Sunday 24 January 2010

Spring is coming.....

At last! Today the birds have been singing, the buds are beginning to break and I saw catkins on the alder tree. I felt really joyful and excited, it's been such a long cold winter, it's wonderful to have the thought of Springtime coming soon.

Yesterday we had a treat and went out for a quick lunch at my favourite place. I'm still on my non- wheat, yeast, sugar etc, but I had my check on Friday and things have improved hugely. I'm also feeling so much better, I have tons more energy and I'm not sleeping so heavily as I was. It's great to feel so positive and I intend to keep it up!

Renovation news - our new sofa arrives on Thursday (hooray!) and on Friday we are off to sort out the kitchen flooring - when it's completed I will finally be able to post the kitchen pics.

It's been a busy week at work again, but I have kept on with my stitching and designing and here are items 4 and 5, ivy berries, and my favourite so far, the robin's nest with blue speckledy eggs on a hand painted background. That was so much fun to do, I really want to use more of the couching threads to create some other textures later. I've also had fun trying to give some of the pieces an antique look, and today I've been trying out new background ideas. I'm using another new stitching technique for the piece I'm currently working on, and I'm loving the challenge.

































I promised Elizabeth at Sew in Love I would post details of the book which has inspired me to try something new and here it is! Embroidered Flora and Fauna
by Lesley Turpin-Delport and Nicola Delport-Wepener. Mixed media techniques for hand stitchers ( regular readers will know I still have a slight fear of my sewing machine!). These ladies (mum and daughter) are so clever and inventive, they have really inspired me to do something different with my designs. Lesley is based in South Africa so the subjects in the book are native to that country, but the techniques can be adapted very easily.

It's keeping me out of mischief, anyway!

4 comments:

  1. Oh, Jules! They are both really gorgeous!

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  2. I had to enlarge the nest to see it better...very nice!

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  3. Oh yeah.... totally gorgeous!!! Love them! Girlfriend, you have such a gift.
    your friend,
    shell

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