Sun at last!

A few treats to show you today! I headed outside with the Happy Holidays quilt for a wee photo shoot. At this time of year the background is a bit rough, but the sun shone on the glorious colours of the quilt. The fabrics are all Kaffe Fassett or Phillip Jacobs apart from the cerise striped sashing and binding.

I found this big piece of fabric in the bargain bin at Stitch to use for the back of the quilt. It is lovely having a bright reverse.

I love the Big Blooms design and would like to lay my hands on some more. The pansy with the pink and blue back ground is one small piece of Big Blooms.

Look - the gold lace primulas stand out. This quilt has so much to look at.

The outer sashing is a bright orange vase design. I haven't used orange before because it reminds me of foul orange, brown and yellow combos of the 70's. This fabric is a whole different thing altogether.

Take a look at this! My new "going out" purse. Many years of use and inspiration in one fabulous creation. The flowers are felt and are embroidered onto the bag. The bag has leather handles and a gorgeous ditsy floral cotton inside. Very yummy! Thanks to my darling sister and her family.XXX. Can you see my current favourite pink jersey too? Raspberry and pink are currently interesting me very much.

Look- my very own Red Band gumboots! Thanks to Mrs CT. and family for these fabulous gummies. My old gumboots were driving me mad because they were losing structural integrity. Red Bands are the BEST farm gumboots in New Zealand. I like the shorter boot because I usually wear 3/4 length jeans and skirts at the weekend and like to just slip my feet into my gummies without messing around tucking trousers in or getting my skirt hooked up on the top of the boot. I can have my hands fully laden and still get my boots on in a flash.

Calendulas are beginning to appear in the herb garden. I scattered seeds that I collected.

This dear wee treasure fought its way through the snow to bloom. This is one of Mum's seedlings. Such a sweetie.

Grape hyacinths make me very happy indeed. They remind me of childhood because we always had them around in spring. I love their glorious blue. I bought masses of these from my old garden and have lots of lovely clumps of them.

My hero! Johnny, with me as his intrepid assistant, worked on putting together my greenhouse. As yet unnamed, and rather drafty at this stage, my greenhouse is a glorious structure, full of possibilities. I even mentioned the possibility of installing a couch, wee stove and a table, but Johnny said the instructions expressly forbid living in the greenhouse (in rather amusing and dodgy English).

The greenhouse really does look like it belongs in my vege patch. Some serious consideration will now go into reconfiguring my vegetable empire to make it all very functional and also aesthetically thrilling. More to come, I'm sure. Crossing fingers for fine weather tomorrow because we will be glazing the greenhouse if we can work outside. XXX.

Ps. My dressage competition has been postponed. No riding this weekend because Sam needs a rest after being stuck outside in snow for days. Poor darling boy. At least he had his "dressing gown" on under his waterproof cover, to help to keep him warm.