Warm for Winter

 Today's theme is a woolly one....a few years ago when i fell in love with knitting  all over again, i stitched a little cross stitch sampler to celebrate my re discovered  knitting joy, inspired by the pleasure of both making something with lovely wool and having a warm and cosy garment to wear at the end of the process.....

 ....the little sampler found its way to Cross Stitch Collection, where it was made into a knitting needle roll by the clever creative design team there, and it was then featured as a project in the magazine.......

.....the Knit and Stitch design has recently become available again to download at the making spot here.....

 .....and i am still happily knitting, this time a fair isle scarf inspired by a pattern  by Martin Storey, using some of my most favourite wool in soft warm colours.....as i'm only doing the fair isle pattern at the ends of the scarf there is a big relaxing stretch of simple stripy knitting in the middle.....

 ....i began this project a few weeks ago and i am taking my time over this scarf as i have so many other things going on too, but there is a little bit of calm each time i pick it up and knit a few rows......

             ........i really think there is nothing so cosy as something hand knitted for winter.......

....these are my weekend flowers , they looked so fresh and pretty i just had to put this picture in too....
I hope you are having a lovely weekend...thanks for popping in here it's lovely to see you....wishing you cosy, cheerful and crafty times  this week.... i'll be back soon xxxxx

Happy Weekend

 This week seems to have gone by exceptionally quickly, with lots to do....but still time to make this little doily cone and fill it with snippets of flowers, leaves and berries......

 ....some little bits from the garden and some tiny heads of cut flowers......you can put a tiny jar with water inside the doily cone and the flowers last quite a few days........
I think the week went by so fast for me because a rather cute and interesting little design project came my way (which i look forward to sharing with you soon) so i was quite engrossed doing that as well as my planned commissions... ...you know how time flies when you are busy making things .....and now i am looking forward to the weekend and spending time with the family......

              .......as well as looking for some buttons to finish off my cornflower cardi........

           ..........and looking for a nice one of these ready to make our pumpkin lantern next week......

 ..........and maybe sorting out these lovely old mending thread cards someone gave me....not sure if i'll sew with them, but i love the cards themselves, speaking of bygone days when everything was neatly darned and mended .......

........and i'll also be sewing just a little too as i finally finish off the great autumn mushroom craze i've been having........what will you be doing this weekend, i wonder?........thanks for popping in to see me here....i wish you all a sunny and happy weekend....Back soon xxxxxx

Casting On

 We are wearing our cardigans again here, and searching in the cupboards for our autumn knits....and last week I ordered some wool ready to cast on a new woolly garment....

 ...the last cosy wool knitting I did was earlier this year when I made this for my younger daughter's birthday. It's the Beth jacket by Kim Hargreaves from her book Amber....

....it's made with Rowan Big wool and  it certainly is BiG and so are the needles...rather HuGe actually and when I first began knitting it was more like grappling and quite a different experience from the usual  knitting one...but it did make a lovely garment with a lovely textured look....

 ...so now the season is on the turn and autumn is bringing us it's treats and treasures as well as damp chills and nights closing in, and I needed to have some new wool and some knitting on my needles again.....

 ....I bought this wool/cotton blend...I love all the Amy Butler colours but the blue is the one I liked best this time....

 ....the pattern is a Sirdar cardigan I've knitted before and I hope when it is finished that Dolly will model it for me....as well as a parcel of lovely wool arriving this week another surprise parcel came for me...I won a giveaway at Fin and Gabs and Andrea sent me a gorgeous collection of treats...

 ...the parcel was beautifully wrapped with a gorgeous little black and white heart charm...Andrea is a talented designer who creates all kinds of lovely stationery designs, including bespoke ones, for her shop Andrea Willis Designs, and for Crafts Beautiful magazine too....I was thrilled to find one of her pretty covered notebooks in the parcel specially personalised for me!!

 ...here are all the treats in the giveaway parcel...I love everything...thank you so much, Andrea! Do go and visit her bright and colourful blog and shop...she has some gorgeous designs .....

