And when I next saw you, my heart reached out for you, but my arms stuck like glue to my sides

Hello!

Lots of stitchery going on over the last week or so...

Bobby the Bunny textile wall hangings...

Dirk and Kit greetings cards...

Lavinia pin cushions...filled with rice and lavender...

Two lovely treasuries that I am so happy to be part of...

You may recall our youngest daughter is just about to start her second year at Uni, studying Makeup and Prosthetics for Film, Theatre and Media.  
She obviously needs practice and we thought maybe Mom in drag makeup would be good fun.  
My eyebrows were blocked, false eyelashes and a beauty spot (ha!) applied...scary isn't it?

Thanks so much for stopping by. x

I like a good beer buzz early in the morning...

Hello!

If you are a gardener, or love gardens, I'm sure you will know of David Austin Roses.

davidaustinroses

As the Nursery HQ is just 15 minutes drive from where I live,

I thought you may like to accompany me on a visit.

 The above building is newish and very posh.  

 The British weather has played havoc with the roses,
so I have missed the best of the flowering season
 and the roses that were in bloom, were looking pretty sorry.

 There are gardens that you can walk around,

which is great because you obviously get a sense of the scale/size of the plant.

 There are plenty of vistas with sculptures.

 I could have happily bought every rose, they are all so pretty and smell so sweetly.

As you can see, they are all very well labelled, within the gardens.  

Below, Anne Boleyn rose, no blooms to see, as she had been dead headed!

~0~

Moving swiftly on...

more sketchbook thoughts... 'Livina Lop Eared Lovely'?

Sewn onto vtg cotton, to be made into a Gadget Pocket.

 I free machine embroidered this design onto a Polish envelope from the 60's...

Text says : "She is devoted to her dear little dog and he to her".

 This piece of old paper ephemera is from the States, a gift, which I have again,
free machine embroidered ...

Text : 'She has a passion for buttons and red lipstick'.  

Oh, how I keep myself amused :-)

 Another envelope collage...

Text : 'She loves her dog.   His name is England'.

The onto a Gadget Pocket...

front

 back

Now, Lady Lavender here,  is really much nicer than she looks. 

She is thinking very hard and her eyes skew a little when she concentrates.  

You see, she has mislaid her lipstick and she is trying to remember which handbag she left it in.

Text : 'Her favourite lipstick is Cherry Red'.

Well that's it for today.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been kindly leaving lovely comments.

So sorry if I have not written back personally to thank you,

but you know how much I appreciate you stopping by. x

I don't care if Monday's blue, Tuesday grey and Wednesday too....

Hello!



You may remember these Cotton Reel Prims, I made a while back.

I really enjoyed making them, but they were very time consuming to make.

I wanted to revisit the design, but didn't want to fiddle faddle for hours making them.

The following pages are from my sketchbook...

I thought you may like to follow my thought process,

strange as it may be ...

Below, I wanted to kind of recreate the Prim thing but not as severe in facial expression.

 Getting the expression right, is the key and the eyes say it all.

 

 More sketches.  

I like the thought of flowers growing from the top of a head, an expression of beautiful thoughts....

 Bunny ears maybe???

 Bunny ears and trying to get those eyes right...

 So, I decided to translate these thoughts onto paper.   Old, worn, faded, foxed, lovely old paper.   Using free machine embroidery, not the easiest of techniques, very unforgiving.

Eyes overworked and looking a little demonic here.

 Dirk looks on and wonders why he isn't included in all this???

So here are a few more trials on various old papers.

and here are my three pieces that I am happy with and are now in my Etsy shop.

The back of this envelope was too beautiful to not use.   So I detached it and added it underneath.

I have applied the whole thing onto a very old piece of faded quilt.

She is called 'Lavina Lopsided Lovely'

and she has a passionate love for buttons.

Here is 'Loretta Lopsided Lovely'.

She loves flowers and has flowery thoughts go through her mind all the time.

She smells pretty, like a flower too.

'Lucinda Lopsided Lovely'...her passion is for birds.

She doesn't mind that they stand on her head,

but only one at a time please.

So there we are, from a thought/idea, to final pieces...

from the girls and I,

we would like to say, thank you for stopping by. x

The sparkle in your eyes, keeps me alive...

It's summer for some of us,

a time for weddings...

link to source

and

garden parties...

link to source

link to source

Summertime in mind, I made two pretty purse bags today, using (mostly) old materials...

perfect for such an occasion.

Feminine and pretty, with room for a ladies' essentials.

(((Hanky, lipstick, mobile phone, face powder, keys, money...

well maybe not all these, but what to take and what to leave at home?)))

On a lovely summers' day or evening.

To be found in my Etsy shop .

Thank you for stopping by.x

ps: Do you like the rose?   It's a David Austen Rose and it has been a delight for the last couple of months.    The perfume is exquisite.   I think it's called 'The Mayflower'. xxx