Friday 22 July 2016

Lost in a creative happiness










Everything you can imagine
is real.

Pablo Picasso




At peace within myself and throwing myself in to a creative whirl has done me some good.  I am loving sketching and designing right now and with the recent heat I am afraid the stitching is a bit slow.  The needle keeps slipping and I keep pricking myself.

 It has been very hot, although there is no complaints about that, we Brits do like complaining about the weather don't we ... Oh its dreadful there is no summer again!! or Oh its far to hot .. so no I go with the flow, too hot to stitch so get out the sketch book and wander with nature, a good sun hat and a bottle of water!

Matching ribbons with fabrics and studying the fabrics with their delicate flowers and patterns and then going out and opening up to the wonders that are out there right now.

Where I live I have noticed that around roundabouts or sides of roads the councils have gone for wild flower borders and it really looks outstanding.  You can see lots of wildlife near them and I think, personally it looks better that the formal way of planting that has been around here for oodles of years.. and I imagine this is a lot cheaper and easier maintenance too.  When you are driving of course, with a mind like mine, you have to focus not to just stop in the car and stare ... although the other day I found somewhere to park and wandered back to the long wild border to check it out!

 I have found a new favourite in herbal tea and it is the cinnamon tea at night which I am loving and if you believe in herbs and spices and their properties in health and healing, this one is in the category
of super spice with lots of properties to help you ...  In the day at the moment it is either mint green tea or one with lemons ...

After my moan over lack of butterflies I have seen so many sitting in the shade under leaves or basking with their wings out on the cool of the grass.... which is great because honestly I had seen very few at all, but I have been rewarded with their company over the past few days.

I can totally see where Beatrix Potter was coming from with mice in  waist coats and ruffles!  I have started to see things about animals that amuse me and again these thoughts are a bit whimsical as well.

I have been pressing flowers too, so that I can use them in my work and it has been great fun picking the petals up when they fall and trying to preserve them ... I would like to capture the seasons and have started in earnest on summer ....  I have a beautiful rose bush in my gardens and some of those
petals are destined to be preserved for ever.  I wish you could smell these as they are an old fashioned rose that smells of ... Rose and the scent is beautifully heady!  It just keeps growing and more buds form its wonderful.

Words and sayings are important to me in my work along with my at least one button stitched in to my work somewhere, it is like a signature for me and has become my policy and habit I suppose.

 I keep thinking about my grandmothers button tin that was an old quality street tin in the end ( when they were bigger than now) and I wonder when she died what happened to it ... it is a sadness that I was too young to think about these things but wish that I had thought about it ..  I asked my mum the other day about it and she did not know, she said none of us were stitchers Sarah and I did not know that you would be.. Such a shame that it more than likely ended up at the tip ... gives me nightmares thinking about it quite frankly!

Can you believe it is the weekend already?  I am going to make the most of my stitching in the shade in the garden as there is some breeze out there and as long as I am in the shade it will be the coolest place to stitch I think.

Well I must away and whatever you are up to today and this weekend have a great time.  Do not forget to come back tomorrow for a tutorial to watch .... Have a great day and as always Happy Stitching! XX










10 comments:

  1. I know exactly about the nightmare of beautiful needlework items, button and threads that were granny's or mothers that go missing over the years. But I do still have some pearl buttons that belonged to my grandmother, and still hear her telling me that she collected them, but don't know where from to give to Henry Croft when she was a little girl.

    Julie xxxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Julie

    How wonderful that you have some buttons though, they are a treasure indeed. When you you look at them the memories must come flooding back.
    Did your grandmother have a tin with buttons? I used to get my grandmothers tin out and sort them into colours but my favourite has always been mother of pearl ...
    guess I was always a magpie!!

    Sarah xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes I have both my grandmothers and my mum's tins. Mum bag all the buttons in colours in poly money-bags you get from banks (just the right size!)

    Yes I'm a magpie too
    Julie xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How wonderful Julie .... treasures from the family. I consider you very lucky .. Enjoy

      Sarah xxxx

      Delete
  4. Another lovely blog today. I am living vicariously through you at the moment. An oasis of calm after a very hectic day. Thank you!
    I love cinnamon too, must try the tea.

    I studied art at college and like you I love to sketch, there is something sweet in the simplicity of pencil on paper. I'm also a button girl! I have great nostalgia for the Quality Street tins with the soldier and lady, so old fashioned and my gran had one too.
    We were never a sewing family but I do have my mum's sewing box.
    Thats a pretty rose Sarah, roses are my favourite flowers, but not the ones in the shops as they never have any scent.
    Time for bed now. Thank you again for sharing your lovely thoughts and ideas. X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dawn
      Thank you for your kind words about this blog, always great to get feedback.
      I am really pleased you find it inspirational too.

      You are lucky to have your mums sewing box .. Such a wonderful treasure to have. Ah buttons! My favourite thing .. Especially mother of pearl!

      The Rose is a beauty and I planted two years ago! It has more then trebbled in size and smells divine!

      Thank you for your support and for leaving lovely messages.
      Sarah xxx

      Delete
  5. Me too! Button girl through and through. My mum was a stitcher, so I'm lucky enough to have inherited a good few buttons in tins - I know exactly how you feel Sarah, about not having your gran's. So sad to think of them lying discarded. However with any luck they found someone like you! I love your blog and am so envious of your days spent stitching! But you are so inspirational - I'm so glad the butterflies came - it is a worry if they don't isn't it! I did manage to sit outside on Monday as it was glorious here in SWScotland - did some hand stitching on a PW quilt I started 2 years ago - frankly I'm glad it's almost finished. Happy house hunting at the weekend. Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Maureen

      Thank you so much for your lovely comment! So very pleased you enjoy my ramblings! I am so humbled that you enjoy reading it and find it inspirational too.

      Oh lucky lady with family button tins! Treasure them!
      I love Scotland and have only been once I am sorry to say .. Such incredible beauty. I must go back soon.
      Yes the butterflies have returned!!! Lots of them so my panic is over!

      It must have been the weather as I suspected...

      Now then you are a quilted how fabulous! Would love to see it when you have finished! Did you read the blog about the photo copier fabric the other day and the images I put on them? This might be a quilt???!!

      Would love some advice ?

      Anyway thank you again and have a great weekend!

      Sarah xxx

      Delete
  6. Gosh, I did read the blog about the copier - isn't that fantastic! They will make a lovely unique quilt. This is the first real quilt I have finished - it's small but inspired by New England autumnal colours and a log cabin design - not perfect by any means but I am so pleased with it. Learned a lot doing it! Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How lovely Maureen!

      Well if you are willing would love to see it when you are finished .. New England in the Fall is my favourite and most years we do go... Sadly this year we are not going as trying, as you must know, to move..... hmmmm if we have not moved by November I am running away there! lol

      Sarah.

      xxx

      Delete