I love this little birdie ....when I'm knitting I often make plans and think things through, dream of things I'm going to make and things I want to do...I'm planning to do a bit of knitting and dreaming this bank holiday afternoon, after a busy weekend......click click knit knit...

I hope you have a happy week ahead with time to follow your dreams whatever they may be....thanks for dropping by to my little space today, I love your visits.....back soon xxxxxx

Home Sweet Home

 Hello to everyone after yesterday's blogger blip when strange things happened and treasured comments disappeared...all seems to be back to normal again now....and things are also getting back to normal in my own home sweet home too after all the weeks of having builders here, replacing the roof and doing a few other repairs while the scaffolding was up...the work is finished and next week the scaffolding will come down....home will seem truly sweet again....

 I'll be able to potter about in my usual way without encountering 'the men' here and there all the time...go picking flowers, painting the beehive composter and even sit on the terrace with a cup of tea...now that would be nice....

 Home is where my heart is - it's always been a part of my work too, as the things I explore in design work I try out in my home and vice versa, it's where my studio and office are, where I craft, draw, sew and write, and the house itself has often inspired my design ideas. I like to think of the people who used to live here..we did a bit of house history research when we first moved in - my favourite previous occupant must surely be Lucy Moon who lived here in the early 1900's with her husband, three little boys and - according to the census - 'three resident servants'.....I love to imagine her swishing about in her long skirts, the lovely Lucy Moon.....

I stitched this little sampler here a few years ago for my Home Sweet Home cross stitch book...the flowers were picked last week, I just loved the pink and lime green colour combinations....

...and this is the latest wool for my next cardigan...I love the colour so much I had to have it....

.....currently on the needles is this little pink cardi for Daisy Dot....

 I'm loving the summer colours and the newly opening summer flowers...looking forward to lots of gardening this weekend, potting, planting, painting the beehive composters and enjoying a bbq with the family...

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, enjoying your time whatever you are doing...wishing you flowers, sunshine and the happiest of days....thank you for visiting me me here in my (hopefully blip free) bit of blogland, and thank you for the sweet comments, they make me smile...back soon xxxxxx

Knitting and Tulips

Hello! Thank you everyone for your understanding comments this week about my roof being done, and the stress of having 'the men' around all the time !! I've now survived one whole week and am really looking forward to the weekend...we moved on from the crashing of the tile removal to the hammering and banging of the new roof batons today, but still a long way to go...anyhow, here is a little mosaic of the making of my lovely blue mohair cardi - from the beautiful balls of wool, to taking it away ( almost finished) to the Lakes in my new CK craft bag (an xmas pressy) - and then bringing it home sewn up but not pressed...and then finally finished, pressed and ready to wear....perfect for chilly spring days and nights.

If it doesn't rain tomorrow I'm planning to paint the potting shed at last...and to go out into the garden and enjoy the tulips without bumping into any workmen! The pink tulips above were some of my autumn plantings, and so are those little yellow ones (either they are dwarf ones or there's something wrong with them, does anyone know?) The pink tulips below were some I photographed a couple of weeks ago - all the flowers are almost over now...

The red and yellow tulips are my very own tulips from Amsterdam, brought back from a holiday there by my daughter Sarah.... The red ones are really big flowers that open right up in the sun.....I have some more special tulips I wanted to photograph too, but they were in a container right by the workmen and I didn't want to appear too weird going out there among them with my camera, so will have to show them next week!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend, with sunny days and  flowering blossoms, birdsong and blue skies...lots of happy plans and crafty times...Thanks for visiting me in my little spot...back soon. xxxx

Knitting, Stitching and Planting

 The title of today's post sums up a lot of what I like to do at the moment...first the knitting, lots of progress has been made on the blue fluffy cardi while chatting this weekend - it's so lovely, light and quick to knit too.

Stitching: well, this little Easter bunny toy was my project for this month's CB and was obviously made a wee while ago! I took a new photo of it - in fact several -  and here it is on the front cover of the magazine, in the top left corner to catch the eye and (hopefully) tempt you in! It is a funny thing to catch sight of something you made or designed on a shelf in a shop or supermarket...

