February Flowers

 It looks like spring here today..... so bright and sunny in my sewing room with lots of flowers and pretty fabrics....but outside it still feels cold and wintry with chilly winds blowing around the house and garden......it is lovely that the days are so much longer now and evenings so much lighter..........

 ..............i made this little drawstring bag with some of my favourite fabrics from the pam kitty garden line by lakehouse dry goods which i was so lucky to receive recently to work with..........

...........i find it so easy to create projects with these sweet prints because i really love them...........

 ............. i wanted to make a pretty little new pincushion to have beside me while i work............

 ..........when my dear younger daughter and her new little family arrived to stay on valentine's weekend they brought me these gorgeous narcissi bulbs (and some delicious homemade scones for our family party too :)..........picture of those further down this post).......

 ...............the potting shed is looking ready for it's annual sort out, maybe in the next week or two it will be warm enough to potter out there and tidy it up ready for the new planting season......

 ...............such sweet little flowers and a delicious spring scent from them too.......

 ...............mr p had been doing loads of gardening each weekend, and molly has been a big help.....

 ............the spring flowers are blooming brightly...........all these pictures are from our garden except the top right one above which shows the daphne bush at the botanic gardens, to remind me i must buy one of these for our garden as i just love the colour and the scent.......

                                      .................valentine's weekend tea party table.............

 ...............my sweet blog friend teresa kasner (whose lovely bright and happy blog is here) sent me one of her cute valentines with this adorable crochet heart inside.....such a beautiful little gift which i will treasure...........it is hanging in my studio at the moment and looks lovely there with my valentine flowers....i will also hang it on my tree at christmas time......thank you so much teresa x.................

 ................i have been busy making my new quilts, finishing writing my book, writing up a magazine project for a fast approaching deadline and dreaming about new things i want to make as soon as i have time.......i do love the crafty life, and i know many of you do too :-).......

...........thank you for visiting here lovely readers, and for your sweet comments....it is always wonderful to hear from you :)..............i hope you are having a happy crafty week and enjoying some february flowers and a lot of sunshine........................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooxxxxxx

Patchwork and Primroses

 This week my crafty interests are mainly centred around patchwork.........making four patch blocks for a quilt i have planned with the new pam kitty garden fabrics.............

............and i made the chrysanthemum paper pieced flower into a block for another quilt....this one will be a sampler quilt featuring applique and patchwork with lots of variety.........

 ..........my evening star quilt top is coming along well, i have been piecing blocks for it most evenings (rather appropriately)...........i make them in threes and join them together before making another three.....

 ...........spreading out the next two groups on the coffee table, making sure miss molly doesn't seize one and run off with it....she has calmed down a lot now and mostly plays with her own doggie toys and chews, but you can't be too careful with quilt blocks, balls of wool, and (this week especially) pom poms.......

 .........i like it when the quilt top becomes big enough to drape on the back of a chair and begins looking quilt like......

 ...........work wise this week i have been hand finishing a small quilt to go in my new book, and reading lots of quilt books....... gorgeous old quilts always inspire me........i have a great new novel to read too which you can see in the pile on the chair in my studio.......the wonderful writer anne tyler has a new book out called 'a spool of blue thread'........

                        ............some of my own 'old' quilts from the quilt cupboard.............

 ................and below is a brand new evening star cushion made for the latest crafts beautiful issue....

 ...............the bright spotty fabrics create a fresh modern patchwork.......

.............here it is on the table with some pretty pink tulips and a set of new cookie cutters....... flower shaped ones for baking with my grand daughter daisy.............

 ............besides enjoying the sight of this bunch of tulips all week, i have treated myself to two trays of beautiful primroses in shades of pink..............i have also been very lucky and received some gorgeous valentine flowers and a big pot of daffodil bulbs.....pictures of those in a later post ......

 ...............we had a happy valentine weekend, with our sweet new grandbaby rhys and his mummy and daddy staying here, and a family gathering on sunday when my lovely mother and sisters shared the baby bliss :)............i always love to see my parents with their great grandchildren, it is so special......and everyone here loves a baby to cuddle.............

 ...........lots of primroses to plant in the garden now, and at last it feels slightly warmer and a little bit more spring like...........some of the primroses will go at the edge of the cutting garden to provide some more early colour.............

 ............and some will stay indoors to look pretty in my studio while i finish my book (nearly there!).......the cath kidston mugs in the picture below are all cracked so that they can no longer be used to hold drinks, but they are perfect to hold primrose plants for a little while........

