Lily...

Lily fell into a pumpkin-head

and the pumpkin-head was red.

It beat like a heart,

soft like a pillow,

and moaned in the wind

like a weeping willow.

Here's the new piece I've been working on for the last three weeks - 'Lily' - about how a young girl, oddly enough named Lily, falls in love. A very surreal little ditty I wrote a few years ago, and finally found something to do with it.

Click on image to enlarge

It has green vines for a border, a lovely wooden-effect embroidery frame, perfect to display on the wall, and a red-rose antique lace trimming. And...

...a heart on the back with the words 'Ectopic Heartbeats', which will be my signature motif when I have enough embroidery art to sell on Etsy, which I will hopefully open sometime in the summer. A Valentine's Day gift with a difference, no? If anyone's interested contact me: nina@ninapascoe.freeserve.co.uk

The idea behind the tagline Ectopic Heartbeats came after I went to the doctor about heart palpitations that I'd been having on and off over a period of time, that were becoming quite intense and alarming. The doctor told me there was nothing wrong, that they're quite normal, and usually caused by stress or a high intake of caffeine. I realised that both were factors in my lifestyle, and probably more likely than having a foetus growing so far outside the womb that it was misplaced within the heart. (The poem in the post below, 'Robin's Nest' by Bantam Beasts, comes to mind.) I thought that the condition would make a good name for the range of embroidery I'm making, as the strange, dark ditties are small yet punchy, much like the palpitations I'd been experiencing. 

And the style of motif was inspired by the picture book The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers that I've become obsessed with since working in a bookshop. I won't tell you too much, but it's about a li'l girl who has a very positive outlook on the world, but then something happens to threaten how secure she feels, and so to protect herself and her feelings she puts her heart in a bottle - one that cannot be broken. Yet there are consequences. It's a charming little fable about taking chances and staying curious. Watch the clip below to get an insight into the wonderfully quirky mind of the author, especially interesting if you're into illustration :)

And while we're on the subject of hearts...

This is a song I love by Japanese Voyeurs, called 'Heart is a Fist'. It's on their debut album Yolk which I have been listening to to death, but this demo version is much louder and heavier. I love.

Hope you like the embroidery...

toodle pip

Nina x