summer outfits

Some time back I posted these little smocked tops that I made for my twin granddaughters, using a purl bee pattern. 

I had plenty of fabric left over, I had found the vintage seer sucker in a charity shop, so I made a pair of shorts each for a pattern I bought from ellegarrettdesigns on etsy. 

Both the tops and shorts were nice easy patterns and the fabric beautiful to sew with.

Today I received the bottom photo from my daughter of the twins modelling their little outfits :)

The sun is shining today, summer here in the UK hasn't been great so I'm hoping this bank holiday weekend will be good. We are heading into London tomorrow to take care of little Eugene for the day while our son and daughter in law attend a wedding. This is the first time we have looked after Eugene on our own and are really looking forward to spending time with him. We are blessed! 

Have a great weekend! 

flying geese quilt

I've been wanting to make a flying geese quilt for some time and decided on these beautiful plain fabrics. I'm happy with how it's turned out so far, I have put the layers together and plan on handquilting with fine crochet thread. 

For now, that will have to wait until I have finished all the knitting projects that I have in the go but will be a great project for those chilly evenings which I know just up ahead! 

I hope you've all had a great weekend :) 

Welsh Textiles

With having Welsh ancestry and the love of textiles, I've been thoroughly enjoying exploring the neighbourhood around our little Welsh cottage (#dovecottageonwye on instagram)

Lampeter is a sweet town about 35 mins drive from Dove Cottage and is home to The Welsh Quilt Centre www.welshquilts.com

On our last visit to DC we were joined for the last three nights by great friends of ours from the SW of England. Linda also has a love of quilts and many years ago when we lived in the SW we began our quilting journey by attending courses together.

The Welsh Quilt Centre didn't let us down, the quilts were amazing, all old and beautifully hand quilted. We were told that the exhibition upstairs changes regularly so a return visit will be required :)

Downstairs is a shop selling lots of great textiles, books etc.

I took a few photos, but of course they dont do the quilts justice. The quilts were mainly 'whole cloth' with some pieced work too

'Wholecloth quilt was the mark of an artist - the fabric a mere canvas on which to express the quilters fine needlework skills and creative flair. It is a quilt that dates back to the twelfth century, and has been created by European and American artisans alike. A wholecloth quilt is not necessarily made from a single piece of fabric, but from a few very large pieces of cloth, and it is intricately stitched to produce a highly textured, tactile design.'

Cassandra Ellis - A World of Quilts

I have a whole cloth quilt that my grandmother made, probably about 100 years ago. Cassandra Ellis goes on to say 'Both Welsh and County Durham Wholecloth quilts are highly regarded and extraordinarily beautiful' My grandmother was born in Durham and after marrying a Welshman, went to live in Wales before returning to Durham after his death and all her children had married. 

The quilt that I have is old and not in great condition, I covered it many years ago to protect it but may just uncover it one day to take another look :)

The photos below are taken of Welsh blankets, another passion of mine, the top picture taken at the Welsh Quilt Centre and the other three taken in antique shops

summer holiday 2015

We have just returned from a lovely two weeks holiday. We went down to Devon for the first week to stay in the caravan we have situated near where our daughter and her family live. The grandchildren had been waiting since we bought the caravan in April to be able to come and sleep over for a couple of nights. They were so excited (as were we) We had a lovely few days with them, off to the beach for picnics, fun in the sea and building sand castles. All while mummy and daddy went off to Cornwall on their own for a weekend of camping.

We spent a couple of days down in Cornwall. The above photos are of Porthcurnick beach which is where the Hidden Hut is situated. www.hiddenhut.co.uk a great cafe to visit if you are down that way

 We bought lunch, sat on the beach and I took a quick dip :)

Portscatho is the next beach on from Porthcurnick, a lovely little village and harbour

We stayed over night with friends in Cornwall, the next day rained but as we only had a day and half rain in two weeks we really can't complain. We had a stroll around Mevagissy harbour, a place we always visit as we both have lovely memories of when we were both young and also since we have been married. When I was young I would visit the harbour with my Dad on a Sunday afternoon and buy macarel straight from the fishing boats and take them home for tea.

We had lots of fun with the grandchildren while we were in Devon and then travelled up to our cottage in Wales for our second week. We have only had the cottage for 15 months and so are still exploring the areas, on most of our visits we are busy working on the cottage but decided this visit would be mainly for holiday and so did very little work. We took picnics out and walked around the reservoirs and into the mountains. 

We discovered these lovely tea rooms, top left photo, and so when the family came to stay over on route to their camp site we took them there. The children loved the fancy bone china tea set and cakes. This was their first visit to the cottage so very exciting for all of us. Molly was delighted to share her other home with her favourite people. I made up the bed with my favourite W

Each blanket ready for our daughter and SIL :)

My sister lives about 40 mins from our cottage, her and her husband are Welsh speaking and know the country well, they had planned a lovely day out with us, we packed up picnics and drove up into the mountains.

Some friends from Devon joined us for three days at the end of our holiday, it was their first visit to Dove Cottage too so we had fun showing them the neighbourhood.

We are so blessed to have places to stay in the South West and Wales, the countryside in both areas is amazingly beautiful and we are in awe of Gods amazing creation.