Pretty Things

Summer is here and it's time to take it easy and do a little bit of pretty hand sewing.....using some wonderful (but in parts damaged) old embroidered linens and making sweet lavender hearts.....with added vintage buttons...

 .....i love to see what there is in my button box that i can add to a new project.....sometimes i find just the kind i want, like this ivory coloured flower button.......

....my love of buttons is well known in cross stitch circles :) I have been adding them to my work for many years and  love to collect them, both vintage and new, including handmade decorative ones and bright colourful ones...

.....i bought this beautiful necklace from emma at silverpebble recently...i couldn't resist the sweet vintage mother of pearl buttons interspersed with tiny found objects like glass flower beads, a carved bone bead, and pressed glass button....such tiny treasures ...... emma is having a giveaway at the moment so you could win one of her delightful necklaces too if you pop over here...........

 ....when i received my parcel i was so thrilled to find that emma had also included this delightful little piece of vintage petit point embroidery and some beautiful cream cotton lace...how kind and thoughtful, thankyou so much emma......

 .....pretty flowers picked this weekend from my newly planted cutting patch....everything is growing happily now that the sun is shining again and the first roses are beginning to open on the climbers so i'll be snipping some of those later to enjoy indoors too................

 ......if you have been a reader of this blog for a while you will have heard me mention janet bell before.....i love her paintings and visit her gallery in beaumaris on the isle of anglesey every summer when my hb sails in the regatta there.....janet is one of the few bloggers i have actually met.... i have so much of her work in my house i could almost open my own shop :)..... this picture of beaumaris hangs in the bedroom usually but i moved it to a brighter place for a photo.....on the right you can see the new tea towels janet sent me featuring her sweet seaside print....i will show you more of these later as i am going to make something patchworky with them....
....the reason i am mentioning this today is that janet has just come back to blogging again after a long break....she had a new baby and painting break and we missed her very much....janet's was one of the first blogs i read regularly and she is a lovely lady and very talented ...i know she would love it if you visited her here............

 

...........this weekend has been amazingly hot here...we go from one extreme to the other......so i am going to spend the rest of the day outdoors, reading old letters in the shade and sipping tea..........

.........and sewing some more buttons onto my little handmade heart.........i hope you are having a lovely weekend too....and that you have a happy week ahead.....(i will be busy baking the jubilee cakes this week and hanging up the red white and blue bunting)........thank you so much for visiting me here............back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kitty Cushions and Crochet

A while ago i was delighted to be contacted by Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to design a kitty cushion for crafty cat lovers to make for the homeless cats and kittens regularly brought in to Battersea, especially at this time of year........the cushion can be made from any scraps of fabric, there is a cute kitty template and full instructions are available to download from the Battersea website here.........

 .......my  current red white and blue theme influenced me here as you can see......but the kitty cushion can be made  in any choice of fabrics or colours that you like..........

 ..........i like the idea of a pink floral background, a pretty blue ditsy applique kitty, a simple patchwork background or  bold stripes.....all work equally well, and with the added padding and tiny bit of quilting the little cushions will provide a comfy place for the kittens to sleep while they wait for new loving owners....and then the cushion can go with them to their new home in the base of  their kitty carrier too.....

....so if you feel like doing a bit of sewing and would like to help in the kitty campaign do pop over to the Battersea website and read all about it there........Battersea do such wonderful work and never turn away a homeless dog or cat.........

 .....i just had to include this adorable kitty peg here which i love....it came from clever fee at chipper nelly.......

 ........i found this kitty card in amongst the vintage cards from granny's attic.....love the 3d effect .....

 ..............and some crochet at last....i finished the jubilee cushion.....it was fun seeing it completed in time for the jubilee....though i'm not sure the blanket will be......

 ..........i've made this blanket a wide one so the progress is slower, but i'm loving making it and even had the chance to do some of it in the sunny garden at the weekend :) ......granny stripes are my favourite crochet thing just now....but i have some new granny square ideas simmering too........

............and as i knew i would be doing a kitty post i had a little look in the farmer's wife quilt book a week or two ago to see if there was anything suitable...oh yes....two sweet blocks in fact...the one on the left is called cats and mice and the one on the right is called puss in the corner.....and would you believe the fabrics i used for them and for the kitty cushions are from the delightful collection called...Pam Kitty Morning :) (i only realised that afterwards).........so now i am off to water my flowers as it has been warm and sunny here today......thank you for dropping into my little bit of blogland, it's lovely to see you....have  a wonderful week....back soon xxxxxxxxx

Spring Potting Shed

How lovely it has been to spend some time in and out of the potting shed and the garden this weekend, after such a chilly spring so far, and after days and days of rain drenching the garden.......everything looks very green and fresh now when the sun shines.........

........i found a wonderful old plant and seed catalogue in granny's attic last weekend, complete with hand written planting lists in spidery old hand writing.......and i  also found this set of flower cards which i just had to photograph too......

        ..............we found lots of sets of cards with different themes which are games of various kinds...........

 .........i have planted up the spring and summer pots for the garden now, and they've had a nice soaking with rain so no need to bother about the watering can or hose here ;) the bottom right picture shows some of the zinnias i potted on and put outside to harden off in the daytime, only i forgot to take them in one night and a sneaky snail had a good time eating the lower leaves....i've been nursing them ever since and now they look much better....

