Sunny Autumn Canal Walk

On Saturday morning, we woke up to sunshine and gorgeous blue skies.

Such a refreshing change to the grey, drizzly weather we have been experiencing in the last few days.

A perfect morning to take a walk down to the canal.....

 

Over on the other side of the Golden Valley, you can see the leaves starting to turn...

There's mistletoe up in that tree but I'm not going up there to fetch it!

I love the pretty (steep) path down towards the canal....

All dappled in the sunshine....

and crunchy Autumn leaves beneath our boots.....

The leaves have just started turning in one corner of this magnificent old tree....

We arrived at the old canal bridge.......

One side of the canal looked so pretty and sunny........

and the other side looked rather beautiful and mysterious under the Autumn sky....

We took the path along the overgrown canal......

Spencer always loves to explore and is partial to a paddle!

Restoration work is still progressing at Griffin Mill lock....

 

 

Then along to the next bridge.....

And back up the hill again.....

and along the lane......

....gorgeous red berries on the way.....

.......and back home......

For a warming lunch of salmon tray bake......

And homemade bread :)

Maggie xx

Friendship Star Quilt

Tonight I want to tell you about and show you a quilt that I made a while ago.

I found the pattern in the fabulous quilting book 'Scrap Quilt Sensation' by Katharine Guerrier.

Katharine calls the pattern 'Galaxy of Stars and Scraps' and it consists of Friendship Star blocks.........

 and Eight-Pointed Star Blocks.......

One of the reasons I am drawn to this pattern is that I love the secondary diamond pattern that forms when the blocks are sewn together.........

I also loved choosing all the different fabrics and sorting them into lights, brights and darks :)

My quilt is made from 16 blocks altogether ....much smaller than Katharine's.......but it's a handy lap quilt size.....

When I made this quilt I didn't have any particular plans for it.

I wasn't sure if it was a keeper or if I would sell it. It wasn't a quick quilt to make taking many (very enjoyable) hours over several weeks.

I chose four colourful Batik fabrics for the backing......

 

When the quilt was completed, I made the decision to sell it.

I received lots of lovely compliments and some offers for my quilt but the right nice new home just didn't materialise :(

 

Well, until now that is...:)

 

It's funny and it's almost as if it was meant to be...... I had always pictured it laid across our little sofa by the woodburner. I knew it would look good here as I had tried it there before and loved it!

This morning I thought I would try it again....and again I loved it!

So now it's there to stay :)

Spencer seems to approve although he kind of looks like he's thinking...'Oh no, Mum's rearranging things again'.......

A bit later on, I decided to give some of my (rather flat) cushions a new lease of life with some nice new cushion pads...

It wasn't long before Max had rearranged the cushions to his own design and had obviously decided that this was a very comfortable and cosy place to sleep....

He's slept there all afternoon....

And is still there now.......he looks like a little prince on that cushion!

See you next time!

 

Maggie xx

Custom Baby Quilt with Birds and Russian Dolls

Last time I told you I'd been busy....

Today I would like to show you a baby quilt I have just completed...

 

The top is a patchwork of gorgeous fabrics chosen by my lovely customer.....

I tried to make the best of the patterns by fussy cutting most of the squares.......

I had great fun designing the layout :)

 

 

The fabrics are very colourful and put together they make a rich and interesting quilt for a baby to look at.....

 

I love this bird fabric with its blue background......

There are lots of things for baby to see......

 

Birds......

....Russian dolls.......

........lorries, cars and buses....

.....an elephant, giraffe and zebra...........

The backing is white with little Russian dolls and makes a lovely contrast to the colourful top.....

The red polka dot binding pulls it all together......

 
 

I hope you've enjoyed this post about my latest baby quilt.

 

I don't know whether you noticed but that cheeky Spencer managed to sneak into three of the photos!

 

See if you can spot him!

 

Maggie xx