 .............this week is half term here and i will be looking after charlie and daisy for part of the time......so am getting the toys out and thinking up activities for us to do......weather permitting we might go on a nature walk and create a nature table when we get home.......

...............thank you for dropping into my little blog world dear readers, it is wonderful to see you and always such a treat to read your kind comments.........wishing you a happy week with sunshine and flowers and crafty times too..................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hearts and Flowers

 We have some handmade hearts being finished off this week, ready for hanging up on valentine's day next weekend...........i actually made the hearts a while ago when i made lots of lavender sachets and pillows, but have kept them until now to finish off..............

 ...........i love adding simple embellishments, like little stamped signs, paper or fabric flowers and tiny keys............or buttons and small pieces of tape measure ribbon...........

 .............on my travels i found these tiny test tubes with a valentine message inside.....just could not resist them, with the raffia bows and tiny buttons..........

 ............another heart to hang up (this week especially) is the cross stitch project i made for this month's crafts beautiful magazine............you can find lots of crafty inspiration here and download patterns and charts too........

 ............as well as hearts we have to have flowers of course.........over the past week i had a pretty bunch of pale pink tulips, as well as my usual primroses and spring bulbs planted into whatever container seemed to suit...........

 ................the little white catalogue of garden seeds planter has had grape hyacinth bulbs planted in it for ages and at last they are showing some green shoots.........lucky they had a little chalked sign or i might have forgotten they were there........

 ..............i find the fresh green leaves and soft pretty flower colours very cheering on these cold and wintry days......we have had some sunny times but some very grey ones too and at the weekend a strange cold white mist greeted us when we woke in the morning............

 ............we went out on our annual snowdrop walk anyway and enjoyed seeing lots of different kinds at the botanic gardens we love to visit....here is one of the close ups of these gorgeous little flowers..........their shapes are so neat and perfect, i always love to discover them around the garden, but on the snowdrop walk there are masses of them under the trees.................

 .............a few more views of my new hearts..........btw the pink and the lilac french fabric is from the sausalito cottage collection by lakehouse dry goods, and the striped heart fabric is by michael miller, all from plush addict..............

.............thank you for visiting me here, dear readers, and for all your kind comments...........it is always lovely to hear from you :)............i wish you a wonderful week with happy hearts and lots of lovely crafty inspirations too.............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxx

Homely

 The past week has been cold here, very cold, and windy too, and just the kind of weather that i prefer to be indoors...............perfect days for homely things ............

.............this adorable little banner was a giveaway gift from the kind and clever carol cook who has a lovely blog called art and sand ......if you don't already know it, do go and visit as you will love it......

 ............for her giveaway prizes carol offered to make a banner with any word of your choosing.....i was one of the lucky winners and chose this..........it looks lovely in several different places around the house :)..............thank you carol x...............

 .............i picked a few small cherry blossom twigs to have in the sewing room........the little cherry tree in our front garden has blossom for about three quarters of the year and is very delicate and pretty............

 ...............a little more sewing with my new pam kitty garden fabrics from lakehouse drygoods.......i bought a pack of chrysanthemum paper pieces a while ago and was looking forward to using them............i will be making this little flower into something sweet and will show you soon.....

 ...............this week i have had tulips in two colours, pink ones and red ones.......

                                 .............home for me has to have some fresh flowers.............

 ..............there are lots of bulbs growing too, including some daffodils in a pot on my studio window sill.....here is my desk on a bright, sunny cold morning as i begin work................

 .............other homely things i have been doing are working on a quilt, working on my crochet blanket, reading novels and old books about old quilts............and baking simple treats......like these smartie topped little cakes i made for charlie and daisy (and me) for when i collected them from school.......

 ............i made some heart shaped scones at the weekend for some lovely friends who came for afternoon tea..........i am getting in the valentine mood already now it is february, and making lots of things heart shaped.......

 .............below is my home sweet home sampler in this month's the world of cross stitching magazine, celebrating the season with a spring time house and garden with topiary trees, a garden bench to sit and dream on and plenty of flowers especially tulips :).........

 .............there are lots of quilts out here at the moment, for much needed extra cosiness.....i love to swap around the quilts and have different ones to look at all the time.......i am busy working on the evening star quilt this week and it is growing slowly but surely.......i am quite a slooow quilt maker compared to some speedy stitchers, but i do enjoy the process and taking my time.............i shall also be painting some hearts and sewing some too in the next few cosy days...........

.............thank you for visiting me here in my little blogspace, dear readers, and thank you for taking the time to leave me such kind comments........i wish you all a happy february, with lots of crafty inspirations and homely times..............back soon xxxxxxxxxooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxx