Shortbread buttons

Now I am not a great cook but when I saw a recipe for shortbread button biscuits in the new May edition of Country Living magazine, I just had to give them a try. I was delighted with the finished product.
Suitable for knitters , quilters and tea drinkers in fact anybody who likes needle crafts and biscuits. The only down side was the 3lb bag of rice flour I carried from Fenwick's delicatessen I bought to make them, I now have one arm longer than the other.
and they are absolutely perfect to show off the glass dome I found in a charity shop for £1 last week, a perfect fit for my glass cake stand.

I have been too busy in the garden this weekend to do any sewing or knitting - the sunshine was too good to miss. This lovely shrub has bloomed again I think it is called Brides Bouquet - and it is absolutely laden with blooms.
as is the cherry tree in my front garden. ....and now we can have fancy close up shots with the new camera!!

Happy Quilting xx

Cherry blossom and beaches

Hasn't it been a fantastic year for cherry blossom? The tree in my garden has been thick with clusters of frothy white blossom.

Further down the street there are a couple of pink flowering cherry trees - also heavy with blossom this year.In fact spring is definitely here and there are tulips in my garden too.Today we went for some fresh air at the seaside. Beautiful Druridge bay was bathed in sunshine and quite deserted. We had a lovely walk.But don't think that because it is sunny - it is warm. Oh No! It was very very cold and luckily I had taken my snow coat with me.And it was very very windy too. Ideal conditions for kite surfers , this guy was actually flying rather than surfing.
On a much more sedate note I must show you Janet's quilt which she has just put together the blocks for. This is the most wonderful piece of appliqué. The pattern is Playtime Quilt from American Jane patterns designed by Sandy Klop. The stars and windmills are pieced and everything else is appliqué- a real labour of love has created this family heirloom.
My efforts this week are small by comparison, I have started to do a sampler quilt (from Lynne Edwards Sampler quilt book). The machine quilting is not quite finished yet on my last quilt but I have run out of thread so I started this in front of the TV last night while watching Lewis. Hope you like it - It is certainly going to be colourful.

Happy Quilting xx