 ...........no need to fill up the bird baths either......they are brimful with rain water....the bluebells seem to love the damp though the blossom often looks very bedraggled.........my little grandbaby daisy wishes so much she could just pick up those little birdies off the side of the bird bath but they are stuck fast ...........

 ........lovely lilac, so sweet and such a delicious colour, i always love seeing it with the fresh green leaves too.....

 .........and yes, we have a flowery farmer's wife quilt block for today's post...this is called wild rose and square and i liked making it and the effect of the pointed petals...the little vintage bears just had to be in this picture...there were only two of them, pink and green, and i think and they must have been waiting there for me....i found them in a small child's desk which had belonged to mr p once upon a time when he was a small boy :) i have brought the little desk home with me and am going to paint it soon.........

 

........one more picture of these beautiful peonies........they are my new flower craze for this summer.....i think they look stunning in all the different shades......i hope we have a little more sun and a little less rain in the coming week so the garden flowers have a chance to really bloom...............
.....thank you for popping in here today, it's so lovely to see you.....thank you to everyone who reads my blog, follows me or leaves me sweet comments, i do love them and read them all and always try to visit you in return .......wishing you all a wonderful week with sunny days, sweet flowers and happy times.........back soon xxxxxxxxxxx

Jack Rabbit

 This is little jack rabbit, a new bunny for our collection, this time with a slight vintage feel......i had already made him but not finished his outfit when we discovered the toys in granny's attic last week......and i found this very sweet old fourth birthday card with a similar bunny illustration on it.........

                                     ........happy little jack, with lots of new old toys to play with..............

 ...........and  what a happy jack rabbit with new old blocks to play with underneath the union jack bunting........the beautiful vintage style blocks are of course from the delightful chipper nelly here.......

 .............i made the little blue jacket from felt and then added applique patches made with rubber stamps on scraps of fabric with bondaweb ironed on the back.....i ironed them on to the felt and added a few little stitches too..........

 ............the buttons are vintage linen ones from a card found in granny's attic......the little suitcase and london bus belonged to mr p, and so did the lovely little cart below..........it can be wound up at the back to play a tune....it seems very old but no one knows where it came from...........

 ........i am already fond of jack, he seems a cheery kind of a rabbit and i think he will enjoy this summer's special celebrations over here in old blighty :-)

 ......many months ago i was commissioned to design this jubilee sampler by world of cross stitching magazine ...at the time it seemed such a long way off, but it's out now in the shops :-)....you can find more crafty cross stitch here..............

..............some cakes i made this week, i love the little flags and the cupcake cases are (pretend) printed pound notes...they come in blue or red......i have to admit i am loving all the red white and blue and i'm also mixing it in a little with some other colours for new makes......
........thank you for all your comments and emails on my last post, it was so lovely to be able to share the vintage things i found with other bloggers and hear about their own experiences and thank you too for the kind words about my sweet mother in law.......
.......wishing you a wonderful crafty week, hope the sun shines and the birds sing and all is happy where you are....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Granny's Attic

Last sunday we decided was going to be the day for starting to clear out granny's attic....and as the rain had set in for the day it seemed like a good decision.......my lovely mother in law died a few years ago, and my father in law a few years before, but my hb's auntie has been living in the house since then and only recently has moved to a suitable flat.....so now the sorting out has begun for us.......

 .......so many memories..... i bought a special box last week to store the letters and cards that we want to keep and to treasure....on sunday we found lots of wonderful old toys ....mr p was delighted to revisit his childhood memories though some of the toys are older than him so must have been passed on through family or friends...

....i love the patterns and illustrations on these tin toys.....the spinning top, the sweetie tin, a little tank which rolls over and over when wound up, and a wind up musical box ......i really love all these!

..........there are lots of pieces of china too, like the rosy ones in the top picture which look nice on my dresser along with my new ck set , they all blend in so well.....my mother in law was a really sweet and kind person, everyone loved her and lots of the old letters show that too....she loved people, animals (especially dogs), and flowers...lots and lots of flowers....she liked to put tiny posies around the house and i like to do the same.....

 ....clearing out a house of our parents' generation usually means finding a lot of cutlery, especially sets of fish knives and forks....every one had them in those days.....along with lots of other unidentifiable items of cutlery...a piece for every possible use it seems....i have had the silvo out to polish some of them up, and will share them out with our girls to keep and use if they'd like to..........lots of pretty embroidered napkins too :)..........

 .............there were so many wonderful vintage and retro cards that as a designer of surface patterns it was quite a treasure trove for me......below is a classic rose card.....but when opened up.............

            ......it has a whole paper engineered 3d bouquet of roses looking so bright and fresh still..........

..........we are about half way through getting the attic cleared out, so still lots to do next weekend........

.......i had a look in the farmer's wife quilt blocks to see if i had anything to fit in with today's theme of granny's attic....and i found this one....it's called attic windows :)
..........thank you for calling in to see me here today, it's lovely to see you, and thank you to my lovely new followers too...........i hope you have a wonderful week and that the sun comes out for you :) back soon xxxxx