Monday 28 September 2015

Autumn Inspiration

 We are having perfect autumn weather here at the moment...........golden days with chilly cosy nights........bright blue sky, sunshine, berries, fruits, butterflies (in autumn colours) and mushrooms and toadstools to discover on our woodland walks.....
 .................and here are some of my autumn inspired makes......a pumpkin pillow......
 ............and some fabric pumpkins.....these are projects from my new book *modern vintage gifts*.....
........i am pleased to tell you that all the templates in the book are the actual size for working from so no need to enlarge them in a photocopier :) ..................
 .............. this little mushroom pillow below is also from the book............*modern vintage gifts* will soon be published and can be pre ordered now from amazon, all good book shops or at stitch craft create online here........
 ...............my big box of projects arrived back from the publishers last week and i have been enjoying seeing them all again and arranging them in my home :) .........crafty wise as well as work commissions, i have been knitting my new moss stitch sweater....here is a peek at it........i have finished the back and have got about half way up the front now.......
 ............and here are some of the crochet wristies i made last year during one of my crochet crushes....
 ..............they are just perfect to wear at the moment when a bit of extra warmth is needed......
 ..............i have begun a new blanket of big granny squares inspired by the colours on the back of my mini granny square cushion shown in my previous post..........
 .............in my kitchen there has been some crumble baking with apples from my daughter's tree.....
 ..............and on my quilt cupboard door there is a new patchwork heart....part of my project in the latest issue of crafts beautiful magazine...it's the christmas issue this time so it is full of ideas for lovely festive makes to get ready for gifting this year............
 ................autumn colour is everywhere.............this is a view through one of our kitchen windows, with hydrangeas on the sill and a colourful creeper turning gorgeous russet shades on a sandstone wall outside...............
 ...............more little pumpkins......i am tempted to make some more in some of this year's favourite fabrics.........maybe tomorrow i will sew just a couple more .......
.................i hope you are enjoying some beautiful autumn days (or spring ones if you are reading this on the other side of the world) and wish you a wonderful week filled with crafty inspirations.....thank you so much for visiting me here dear readers and your kind comments which i always love to read.................happy autumn x...............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooxxxx

Monday 21 September 2015

Sweet September

 Here is the new mini granny squares cushion all finished and in use in my studio.......
 ..............and here is bea the garden bunny enjoying it too.............
 ..............i made the mini granny squares using lots of tiny leftover balls of yarn...........
...............and for the back i made a maxi granny square in some of the colours used in the front......
 ...........now i am thinking a blanket made from maxi granny squares might be very nice to make :).....

 ...........the colours of stylecraft special dk are wonderful for crochet, mixing together to blend and to contrast, and each person can choose their own favourite colour palette.........
 ................i found some bellis daisies this week which was a nice surprise....i went to the garden centre to buy some tulip bulbs for the cutting garden and a pot of pretty daisies came home with me too.........
 ..............crochet in progress...........clover hook matching nicely.......
 ...............and now the little cushion is finished and i will be looking for my next crochet project later today.............
 ..............below is the buttoned edge.........buttons from my stash...........
 .............i have been knitting my new moss stitch sweater this week too and will show pictures of it soon............earlier this year i knitted a little striped hat for my new grandbaby rhys..........here are some pictures of it as a work in progress, and here too is cute baby rhys wearing it in a picture that my daughter sent me last week............he can put his own hat on now....and take it off again too ;)......
 ...............at the moment i am working with some pretty new fabrics on a festive theme......these are from the little joys collection by elea lutz for penny rose fabrics......i think they are the sweetest christmas fabrics ever.......
..............thank you for visiting me here in my little blog space dear readers and for all your kind comments.............(you can also visit me on facebook now too if you would like to catch up with my crafty week there).............wishing you all a wonderful week and hope you are enjoying a sweet september...........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 14 September 2015

Home Sweet Home

 Now that summer is almost over and autumn days are here it's time for a tidy up around the house....
 ............besides getting out the quilts and crochet blankets ready for cooler times as the nights draw in i also have a lot of fabric to sort and fold and lots of art and design materials to reorganise from working on my new book.............
 .........i actually love this time of year....well, i love all the seasons in turn and the pleasures each one brings......but i love these autumn times when it can be perfect cosy crafting weather..........
 ................here are some pictures of my latest crochet project....mini granny squares using tiny leftover balls of yarn.............i am joining them together with the join as you go method.......

 ............they are so relaxing to make and i did some while chatting to the family this weekend....
 ...............i love the sight of bright red berries against a bright blue sky (almost as much as i love blossom against blue sky in the spring time)................
 ...........and i love all the home grown apples to be used for crumble and pies..........
............as well as crochet and quilting and patchwork being on my crafty agenda this season i have also started knitting myself a sweater............(below is my crochet knitting project bag :) )...........
 ...............i am using this new rowan yarn and the colour is called chalk........the pattern is a very simple one which i know fits me well and i am knitting it in moss stitch........hope to show you some of it soon :)...............
 ..............thank you so much for all your kind comments on my previous post, especially about my new book :)............for those lovely readers from the usa who asked, the book will be available on amazon usa early in november, i am told...............and *modern vintage gifts* is available for pre order at all good book stores and on amazon uk now and also here..............the publication date is october 30 and i will be having a giveaway nearer the time..................
 ................for now i am enjoying tidying up and organising my home as well as my autumn crafting.....and below is a little peek at my elder daughter sarah's new home sweet home......she and her hb and charlie and daisy moved house last week and have been busily home making...... sarah has been painting things in various shades of white and it is all looking lovely, surrounded by a garden full of flowers, and with a tree full of apples and a pond full of fish too :).............
...............off to do a bit more fabric folding now and then start a new design commission..........thank you so much for visiting me here dear readers...............wishing you all a wonderful week with happy homely crafty times..........................back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxx

Monday 7 September 2015

Pretty, Vintage and Crafty

 Here is my first copy of my brand new book, on the sunny table in my sewing room, along with a nice cup of tea and all ready for browsing :)..................i will be showing lots of the projects here soon but for now you can have some sneak peeks at the pretty pages here.................you can also celebrate a week of pretty vintage style (and read more about me) here..............
 .................here is my sunburst flowers granny squares blanket that i showed a little of in my previous post...................all finished off with a pretty shell border in stylecraft special dk colour sherbet.....
 ................i didn't use a pattern for this blanket, i just made lots of sunburst flowers (plenty of patterns to be found if you google them, and lots for shell borders too online).......................most of the yarn is stylecraft special dk from my stash...............
 ................i'm not planning on giving this blanket away as it is one of my favourites so far....but if i was it would look pretty in this stripy bag, don't you think?..............

 ................now i am having a busy sewing week in my (soon to be) tidied up sewing room.......
 ............with some hooky time in between of course..........i picked these pretty flowers for my sewing room............they smell gorgeous as there are scented roses, lavender and sweetpeas in there......

 ..............here they are on our garden table......so glad that mister p let me paint it white this summer :).........much nicer for taking pictures on now ;) ..................
 ................last week i had a treat when my dear younger daughter and her darling baby came to stay....baby rhys must be the merriest baby ever and we had a lovely time......we also had my older grandchildren here too one afternoon..............now baby rhys has gone home and charlie and daisy have gone back to school for the autumn term.......
 .................here we were painting tiny rocks that we brought back from our seaside holiday.....
............thank you for visiting my little blog space dear readers, and thank you for taking time to leave such sweet comments..........wishing you a wonderful week filled with happy crafty times......back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx