Yikes, just got the order for 120 metres of bunting - that's 445 double sided flags + 120 metres tape + beaucoup de pins = lots of sewing! But the colours are so lovely I'm excited and am on to it already!!

Hello fellow bloggers. Have you, like me, been fighting with weather conditions? It certainly led to interesting days this week.  I went from last Wednesday taking a pick axe to the steep track joining our drive to the pretty country lane about 100m below us in an attempt to remove the lethal ice preventing me from joining civilisation, to Saturday basking in warm spring like sun which cruelly tempted the bulbs to pop their heads up, to arctic winds and freezing temperatures today keeping me indoors.  AND my central heating has decided to be a bit temperamental, pinging off when it feels like it, throwing a wobbly with the pressure and refusing to warm the house. Not pleasant sitting in 5 layers on my body, and 3 pairs of trousers! Good job I spent yesterday with my other half in the garden, logging fuel for the fire.  I had my first lesson on chainsawing. Yep, a pretty powerful tool, and I felt empowered!!! We spent last Sunday felling half of a huge tree. Well actually, I held the ropes and he did the felling. We only managed half because my position as belayer was unfortunately in the shade ( he was up the tree in beautiful sunshine) so I became a frozen assistant - not really reliable if your partner is relying on your belaying skills. Many a time it went through my head what a great photo it would be of him up in the tree, but sadly I was unable to get the camera because of holding the rope! I am looking forward to a few more sunny days and for winter to pass so that I can rediscover my garden.

In the meantime I whizzed off a few flags of bunting in spring colours. They're going to end up as wedding bunting for my friend Alex's marriage to Mark. I have yet to be told how many metres of bunting are needed so I'm just sewing away happily. The pretty colours of yellow, cream, purple, green are uplifting in the absence of like colours outside yet.  By the way, we are so high up in the Peak District that we get extremely cold weather, are always the first to get snow, and our garden is between 2 and 4 weeks behind anyone who lives in a normal climate.  But we're hardy here!!!!

More sewing projects are in the pipeline!

Off to stoke the fire and kick the boiler!

New colour options

Spice

So now I've finally got round to posting pics of some suggestions for colour variations. The "spice" one was inspired by a conservatory requiring a subtle injection of colour. The "nightshade" one went with a ski chalet colour theme. The "thyme" one was created for a holiday cottage living room. Other colour combinations are speaking to me all the time. As there are 97 colours in the fabric I use, I would be delighted to make a bespoke creation in your chosen colours to bring your special room to life. Contact me at denise@countrycushions.com. Looking forward to my next project.        

Nightshade

Thyme

Well I was waiting for the right day and the right feeling to write my first blog. This has been an awsome weekend and has put me in a great frame of mind. I felt that I'd achieved a lot on Friday, starting with 2 hours contract marking ( a little link back to my former life), and broke the back of that. Following that I put a coat of paint on a little furniture restoration project that I'm intent on persuing, got the first weeding session in on a massive bank in the garden, gave the lawn it's first cut - probably too early in this location being 2 weeks behind the rest of the country because we're so high up, (man should have done this job), and cooked a steak dinner, complete with potato and stilton gratin. I felt very smug after that. However, little did I realise that Saturday was going to be equally fantastic. It began with the launch of my website www.countrycushions.com I felt so excited I had to go to town to take my mind off things! It's been 5 long hard months of thinking, building, reviewing, photographing, sewing, writing, discussing, more reviewing, and the rest! I came back to loads of wonderful messages from my friends and family. I then started turning over the newly built veg plot. Haven't a clue what to do next . This is all new to us, but that makes it all the more fun. There are plenty of neighbours who've done this all their lives and will enjoy sharing their knowledge and giving us some pointers. That got rained off so I had a girlie chat and cuppa with my friend before opening a celebratory bottle of bubbly with man. Today continued to prove to me why I love living here and how good it makes me feel in these beautiful surroundings. I did another couple of hours marking - always feels good to get it out of the way, skyped with my beautiful daughter in Australia,finished turning over the veg plot from yesterday, went out for a long, sunny dog walk and got hailed on, on the way back stopped to watch some lovely little jumping lambs who looked like they were in the fields for the first time,finished making a bespoke cushion in two shades of green and sand ( and it looks awsome) and felt ready to do my first post. I love days like this, and I've just had three of them all following on. Tomorrow I plan to cut out the next cushion in colours of "nightshade", "mink" and "putty" - all in the Union Jack theme of course

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