Quick, make... an Easter bunny or chick....

I know it's nearly here but there's just time to rustle up a few of these crafty little Easter goodies...for the children you understand...or maybe just for the child in us all!! So get making and stuffing...you only need a little felt...could be any colour you like...and some threads (I used embroidery thread but any kind will do) and a teeny bit of polyester wadding or similar to pad them out a little....it's child's play and that's the best sort in my book!

 

and wishing you the warmest and happiest and sunniest of Easters...and that the Easter bunny is kind to you...Emmaxxx

the weekend starts here....

 

mm well it's not quite like that here today..but let's just ignore the crazy weather ie wild stormy bitterly cold sleeting and hailing not even snowing and grey and wet and dreach...and the weather forcast and all the weather news from around the country (and hope you are all keeping warm and safe.)...because hey, inside my head the sun is shining...and I still remain hopeful of better days ahead...

The Simple Things mag is an occasional simple pleasure...full of delicious photos and quirky and delightful items of interest beautifully presented... and the choc is just sheer indulgence...a couple of treats from a very quick shopping expedition into the wintry wildness earlier...

mm that's better...and I can't wait for family to be safe home and stoves to be lit and a warm glow to fill at least some of the big old stone walled quirky house we live in... and the weekend relaxing can begin...

in the meantime I have been busy sewing in the studio...made some scones for a teatime treat...put a chicken in the oven...so I think I've earned my treats...

and I thought I'd just share a couple of pics from yesterday when although cold, it was gloriously sunny...

the lambs along the road are getting bigger and enjoying the warm sun...

 

how to make a chicken happy? no it's not chocolate in there...just some out of date sesame seeds... they go wild for 'em!

and the simplest of wild spring flowers... the celandine...a most welcome bright yellow beacon of hope...

so do tell me....what makes your weekend special?

Getting creative ...or how one thing leads to another...

it's a funny thing...creativity...sometimes I can plan what I am going to make and start off with fabrics and threads and start cutting out... and then I don't like the colours I thought I was going to use so the colour changes and I need to re-think or re-feel what goes with what...or I pick up a new piece of fabric or spot a little sample of something I made months ago or I look out the window and see new inspiration...and what I planned gradually creeps away from me and I am led in a new direction...

I am still not quite sure where this bag came from...

but I love it! 

I love the whole process...whether I am making an intricate piece of art with weeks and weeks of machine embroidery..or designing and sewing a lovely new bag or I have a 'must make it now' idea for a new corsage...I love it when it works... when I get a feeling of happiness and contented satisfaction... or giddy exitement and a 'dancing around the studio' joy when some combination of stitch and fabric or colour goes 'ting' in my head and I feel it is just right...

like when I started to make these rose brooches and now I can't stop...the simplicity of their design and the endless possible colour combinations is soo satisfying...

then when I photograph the things I have made and they enter a new dimension as they appear in beautiful colour on a computer screen...the digital revolution has brought such unimaginable ease of visual reproduction...and what I made in private become visible no longer only to me as I dare to share them with the world...

and hope the world likes them too...

and again I feel the pleasurable need to create so return to my studio to start afresh and the cycle goes on...

P.S.

I hope my Etsy shop will soon be stocking these goodies...just some uploading to do but first a weekend away with daughter mine on an athletic quest...hurdling in Manchester...have a great weekend xx

a mother's day...

suhshine and clouds, blue sky and grey

so very cold outside

but warm within, warmed by love

signs of spring but yet still winter

snow on the tops and hail on our faces

mothers all salute our day

each day precious with the gift of a child

and thoughts of our own mothers

maybe gone but still here in who we are

and in what we pass on

with thanks

hearts and minds

together

sharing 

the day 

sharing a life

with joy

...as you pick up the socks and kiss a sore knee and hold a small hand...which grows to independence all too soon...hold the moment...it is surely treasure beyond price


  with love to all mothers everywherexx

Let's hear it for springtime...

dry weather..sunshine...verrry cold but you can't ignore the signs...buds swelling, birds twittering, lighter nights...it can only be one thing...the end is in sight!! Now don't get me wrong, I love a good "snuggling in and being cosy winter" in it's place...but by about now I'm beginning to get a bit twitchy and tired of wearing 14 layers and trying to find my warmest hat and gloves...and that's just in the house! 

Obviously one musn't get too carried away and start casting clouts...but a little hope goes a long way...

and then it's been time for the willow harvest...at half term we didn't see husband of patience as he was happily outside from dawn to dusk cutting willow and planting around 2000 cuttings! can you see the different colours white,gold,purple...they looked so lovely all together in the sunshine...

and indoors I have the most beautiful cyclamen...a gift from a dear friend...so very pretty...

and down in the studio in my textile heaven...I am experimenting with all my little left overs which I store in cheerful colour coded bags...so many of them as I hate to throw away a single scrap...a little needle felting and then some stitching...

rather liking the gorgeous rich colours and it's "such fun" to play with...and one day soon it will be a hat...although it is somewhat of an ongoing project which I will fit in around all the other things I am doing...when I'm not on the computer on facebook or Etsy...or dare I say it...Pinterest onto which I finally been lured...oo but it is ra-ther lovely...

have a wonderful sunny weekend...xx