sewn in the centre....

 ..............the little lavender scented heart with a red bell and button and a tape measure ribbon hanger will be a nice extra to go with a big chunk of French soap............

 ..................the picture below shows the red and white cross stitched and appliqued tea towels i made as my project for this month's crafts beautiful magazine available now......see more here..............

 ...............lots of red and white and some grey too..............below is my new winter's night reading treat.....a new persephone book....'because of the lockwoods' by dorothy whipple........

 .............today has been sunny as well as cold so far and molly and i have had a nice walk admiring the holly berries on the way...........now it is time to get on with some more work........perhaps a quick cup of tea first and a cinnamon cookie might be a good idea..............

.............thank you for your visit, lovely readers, and for your kind comments (and sweet emails too).........i hope you are enjoying these november days, with crafty, happy times and wintry inspirations...........keep cosy.................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooxxxxxxxxxx

Sweetpea Blanket

 It is always a good thing to get a large project finished and i was very happy to complete the sweetpea blanket this week :)..................

 .........this one seems to have taken quite a long time, probably because i was doing so many other projects at the same time..........this blanket is especially for my little granddaughter daisy and it has ripples of all her favourite colours.............the pattern is of course lovely lucy's neat ripple pattern here...........the yarn is all stylecraft special dk except the sugary pink which is stylecraft pearl dk...

 ...............as i often do, i sewed a bobble trim along the wavy edges in bright pink............

 .................i have not given this blanket to daisy yet as i want to finish off a stripy one for charlie first so they each have one...........one day every week i collect the children from school and bring them to my house for their tea and we play games or do some crafting...........it is a real treat to see them regularly as they grow so fast............

 ...............the last of the sweetpeas from this summer, in a seaside mug that i bought in beaumaris....

                                   ................my pom pom making crush continues...........

                     ..............i am thinking they would be a nice addition to small gifts.................

 ................this is some postage stamp patterned paper i bought ages ago which i have finally been able to allow myself to cut up..............it is perfect paper for small gift boxes, and the pom poms can be made to match or contrast too................

 ...........besides some crafty playing this week i have also been gardening with miss molly........the seed box filled with small cyclamen was a present from kind mr p...........i will plant the cyclamen in the garden when they finish flowering and then plant some seeds in the wooden seed box.........

 .................this little gardening set was a birthday gift in the summer from one of my sweet sisters and i am enjoying using it for my autumn gardening......the small dibber is perfect for planting tiny bulbs............we have planted up a lot of containers with bulbs this year but i am not planting the usual tulip patch this time...............last year's tulips were moved to some pots and to the box hedged bed by the potting shed, so we will wait and see what comes up next spring .........it will be a nice surprise................

 ...................this afternoon i will be working on a magazine project.............and then on a book project........and then on a bit of crochet.............

 .............my little pink painted tray filled with crafty bits and pieces is still very useful.....i had a tidy up of the sewing room this week as it was getting a bit crazy and i couldn't find anything under piles of fabrics and crafty items........i might take some pictures of it while it is tidy :)...........

..............thank you for coming to see me here, dear readers, i love your visits and your kind comments, and how fun it is to find new blogs as well as to hear from old friends too..........thank you all and i look forward to lots more blog visiting myself this week.................wishing you happy crafty times........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Crafty Colour

 It is bright and sunny here today but we have had our share of drab and dreary november days over the past week too.......and as always at those times i am so glad that  i work so much with colour in the form of paint, fabric and yarn...............

 .............i am still loving making these easy wrist warmers and playing with different colours for the stripes............the combination of pink and green stripes in this pair remind me of the colours on a favourite peruvian sweater i had years ago when my children were very young.........

                        ...............i wondered about adding a covered button to the cuff........

 ................or maybe some pom poms............i have been making these with the clever pom pom makers that i have in various sizes..............when i first got one of these clever little contraptions i did it wrong and ended up with just a heap of little bits of cut yarn...........but using it properly makes cute little pom poms very easily and making them can become a bit addictive...........

 ...............reminding me now of those 1950's children's cardigans knitted from cream wool with coloured flowers embroidered on them and two coloured pom poms dangling down from the top.....i would love one of those now..............

 ................wanting to play with brightly coloured yarn is why i learnt to crochet and i have had endless joy from the simplest of patterns.......my crochet knowledge is still rudimentary but it gives me the basics to play around with colour to my heart's content..........

 .................this week i have been sewing a colourful project for my book, and part of the 'work' for that involved sorting out some suitable buttons............i usually tip out the big jar so i can have a proper look through them...............other buttons are kept in smaller boxes and bags...........i must spend hours over the crafty year sorting through buttons to choose the right ones for a project and i often buy more when i see some i love.......

 ..................i took this picture of the pincushion just because i loved the colourful little pinheads catching the light.............still loving the little things here again this week ;)...........

 ...............i have been folding up the quilts and stashing the more summery ones away in the quilt cupboard while getting out the wintry ones to add to the crochet blankets for the chilly season......

 .............below is a quick picture of my desk where i will be working on some illustrations this week, drawing a project and some of the steps for it............i use a white china plate as my palette, and a big old well washed out pickle jar for my paint water..........good quality paper, pencils, pens, a good quality pointy new brush............that is all..........i lose myself when drawing just as i do making creative projects...........if i have left the dinner cooking i have to make sure i keep a timer near by.....

 .................more crochet in the evenings.............more pom pom making in the near future too i am sure............my little rosy churndash quilt is almost finished and i hope to show it to you soon......

                                                ................(maybe this button?)..............

............thank you for visiting me here lovely readers, and for your very kind comments too.........such a pleasure to hear from you and to be able visit you in return.......i do love this world of bloggers and getting to know so many other crafters and learning a little about their lives, homes and makes..............wishing you all a very happy, crafty, colourful week...........keep cosy......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Little Things

 Little crafty things, perhaps i should say, as this post is filled with pictures of some of the little craft related things cheering up this first week of november for me...............

 ...............i made a little striped stuffed heart as a tiny new home gift for one of my dearies........

 .............i often make these instead of, or as well as, a card........the house button (from just another button company) and charm key are decorations i love to use........the pink paper roses are some i bought recently from a local craft shop...

 ...............i have been immersed in the world of creating a book.........so there are lots of my favourite little things lying about my studio and sewing room, like buttons, glass jars, ribbon, rubber stamps....

 ............and below is a bundle of new scrapbook papers i found at a local garden centre which luckily also has a craft department :).............love the papers so much i used them as backgrounds in some of these photos............it will be a shame to cut them up eventually............

 ..............visits to garden centres for spring bulbs to plant in my pots and containers also means finding new christmas decorations and collecting together some plain white pillar candles ready to decorate like the one below....

 ..........last week was half term and my daughter and her husband had time off to spend with charlie and daisy for a wonderful week.....we celebrated charlie's seventh birthday (already??) and they had a party, carved pumpkins and went trick or treating as well as lots of other exciting things......we had so many trick or treaters to our house we had no sweeties left over this time...............

                             ...............my daughter bought me these lovely flowers :).............

 .............i haven't seen lilies like these before.......they don't have the pollen in the middle like the usual ones......so pretty and delicate and the roses are gorgeous shades.............

 ............of course in my list of lovely little things i have to include some crochet and this week's make is some red and white striped wrist warmers which i may be gifting at christmas time...........

 .............a lovely little fabric bundle ready for a new project, this is sitting waiting on my work table right now and i might even get around to cutting in to it this afternoon......

 ..........some autumn garden pictures now..... bright berries, still a few cranesbill flowers, and of course little molly is one of my favourite things ever.....she is so much part of the family now and such a sweet companion..........she loves to potter around the garden, as i do too.................

 .............i am loving using this old red and white quilt again at the moment and want to make a new red and white one but with plain fabric in a simple layout and with big quilt stitches......maybe i will have time to start one soon.......it is another thing to add to that great big old autumn/winter to do list of mine..............

.................thank you as always lovely readers for your visits to me here and for your sweet comments that i do so appreciate..........if you would like to see my photos larger simply click on them to do so...........i wish you all a happy november enjoying the little things, cosy times and lots of crafty inspiration.....................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxx