April Days

 Happy new week dear readers...............i can't believe that april is almost over.......such a lovely month.......this little pentagon ball made from tilda apple butter fabrics is my project in the latest issue of crafts beautiful magazine..........

 .............it is part of a project which also has a little cross stitched matching card.....and below is a peek at the magazine page..............

 .................meanwhile at the start of the week the weather was glorious and i took lots of garden pictures while i was out there weeding and planting.....

 ............including these of my heartstrings quilt............

 ............love the picket fence my hubby made me in the autumn........and love seeing the flowers growing up around it now.............

 ............however, after our few gorgeous sunny days we suddenly had a huge storm....the full experience of gale force winds and lashing rain...........lots of the tulips lost their petals and lots of blossom was dashed to the ground as well as young leaves off the trees............

 .............the daisies were ok though :)..............and the seedlings in the greenhouse were too........here is the seed tray we brought back from our visit to the beautiful garden at great dixter now growing lots of cosmos seedlings.........

 ............so while it rained and blew outdoors at the weekend i cleared and tidied my sewing room.....we needed some photos of it and tidying was certainly required first..........below are some of the little doll quilts i've made with two tiny bunnies on top.....(all the patterns for the bunnies in this post and the heartstrings quilt can be found in my etsy shop)...............

 ..........and here's mabel looking out of the sewing room window at the rainy stormy day....(probably hoping the wisteria would not be damaged)................

 ............apart from a few little purple flowers on the patio the wisteria is unharmed and growing well......such a show stopper.......hope to take a full photo of it all this week.....

 .............and here is a sweet little viola that i'm enjoying indoors for a few days before i plant it out....

...........thank you for visiting here lovely readers and for your kind comments...........don't forget that you can still enter the giveaway on my previous post to win tickets to the amazing Festival of Quilts 2019....................wishing you a wonderful week with sunny days and lots of crafty inspiration.....back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Festival of Quilts Tickets Giveaway

Just popping in here today with some exciting news.....i have five pairs of tickets to give away for the wonderful Festival of Quilts 2019......read more about this amazing event here.....to enter just leave me a comment on this post (and an email address if you are a no reply blogger so i can contact you if you win)......the winners will be announced next friday :)

Ticket lines are now open and i also have a discount code which is HELEN19 for advanced bookings online here: or by calling 0844 581 1319

i'll be back as usual on monday.........have a wonderful weekend dear readers and good luck in the giveaway xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Easter Time

 Happy new week dear readers.....having a late start here on my blog this week as it was a long sunny weekend celebrating easter, having lovely family times and lazy days..............

 ............lots of flower posies from the garden...........and below a bunch of flowers from my grand daughter, specially chosen because they had daisies in and also a chick plant stick.....such treasures :)......(with added bluebells from the garden as there are so many this year)..............

 .............my bunny inspiration continues and below is the little bunnies quilt being made from some soft and pretty tilda scraps.............

..............luckily i found a big enough piece of this birdie fabric in my stash that i wanted to use for the backing .............

 ..............it was a relaxing evening of sewing hand quilting this little quilt...........

 .............and here it is finished.............the pattern is in my etsy shop...............

 .............here's some cheery garden news............some of my later flowering tulips were pink!!.....well, deep pinkish red anyway :)........

 .......the pretty clematis below is one we've planted this season to replace an old one that used to grow up the back of the house beneath the bathroom window.....

 ..........and here is a sunny garden view with blue sky which we are lucky to have seen a lot of this easter weekend....it's been glorious weather all weekend just perfect for garden days and egg hunts...

 ..............meanwhile waiting in my sewing room is this new tilda fabric called lazy days......

 ..........and i shall be sewing with it very soon.....thank you for visiting me dear readers and for your sweet comments...........wishing you a wonderful week ahead with plenty of happy crafty times.......off to water the seedlings in my greenhouse now....but i'll be back again soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rabbits and Gardens

 Happy Easter week dear readers......here it is at last, very late this year......we have lots of bunnies ready to celebrate.......above is mabel helping me in the potting shed......of course rabbits and gardens are not always a good mix, but my bunnies are very well behaved around plants.....

 .................mabel and her sister maudie on their little ikea chairs ( the chairs now outgrown by my two older grandchildren but still used when the two littlest ones visit)............

 ............and the pattern for mabel and her pretty smock dress is now available in my etsy shop......

 ..............more log cabin blocks.....this one is inspired by easter and all my yellow tulips.....

 ............and this little pincushion was made from another log cabin block, styled with the first bluebells of this year.....

 ........a peek into my cottage garden............pots of spring flowers............

 ...........a tangle of bulbs and foliage and beneath them lots of cottage garden plants emerging....

 .............so exciting to see some of my favourites there...(just hope i can stop the slugs and snails eating them)...

 ..........sweet little pot of my favourite bellis daisies...........

 .............and on a bunny theme these gorgeous little progress keeper charms from my friend vivienne's etsy shop at green rabbit designs here........a cute little silver bunny and carrot....perfect to use for my easter knitting......

 ..........a basket with a bunny and lots of eggs............and below the big bunny sisters with a tiny bunny each...........

..............thank you for visiting me here lovely readers and for all the kind comments you leave me......wishing you a very happy easter....happy spring days..........and lots of sunshine and flowers until next time.........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Spring Things

 Happy new week dear readers..........there are lots of spring things here today....beginning with the tiny bunny.....so tiny she can fit into an espresso cup..........

 ...............and here is another tiny bunny next to an ordinary size hen's egg............

 ..............exciting times outside....the spring flowers are opening in my cottage garden......

 ..............before i put the easter egg wreath up in my kitchen i took some photos of it on the gate of the cottage garden.............with some of my fabric birds added amongst the pastel eggs and flowers....

 ............such a pretty time of year......i love all the different coloured primroses and can't resist buying a new pot each time i see a different colour at the flower shop.....

 ...............speaking of colour....last year i placed a big order for bulbs and plants from an online supplier and spent ages planting them all..........surprise!!.....the tulips are almost all yellow or red............no pink ones......even though i ordered lots of pink ones .......

 ..............when i planted these (above) i thought 'these pink tulips will look nice against the white fence'.....the pinky red tulips below were a present from a lovely friend last week, still in bud....they opened out and had wonderful frilly petals............i think they look nice with my little apples quilt...
(patterns for the quilt, the tiny bunnies and the birds are all now in my etsy shop).................

 ............lots more plants are growing in my little garden and each day the robin visits when i work in there.......it's a bit like the secret garden :) .........

 ...........despite lots of gardening going on i've also been sewing and writing up patterns......exploring the log cabin block for a stitch along on instagram has been fun too...............love the fresh spring days we are having and all the easter decorations appearing along with the flowers and mini eggs....such a cheerful time............thank you for visiting me here lovely readers and for your very kind comments.............wishing you a happy sunny flowery week ahead........back soon xxxxxxxxxx

April

Happy April everyone................above is my collage of pictures from march which was a lovely month filled with flowers and quilts...........i absolutely love this time of year............

 ............yesterday we celebrated mother's day here ( i know it's different in other countries but ours is mothering sunday which is always linked to when easter falls each year).........above is mabel in her new gingham dress with one of my many lovely gifts from my gorgeous girls.....a pink pot filled with beautiful ranunculus plants.....

 .................love all my flowers as you know :).....below is a new little doll quilt (or it could just be a mini quilt used as an easter decoration)..........

 ............yes i finally made a bunny quilt for the bunnies...............

 ............the little bunnies quilt is now available as a pattern in my etsy shop............

 ..............it's quick and easy to make....i tipped out my scrap basket to find some real fabric treasures for this one...lots of little pieces of pretty sugary coloured favourites.......

 ..............last week we had a day off and went on our first proper garden outing of the season......

 ............we visited bodnant garden in north wales where the magnolias and camellias were stunning......

 ..............and i found whole flowerbeds filled with my favourite bellis daisies.........

 ...........below is a beautiful magnolia tree and a view of the gardens.........there is such a lot to see and enjoy there......we took a picnic lunch and later had afternoon tea in the café with buttered bara brith (a tea bread also called speckled bread which i rather like) and welsh cakes too......

 ...............it was wonderful to be out in the fresh air looking at flowers in the sunshine.....quite perfect in fact...........i shall leave you with this gorgeous red camellia...... thank you for popping in to see me here in my bit of blog land dear readers......and thank you so much for the kind comments you leave me.....it's so nice to hear from you......wishing you a happy sunny week ahead...back soon xxxxxxxx