Warm and Bright

First of all..........Happy December Everyone!

 ..........these lovely bright flowers and berries were a present from my younger daughter rosie and her dh chris when they came to stay last weekend.......the vivid bouquet has been brightening the kitchen  beautifully and looks lovely in the glow of the fairy lights..........thank you for all the kind wishes for my husband's birthday, he was pleased to receive them and he did have a lovely time.............

 ............we have got the xmas decorations boxes down from the attic, and i have put up some lights and some candle bridges so things are beginning to look festive today...........

 .................i love the colours of this autumn blanket, begun last year and finished this year and inspired by the leaves and berries of autumn in the lake district...........lots of people asked about the pom pom or bobble trim......it is from clothkits and is very well made and robust......i just sewed the tape part on to the wrong side of the blanket border and it is wearing well, despite often being used by two small children and even occasionally one small dog..........

 ............the colours of the autumn blanket inspired me to make some wristwarmers...........

 ..............and the fabrics below are part of a new patchwork project i'm working on this week........

 ...............lots of bright warm colours to cheer up the grey cloudy days......though we have had sunshine too some days :)...........i showed my grandchildren how to make pom poms with the pom pom makers and they loved it so much it kept them absorbed for ages.....they took theirs home with them........charlie made an amazing orange and white one, and daisy made a sweet pink one :)

 .........because they were so keen on the pom pom idea i added four to the corners of charlie's stripy blanket.......he loved it, and daisy loved her sweet pea one which i showed two posts ago.....

 .............i made charlie a red, white and blue blanket....i have made this colour way before and knew he really liked it, reminding him of boats, the seaside and flags...........

 .............if the pom poms happen to fall off he can make some new ones as i am giving them their own pom pom maker as a little extra xmas gift ;)................

 .............i love all the bright berried plants around now too and wanted to get a picture of the holly tree that molly and i pass on our walk, but have discovered that it is hard to take photos while holding a small dog on a lead at the same time................maybe next week..........

 .............a little plant bringing the berries indoors...........and below is one of the baubles i've begun to unpack ready to dress the xmas trees.............always nice to see what is in the boxes again........

..............thank you for visiting me here in my little blog space dear readers, and for leaving such kind comments.............i wish you a warm and bright december and a happy cosy crafty week ahead......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Little Birdhouse

 It's a little bit wintry here, just a few degrees colder.........and a few festive things are appearing in my crafty space almost by magic.............

 ...........not actual xmas decorations yet, of course......it is much too soon for that ;) .........it is my husband's birthday at the end of november and about a week after that we begin to think about christmas...............i have been wanting to decorate a little wintry festive birdhouse and this weekend i found a bit of spare time to do so...............

 ................i had lots of red and white printed selvedge in my craft cupboard........and some rubber stamps and a soft red ink pad gave the effect i hoped for..................

 .............there are a few little decorations being made in my sewing room.........

 ................and little by little a few candles, lanterns, berries and red china are just popping up here and there..............

 ...........here are some of my crafty things from this week's projects all laid out neatly........

 ...........each of these has featured in my work in one way or another...........i have made some tiny things for work and for fun............the tiny pin cushion below has a vintage button sewn in the centre....

 ..............the little lavender scented heart with a red bell and button and a tape measure ribbon hanger will be a nice extra to go with a big chunk of French soap............

 ..................the picture below shows the red and white cross stitched and appliqued tea towels i made as my project for this month's crafts beautiful magazine available now......see more here..............

 ...............lots of red and white and some grey too..............below is my new winter's night reading treat.....a new persephone book....'because of the lockwoods' by dorothy whipple........

 .............today has been sunny as well as cold so far and molly and i have had a nice walk admiring the holly berries on the way...........now it is time to get on with some more work........perhaps a quick cup of tea first and a cinnamon cookie might be a good idea..............

.............thank you for your visit, lovely readers, and for your kind comments (and sweet emails too).........i hope you are enjoying these november days, with crafty, happy times and wintry inspirations...........keep cosy.................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooxxxxxxxxxx

Sweetpea Blanket

 It is always a good thing to get a large project finished and i was very happy to complete the sweetpea blanket this week :)..................

 .........this one seems to have taken quite a long time, probably because i was doing so many other projects at the same time..........this blanket is especially for my little granddaughter daisy and it has ripples of all her favourite colours.............the pattern is of course lovely lucy's neat ripple pattern here...........the yarn is all stylecraft special dk except the sugary pink which is stylecraft pearl dk...

 ...............as i often do, i sewed a bobble trim along the wavy edges in bright pink............

 .................i have not given this blanket to daisy yet as i want to finish off a stripy one for charlie first so they each have one...........one day every week i collect the children from school and bring them to my house for their tea and we play games or do some crafting...........it is a real treat to see them regularly as they grow so fast............

 ...............the last of the sweetpeas from this summer, in a seaside mug that i bought in beaumaris....

                                   ................my pom pom making crush continues...........

                     ..............i am thinking they would be a nice addition to small gifts.................

 ................this is some postage stamp patterned paper i bought ages ago which i have finally been able to allow myself to cut up..............it is perfect paper for small gift boxes, and the pom poms can be made to match or contrast too................

 ...........besides some crafty playing this week i have also been gardening with miss molly........the seed box filled with small cyclamen was a present from kind mr p...........i will plant the cyclamen in the garden when they finish flowering and then plant some seeds in the wooden seed box.........

 .................this little gardening set was a birthday gift in the summer from one of my sweet sisters and i am enjoying using it for my autumn gardening......the small dibber is perfect for planting tiny bulbs............we have planted up a lot of containers with bulbs this year but i am not planting the usual tulip patch this time...............last year's tulips were moved to some pots and to the box hedged bed by the potting shed, so we will wait and see what comes up next spring .........it will be a nice surprise................

 ...................this afternoon i will be working on a magazine project.............and then on a book project........and then on a bit of crochet.............

 .............my little pink painted tray filled with crafty bits and pieces is still very useful.....i had a tidy up of the sewing room this week as it was getting a bit crazy and i couldn't find anything under piles of fabrics and crafty items........i might take some pictures of it while it is tidy :)...........

..............thank you for coming to see me here, dear readers, i love your visits and your kind comments, and how fun it is to find new blogs as well as to hear from old friends too..........thank you all and i look forward to lots more blog visiting myself this week.................wishing you happy crafty times........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Crafty Colour

 It is bright and sunny here today but we have had our share of drab and dreary november days over the past week too.......and as always at those times i am so glad that  i work so much with colour in the form of paint, fabric and yarn...............

 .............i am still loving making these easy wrist warmers and playing with different colours for the stripes............the combination of pink and green stripes in this pair remind me of the colours on a favourite peruvian sweater i had years ago when my children were very young.........

                        ...............i wondered about adding a covered button to the cuff........

 ................or maybe some pom poms............i have been making these with the clever pom pom makers that i have in various sizes..............when i first got one of these clever little contraptions i did it wrong and ended up with just a heap of little bits of cut yarn...........but using it properly makes cute little pom poms very easily and making them can become a bit addictive...........

 ...............reminding me now of those 1950's children's cardigans knitted from cream wool with coloured flowers embroidered on them and two coloured pom poms dangling down from the top.....i would love one of those now..............

 ................wanting to play with brightly coloured yarn is why i learnt to crochet and i have had endless joy from the simplest of patterns.......my crochet knowledge is still rudimentary but it gives me the basics to play around with colour to my heart's content..........

 .................this week i have been sewing a colourful project for my book, and part of the 'work' for that involved sorting out some suitable buttons............i usually tip out the big jar so i can have a proper look through them...............other buttons are kept in smaller boxes and bags...........i must spend hours over the crafty year sorting through buttons to choose the right ones for a project and i often buy more when i see some i love.......

 ..................i took this picture of the pincushion just because i loved the colourful little pinheads catching the light.............still loving the little things here again this week ;)...........

 ...............i have been folding up the quilts and stashing the more summery ones away in the quilt cupboard while getting out the wintry ones to add to the crochet blankets for the chilly season......

 .............below is a quick picture of my desk where i will be working on some illustrations this week, drawing a project and some of the steps for it............i use a white china plate as my palette, and a big old well washed out pickle jar for my paint water..........good quality paper, pencils, pens, a good quality pointy new brush............that is all..........i lose myself when drawing just as i do making creative projects...........if i have left the dinner cooking i have to make sure i keep a timer near by.....

 .................more crochet in the evenings.............more pom pom making in the near future too i am sure............my little rosy churndash quilt is almost finished and i hope to show it to you soon......

                                                ................(maybe this button?)..............

............thank you for visiting me here lovely readers, and for your very kind comments too.........such a pleasure to hear from you and to be able visit you in return.......i do love this world of bloggers and getting to know so many other crafters and learning a little about their lives, homes and makes..............wishing you all a very happy, crafty, colourful week...........keep cosy......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx