Cups, Saucers and Quilts

 I have been having a lovely time recently rediscovering lots of my favourite old china pieces while sorting out cupboards and de cluttering...........seeing some of these pretty vintage patterns reminded me of the tilda fabrics i've been working with..........

 ...............and i enjoyed taking photos of them together......

 ............the quilt blocks in the background here are from my scrappy nine patch blocks.....

 ..............and most of the china was either given to me as a gift from family and friends, or inherited from loved ones......so they have lots of memories attached to them......some were thrifted too....

 ..............it is always nice to rediscover pretty things at the back of a cupboard and i hope to find a better way to display these treasures............

 .............a pretty plate below...........i used to design patterns for china as the training i had at college was for all surface pattern though mainly textiles......i was happy to design for any product when i was making my way as a freelance designer and have done lots of different things over the years (none of the ones shown here though!!)............

 ..............love that pretty teal blue plate with the tilda fabric.....

 ............the quilt here is a real pleasure to slowly piece together......

 ................i am sewing the nine patch blocks together by hand...perfect for movie watching sewing.....

 ............and then later i join the plain white squares and the nine patch blocks into rows by machine....

 ...........to produce this...............a scrappy irish chain quilt looking fresh and summery....

 ............just loving making this, along with lots of other projects too........am feeling very inspired and energised at the moment :)............the intense heat has gone for now and we've had cooler, rainy and fresher weather....i hope the sunshine comes back soon though :).............

................thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for your very kind comments......i will be taking a little blog and facebook break next week (but you can still find me on instagram) but will be back as usual the following week......wishing you all a happy time in the meantime....enjoy your sunny summer days and your crafty inspirations.......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Poppies and Daisies

 Hello lovely readers...i hope your week has begun well.........here it is hot and sunny again :)...

 ............and i have been looking through my old artwork and doing a bit of drawing again for a new project......poppies and daisies are the main flowers of interest for this design......

 .............flowers have always been an inspiration for me and i've always loved the bright round faces of poppies.....

 ..........i always love to photograph poppy and daisy meadows and never tire of the sight of so many flowers growing in abundance like these.............

 ..........in my own garden poppies seem to come and go......for a long time we had huge ornamental poppies and they vanished eventually..........a friend gave me some of her poppy heads a couple of years ago and the seeds i scattered then have popped up here and there.........especially next to the sweet pea wigwam.........

 .............beautiful poppy fabric designed by the artist janet bell that she gave to me a few years ago and i made into summer cushions..........

 .........and in my (best) flower bed the poppies are opening daily, lots of different sizes and shades all from a packet of seeds............

 .............my de cluttering is proceeding slowly....thank you for your advice last time...i am keeping the birdhouses (all of them) as i do need them ;).......sorting out a basket of patchwork blocks led to me making some new pincushions ( i love making these so much and love having lots of them)....this block is the rising sun block and i think it makes  a cute little pincushion.....

 ............such lovely summer moments....playing in the garden, checking to see what is growing and flowering today....and here is my birdhouse bunting hanging in the potting shed ( it is a project from my book pretty patchwork gifts and you can also download the pattern for this from the sew and so website)...........

...........thank you so much for visiting me here dear readers and for leaving such kind comments.......wishing you a wonderful week with flowers and sunshine and plenty of happy crafty times.................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In My Garden

 We finally have rain here and the garden is enjoying a nice long drink after the drought......

 ............today is cool and grey after weeks of bright blue skies and sunshine.....i decided it was time to gather together some of the garden photos i've been taking recently and put them into a post....

 ...........the roses didn't last nearly as long this year, flopping quickly after flowering and dropping their petals in a shower of confetti...........still beautiful though short lived......

 ...........we did some watering but can't water everywhere in this garden......the bees and butterflies are fluttering about in abundance........

 ............today would have been my sweet mum's birthday......above is the white punch bowl she gave me, filled with garden flowers and below is one of the doves that came from her garden......

 ............i have tidied out the potting shed (such hot work) and chased out all the spiders for now...

 ............sorting things out and decluttering is back on my agenda...we are going to have some decorating done soon and i need to move stuff about and get rid of some things.....

 ...............i love pottering in the garden on the balmy evenings we've been enjoying.....

 ..............my plants always surprise me and some pop up unexpectedly while others disappear completely......our garden never sticks to the plan but we enjoy it anyway....

 ..........de cluttering a cupboard last week i found all these birdhouses so hung them up in the eleagnus tree.........not sure if i 'need' these or not, if they will be useful as props...or if they 'spark joy'...de cluttering is sooo hard............

 ...............gardening is very tiring in the heat so we haven't done a lot of weeding lately....

 ............love these pretty daisies which i bought on a visit to cholmondely castle a couple of years ago....there they were self seeding down some pretty steps and i've been waiting for my plant to do that here...this year they have just begun to spread.....

..............tumbling roses, and a tilda tumbler cushion on the gothic bench.........can you see how parched and crispy the grass looks?..........we've had such a heatwave.......not sure if it's coming back but for now a cooler day and plenty of rain is refreshing us all.............

............thank you for visiting me here dear readers and for leaving me such kind comments......wishing you a happy week ahead whatever the weather where you are ...................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sunshine and a Little Quilt

 More sunshine ALL week....we are getting used to this new way of life here and to always eating al fresco, leaving out the cushions at night because it just isn't going to rain (not normal in the uk usually!!) ........some day it will end but for now we are enjoying it (except for when it gets too hot for me and i have to retreat to the coolest bits of our victorian house....

 .............the little cot quilt is all finished, quilted and bound.....

 ...........little quilts make lovely baby gifts.....you can also add a tiny nightlight or make a scrappy fabric jingle bell ball.............

 ..............i loved hand piecing this little quilt so much...it was my evening sewing project for a while and very relaxing to do.........

 ............it was quilted by hand too.........love making little quilts and minis at the moment...

 .............this one is going on the cot here ready for a certain precious visiting baby......

 ...........the fabrics are a big mix of scraps from many collections.....

 ....i finished the top with a strip of minick and simpson fabric from a jelly roll.....

 ..............and used a favourite pam kitty morning floral for the backing..............

 ..............at last my sweet peas are flowering even though they have not grown very tall.....

 ............last week was my birthday on july 4....i had a lovely day and hope all my lovely american readers enjoyed their july 4 celebrations too........

.............celebrating with strawberries (a lovin' spoonful) and dear family...cake and flowers and garden days.....and still that sunshine...what could be nicer?.............

.............thank you for your visits here dear readers and for your sweet comments.......it is always a pleasure to hear from you....have a wonderful july and a happy week ahead with plenty of crafty inspirations ..........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx