Matlock Bath walk

Friday 29th of April I took my son and my little dog Max to Matlock Bath. I had to drop my daughter off at Cromford for work 1st.
I forget how beautiful Matlock Bath is in the Spring/summer. This is a beautiful brige going over to the park gardens :) From there we always do the Lovers walk, great if you are young and fit but Im not either lol. The walk takes you up loads of steps to the top of a hill but luckly there are hand rails to help get you up :)

On this walk there are lots of little nooks and cranies to explore, even the dog loves it as I can let him off his lead ( he is trained to stop when I tell him too lol).

This pic of my son and Max is just the start

My son loves this bit where we find the old building :)

Talk about poser lol

I am fascinated by the green of the leaves and the grey of the rock on the walk.

This is the view at the top :) scary but safe :) in the distance is Gullivers Kingdom and the pinky building is a mining museum and one day we will go check it out lol.

Matlock Bath is an inland seaside resort with lots of gift shops, chip shops and arcades also some wonderful shabby chic shops but not open when we went :(

but my fav place is along the river :)

Charity shop find

I have no idea where the time is going :( I spent Easter weekend at my mum's in Norfolk (oh how I miss Norfolk) and it just flew by.
When ever I go home I always have to go into town and scout through the charity shops and I found this wonderful 6 place setting for £10. I just love roses at the moment and the lovely deep maroon ones on this set caught my eye.

Don't they look great stacked up :)

More sewing done :)

I have been busy this month :) I made some little bags with the left over squares I brought ready cut from Ebay last year (before I had my rotary cutter). They are ideal for hanging on my pegs I made :) I use them to keep my sewing machine feet and the kit that came with it in as I used to spend ages hunting for them. I am so in love with rose fabric at the moment :) these I brought of ebay. The striped fabric was listed as seconds, the seller said there was some colour bleed but Ive yet to find it.
The top fabric is another Amelie bag :) and I still have loads left to put into my shabby rose quilt.

The fabric (Ive just found out is Robert Kaufman Mary Rose Paris collection so Im going to keep looking out for more :) My 3rd Amilie bag made with the rose fabric and some bargain Laura Ashley cream fabric (5 meters for £8.99)

I lined the front pocket with larger roses so when you look inside its not just plain.

The inside pockets are more of the larger rose fabric and the same fabric I used on the front.

I decided the pink zip was better than the cream one I had and Im getting better at putting a zip pocket in now lol.

This is my cushion I made but I still have not mastered the art of hidden zips, oh well I will keep practiceing lol. It is only for me so I dont mind that its not perfect :)

Im not sure when this rose fetish of mine will wear off but for now Im loving it :) :)

Flowers, and a bargain :)

Saturday I went to my usual charity shops. One was packed with people who a few years ago would never even walk past one let alone go in :( so I went up to the Help the Aged charity shop. It must have been my lucky day because as I went in a guy came in behind me with a big box of stuff he was donating, he still had loads in the car to bring in. My friend who works there was going through the stuff and saw this washboard and so did I lol. When I asked about the price she said the man had just brought it in and I could have it for £1.45 :) :) :) The best bit was the price was still on the back for £18.99. I love the little magnetic pegs. My dilemma is do I paint it (I have some Farrow & Ball paint) or do I leave it as it is? These beautiful flowers were given to me from my son's school. I have been doing toast for the children every morning for the last 41/2 years and have now given it up. I am realy going to miss it but with the hectic life I have at the mo Im not spending time with my son so something had to go.

I love the bright orange colour of this gerbera :) it is so cheerful :)

Ive been bargain hunting :)

I love Morrisons just after Mothers day :) I picked up 2 pretty rose pattern tins with mugs and coasters inside for 98p each instead of the £4.00 before Mothers day. Last year I managed to get 4 beautiful candle in glass containers.Even the tag is so pretty :)

This morning I went into a charity shop I don't normally bother with as they seem to mostly sell tat but I was bored and had a wander up the hill to it and glad I did as I picked this lovely little tea light holder for £1.49.

I wish I could show how pretty the little pink rose buds are but my camara is rubbish (still saving for a good one)

I love this bag :)

I love this bag :) the fabric is so different but so pretty. It is called French Post by Michael Miller, I brought it off Ebay but it wasn't until I had paid saw that it was Fancy Moon's shop on Ebay so I can get more when I need to as they also sell it on their website :) http://www.fancymoon.co.uk/about-us-799-0.html. The pockets are Laura Ashely, this was ment for my shabby chic quilt but I still have loads left. I did think I would never finish this bag though because when I had sewn the pocket peices on and top stiched them I thought I had put the wrong piece onto the front so I spent 1/2hr carefully unpicking it only to discover I had done it right :( I was also sewing it in-between gardening and running my daughter to work :(

I used the Laura Ashley and the Mickael Miller fabric for the inside pockets as I couldn't make up my mind what to use lol. The lining is some lovely creamy fabric I have had for a long time now and was never sure where to use it, I had about 5 meters of it.

I love this rose on the inside pocket :)

The back with the zip pocket. I am just loveing the girly clothes in the shops at the moment and I think this bag will fit in well this summer :)

The start of a patchwork quilt

Today I found out the date when I get my left hand operation (10th of May) so I have to get my finger (sorry lol) out if I want to finish my shabby chic patchwork quilt I have been meaning to do for ages now. These are some of the fabrics I have collected so far.

I love the little rose bud fabric I got off Ebay, it's Laura Ashley so is the little clover piece I have had for nearly a year now. Im not sure if I should add some of the green fabric I have left over from my Amelie bag?

As you can see I have made a start cutting my plain pink squares. I have so much pink fabric ranging from very pale baby pink to the brighter one on the top of the pile.

I now need to work out which fabrics to use and the best way to arrange them lol.

Amelie bag

Yesterday I decided I would make the Amelie bag from the pattern I brought from this Greta Quilting Studio http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/ I have had the wonderful bright fabric for ages now and just couldn't bring myself to cut it just for any old bag. The other fabric I used was some bits Ive stored up and the green lining fabric was two pillow cases I brought in a sale from Sainsburys :)

Cutting out the peices seemed to go on for ever but I wanted to get this as near perfect as I could. Once I stared sewing it together it only took me a few hours (inbetween washing and sorting tea lol).

The zip pocket at the back was my sticking point as Ive never done one before but it worked out fine :) I have always put off doing these zips as I thought it would be complicated but it was easy :)

I am thrilled to bits with this bag and Im going to do the next one now.

The pattern I brought is the Amelie bag, Belle bag and mini Amelie bag patterns all with very clear (pic's too) instructions and pieces to print out.