Rose Season

Hello dear readers........happy last day of may........and welcome to my rosy post today......

......as you probably know, i love roses especially pink ones......and here is my heartstrings quilt in rosy pinks, along with a set of (old) cath kidston rosy pillow cases, a candy hearts cushion, a rosy eb mug....and some actual pink scented roses from the cottage garden..........

...........the roses are sceptr'd isle from david austin roses which have a gorgeous fragrance......

.............here they are below in the potting shed.........the cushion pattern and quilt pattern can be found in my etsy shop link in sidebar............

..........more sweet roses below.........these are cecile brunner and the first to flower in our garden each year.......they are small and sweet with tiny rosebuds........

.............here are some in my sewing room with my vintage charm quilt made from tilda scraps........

..........the lovely little striped strawberry mug holding the roses is from hogben pottery..........

...........simple patchwork with pretty appliqué roses.........and lots of bright florals......

...........freshly flowering is one of my birthday roses from last year...........

...............over the archway are these gorgeous clusters of white roses...........

............and soft pink against the blue sky we're back to these little pretties again........there are more roses in bud in our garden and i'll be capturing them and enjoying them for the rest of the season..........

...............thank you for dropping by lovely readers.............thank you for your kind words and messages.........wishing you a wonderful new month of june ahead and happy sunny flowery times......... take care lovelies............................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

Wild Flowers

Hello dear readers.........today's inspiration is floral.......since childhood i've loved wild flowers, and enjoyed identifying them.......when i grew up i studied textile design, including plant drawing, at art college and often drew and painted wild flowers for my work......

........i still love them and have plenty growing in my cottage garden..........i put some in my vintage tote bag for some pictures.......and then arranged them in this big crackle pot..........

.........cow parsley (or queen anne's lace, its prettier name) looks so pretty mixed with vetch, red clover and daisies....and some bright pink cranesbill..........

............vetch was one of my favourite wildflowers to draw and i often used the trailing stems and leaves in my designs.........there's a bit in the picture below along with a view of the vintage tote bag (pattern in my etsy shop link in sidebar).........

...........more flowers now.....with my recently finished hexagon flowers quilt..........this was begun on holiday last summer in suffolk and the fabrics and colours still remind me of that time and the little seaside towns of aldeburgh and southwold on windy sunny days.........

...........now the quilt is finished and both longarm machine quilted (by scrapbox quilting) and hand quilted (by me)...........

............as you can see i added red big stitch quilting round the flower shapes........

..........below is a work in progress picture........the pattern for the hexagon flowers quilt is also in my etsy shop link in sidebar.............

...........i love it when flowers self seed round our garden, like these sweet erigeron daisies......

...........love these delicate little daisies and the pretty mix of pink and white.......

...........and here is a little peek at some cottage garden foxgloves just about to flower among the lush foliage ......

 ...........thank you so much for coming to see me here dear blog friends and for your kind words.........wishing you a happy flowery sunny week ahead............take care lovelies...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Liberty Love

Hello dear readers.....today i'm sharing some liberty love...........liberty prints had my heart first when i was young.......

..........when i was an art student i collected pieces to sew skirts, long dresses and to make patchwork with.......it was possible to find remnants on some of the outdoor market stalls around manchester in those days which was good for impecunious students.......

.....now i buy liberty fabrics from online shops and etsy.......this is my little drawstring bag made in different colour ways of betsy, my favourite liberty print..... (the pattern for the dottie drawstring bag is in my etsy shop link in sidebar)......

...........sometimes new quilters ask how to make the squares line up accurately......and my advice is always press the rows in opposite directions so the seams 'nest' and pin at the corners .......i found this tip so useful when i first began sewing patchwork .......

.............some of my postage stamp pincushions made with liberty and solids, and quilted with big stitch quilting in matching thread.........

..............love the pink betsy colour way so much :)..........

...........next is a little baby quilt made of all liberty florals......it is very sweet and soft.......

............a close up of the pretty prints..........(the easy baby quilt pattern is in my etsy shop link in sidebar as before)..........

...........tiny scraps being saved.............

...........and some real flowers now with the first roses blooming in my garden this week.....rambling up over the trellis against the blue sky.........

............and here's the wisteria blooming too, it's scrambled round the back of the house since last year and is making a pretty floral, leafy frame around the landing window as you can see in this picture.......

.............thank you for dropping in to my little bit of blogland lovely readers............thanks so much for your comments and messages...always a pleasure to hear from you...............have a great week ahead and enjoy the merry month of may..............take care lovelies..................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

Heartstrings

Hello again dear readers........the past week has been all about quilt finishes, flowers and gardens.....

.......this is my latest heartstrings quilt made to celebrate 25 years of tilda fabrics......each heart features a tilda fabric from early designs to the latest jubilee collection........

......i've worked with tilda fabrics for many years, doing blog hops in the early days and always finding inspiration in the designs and colours.........it was fun to find so many different tilda fabrics to use in my stash......

..........the backing fabric is the beautiful bird print from the jubilee collection, and i made scrappy binding using jellyroll strips also from the jubilee fabrics.......

..........the quilt was hand quilted which i think suits the appliqué hearts so they can shine........

............it was fun to make this quilt and it brought back lots of memories of previous makes and favourite fabrics.....below is a little souvenir pincushion..........

............lots of sunshine in my sewing room this week........flowers and floral quilts in a stack......

.............the floral quilts give a very summery feel any time of year........

.........my treasured auricula are flowering again after being nurtured in the greenhouse, split and repotted and fussed over........

...........always a delight to me to see these sweet little flowers bloom.........

..........one last picture of my latest heartstrings quilt on the cottage garden gate (the pattern is in my etsy shop link in sidebar)........the last of the bluebells is in the foreground........sorry to see the bluebells finish but lots of exciting summer flowers are just waiting to bloom...............

..............thank you so much for dropping by lovelies.............and thank you for the kind comments and messages you leave me.....always a treat to hear from you.......hope you are enjoying happy sunny days................take good care................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

Easy Nine Patch Quilts

Hello dear blog friends.......sharing some work in progress pictures of my latest easy nine patch quilt top made in blue and white this time..........the fabrics are mainly blueberry delight from modafabrics but i added a few extras from my stash as well.......

..........the flowers are from the garden.......bluebells of course and minnow narcissus, big daisies and newly flowering soloman's seal..........

.........i'm loving the vintage modern feel of these fabrics and i always love nine patch blocks .....

..........it's been a great year for bluebells in our garden with many more popping up in all kinds of unexpected places........we have both english bluebells and spanish bluebells and i love them all.....

........the blue and white nine patch quilt top is now finished and in the to-be-quilted pile........

...........below is the red and white version made last year in bonheur de jour fabrics (also moda).......

.........the pattern for the easy nine patch quilt can be found in my etsy shop link in sidebar......

............this one is cosy and has a real vintage style.........

...........i used it a lot last year in my christmas decorating and photo shoots..............

..........meanwhile here is a picture of the cottage garden with its pretty spring flowers....one gorgeous pink tulip still blooming .........

..........and now it's lilac time too.........the nostalgic scent is so special and brings back so many memories.....and we had some lovely blue skies this week (on some days) and were able to sit in the warm sunshine yesterday...........

...........thank you for dropping by lovely readers and for your sweet comments and messages............wishing you a happy may with sunshine, flowers and crafty inspirations ........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx