Fabric Stashing

 The past week has seen the arrival of some bright and beautiful new fabrics here......

 .............an exciting package came for me from the talented and creative designer holly holderman of lakehouse drygoods...........such adorable fabrics from the brand new pam kitty garden line...............you can find them all at the fat quarter shop here........

 .............they are all adorable and i am so looking forward to making a new quilt very soon......

 .............i just had to sew a little bit with them straight away though, and as i had two partly completed bunnies being made for gifts, i made them sweet dresses with the apple prints.....

 ...............and little checked pantaloons from the sunrise studio fabric which was also in the package..

 ..............the colours are just the colours i love to work with and the fabric mixes perfectly with the earlier pam kitty morning collections as well as other manufacturers' lines......

 ...........top left is the sunrise studio scallop and fence fabrics......perfect to use for borders on quilts and pillows..... i decided to use the cheater print to make a pillow.........so quick :)

 .............and after the pillow i made a very speedy doll quilt by layering the cheater fabric with a piece of wadding and a piece of the aqua garden toile fabric for the back, then i hand quilted along the edges of the printed squares one evening while watching a movie...........i bound the doll quilt next day with the aqua daisy and vine print.................here it is on the blue doll's bed, waiting for a bunny......

                                                     .................or maybe two?...........

 ................these new little rabbits are called poppy (in the red dress) and pippin.......

 ............the tiny buttons i found a while ago to fill up my crafty stash were just right for this bunny dress.........

 ..............this week i am still painting and illustrating, but i'm enjoying a bit of sewing too.....having new fabrics in your stash is surely one of the most inspiring things for a crafter and quilter isn't it?.............

...............thank you for visiting me here, lovely readers, and for sharing my crafty adventures and inspirations with me.....it is always a pleasure to hear from you and to read your sweet comments......wishing you a wonderful crafty week and if you are in the colder parts of our wonderful blogging world....keep nice and cosy :)......................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Studio Days

 These are good days to be indoors and working in my studio....it is cold and icy outside and the pond is frozen......a little walk with molly is taken at a quick pace, and then it is back to my cosy studio again and on with the illustrations......

 ................i now have a little fire in here for extra warmth and i love it....mr p gave it to me :)....

............it means i can work without getting chilly or wearing too many layers....even though i always wear quite a few compared to lots of people.......the wrist warmers i made before christmas are proving useful these days......here are a few more pictures of my studio.......

 ..........i always love to have flowers around especially tulips and hyacinths............

 ..............and a bright quilt to look at too....this is the rosy churn dash mini quilt which is now finished.....i added some buttons to the white corner stones, backed it with white kona cotton and used the same white for the binding.....i am planning to hang this on the wall but haven't decided where just yet.....

 ..................in my last post i showed this angelsey cushion and a lot of lovely readers have asked about it.........the fabric was designed by the talented janet bell and this is actually a tea towel from the janet bell gallery.....(i bought a red and white one too that i gave away as a present)........

 ..........i bought this last summer but decided it was too nice to use in the kitchen and by some simple sewing i turned it into a cushion to enjoy in my studio all year round.......the place names remind me of our summer visits to the sunny isle of angelsey for the sailing regatta and happy family times....

 .............when i have finished drawing and painting for the day i am enjoying some cosy crochet....

 ..............the colours for this new blanket were inspired by the ones i recently used in a pair of wrist warmers.....and i plan to do a stripy border for this blanket using them in the same combination.........winter evenings and crochet go so well together somehow........

 ............the pinks in this pattern are reminding me of marshmallows, some of which i always have in the cupboard as charlie and daisy love them, especially the mini ones.........the yarn i have used here is all stylecraft special dk.........

...............thank you for visiting me here, dear readers, and for your lovely comments and kind wishes too.......(our grandbaby rhys is thriving and we had some lovely cuddles with him at the weekend).........thank you too for those who have emailed me with craft queries......if i haven't replied to you yet i will very soon :).............wishing you all a wonderful week with happy times and lots of crafty inspirations.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

One Week

 One week since my last post, and a week when we got back to normal with work and school resuming and me getting back to the drawing board for a lot of illustration work for my book......

.........last week i mentioned i would show you what i've been making over the last few months for my dear little new baby grandson......first of all, this little bunny was made especially for him........a boy bunny;)...............he doesn't have a name yet but when one has been chosen i will let you know.............. this bunny will sit on the shelf in the nursery until baby rhys is old enough to play with him.......

 ............and then he might want to play with this little cart too.......i found it on my travels a while ago and thought it would be perfect for a bunny to ride in......

 ................besides the little boy bunny i did some baby knitting.....my favourite kind.....

 ............using this gorgeous baby cashmerino yarn.......so soft and fine and beautiful to knit with......

 ...............i made the little striped hat from the baby cashmerino book 2 by debbie bliss.....

.............and my final baby make (so far) was a simple striped crochet blanket.......

 ..........rosie and i chose the  aqua blue (beach) and cream (cornish) from the rooster almerino range as the colours tied in nicely with the nursery bedding they had chosen...........this is a cot blanket and I didn't have a pattern but measured the cot we have here from when charlie and daisy were tiny and used to nap here sometimes..............

 ...............i worked the blanket in granny stripes with a 4mm hook and made a simple border with three rows of double crochet...........it took a lot of yarn and i had to order some more (twice)........

                                        .............it is very soft and warm and snuggly............

 .................and here is the little treasure who will be snuggling up in it soon.......we are all living in baby bliss here at the moment, looking forward so much to the next visit and the next cuddle..............

.............thank you for your visits here to my little blog space, dear readers, and for sharing the making, the crafting and the joys of life :)...........and a special thank you for all your sweet comments on my last post about baby rhys.......what a lovely welcome to the world ..........wishing you all a happy week with cosy crafty times........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

January Joy

 Just a few days into january......and we have been enjoying it very much.......my husband had a nice long holiday from work, so i did too :)..........we went on some jaunts..........one was to liverpool.....

.............on a day of soaring blue skies and winds so strong they took your breath away.......

 ...........we visited the albert dock and liverpool tate..............had lunch by the waterside......

 ...........we saw the andy warhol exhibition.......no photography was allowed but a kindly notice near the windows said you were allowed to photograph the view :)........i am always very partial to taking pictures of views through windows.......here is a sunny but chilly river view from the tate.........

 .............i bought a pink badge and a postcard of andy warhol's 'happy butterfly day'.....

                                          .............i loved it with this primrose pot...........

 .............the albert dock is a much visited tourist spot, with the beatles museum and maritime museum to see as well as the tate, and lots of souvenir shops as well.......above is a sweetie shop window filled with jelly beans..........the colours made me think of granny squares in sweetie colours........

 .............i have started two new crochet projects this past week as if i haven't already got a long enough to do list, but it just had to be done because i got the ideas and wanted to start them.......

 .............over the holidays i made lots and lots of paper pieced tumblers.........i love these shapes....

 ............i have begun to sew them together and the patchwork is looking bright and cheery already...

 ...............most of our edible xmas treats have gone now.....but mr p bought me these macarons to remind me of our trip to the south of france last summer so we have saved them for a special afternoon tea.....

 .........lots of january joys.............but the biggest joy of all and most exciting one is that we have a new grandbaby........our younger daughter and her dh had a beautiful baby boy two days ago......we have been to see them and had our first cuddle with baby rhys........he is just adorable and they are such a happy little new family..........soon i will show you what i have been making for him over the last few months..........

.............thank you so much for visiting me here, dear readers, and for leaving such kind comments and for following along too......i wish you all a wonderful january filled with peaceful times, quiet joys and lots of crafty inspirations............back soon xxxxxxxxxxoooooooooxxxxxxxxxxx