Autumn Days

 Hello again everyone.....here i am on a very autumnal day in the uk.......all the trees are turning into their autumn colours and there is a golden misty feel to the air............

 ............i have made a new red rosy pumpkin this weekend to add to my fabric pumpkin collection made in previous years (the easy pattern is in my book modern vintage gifts)........

 ..........i've also been sorting out my red and white patchwork quilts and cushions ready for the new season............

 ...............and painting this cupboard which came from my husband's family home and has been at his aunt's flat for a few years......now it has arrived here and i painted it in farrow and ball wimborne white...........it is going to be so useful for storage and brings back happy memories for us...........

 ..............some of my red and white collection....hope to keep adding more over the coming season....

 .............and here are the garden party girls..........twin bunnies dressed in liberty betsy fabrics and wearing knitted cardies to keep them cosy.........they are my project in the september issue of.......

 .............the beautiful and inspiring australian homespun magazine...............

 ..............the magazine is available in shops throughout australia and digitally on zinio, google play and apple newsstand...........i love a nice new inspiring magazine to read with a hot cup of tea........x

 ...............i love reading books too especially at this cosy time of year........

 ..............some pictures of this weekend's walk.............the common a few minutes from our house is covered with soft purple heather at the moment............and there are bright fruits and berries on the trees and bushes...........

 .................the dahlias below came from the greengrocer's shop.......they were locally grown.....someday i will have lots of dahlias in my garden too...........these flowers make me think of fireworks................

 ...............looking forward to finishing off some works in progress this week......a crochet blanket, some work design projects and getting lots of quilt blocks made.......plenty to keep me busy on these autumn days.............

................thank you for dropping by lovely readers and for taking the time to leave me kind comments.............wishing you happy days with lots of crafty inspirations.............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Summer's End

 Here i am with a little bit of a catch up post today.......first i want to show you these lovely fabrics...

 ..............this is the rockpool collection by the talented jodie carleton of ric rac.......

 ............jodie kindly sent them to me  and i absolutely love sewing with them........

 ..............the fresh clean coastal colours are a real delight to work with and i love all the seaside motifs and textures captured in the prints...........it is a theme dear to my heart and i look forward to using up every scrap of this line in lots of makes......

 .............below is a work in progress on my sewing table right now......the rockpool collection is available now from ella blue fabrics...........

 ...........we had some happy times this summer, both exploring the english countryside and enjoying days at the coast too...........i love being beside the sea.....regular readers of mine probably already know that :)......

 ..............and now summer is at an end and the wind is blustering around out house, the leaves are falling and the air is chilly..........

 ............i have finished this little crochet blanket at last and it will be very useful now too.....

 .............granny squares joined together with the join as you go method and surrounded by a border of granny stripes...........lots of pinks and greens and some bright red for contrast.......most of the yarn is stylecraft special dk............

 ............i took the picture below this morning when i started to work in my studio and lit the fire.....molly came in and took up her favourite place in front of it and we had a cosy morning together ..........

 ...............below is a picture of one of our weekend walks......a rather wistful autumn view.....i know many people find autumn a sad time....one of endings..........but i like to think of it as one of new beginnings and fresh starts............cosy times and homely days............

..............thank you so much for visiting me here dear readers and for all your lovely comments.......wishing you a happy cheerful autumn (and to my friends on the other side of the world enjoy your beautiful springtime!)............more crafty things to come next week.........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tilda Harvest and Sewing By Heart Blog Hop

 Hello again...welcome to my stop on the tilda blog hop today....i am so happy to be taking part in showcasing the beautiful new harvest fabric collection.....

 ............the fabrics are a wonderful mix of colours and patterns....with a modern vintage feel in gingers, plums, purples, soft greens and blues inspired by shades of heather, autumn leaves, clear blue skies and frosted foliage.............

 ..........the main project i wanted to make was a cushion....i am slowly making a collection of tilda fabric cushions to display all together on a new sofa in our home....all the tilda fabric collections work beautifully together for a rich and varied effect.......

 ..........my design was inspired by my applique lollipop flowers and i realised the new cabbage flower print was perfect for fussy cutting for this design......i made a slightly bigger version and added some butterflies here and there, both stitched down and fluttering free.......

 ..............i quilted the cushion top in simple straight lines and then finished it off with some extra ric rac and pom pom trim, some fluttering butterflies and a tiny bow.....i love adding extra embellishments here and there to my patchwork makes.....

 ...........the bird tree print is one of my favourites and i made a heart shaped scissor keeper with this in the lilac colour way.....

 ............and a squashy flower pin cushion from the pretty autumn rose lilac print was perfect to put in the top of this greengate latte cup.......

 ............my final make (so far....there will be a quilt too soon) with these gorgeous prints was a little set of lavender sachets...these fabrics are just perfect for this project and i had lots of lavender that i've been recently drying from the garden.....

 ............you can browse the lovely fabrics and order the harvest collection here...........

 ............some little close ups below.....i have been using butterflies in my work since art college days (a zillion years ago).....as a student i drew flowers all the time and often added butterflies, bees, ladybirds and tiny birds to them....i stitched them too and made tiny machine embroidered gardens with three dimensional flowers and butterflies flying above......the softly textured tilda fabrics make perfect butterfly wings...........

 ..............and more exciting news is that there is a brand new beautiful tone finnanger book to be released on september 29 too.......i was lucky to have an early peek at it as a pdf online and 'sewing by heart' is just lovely...filled with over 20 gorgeous projects including sewing, patchwork, applique and quilting....there are quilts, toys and accessories all designed with that true tilda charm and style.........such an inspiring book with beautiful photography, clear instructions and full size templates........find it for pre order here...........

 ................remember to visit sew and so to find the other stops on the blog hop (tomorrow it is the turn of my lovely blog friend jooles of sew sweet violet).........

...............thank you for visiting me here dear readers and thank you too for all the lovely comments you leave me .........i'll be back as usual next week with a crafty catch up.....wishing you all a happy september with bright autumn days (or spring ones if you are on the other side of the world) and plenty of crafty inspirations...................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Flowery Wreaths: a Finished Quilt

 It's always nice to finish a project and then have someone crafty to share it with:)......so i am very happy to share the new flowery wreaths quilt here in my little space with my crafty friends today...

 ...........those of you who read my blog regularly will probably remember this quilt as a work in progress......below is one of the pictures i took as the applique shapes were being cut out to make the wreaths...........each one uses the same shapes but arranged a bit differently........

 ...............i liked making this and choosing the different backing fabric for each block....

 .............the shapes were applied using fusible web and then stitched round by hand with blanket stitch and matching thread........peaceful work perfect for the evenings........

 ............i chose a check backing and binding and plain kona cotton in pink for the sashing.....

 .............and it was longarm quilted for me by the lovely debbie holland here.......we are both loving twirls and curls at the moment and this one is our favourite sticky buns pattern.......

 .............all the family use the quilts i make and i love having them around the house....quilts often feature in my pictures as well as in actual quilt photo shoots..........

 .............this one has my little grand daughter daisy's name on it......she loves pink and has a real sense of joy in colour just like i have (and my daughters too)......

 ..................here is lolly the bunny still wearing her sundress, but glad to have a cosy quilt nearby too.....

 ..............and here are a few real flowers..........always my inspiration and endless source of pleasure...

 ...........the sweetpea plants are still producing gorgeous blooms but i know their days are numbered now...better enjoy the scent and colour while we can.....

 ................a simple jug of flowers from the garden............happy to have cosmos and snapdragons flowering well too and to add them to my sweetpea posy............

..............thank you for dropping by dear readers and sharing some crafty times with me.......and for leaving me such sweet comments...next week i am taking a little blog break but will be back the week after that as usual............wishing you a wonderful time in the meantime with sunny days and plenty of happy crafty inspirations.....................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx