It Has Begun.

Spring finally arrived in Cornwall on Wednesday and though today is cold and foggy I am feeling a definite lift in spirits thanks to the beautiful wonderful sun. A need to be outdoors has taken over with Lucy helping me to sow some seeds to start us off. Nothing quite so exciting as sorting through seed packets and dreaming of all that's to come is there? Of course, you can add yarn and fabric to the nothing so exciting list too.

So far we have parsley, spinach, tomatoes (Italia), rocket and some courgettes underway. It is a little early for some but with our not-too-attractive-but-highly-practical plastic box posing as a greenhouse I am confident the balmy Cornish air will help them on their way. I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought how brilliantly obvious it was for someone who has a greenhouse that is beyond dilapidated now. Such a quick solution until I can sort the greenhouse out. Look here for the original link.

And it seems somewhat appropriate in all this talk of gardens to pop a picture of my In The Garden door hanging which seem to be particularly popular just now. Thoughts turning to the outdoors I guess and also, of course, ideal for Mother's Day gifts!

Hopefully more gardening will take place this weekend though the forecast looks a little dreary. Isabella's broad beans are racing away and have made very strong plants woven as they are among the daffodils in the cutting patch. This rectangular patch is now yielding so many gorgeous daffodils that our house has jug and bottles of them on every available surface, the bright gold casting a sunshine all of its own into the corners of our home with so many more bunches yet to come.

The need to be outside saw me packing the children into the car after the school run and heading for the shore instead of home yesterday. The beach was almost empty and the air positively tingled with ozone. It was just beautiful and Isabella soon was up to her thighs in the icy sea. That child simply cannot keep out of water!

Again, the warmer weather seems to bring a flurry of orders only this time for my Beach Bags which are available in two designs. This one is Ship Ahoy

and this one Lighthouse

Each bag has its own little pouch of shells collected from the Cornish shores by my team of workers (the children!)

and also is available in either child or adult sizes....Mother's Day perhaps? Just trying to help!!

Here's hoping the warmth returns and bring more spring cheer to us all.

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