Witch Nostra, The Memory Keeper

 

To welcome autumn, I have added a collection of Witch Mice Guardians to the Folksy Shop.
This is Witch Nostra, The Memory Keeper. Holding the collective memories of the mousehold, little Nostra is a tiny harvest mouse dressed in a Tim Holtz Eclectic Patlette Orange fabric called Collage. Holding precious items and treasured memories. The dress fabric is a truly eclectic mix of oranges, browns and greens with the underskirts being in ginger woven gingham and cream tulle. She sports a tiny sampler sachet in oranges and greens with a tiny broom and witch's hat with a button. Her detatchable hoop brooch has an orange rose and green ribbon. Her dress is finished in deep green organza ribbon and tiny buttons to the back, with leather shoes.
To her heart she carries a piece of citrine and has chamomile flowers in her stuffing for a gentle scent. These are tiny dolls, only seven inches including the hat! If you peep at her sachet it carries a tiny brass witch's hat charm xx

As Summer Ends, A Garden Share

 

On the last day of August and in my mind the end of the summer I wanted to share our garden. We are very lucky and have a large garden that includes woodland and as such we are a woodland marginal space. We plant for wildlife and encourage wildlife into our space. Why stones not grass? Well when we moved in over twenty five years ago we found so many dead bees and dead frogs we had the soil tested. The elderly chap who had the bungalow before us grew rose in abundance but mixed up his own insecticide and nuked everything in sight to keep the garden pristine. We found that our soil contains high levels of strychnine and heavy metals, totally toxic to pollinators and amphibians. So we cannot plant directly into the soil for generations to come. So where we plant directly into the soil we have to dig out and line the space before refilling with soil and planting. Hence lots of pots and riased beds.
We plant for pollinators, all the hymenoptera, hoverflies and butterflies and moths in abundance. We are not a wild garden in the sense that we plant for year round nectar as much as we can and on the woodland margin not everything will flourish so we cannot opt for just natives although they are present too.
This year has been a stuggle, being in Lancashire we are very luckly and although we have had bouts of very dry weather we have had consistant rain throughout the summer but we needed to do a lot of watering. We water with cans from water butts but so much time was spent watering individual pots we have spent this summer, the three of us, building raised beds. This has dramatically cut down on the watering and the plants are thriving having more room which in turn has meant more insects. The biggest of the beds took 21 bags of 70 litre peat free compost and we originally bought just six!
We all love our garden and spend so much time out here. Our workshops open onto the garden and all get involved with the space. Reuban has a great eye for a plant and is now heavily involved with the running of the garden and he just loves it, which is so great to see someone so young loving green spaces.
So roll on autumn, we are looking forward to you and settling the garden.

Hellia, A New Red Squirrel

 

Hellia is one of my new squirrels, a red squirrel with fluffy ears and a splendid tail.
With hand painted and hand embroidered facial details, her tail is seed stitiched to give movement and she has a gentle soul. Dressed in a lovely late summer print by Liberty called Floral Muse the sunflowers on her skirt are echoed in late summer gardens. With carnelian to her heart and chamomile to her stuffing she has a gentle fragrance. Sporting both a sampler pillow and a tiny detachable rose gingham brooch she is ready for walks in the late summer woods looking for acorns and hazelnuts.
We are on the woodland margin and have a plethora of squirrels or should I say a scurry of squirrels. Ours are grey not red but I love them just the same. We feed them daily and buy hazelnuts in shells just for them. The most I have ever counted at once was eleven! We have one little girl who has been coming for several years now and will take a nut from your fingers, she is so gentle and friendly. She is even pals with Asher! She has been with us so long that her eyes are going milky she is so old but comes every day for her share of the hazelnuts. They are fascinating to watch and to listen to, they make the strangest noises!

Thinking of Autumn

 

We have had three days of pretty solid rain, which is wonderful and I am starting to feel the first threads of autumn in the air. I have just finished a new pattern, FF Squirrel and they are waiting to be photographed but with autumn in the air I am creating a collection of witch mice. This year using Tim Holtz Eclectic Palette, which is just gorgeous.
Each will have a tiny broom and witches hat with lots of tiny details. This little girl is from last year and is wearing a wonderful Acufactum autumn print called Pumpkin Patch with pumpkins abounding and lots of crows with tiny birds and mice. All on a cool green and with autumn leaves falling.
Looking forward to making these little ladies! Enjoy your Friday and have a lovely weekend xx

Celeste, A Late Summer Frog

Celeste is a late summer frog dressed in a lush Liberty tana lawn called Barbara Covington. Yellow and tan cosmos play across this lush print. Supported by a lovely cotton gingham and white tulle.
When looking for frog fabric I always look for lush florals, that reflect the amphibious environment. Much of my tana lawn comes to me as off cuts and remnants but I actively seek out frog fabric.
The accompanying photograph is our only water lily this year. We have a small raised patio pond, really for insects to lay their eggs in and we then watch to new adults crawl up the rushes and iris brand new. Mostly hover fly larvae. Asher our lilac baby puss is fascinated by water and is drawn to the insects around the water. We have alot of pollinator plants around the pond including both standard budleia and miniature budleia. As you can imagine we attract alot of butterflies. Asher loves butterflies and will try to catch them, which he never does. During the heat yesterday he was outside with us and sitting on the side of the pond, when he lept joyfully to catch a butterfly and landed quite dramatically in the pond, It certainly cooled hiim down and flattened the water lily, he also thankfully missed the butterfly!

 

Poppy, A Bunny in Liberty Lawn

 

Poppy is a sweet natured bunny with a lovely dress in Liberty Tana Lawn called Spring Bloom with poppies abounding on a soft aqua blue ground. She has white tulle and pink gingham underskirts with white broderie anglais drawers. She sports stripy tights with pale blue leather shoes. She is stuffed with rosemary in her centre with a piece of rose quartz to her heart for love. Carrying a sampler sachet with a tiny detatchable hoop brooch embroidered with a gingham rose.
As always she has hand painted eyes with hand embroidered details to her face. Her ears and arms are lined with a soft pink Liberty fabric and she is finished with blue organza ribbon and tiny buttons. She was a delight to make and I hope you like her.
If you peep to the background you can see lily of the valley leaves and flowers from my garden. For years I tried to establish this beautiful perennial and failed, then it found a spot it liked! Of course not where I planted it or where I wanted it to grow but oh my has it found its spot!! There is now so much of it, it is a little overwhelming but far too pretty to yank out xx