Saturday 28 July 2012

'Hoar Frost' and Hydrangeas



Well, we might've dried up for a spell; but what with the rain we're quite fertile again, and have blog-post material aplenty! Last week I finished my latest embroidered ditty I've called 'Hoar Frost' which I came up with whilst writing The Thicket Dwellers (which I'm thinking about changing the name of to Portwine Rose - please comment with your preference! I'm so indecisive). I embroidered the border with a climber and sewed on some pretty buttons, then stretched the material over and stapled it to an A4 size canvas, then embroidered the poem through the canvas. Then I took some photos of it in my Mum's garden, since her hydrangeas are pretty and thriving, as are all her plants, and propped up the canvas onto the window sill of Mum n' Dad's sweet li'l cottagy-looking garage, under the rose tree.











Then Katie and I went for a walk with the dog in the woods near our house, and the rest of our story is told in foxgloves, thistles, butterfly bushes, granny-pop-out-of-the-beds and other flowers that crossed our paths and met with our noses :)










The End

Nina x

Thursday 26 July 2012

A day with Alice

Day trip to Lyndhurst and Bolderwood to see Alice Liddell's grave (Lewis Carroll's inspiration for 'Alice in Wonderland') and Fallow Deer. The tale is told in pictures..















- Katie x

Sunday 22 July 2012

Deer skulls and fat rabbits

A little more photography and scribblings..



Practiced my photography a little more when I was round Nina's at the weekend, and she let me mess around with her Roe deer skull (which I'll make sure I inherit ;) ). 


I also found this photo somewhere on the web, and was inspired to draw it as I've been trying to improve in art as well (and I admit I found it quite morbidly lovely). The result..


...Not as great as the photo, but it's just  practice :)


*


whilst searching for inspiration for my latest project (hint- it's soft, stuffed and has long floppy ears) I came across some lovely photo's and illustrations that I just had to share..


Sources- Ok draw
 (bunny in a cup- genius!)



Sources- Fanny Latour Lambert




-Katie x

Wednesday 18 July 2012

All Sewn Up


Ello Dearies! 
I've had a bad day and I'm fed up, so when I got home I looked through my latest craft book-buy All Sewn Up by Chloe Owens to lift my spirits, and it worked like colourful fabric therapy! It is full of cute and quirky designs and projects like seratonin on a page, and leaves me feeling heaps better and inspired to the brim.


I bought it from the bookshop where I work (WHSmiths, the book department in the basement where I refuse to surface from until home-time), having abused my discount plus hoarded store coupons, so I got it for a great price ;) 
I couldn't help it...it's so YUM!


There are butterflies and birds, flowers with BUTTONS! and colourful fabrics for hair...


...and a cat that looks like a cross between our own cat Pickle and a puss from one of Hayao Miyazaki's animations! He looks like he might be chuckling and saying in a Japanese accent 'ho ho, too many butterfwies!' (no, there's no typo.) 



(you can tell I'm in a good mood now...)




It's just simply gorgeous :) I'm surprised I hadn't shared it with you until now. I recommend you buy this when you're feeling blue! Especially with rain in July, (as I type this a sunbeam just came through the window...see? It does work!) if you appreciate vintage fabric, quirky design, kitsch and colour - YOU. WILL. LOVE. THIS.



I also bought, mid-promo abusive behaviour, this How to Sew boxset of books. They're ever-so-handy reference books, and they're so titch and so sweet and have polka dots, and look charming on my bookcase next to my Rob Ryan mug that has perched upon its doilie. 



So that's my sunshine offering for today. I'm just finishing up my 'Hoar Frost' embroidered ditty so I'll be posting pics of that up in the next few days,  plus I know Katie's finished the cutest owl, her biggest yet, as I've seen it, so I virtually implore her to post pics of this too. 


Pleasant grey skies People! 
Nina x x x