Love & Magic!

I'm kind of in love right now.... and the most JOY-full of that "love" feeling is that is doesn't need to make sense in the slightest..... Now there's an opening sentence :)

I've been wanting to make some animal heads for a long time now, but couldn't quite get MY head around the fact that fake/fabric or not I would be creating something based on the idea that a dead animal head was going on a wall.... ick!
That was until active imagination stepped in (hallelujah!), and suggested that in actual fact the head belongs to a very much alive and  magical  (of course!) animal , who peeps in from some sparkly realm bringing with it a magical quality to bestow on the home it finds itself in.
Well....Yes! When you put it like that I can TOTALLY jump on board that creative adventure!

So let me introduce to you the new obsession  love  in my life......my "forest friends"...... *sigh*
This is Bernadette, bestower of the magical quality FUN and playfulness...

 Little Doe......I really do love her..... and the magical quality of Innocence that she brings.

And Mumma Bear Mathilde...who's magic carries the qualities of nurturing and comfort.....

I have begun something I cannot stop...... Love indeed :)

xx

Sewing and smiles...

That's what my weekend has consisted of.. sewing and smiles....and how lovely it has been.
I had fallen behind on the sewing project which is not exactly setting the best example!..so I set to work to catch up...sharpened needles at the ready. After my youngest was tuckered out from her busy birthday party day on Saturday, I set up my laptop with 2 films at the ready and began stitching away on the blossom design. (design here)

Its funny how often things I'm  initially not keen on turn out to be my favourite...this design can join that club. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and the colours used. Pretty pretty indeed.

Sunday brought an opportunity to sew while yet another 6 year old had a birthday party, and this is where the squirrel started to take shape. (design here) He got finished off last night while watching Vikings (yes to  Ragnar Lothbrok!) If I were to do it again I'd choose a different colour for the squirrel and different fabric for the background...

However seeing all the flags I've sewn so far..I'm really liking how well they sit together.

I've been getting so many messages and such great feedback from the patterns and "stitchery lessons" I've been sharing over the last few weeks. Thankyou all so much to all those who feel inspired to take part. Jo has been sharing her take on the spring project work over on her blog and a bit of her process, which has been a joy to see. If anyone else feels like sharing their sewing I would be delighted to see and share. 

Sewn by jo at Sleeping dragons 

So I'll end with the birthday smiles....these were from the midweek "official" birthday celebrations....

Yes! despite it only being late afternoon that is Skye in her pj's..but as she told me ..it's MY birthday....

 "Fair enough "I said...."but you will need to take off your roller boots when you go to bed"....reluctantly she agreed :)

Hummingbirds

I would love to meet a hummingbird in it's own natural habitat...a tiny miracle of nature.

To me they appear as a "fleeting glimpse of beauty," a flash of magic, and a reminder to seek out  such magic and beauty in the tiniest of things.

I wrote a post about the various messages birds have brought me through life and it's hummingbirds that have been calling to me lately. Tricky when I live in Scotland....not too many about! So on being asked by the lovelies around me what I would like for my 40th birthday gift I pondered a while and then the answer came...a hummingbird!

Of course, not a real one! One inked onto my skin instead. A tattoo.

The first and only tattoo I have, I got on my travels when I was 21...it was a swirly sun that I had designed, inked around my belly button by a buddhist monk who tattooed as a hobby! (I know ,you couldn't make it up!) 

It was really meaningful to me and symbolised the growth and journey of  me moving away from things I'd known (family, university, teenage years) to growing and stepping into the person I wanted to be. 

My sun tattoo has stretched and grown twice with the swelling of my pregnancies...both my girls loving the fact they grew from the sunshine!

So it feels right  that this new chapter of my life is honoured too. Not just turning 40, but the changes that been brought about with my youngest starting school. The mum ties loosening a little, the greater time to focus on me and my creative business.

I'm still working on the design I would like, but thought I'd share some of the hummingbird designs I have created....from paint and stitch to digital. Next stop...tattoo!

I want to dedicate the last painting to my dear Granny who recently left us. I hope the sun is shining where you soar xx

Celebrating!

It has been a full week of celebrating  this last week.....two big birthdays, the sun has been shining and.....I got published in SEW Somerset!!....Front cover! 

To say it's been a good week is a slight understatement :)

 

It's the looking back and following the journey that makes the celebration of today seem so much brighter and wonder-FULL. The blossoming of my little girl  who grows before my eyes into the woman she will soon become. My sweetest Stu, another birthday... another year of adventures, discovery and living life by rules of the heart. AND getting published, something that only a year ago couldn't have felt further from my radar......

I'm celebrating! ALL the blessings that surround me....

Too lovely not to share :)xxx 

ps.Yes the cake is still in the oven tin...you can tell we do presentation well in this household ;)

pps.No I am not being endorsed by Ben and Jerry's ice cream......but if the offer's there?! Ben?....Jerry? :)

Exhibition Part 2: a pair of birds!

This is Monty, he's a good friend of Pip's ..but more conservative in nature and thankfully both eyes intact...

though  I do think a monocle would look rather fetching on him!

And below is the bright spark of a birdie who spreads sunshine and blooms with her beautiful song ...

Thankyou all so much for your words of support and lovely thoughts towards me, my work and exhibition...I really do feel blessed by each and everyone one of you who takes the time to visit this little corner of cyberspace. An ether hug is winging it's way to you right NOW! .......

  Did you feel it?:)xxx

My first exhibition

Finally I have some photos to share! In the end I popped back to the gallery to take some to show you, as it turns out the ones mum had taken from the opening evening were more a sea of heads rather than pieces! (You'll see what I mean later) I'm afraid these aren't the greatest of photos but I hope you'll get the idea...

I have shared the embroidery part of  the pieces you see above and below before..here they are finished with a pencil sketch added. These pieces are the ones I love the most as I put a mammoth amount of effort and time into each one (plus actual blood on occasion!)  But they also hold every element of what I love ...contrasts, layers, colour and texture..and magic too! Inspired by the saying "coming out of the woodwork" my active imagination wandered to animals stepping out of wallpaper....I have fantastic bamboo patterned wallpaper in the bathroom, and while brushing my teeth often smile at the thought of a panda just casually sauntering out from behind the foliage! ...

"Peering through the patchwork"

"A kingly stance"

"Seeing is believing"

I've been sharing parts of the beach scene over on facebook...I created them with the idea that they all sit together to create the scene but are individual pieces....they make me smile..and keep me dreaming of summer! 

It's the most amazing feeling walking past a window and seeing your work looking out at you :)

There are 40 individual pieces of mine exhibiting, including some books and soft sculpture birds. You've seen some of the pieces before and I've saved a couple to show you another time. I have to add I have never seen my home so clutter free! 

Here are the heads I was on about! :) 

Despite  nerves, the opening evening was incredible. Its hard to put into words how whole heart-FULLY blessed it feels to have people take time out of their own busy lives to come along and support little old me. Actually makes me get a wee lump in my throat at the thought. And still the support continues with visits from dear facebook connections and sweet emails enquiring. Just incredible, and amazingly humbling. So so grateful indeed.

                              
What I also take away from this whole amazing experience (apart from the dodgy photo! ) is the realisation and celebration that I have achieved something  I once thought was impossible...so watch this space for the next " impossible dream" to come true ..yipee!
Thankyou all for sharing this adventure with me too.

Seeing is believing!

Silly me.....I have one whole photo taken from my debut exhibition!..so until I ransack my mum's camera (who was very proud and quite the opposite in frivolity of photo taking!) I thought I would share this piece and the stages of it.....

 

I've told you about my love of bears before..and I'd been hankering to create a piece with a brown beauty! My hankering is still unfinished...there will be more!...but this piece is one of my current favourites and is currently exhibiting.

The colours began quite differently from the finished piece....and unlike the way I begin most pieces, I drew a sketch first off , to see how the winged bear would fit....

Not liking the colours, I dripped and shlurped some tangerines, blues and turquoises...a different colour palette  from usual, but I was liking it more this time! Once happy with the background, after adding a cloud pattern using gesso and a hand cut stencil,  I went and bought some embroidery threads to match.

I embroidered the edges first , then began the 26 hour stitch-athon..squeezed into every moment of small child's back being turned!

Above we have 12 hours in ..this is the photo I shared and sneaky of, where I had you guessing who the wings belonged to!

15 hours above

Now I'm 21 hours in...oooh and getting so close ....

26 hours and finished. Hallelujah!

Next was the pencil sketch and a wee spray of artists matt varnish to seal.......and there you have it!

"Seeing is believing" on  8" x 16" boxed canvas.

As Gorgon Ramsay would say..."DONE!"