Easter Time

 This is one of my favourite times of the year....i love the spring, easter decorations, the colours and the flowers and the sun shining .............it has been bright and sunny as well as rainy and windy this easter weekend....we all put our sweaters back on when saturday dawned grey and chilly after a warm and sunny good friday......

 ..............here is a little flowery crochet garland i made for my easter shelves this year.....

 .............the flowers were made from leftover yarn scraps and i made a long green chain to hang them on......

 ..............on good friday i spent some time pottering in the greenhouse, tending to my plants and watering the newly sprung seedlings in there............lolly the bunny was there too keeping me company and wearing her beloved easter dress..............

 ..............the little watering can here belonged to my mum and i think of her whenever i use it......she loved growing flowers and plants too.............

 ................my elder daughter and son in law hosted our family easter party this year at their (recently moved to) lovely home......my daughter found lots of colourful decorations like the paper hanging easter eggs here.............the children had an egg hunt in their new garden, and we all admired the frogs and frog spawn in the pond, the newly painted garden shed (with bunting) and the spring flowers and blossom trees..........

 ............the table filled with easter cakes and little daisy choosing one....in her other hand she held a red lead with molly (our little woolly dog) at the other end of it...........daisy and molly are very best friends...........

 ..................sarah's mini egg chocolate crispy cakes......one of my favourite treats.............

 ...............there are spring flowers everywhere this week...........pink tulips and hyacinths on the shelves.............pink tulips on the kitchen table............

 ..................and snippets of flowers from the garden being arranged in little glass bottles...........

 ..............the sun is peeking out again here today and we are going for a long walk soon followed later by a roast dinner.........

................thank you for all your kind and thoughtful easter wishes dear readers, and for visiting me here in my little blog space............wishing you a sunny spring week with lots of happy crafty times...............back soon........xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Spring Things

 Hello again lovely readers.....we have a spring filled post today.........i am happy to have lots of bellis daisies flowering here again.....i think they look so pretty with my crochet and other colourful makes..

 ...........we have mini eggs and tea in a hen decorated mug this week.......

 .............i am working on the spring green blanket now and will let you know the yarn details soon....

 ............below is the page from the little scrapbooky sketchpad that i work on whenever we visit the lake district, adding a new page or two while we are there.......this time i couldn't find the little book in time to take it with me so had to work in a bigger sketch pad and trim it down....i painted the primrose and speckled eggs but beatrix potter painted the bunny ;)......

 .................more beautiful bellis flowers on my new blanket..........

 .............and some pastel eggs and a china bunny...........just getting my easter decorations out and looking forward to the celebrations next weekend......

 ............pretty egg cosies for the easter breakfast table............i made these for this month's spring project in crafts beautiful magazine.........

 .............and was very excited to see they were featured on the cover of this issue.......you can find out more about the spring filled crafts beautiful here...........

 .........i have planted lots of seeds in the greenhouse ........waiting with great anticipation, i peer at them each day..........the cosmos came up almost at once :)..........i love these violas, such pretty shades and they are scented too............

 ..............and now, dear readers, it is time to announce the winner of last week's spring giveaway....

 .............a big thank you to everyone who took part in my latest giveaway and for all your very kind comments......i loved reading them all so much........x

.......the winner is betty at wood fairy..........congratulations to you betty and please email me your address so i can send your gifts to you..............we will have another giveaway soon i think as it was a lot of fun............x

........i took this picture yesterday in my eldest daughter's garden..........flowering spring shrubs against a pale blue spring sky........one of my favourite things.........wishing you all a wonderful week ahead with happy times and plenty of crafty inspiration...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Spring Giveaway!

 The sun is shining, lots of spring flowers are blooming and once again it is time for my springtime giveaway....each year i put together a few little gifts at this time of year to say a special thank you to all my lovely readers............

 .............there are four parts to the giveaway this time.......the first is a tiny sugar bunny handmade by me, with a pretty little skirt and a tiny cardigan made from lace weight angora yarn.......below are some of the ingredients for making this sugar bunny :) .......she was made from the pattern in my book pretty patchwork gifts and is half the size of the bunnies i usually make.....perfect to hang on the easter tree............

 ..............the second part of the giveaway was bought at hill top, beatrix potter's house in the lake district seen in the pictures below that i took on our recent trip there.............

 .............the gift shop at hill top was selling peter rabbit mugs personalised for hill top.....i just had to have one and i thought you might like one too..........2016 is 150 years since beatrix potter was born so there are lots of celebrations going on.......you can find out more about her wonderful lake district conservation work and her lasting legacy of paintings and children's books here.....

 .............the pictures below are of hill top when we visited there in summer 2012......there were roses and rabbits and a beautiful abundant garden to enjoy.........

 ..............the mugs are a lovely idea because you can buy them to personalise with children's names...

 .............the third and fourth parts of the giveaway are crafty ones....we always like to include something you can craft with and today there are some fabric covered buttons in spring green shades and some wonderful variegated dmc perle cotton which you can use for embroidery or to quilt with...you can also use it to tie tags onto gifts as it is nice and strong and looks pretty..........

 ...........the giveaway is open until sunday 20 march....just a short one this time so i can send your gifts before easter........it is open to everyone anywhere in the world.............

 ...............all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post.....and if you are a follower of this blog, or a follower on facebook, you are welcome to have a second chance by leaving me a second comment to tell me so :)............

 ...........this week i am doing patchwork, sewing, drawing and crochet.....also sowing seeds ready to grow in the greenhouse (so excited about this!) and making a couple more tiny sugar bunnies for our easter tree..............

 ..........today is the mildest, sunniest most spring like day we have had so far this year and the blossom is just beginning to open......such a gorgeous time of year.......

...........thank you for all your visits and kind comments dear readers......i will leave you with a picture of this sweet little wild primrose and with lots of good wishes for a happy week......good luck in the giveaway everyone :) ................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Country Days

 Here i am back again after a lovely refreshing few days in the country last week.......

 .........we stayed in a cosy cottage in troutbeck in the lake district............

 .........it was so wonderful to have time to rest, relax and reflect...........to walk among the beautiful peaceful scenery with my lovely mr p and molly the dog..........and to cosy up beside the log fire in the evenings and enjoy my books and crochet..............

 ............as always on these country breaks i did a little bit of painting too to add to my on going scrapbook of the country seasons............

 ............the fells all around were topped with snow which looked so beautiful especially against a blue sky..........below is a roof top view over the little town of windermere...........

 .............and here is a view of lake windermere with a background of snowy mountain tops and some cute perching gulls.............

 ............we walked a lot of country paths whatever the weather........

 ..............below is a view of tarn hows when it was still sunny...soon after the weather closed in and it became rainy and sleety.......we went to lots of tea shops after our walks for delicious cake......

 ...............we had a little drive over the kirkstone pass to see the snowy hills a bit closer.....

 ..........the hardy sheep there don't mind the cold at all............

 ................and now back in windermere and some bright and cheery tulips outside the pretty florist's shop there......

 ...............one of our favourite places is ambleside and here is one of the sweet little cottages there....

 ..............i brought a bunch of lakeland daffodils home with me and a new little set of bottles to display flowers....home again and lots of spring flowers have bloomed in our garden..........

 .............this week i am feeling inspired and have lots of new plans for crafting and creating.....next time i hope to have my spring giveaway ready too :)...............

................thank you so much for visiting me here in my little blog space dear readers.......and thank you for your kind comments which are such a joy to read..........wishing you a wonderful week with sunshine and spring flowers and plenty of crafty inspiration.........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx