Patchwork Rustic Valentine Love Heart Collection For The 100th Handmade Monday!

Wow, i can't believe there have been 100 Handmade Mondays!! I joined in at 62 and have done every week since. It is the most fantastic linky party, a real little community of friendly crafters who offer me invaluable support and advice with my work, and never cease to amaze and inspire me with their own!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every person who has popped by my weekly Sunday night crafty update and an enormous thank you to the wonderful Wendy of Handmade Harbour (and of course 1st Unique Gifts) for finding the time in your busy life to organise Handmade Monday each week and visit all the participating blogs - i for one am hugely grateful for your encouragement and support :) xxx

Patchwork Valentine Collection

Today i have some more love inspired creations to share with you, this time with a rustic, 'cottage chic' style, which i think is super romantic :)

I started out by making a large-ish piece of patchwork using a wide variety of natural fabrics, mainly linens but also some cottons and also some scraps of lace. The colour pallet moves from ivory white, through antiquey creams, rustic 'tea stain' and bark tones, to splashes of deep red for contrast (and a touch of romantic passion!).

I didn't take any photographs of of my patchwork... but i can show you what i made from it!

Linen LOVE Banner

Each of the flags is backed with cream linen and the little red hearts hanging alongside them on the natural pure wool string are linen too. The applique lettering has a frayed outline to compliment the rustic style.

I have to say i'm completely in love with it and am very tempted to make something similar for myself :) I would have it up all year round though, not just for Valentine's Day!

It is priced £18 and available from all my online outlets - here's an Etsy link: Love Banner

Personalised Patchwork Lavender Hearts

These hearts are quite large (13x15.5cms) and filled with a mixture of pure wool and deliciously aromatic dried lavender. Each design has its own special embellishments and is completely unique. This one has a handmade red linen rose...

...and this one includes a patch of linen which i have decorated by hand with a repeat pattern of the word love, in white fabric paint.

Each of the hearts has a red linen back, with a heart shaped panel in cream linen which can be personalised with names, dates or a short message.

I'm thinking these would work well as gifts on other romantic occasions too, such as weddings and anniversaries, or even Mother's Day for a Mum who likes pretty romantic things :)

These are also available in my usual online outlets priced £12.50. Here are the Etsy links: Rose Lavender Heart, Love Lavender Heart.

Little Lavender Hearts

These little hearts would be lovely gifts for any occasion i think, even as a pressie to yourself for no occasion at all!

This one is £7.00, available here: Linen Lavender Heart

This one is £6.50, available here: Linen Lavender Heart

More To Come...

There are a couple more pieces in this collection but i'm not going to show you them quite yet as they are being photographed by someone a lot more gifted at camera wielding than me! I can't wait to see her pictures and share them with you too :)

In Other News... Snow

Hands up who else has had some of this stuff?!!

Isn't it funny how sheep turn from white to a dirty brown against its icy brilliance...

Our dogs think that their garden has been swapped for some other strange place... :)

See you next time! (and don't forget to drop by Handmade Harbour for lots of other super crafting :))

Stay warm... xxx

Flower Plates For Handmade Monday

Hello all, i hope you are having a wonderful bank holiday weekend :) Anyone attending a Jubilee street party...? fingers crossed for good weather if you are!

We have had glorious sunshine here in Wiltshire this week and everywhere i look, beautiful blooms seem to be smiling at me. Here are a few pretties recently potted after a trip to the garden centre - i just can't resist taking home a little something at this time of year!

Flowers have also inspired my creativity this week - more on that in a minute, but first a quick catch up...

'Warming Words'

Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts on my latest creations last week - your comments really helped to clarify my thoughts and i very much appreciate you taking the time to leave them! As you may recall, i was a little unsure of how to arrange the word decoration on my latest mug and saucer - here is the finished set, now available both individually and combined on my website and Etsy shop - i'm pretty pleased with how they turned out - you can't go to far wrong with a heart shape i always think!

'Warming Words' Plate and Mug Set

Flower Plates

I love flowers, especially wild flowers - the fields are full of them at the moment and they sparkle up at me like little stars shining in the sky when i'm out walking the dog. They seem to spring up from nowhere and then disappear again just as mysteriously - i find it all quite magical.

So here are two more little side plates, decorated with pretty flowers inspired by the little gems of colour that are shining all around the countryside right now.

I rather like them, but i can't decide whether to sell them individually, or as a set of two, or four... I'm not sure if people buy individual plates as a one off, i think i might, but then i may well be odd in that regard!

Lavender Hearts

I have been quite productive this week on the creative front, and today i have been making up an order for a customer of 7 of my little lavender pillows.

It is lovely that she wants a whole collection of them, and i felt inspired to put together this drawstring bag for her as a little extra - 'L' is her initial but i guess it could be 'L' for lavender too! I hope she likes! 

I'm off over to Handmade Monday now to find out what everyone else has been up to this week... see you there!