Category Archives: my garden

April 29, 2013 · 8:48 pm

The Garden This Morning.

We`ve had such wild, contrasting weather recently. It`s a tiny bit warmer, but with strong, gusty winds that make still feel very chilly. There was a heavy downpour this morning, followed by sunshine and a bright blue sky. When I went outside after the rain there was the most gorgeous, fresh, sweet smell in the garden. I had a little wander to enjoy it.

the garden this morning 1

I had a really good look in my little pond, but I still haven`t spotted any newts this year. I usually see loads by now and I`m getting a bit worried about them. I hope the cold weather hasn`t harmed them. I thought I saw a tug on a pond plant which might have been caused by a newt, but it was so windy I couldn`t be sure. Hopefully I`ll see some soon when they return to the pond to breed. It`s only a tiny pond, but it has quite a large population of newts.

the garden this morning 2

the garden this morning 3

the garden this morning 4

Camelias just coming into bloom.

the garden this morning 5

Seedlings in the greenhouse, full of promise.

the garden this morning 6

A fern unfurling.

 

 

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April 16, 2013 · 3:08 pm

Spring Buds.

Could it be Spring at long last? It`s a bit of a wild and stormy day today, but it`s definately a bit milder. Yesterday was a lovely fresh day, with the temperature finally cranked up to double figures (only just!). We had a bracing walk round a nearby loch in the morning and I spotted a swallow!

Later on I had a wander round the garden and gathered a few budding twigs to draw. I really liked the lines of the almost bare twigs, with each shrub or tree having quite a different character. I laid a selection out on some grey paper to have a closer look, then I filled a double page in my sketchbook with some twig drawings.

spring buds 1

spring buds 2

spring buds 3

spring buds 4

spring buds 5

I was quite pleased with the sense of line and space and it was an enjoyable excercise. I`m hoping to try and fit in a drawing day at least once a fortnight from now on and to include some small drawings for sale in my Etsy shop very soon. Meanwhile, it`s back to bumble bees! I had a great response to my bees over the weekend- thanks to everone for their lovely comments, special thanks to Emily Heath who featured my brooches in her blog. She is a beekeeper and writes tales from her hives in her blog Adventures in Beeland. Her blog is truly fascinating and well worth a look.

Far too wild and stormy to venture far today, so it`s time to head back to my sewing machine. Hopefully we can all enjoy some lovely Spring weather very soon.

spring buds 6

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December 23, 2012 · 9:48 pm

Christmas is coming….

My Edinburgh stockists have been keeping me busy over the last few weeks on the run up to Christmas. I`ve been making lots of all my best sellers to keep them topped up. This batch of heart brooches were for Flux in Leith.

more hearts 1

more hearts 4

more hearts 5

more hearts 7

Some of my favourite brooches to make for Autumn/Winter are my leaf corsages. Inspired by Autumn leaves, they`re made from recycled tweed and felt which I`ve dyed in leafy colours. Each corsage is made up of a layer of four leaves, finished off with a rustic wooden button. The leaf shapes are ‘drawn’ freehand on the sewing machine so they are all slightly different.

leaf corsage 1

leaf corsage 2

leaf corsage 3

leaf corsage 4

My new layered corsages have been selling well and I`ve just finished my fourth batch of them. I made some lovely muted ones using recycled velvets and brocades mixed with voiles, tweeds and vintage ties.

muted layered corsage 1

muted layered corsage 2

I even made myself a silvery one to wear on my sparkly Christmas jumper!

silver layered corsage

The corsages inspired some little fascinators which I made for Miss Katie Cupcake in Cockburn street. The flowers are layered onto black felt with lots of net. I made them on hairbands so they are very easy to wear, perfect for a Christmas party!

flower hairband 1

flower hairband 2

Yesterday I took some time off to gather greenery from the garden to make a wreath for the front door and lots of bunches to hang up in the cottage. I used lots of textures and leaf shapes, mixing holly and ivy with hebe, laurel, golden privet and other evergreens. I always add a few sprigs of rosemary to the indoor garlands for the lovely scent.

Christmas greenery 1

Christmas greenery 2

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for 2013!

Look out for my online shop, opening soon in the New Year.

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July 20, 2012 · 12:19 pm

After The Rain…

After days of rain, some of it torrential and monsoon-like, this morning was dry with even the occaisional watery ray of sunshine.

I optimistically hung out some washing then took my camera for a walk round the garden. Everything is lush and green after all the rain and more than a bit overgrown. I love all the layered patterns, colours and textures, most of which are happy accidents.

Here are some details which caught my eye –

The disappearing path!

I love this tangle of textures.

Matilda exploring her jungle!

Some more lovely tangles.

Raindrops on ladies` mantle.

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June 29, 2012 · 4:54 pm

Oriental Poppies.

This is the time of year when oriental poppies open and provide bright splashes of colour in the garden. Unfortunately it also seems to be the time of year, recently, that we get lots of heavy rain and strong winds that batter the poor poppies to bits. This year, I`ve decided to photograph my poppies as they open to record their brief lives.

They are so beautiful, with their fragile, tissue paper petals and sooty black centres. I love the dashing scarlet ones, but also the paler ones too. I planted a pale pink poppy last year which is really lovely. I hope to do some drawings, embroideries and make corsages based on my poppies, meanwhile here are some photographs…

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June 17, 2012 · 8:03 pm

Daisies.

I always think that daisies must be the most cheerful and friendly of flowers. I love seeing a sweep of grass studded with little white daisies. The last time I cut the grass I couldn`t bear to cut the daisies so I left a little island of long grasses to enjoy them for a bit longer.

My favourites are wild Ox-eye Daisies. I would love to grow them in the garden, but in the meantime I have Marguerittes, Swan River Daisies, Bellis Daisies and Osteo Spermum.

There is a patch of Ox-eye Daisies growing on a nearby roadside and earlier in the week I brought a few home to draw.

Inspired by my drawings, I made these little brooches.

I`m really pleased with them. They are appliqued and machine stitched onto recycled linen furnishing fabric. They have some hand embroidery and a few seed beads in the centre for extra texture. I really enjoyed making them and I like their `hand drawn` look.

I`m looking forward to making more of these over the next couple of days, I want to send a wee supply to all my stockists (I think they are the perfect brooches for summer!). Then I`d like to try some larger daisy-inspired embroideries.

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June 4, 2012 · 9:03 pm

Catching up…

Whoops! No blog for a couple of weeks…

I must admit I`ve been taking advantage of the sunny days to catch up with friends, get some gardening done and go for some lovely woodland walks.

I`ve been busy sewing too, making stitched heart and daisy brooches for Boho in Aberdour, top ups for my other stockists and lots more fascinators for Katie Cupcake (she`d sold out again!).

I made a fresh batch of decoupage brooches last week, I really like these pinky-toned ones.

I`ve still got lots of other brooches to catch up with to make sure my stockists have plenty for the summer. In the next few days I`ll be sewing rosebud corsages, rosette corsages, tweed hearts, embroidered brooches and lots more little stitched hearts.

I`m so glad that my new little hearts are selling well, they are definately my favourite at the moment and I`ve been wearing one every day. They are really light and dainty, perfect for wearing on a T-shirt or Summer dress.

I hope we have a few more sunny days next week so I can sew in the garden. There`s nothing nicer than sitting on a rug under the apple tree with a cup of tea, getting on with some sewing while listening to a play on the radio. My cat, Matilda, loves the sun and usually keeps me company, sprawled on the rug beside me.

 

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May 20, 2012 · 8:02 pm

Bluebells.

My garden is full of bluebells just now, they thread themselves through the other plants in the borders and pop up all over the place. The wash of lovely soft purply-blues have cheered me up on the cold rainy days we`ve been having lately. I popped out on a rare moment of sunshine the other day to take some photos.

I`ve been looking forward to a walk in our local bluebell woods, where there are whole swathes and carpets of bluebells growing under beech trees. I`ll try to go next week, hopefully the weather will be a bit drier and the path leading to the wood won`t be such a quagmire.

I had a walk in the rain yesterday and found lots of wild bluebells, even some in a mini wood. The wild bluebells are much darker and smaller than the garden ones. The little dots of blue really stood out against all the wet, green leaves of the undergrowth, and the dampness brought out their fresh scent.

When I got home I brought some bluebells in from the garden to draw.

They are really more purple than blue when you look closely, with tiny streaks of turquoise. I like the way the bells grow in all directions.

I`d like to try some embroideries based on these drawings, but in the meantime I made another little heart brooch inspired by bluebell colours.

A little posy to enjoy on my kitchen windowsill.

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April 10, 2012 · 5:36 pm

Busy Days

I`ve just had a busy two weeks, making stock to top up Flux, the Lucie Fenton Gallery and Miss Katie Cupcake, plus working on a collection for a new stockist, The Wild Thistle in Braemar.

What a complete contrast the two weeks were! The gorgeous first week felt like we had by-passed Spring and gone straight to Summer. I spent long days in the garden, sewing in the sun. I love sewing in the garden, surrounded by birdsong with my trusty radio at my elbow (radio 4 all day!).

I made owls and birds;

cotton rosebud corsages;

more embroidered brooches;

tweed heart brooches;

the tulle and lace brooches and finally, rosette corsages;

Then last week I was huddled next to the radiator, watching snow falling outside! I made a huge batch of decoupage brooches. Sticky fingers all week!

I`ve been using a lot more stamps with this batch.

I made some using Queen`s head stamps to celebrate her jubilee. I even did a version of red white and blue. The Queen looks so beautiful in these 1950`s stamps.

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