Lavender and Bees and Sweet Paeonies.

Our peony (or paeony if you prefer) is flowering and looking the best she ever has. I wanted to share her delicate beauty with you, the way the soft petals flush from white to palest pink, sometimes with a slightly creamy centre, but somehow I couldn't do her justice. Doesn't this look bland and uninteresting?



Disappointed with this picture, I ambled onto the border and had a look underneath the weighty blooms to find this...



So much prettier don't you think? I may well find some other 'neath the blooms' images appearing here in future.



The flower theme has continued in my sewing room where I was commissioned to make a covered notebook with the words 'Lavender and Bees' and a free reign with the design. I always enjoy these orders... well, right up until the moment when it is posted from whence I fret and worry that the customer will not like what I have designed after all and the, "No, no, there's no need to send images for approval", bit of the communication suddenly seems a really bad idea.



Fortunately this one was received with much pleasure - in fact, so far I have remained very lucky in that I have not yet had a complaint from a customer. Of course, I regret saying that and now await the influx of emails to the contrary!!



A real pleasure to make, particularly as I completed some of the hand embroidery sitting in my own garden with the gentle drone of bees as they buzzed busily in and out of the pots of flowers by my chair. So lovely.



What's flowering in your garden? x

Giveaway Result.

Bit late due to Isabella being 'fed-up-set' over something or other, but here is the result of my giveaway.

The winner is: Jane from Marigold Jam.

Jane's blog is new to me as is mine to her, so I am looking forward to popping back regularly. Head over for some wonderful views of the countryside near her home.

Jane, send me your address and I will post the Hush Heart off to you on Monday. My email is: poltiskofarm@talktalk.net

Thank you all again - so very much - for all your help.
Have a lovely weekend x

Hush.......

I love words. I love the way they feel on the tongue, though tend to like the more poetic than the staccatto jarring of some. A favourite of mine at the moment is 'hush' for it has that suggestion of quiet in the 'shhh' which calls to the lover of peace nestled deep inside me, she who is surrounded by noise most of the time. I love the chance to listen to that silence which has the distant notes of birdsong drifting through it, the shushing of the tress moved by a breeze or the quiet shhhh of waves as they ripple onto the shore only to be pulled back once again. Yes, 'hush' is definitely on my mind and has found its way onto these embroidered lavender hearts too.



I have been working on a range of things which have more of a theme running through them, in this case the mix of flowers and appliqued checked fabric combined with embroidered words. I have always used text a lot in the things I do and feel it gives a contemporary take on the nostalgic element of hand embroidery which is ever present in my work. Usually I find the words creeping into my mind in the design process are influenced by the way I am feeling at the time; my new range has not only 'hush', but 'rest awhile' and 'stay awhile' woven into the designs which kind of tells you what I was craving really doesn't it?



The flower colours remind me of pelargoniums with the lazy-daisy petals, a delicate scattering of dark cherry red and the softer raspberry hue.



and the blue drifts of forget-me-nots which haze our garden from April onwards, self-seeding merrily and carpeting the ground under the scarlet tulips. I love that soft blur of blue and its reminiscence of bluebells which are also building nicely in numbers by the garden wall.



Something about the gentleness of the colour suggests quiet to me, the chance to lie a while and doze perhaps with the docile droning of bees overhead. If only...



Anyhoo, back to the hearts which I think are delicately pretty and may just give a hint to the children as they leap on the bed on a Saturday morning or bellow at me from another room. Failing that I suppose I could just walk around wearing one on each ear in the hope they may see the 'Hush' written thereon and quietly drift away like the dainty forget-me-nots I am sure they truly are.



They are available from my shop here and would make a lovely present for Mothering Sunday or just because...after all, wouldn't we all like a little hush sometimes?



More lovely stitchery will be added to the shop over the coming weeks.
Happy Wednesday xx