Monday 30 July 2012

Cotton Fabrics for Summer

I just wanted to share with you some of the new summery cotton fabrics I am adding to my shop Daisy Patchwork....

Mouth Watering Strawberries and Cherries on Red Gingham....perfect for picnic napkins.......



Retro feel Orange Surfer Campervan..............ideal for beach/dap bags, kids' shorts....



Fun Flip Flops.........perfect for dap/beach bags, kids' shorts........



Crazy Patchwork Style Fabric.........fab for cushions with the look of patchwork but much less sewing!



London print...............Cute Mini Cars, Buses, Cabs, Union Jack Flags........ideal for all crafts....



Pretty 'Rosa' Cotton...........perfect for patchwork and other crafts......


You can find them all on my shop Daisy Patchwork :)
Hope you like them as much as I do!

Maggie xx

Sunday 29 July 2012

Fossils, Strawberries, Patchwork and a Pig

So I've shared my Somerset patchwork block with you but what about our little holiday?

Our camp site was at the foot of the beautiful Quantock Hills....

What glorious weather we had for those few days we were away?!

The sun never stopped shining :)

Here are a few of the things we got up to..........

Lots of dining (and a bit of drinking) al fresco!

I love it when the weather's good as Chris likes to take charge of our little gas barbeque and I don't have to cook!!



 
Visiting the animals where we were staying.......chickens, sheep and pigs...this muddy one was fast asleep in the shade.....


Some patchwork of course.....



The beautiful Somerset farmland........


Chilling out under Harvey J.....


And under my Wool-eater blanket........yes that's my knees!



Pretty cornflowers....


Fish and chips for lunch.......

....whilst watching the boats in Watchet's pretty harbour.....


Walks with Spencer in the evening sun.....


Strawberry fields.......for as far as the eye can see.....


Relaxing with more patchwork and Chris carving a sculpture from wood.....


Visiting the spectacular Jurassic Kilve Beach........


.....with it's extraordinary rock formations of limestone and shale.....




.....and fabulous fossils...............


......we found some ammonites but there are reptile remains too.....


I definitely recommend a visit if you like rocks, fossils, rock pools.......the kids will love it.....and so will the dog :).............


Also time for a spot of knitting.............


And on the last day, a delicious cooked breakfast of course ;)


See you soon,

Maggie xx

Friday 27 July 2012

Somerset Holiday Block - the Patchwork Sunbeam

This is a short and sweet post written direct from Harvey J as we are taking a little holiday down in Somerset. I thought I'd show you my latest patchwork holiday block that I finished yesterday.

I chose the Sunbeam Block as we are having such gorgeous sunny weather.

It's been a lovely block to sew......



I'm really pleased with the way the colours look together.......



The little fans of each side are sewn together first and then the outside blue pieces are sewn on. Finally each side piece is sewn to the central square and the diagonal seams are sewn up.


I'd love to know what you think....

Maggie xx

Sunday 22 July 2012

Spencer's Sunday Sun Hat and a Patchwork Holiday Block

So we went to the car boot sale.

A beautiful day but not too many sales :(

Never mind. Spencer seemed to enjoy his first car boot......


Dozing...


......and people watching....




I realised I forgot to show you my patchwork holiday block from our little holiday last week.....


It's called the Wind Blown Square block which I thought was rather appropriate considering ther weather we were experiencing at the time ;)


I hand sewed the seams....


I think it looks lovely alongside my previous holiday block, the Shoo Fly block...


Have a lovely week :)

Maggie xx

Saturday 21 July 2012

An Iron Age Hill Fort and a Touch of Lord of the Rings

We went away for a few days last week. We had mixed weather so we tried to make the most of the sunny days.

One day we made a visit to Croft Castle near Leominster. As Spencer was with us, we chose to take the walk up to the Iron Age hill fort at Croft Ambrey. It was a lovely walk through different landscapes.......fields with cows and their calves, woodland and rough grassland with hundreds of foxgloves.




I've never seen foxgloves growing wild in these numbers before....




There were fantastic 360 degree views from the hill fort....





My favourite part, however, was at the beginning of the walk. The path took us through a field with huge ancient trees.....


We believed these old trees were Holm Oaks like the 600 year old tree we had seen at Westbury Court Gardens......


But apparently they are 400 year old Spanish Chestnut Trees.

Some of these giant trees were still alive......


........and some were long dead........




 They were magnificent......


Reaching up into the sky with their huge arm-like branches....



They reminded me of 'Treebeard' and the 'Ents' from the Lord of the Rings book and film, The Two Towers. The tree creatures that help fight Saruman.


We really enjoyed our visit and we will return one day to visit the castle itself and the gardens.

We're off to do a car boot sale tomorrow......it will be Spencer's first one......he's hoping we will find him a nice Sunday Hat to wear!

See you tomorrow.

Maggie xx