PATCHWORK GENIUS

My pal Sylvia has been 'at it' again.

I went down to Devon last month to see her and she had just completed a gorgeous quilt for herself. Not only that, but she had also made me a quilt and 2 cushions. 

It's only July and guess what - she's made another quilt

This  is just incredible. I so love those bubble squares. Sylvia is THE most talented lady ever.

Well done. 

XMAS CANVAS

Not brilliant but nicer to receive than a shop bought card.

I just have one more of the canvases I prepared on holiday to complete now before I embark on anything new. 

CC3 - CHALLENGE #7

All the details for this challenge can be found HERE. Painted Industrial on page 46 of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities 3 explains this lovely technique. It appears easy but you can achieve a mess if you don't follow his instructions properly!!! As usual Tim and Mario have provided the Curiosity Crew with a stack of goodies to be given to their choice of entry plus there's a $50 voucher generously given by Inspiration Emporium for the overall winner. Give it a go, I am. I have just managed to buy the 3 new 'bug' dies from Tim's alterations range with Sizzix. Not only are they all huge but the detail on the embossing folders is spectacular. I decided to use the bee and make a birthday card.

The base card is 8" x 8" and perfect to take the die cut. The zig zag round the edge was done ramdonly using a Hero Arts stamp and black Archival ink. I then used Tim's honeycomb stencil and wild honey distress ink - got to keep it all on the bee theme!! I would love to tell you how I made the bee but I would have to shoot you afterwards, so am afraid you will just have to buy the book to learn the details. I did notice however, that the die is slightly different to the embossing folder in so much as the folder has antennae on the bee but there are none on the die - poor bee! Having drooled over the Curiosity Crew's samples I 'pinched' one idea and used a crown on the bee's head. The card has been given so when it is opened next month I hope it brings a smile.

TATTON PARK FLOWER SHOW 2014-LADIES DAY

I was given my ticket to the show 7 months ago as a present from our Paula and Quenton. It's been in my bag all that time so I didn't lose it. 

Paula and I went last year for the first time and to say we were 'blown away' is a big understatement. 

However, realising we were going on ladies day made our minds start to work overtime - long dresses, hats or similar, wheelie boxes - oh not just plain old wheelie boxes, decorated ones.

I cannot believe I didn't take a photo of Paula's because she has sewn all her flowers and her box was just amazing. I had flowers which I put together and came up with this

The comments we received were numerous. We didn't do it for that we just wanted to take part in the day.

We also dressed the part and I even made my Fascinator . Now I hate having my photo taken but hubby took this of me at 7;40 this morning before I left

Stop laughing!! Actually my day was made when a lady stopped me to say I looked gorgeous. I nearly started to cry, how nice was that.

Didn't buy much but I loved these displays 

Rhodohypoxis / love these as the first we ever bought were from Totnes in Devon so are now called Totnes by us. 

Sempervirens display.

Took this one for hubby as he has a fern collection.

Lovely day. Lovely weather, but most if all lovely company ❤️

ANOTHER BRILLIANT DEMO

Don't need to say much - do I!!! LOL

It was HOT

BUGS!

I hope my mojo finds it's way home so I can play with these

I've been waiting all year for these Alterations dies and embossing folders to hit our shores and that wait was well worth it. The detail is stunning.

Right o, I'm off to play. 

PLODDING ON WITH CANVAS BOARDS

I took lots of paper and canvases away with me on our last trip and am slowly plodding through trying to finish them.

This is today's 

This 8" x 10" canvas is in the making

I think I've had enough for today though so am packing everything away for the next time. 

ANOTHER REALLY BUSY GARDENING DAY

Yesterday my hubs and I decided to have a trip out. Nowhere special but we decided on a big garden centre. I wish we had stayed home because it cost us a fortune!

A new garden storage box which couples as a seat

I just have to make a seat pad and back rest plus a couple of cushions now. I'm making those because I also want to cover the pads for the wooden bench and I have some lovely material waiting. We also bought a new parasol for my new perennial garden

Matches the flowers 

We also bought some little globe lights for all the baskets

So today was about assembling the box, altering a waste pipe, moving the outside tap, a bit of bricking and cementing, clearing out some outside cupboards, emptying a big water barrel ready for moving tomorrow and trying not to frighten the birds who insist on going in my greenhouse!!!

I just also want to thank Lizzy's mum for making a lovely thank you card for her to send me - woof Lizzy xx

ANOTHER REALLY BUSY GARDENING DAY

Yesterday my hubs and I decided to have a trip out. Nowhere special but we decided on a big garden centre. I wish we had stayed home because it cost us a fortune!

A new garden storage box which couples as a seat

I just have to make a seat pad and back rest plus a couple of cushions now. I'm making those because I also want to cover the pads for the wooden bench and I have some lovely material waiting. We also bought a new parasol for my new perennial garden

Matches the flowers 

We also bought some little globe lights for all the baskets

So today was about assembling the box, altering a waste pipe, moving the outside tap, a bit of bricking and cementing, clearing out some outside cupboards, emptying a big water barrel ready for moving tomorrow and trying not to frighten the birds who insist on going in my greenhouse!!!

I just also want to thank Lizzy's mum for making a lovely thank you card for her to send me - woof Lizzy xx

SOME GARDEN CHANGES

I have some geraniums in one half of the border that spreads - like mad! - and entwines itself through other plants. Whilst the flowers are lovely I really don't like the plant's habit, so I replanted one elsewhere, dug one up and binned it and tied the other upright.

I then found a lavender cutting I took last year and moved that to give it some space and light and dug up 2 Aquilegia which were just leaves now. It looks like this

I plan to move more plants when the time is right as I now know how high each will grow.

The other half got a tidy up

The massive verbena are attracting the butterflies and you can hardly hear anything above the buzzing of the bees. Oh what joy!

And what a sight to savour

COMPENDIUM OF CURIOSITIES - CHALLENGE 6

All the details for this challenge can be found here. Page 37 has all the 'how to's' so you must have a copy of your own to be able to follow the challenge. It's worth having a go because there is not only a stack of goodies from Tim and Mario to be won, but the Funkie Junkie are also giving a $25 voucher to the winner. So what is the challenge this time?? it's to alter a burlap panel. I have to admit to making mine a little while ago but I have never entered it into any challenges so I reckon that makes it ok.

I used a variety of elements, tissue wrap, distress paint, dies, stamps and inks. I really like these panels especially for Xmas despite the burlap is really called hessian LOL.

12 TAGS OF 2014 - JULY

This month's tag certainly made me feel very summery indeed. I immediately thought of the Sea Life centre in glorious Torquay, Devon and all the wonderful boats moored in the marina. Thanks for that thought Tim, it brightened my day. However, making a tag as lovely would be most difficult especially as the dies used haven't made it to the UK yet. Thinking cap time again me thinks!! I had some card seahorses so I glued 4 together in order to be able to add paint and crackle without the card buckling or worse, disintegrating. That did the trick and my little chap looks full of life.

I put him to one side to crackle and made the base tag. The colours are so refreshing. The rest of the tag was going to be hard. I found an embossing folder as near as possible to bubbles, it's actually from Tim's dot matrix set, and the plastic is recycled packaging. I cut some foliage - love, love, love that strip die, from Nostalgic Kraft - Core and assembled that together with my now dry seahorse. I remember making faux snow on the 12 tags of Christmas and decided not to make sand because it uses so much glossy accents and generally falls off all over the place plus my tags are hanging up so the floor would constantly be covered - sorry Tim. Instead I used my Brixham, Devon shells and put some distress embossing powder on some of them to look like sand. The word band is a cut down lolly stick painted with brushed pewter distress paint and a couple of rub ons. My July tag turned out like this:

I really like it too.

HOORAY IT's RAINING

Never thought I would be pleased to see rain but the ground is so dry we really need it. Having said that, I will no doubt still have to water all my baskets and pots as they are so abundant the rain barely touches them. 

Here are some photos of the fuscias this year. 

Aren't they just gorgeous.

PLANNING FOR 2015 ALREADY!!

My perennial border that is.

Wow has it grown. Some plants are not true to their label like the verbena which must have been labelled wrong because they said 36" but they are already over 6' tall. I think they should have  had the 90" labels on them!!! Anyway, they are just gorgeous but far too big for my narrow border so I need to hatch a plan for 2015 which is just what I am doing now sat looking and contemplating with a glass of wine in the blazing sunshine.

Have a look at what I mean

I took out one of the geraniums today as it was covering the smaller plants beneath it and uncovered the striving lavender I took cuttings of last year. 

That's gardening according to Bill, my once head gardener, taking stock and moving plants around. 

I will certainly be doing that and enjoying every minute.