Garden Notes

 A garden posy on my worktable to begin today's post..........after a week of sunshine and high temperatures, today we have had rain and the garden is glad of a nice cool drink.......

 ...............here is a view of our garden with the tree that my grandchildren love to climb in and sit on the low branches......

 .............this is my project in the new issue of crafts beautiful magazine out now....a decorated garden notebook and some pretty seed packets (below)....you can find out more here.............

 ..............for years we've had this beehive composter tucked into the cutting garden...i often show it on here as regular readers know.....and for years i've been telling people that no, it's not a real beehive and no, we don't have bees...........well we do now!!.............some wild honey bees have moved in and are busy buzzing in and out and round the garden gathering pollen from the flowers....quite an exciting and special thing to happen as we love to encourage wildlife in the garden..........

 ........(the bumblebee pincushion is from the tilda bumblebee blog hop in january........i am using it now in my sewing room ...)

 .................this is the new little arbour also called the sun downer seat as it catches the last rays of sunshine each evening so is the perfect place to sit for a cool drink at the end of the day.....the flower bed next to it has been replanted and is now beginning to grow and spread out...more pictures coming as it develops.....

 ..............and the flowery wreath quilt top is finished........i added butterflies to it.....

 .................lots of butterflies appliqued onto the blocks and fluttering around the borders...........

 ..............it is being long arm quilted at the moment so i hope to show you it finished very soon now.....below is my greenhouse this week, just to keep the pink theme.....

 ................the wisteria has been just gorgeous this year....we bought it only a few years ago and luckily we bought a scented variety (some of them aren't we have discovered)....the scent of this one is a bit like phlox and a bit like sweetpeas..........

 ...............one more garden picture.....the pink daisy pot and the iron bench..........

 ................and the roses......just beginning and i'm just picking a few each day......

.............thank you for visiting me here lovely readers and for your kind comments...........i will be taking a blogging break next week as we will be away.......staying in a grade II listed cottage deep in the countryside and visiting some beautiful well known gardens..........we are so looking forward to a nice rest and break but i will take lots of pictures to share when i get home..............have a happy time in the meantime everyone..............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

May Gardening

 Here is a peek at the potting shed this week........there is a lot going on in the garden at the moment with plenty of things to do, like potting up the geraniums for the bright summer displays.......

 ..............of course there is a huge amount of weeding to do too and we have been working on that over the weekend....but mostly i love to potter between the greenhouse and the potting shed....

 ..............taking pictures and faffing with the things that seem to collect all by themselves there....

 .............there are lots of pink flowers to enjoy at the moment...and a pink patchwork cushion made for a magazine project a while ago..........i'm working on a patchwork magazine project again this week and loving it........

 .............the little terracotta pots are ones that belonged to grannie (my lovely mother in law) and i use them for displays as well as to put small plants in....each one is a slightly different quirky shape and they are very old and special to me................

 ........these bellis daisies were crammed into an old blue and white bowl and they seem to like it...

 ............and of course there is some garden inspired sewing to show you today too......

 ..........i have finished one of my two four patch garden quilts and this one is now in the pile ready to go to my lovely long arm quilter............i love the fabrics which are almost all pam kitty morning and lecien ones............they are so pretty and the pkm garden catalogue text print smothered in roses is a great way to evoke the garden feeling i think..............

 ................here are just a few pictures but i will show more when this has been quilted and bound...

 ............i look forward to using this one a lot...........

 ...............now i am back working on the floating four patch version and think the two will look pretty together eventually............one more picture now.......

 .............and finally here is a picture of our wisteria which grows at the back of the house, on the house and on a trellis fence which encloses the patio...........we are thrilled with how quickly this wisteria has grown and just love the flowers, the colour and the delicious scent.........

...............thank you for your visit here dear readers..............it is so nice to see you here and your kind comments are such a joy to read...........wishing you a happy week with sunshine and flowers and crafty inspirations too................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flowers and Hexagons

 My latest english paper pieced project is a hexie quilt, as i mentioned a couple of posts ago, using lots of blue fabrics..............

 ................when i began this project was thinking of making lots of hexagon flowers and joining them all together with white hexagons in between.......then i decided to make a larger central medallion with rings of blue hexagons interspersed with rings of white.......

 ............i will use the hexagon flowers for the border.........

 ...............i bought some more blue fabrics after a little browse online.......

 ..............these are from the wonderful pretty fabrics and trims.............

 ................i do love my hand sewing projects even though i have grown to love machine piecing now as well..... these  hexies are a pleasure to sew......the first patchwork i ever did was using hexies.....

 ..................below is a picture of the next round of scrappy blue hexies being auditioned....i think i have been inspired by the big trip around the world quilt which i have just finished (and which is in the pile to go to the long arm quilter right now)......

 .............i am calling this new hexie quilt my bluebell quilt........the bluebells have been amazing this year and are only just coming to an end ..............here's a jar full in my potting shed last week......

 ...............we had the most glorious sunny warm weather all week and my husband took a day off so we could go and enjoy the beautiful gardens at dunham massey......here are a few pictures of the blooms and blossoms there...........the bluebell woods were filled with scent and birdsong and the spring flowering shrubs and masses of tulips were a joy to see.............

 ...................below is a little picture taken outside my potting shed last week...........

 ...............i feel very lucky to work at home so on lovely days i can sometimes take my crafting into the garden.....here is my project in june's issue of crafts beautiful magazine......a card for father's day (or suitable for a birthday) with a jaunty nautical theme........

 ..................this week i am making a felt project (top secret for now!!)...and chain piecing my two four patch quilts....and adding more hexies to my bluebell quilt......so i'd better get on then......

................thank you for dropping by lovely readers, and for your kind comments which i always love to read.......wishing you all a wonderful week ahead with happy crafty times.......back soon xxxxxxxx

May Makes

 My may making time has already been busy and filled with lovely new fabrics which have inspired so many ideas of things i want to make............the first thing i made with the new tilda circus fabrics was this little pincushion............

 .............making something small at first helps me overcome the initial reluctance to actually cut into the new fat quarters of pretty fabrics......these were from sew and so........

 ...............below is a picture of my work table with the ingredients of a new project about to be made.....

 .............a patchwork drawstring bag made from tilda circus fabrics, and including a few older ones from my stash too.......

 .............love the reds and blues especially............and i found some lovely wool felt pom poms from blooming felt to match ............

 .............the ribbon is from dotcomgiftshop...........i bought a reel of it a while ago just because i liked it and knew it would be useful one day.....

 ..............the bag will be used as a project bag (by me)....handy to take out with me and keep all my sewing or crochet things safe............

 ...............below is my studio chair, the little fire which is not needed at the moment as it has been quite warm here, and my red and white bunting which i found in a box while tidying up......

 .................below is the little bag hanging up on my big cupboard........this is built into an alcove in the studio and it houses lots of my crafty stuff ..........

 ................even sweet doll has a new tilda dress this week.....my grand daughter daisy loves to play with the dolls and bunnies here and dresses them up in each others' clothes............

 ................i will leave you this week with pictures of the flowers i picked for the weekend.....

 ................our garden is full of bluebells this year and lots of pretty tulips too....these photos were on instagram first but i wanted to show them to my blog readers who aren't on ig too :) ......

.................thank you for dropping by to see me here dear readers and for you kind comments.......it is always a pleasure to hear from you............wishing you a very happy week ahead with plenty of  crafty inspiration and sunny days....................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx