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!
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 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 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
Sukie is a midnight silver fox in the last of one my favourite fabrics, Hiro - a Liberty tana lawn. Larch needles in black with cones in grey brown with a cream moon peeping through all on a warm grey.If you look the moon is just peeping on Sukie's bodice. Teamed with a beautiful yarn dye and black tulle I feel she is an elegant lady. Her eyes are hand painted and then embroidered and I love the flash of orange. She sports a sampler sachet and a tiny brooch with a carnelian to her heart. I truly love the contrast of the silver foxes to the red foxes.