 ...rather like spotting a familiar face in a crowd unexpectedly. I still like to see my designs appear when I'm out and about even after all these years...

 Planting: one of my most favourite flowers - violas. I picked these up last week - they have a rose scent and are called Rose Wing ...so beautiful and fresh and delicate, I love them massed together and try to plant a few close together to keep that effect...

...at the bottom of the garden is an old lead hopper, left from when the Victorian rainwater goods were replaced before our time...in the spring and summer I plant different things in it each year, but this time some sweet violets have kindly planted themselves, so I popped a few violas in there too...

I'm loving this time of year - as I'm sure everyone is too - the promise of later, warmer spring and then summer in the garden is just so uplifting..seeing things begin to grow - especially now we've cleared away much of the winter leaf fall, and general debris left by the gales - is just wonderful...

I'm off now to continue stitching, this time for an autumn project!! It's a funny thing, being a designer - I do love all the seasons at any time of year!
I hope you all have a beautiful spring week, with sweet flowers all around and soft spring sunshine every day. Back very soon. xxxx

Spring Gardening

 Hello - I hope you've all had a great weekend! I've enjoyed many happy moments  of mine outdoors, gardening, pottering and enjoying the spring....Saturday wasn't sunny here so I did more potting - and pottering - in the potting shed. Lots of spring plants to divide and grow on, and to give away or swap with friends and relatives....and a few new anemones to add to my spring border...

The potting shed is much nicer to work in now that it's been painted inside - much lighter for a start. I'm still choosing the colour for the outside - I keep changing my mind...should I do it grey, or blue, or blue green...all the pale shades are lovely so I will pick one next week and get painting very soon, now the weather is warming up...The little Bees Seeds post card was one I found recently at a nearby garden shop - the seed company originally began not far from here....

I love the delicate anemone blanda flowers - I think they look lovely with other spring flowers and bulbs, just so pretty and colourful... and here they are on Sunday when it was very SUNNY indeed.....Mr P and I worked very hard clearing the beds, borders and paths of leaves, cutting back and generally tidying...

This is the spring border, right next to the terrace where we can sit and enjoy our cups of tea and look at the flowers in the bright spring sunshine...such bliss to be warm enough to do that again....

And when I wasn't gardening this weekend I was knitting....on Friday this beautiful kid mohair yarn arrived and I couldn't wait to begin knitting it up - it's absolutely gorgeous, so soft and warm but light, and not too fluffy! The yarn came from the Honorwood Flocks here.

And for a pattern I have to thank the lovely Vivienne at Green Rabbit Designs who sent me lots of mohair patterns when I mentioned that I'd lost mine from the 80's! Isn't that kind?! Vivienne crochets and knits gorgeous scarves, bags and corsages from wonderful yarn, such a clever lady.

So, I'm off now to knit some more of my lovely yarn. Thank you for visiting me here and for your sweet comments.I wish you all a wonderful week with sunny days and blue skies and sweet spring flowers. xx



Happy Winter

Hello! I hope you've been having a happy winter week! Here are some of the things I've been enjoying in mine. Knitting clothes for toy rabbits... much quicker than knitting them for me and I'm sure that  the bunny likes being cosy...

    Seeing Daisy playing with the soft blocks I showed you in my last post - she loved them sooo much!!

       Baking bread mmmmm there's nothing quite like the delicious smell of fresh baked bread is there?

 Reading this sweet book - I've heard of it for ages and was curious about the quirky title, and I loved the cover design especially the postmark and stamp bit, but have only just got round to reading it...I'm so glad I did.

     Cutting into these scrumptious dotty fabrics to make something new which I'll be showing you soon...

And sooo enjoying my spring bulbs...another present from xmas...this is a wonderful little postcard-y decorated container with the deepest blue sweetly scented hyacinths - a bit of heaven on the table in my studio, delicious wafts of scent while I am working at the computer (like now!)
What have you been enjoying this week? Thank you for visiting me here, for your sweet comments and  a big welcome to new readers who have just found me here!! Have a happy week! Back soon xx