Berry tea Cosy by Me!

So the holidays are here at last and we seem to have upped the workload even more here at Poltisko Farm (which it isn't but we can dream - a farm that is). I am busily sewing together orders and samples and working on price lists for the flurry of people who have requested them; in the meantime Mr Davey and I also decided now was as good a time as any to tackle the house which is truly lacking in the ahh factor while overflowing in the yucky factor. More of that another time though. For today berries and cherries are what's on my mind - remember these?

and these?

Well these gorgeous jewel-like fruits from our garden inspired this latest addition to my Berries Range ... may I introduce my Berry Tea Cosy.

The design is worked in freehand and hand embroidery

with a little applique (of course).

And so when I see berries

and cherries

I see a Berry Tea Cosy!

Seem to be thinking a lot about tea lately... x

Cornish Harbour Tea Cosy.

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for a day to photograph some of my new designs, a day where there is no rain, no dull light - just a summer's day. Unfortunately, Cornwall refuses to help and the skies remain leaden and overcast with the occasional peeking out of the sun when I am engrossed in other projects and unable to take advantage. Today I decided enough was enough and these pictures would suffice until I can get better ones to replace them with and so I would like to introduce you to the first of my Nautical Range: the Cornish Harbour Tea Cosy.

I have been wanting to work on some designs from a cushion I made a couple of years ago for Mr Davey's Mum where I used the view from her window as a basis for some applique and hand embroidery. I realised that this view of a distant lighthouse across the river, boats nestling sheltered within the harbour and little cottages clustered around the bay was typical of the many seaside places dotted all over our beautiful Cornish coastline. Perfect to reflect what I see everyday.

The tea cosy is made from a cotton/linen fabric with a striped ticking lining and features bright little hand embroidered cottages so evocative of any of the harbours - St Ives, Mousehole, Porthleven - take your pick!

A jaunty boat sails on a shiny blue sea, the whole overlooked by the protective presence of the lighthouse as it perches on the rocky outcrop. So there you have it: my Cornish Harbour Tea Cosy available from here.

Here's hoping for better light next time! x

Day Tripping.

Not much to say for once but plenty of pictures of a Sunday pootle on the river in Mermaid. Impossibly blue skies matched by equally blue seas as we aimed for Trefusis Beach.

The harbour is busy now with a myriad craft including the local ferry boats which go to the Helford, St Mawes and up the river to Truro and Malpas. I know I'm name-dropping but I'm aware a few of you know the area and may like to think back to some of these familiar places.

We made our way past Flushing quay - so pretty with its gorgeous houses high on the banks which belonged to the Packet captains in their heyday. They always make me think of Verity Blamey waiting for Andrew to return as she looks along the harbour from her window (Poldark again - please read all 12 forthwith!)

Once on the beach we ate, paddled, drowsed in the hot sun and just enjoyed that wonderful sense of rest that comes from stepping off a boat onto warm sands where you can't do anything other than 'be'.

There was enough breeze out on the water to ensure plenty of entertainment

and Isabella provided yet more as she had a lesson in swimming with Daddy. She actually swam two strokes on her own!

Could that face possibly smile any wider?

A little snooze under a fluffy towel was in order after so much activity

and then a spot of fishing on the way home - no fish were caught in the making of this blog (as flipping usual!)

but we had fun...

as did this lot who had escaped yet again to take up residence in the garden in our absence...hmmm, there will be words.

See you soon x

A Ramble on the Need for Patience

Good grief, she's posting again! I'm sure this won't last but it is quite nice to be somewhat back in the flow of blogging for the moment. And I am feeling a little better today; thank you to those who sent get well wishes x. In between the fuzzy headed moments we have been busy quaffing our tiny bottles of mead, a honey drink we made some years ago, but have only recently decided tastes more like nectar than the earwax of former times. Some things are best left - in this case, about ten years!

We have decided to make more of this delicious, rather sherry-like wine now that we can taste the point of it and have named Midsummer's Day as the designated day for so doing, hence it shall forever more be known as Midsummer Mead. It is so easy to make and even easier to drink as this oh so flattering picture shows: blurry image, blurry eyes and tipsy angled; we had a great time making it!

Other things happening here which have required some patience to achieve include the smashing of a money box by our not-so-little Lucy who has been saving for a DS thingy (technical term you know) for a very long time now. We are very proud of her as she has not once bemoaned the fact that we haven't merely handed her the money for the thing, has actively enjoyed the saving for it and has enjoyed the having of it even more. I really believe there is so much to be said for learning the value of things in this way, don't you? I also feel that this sweet girl can wear wellies with a style sadly lacking in her bleary eyed mother!

The cherries are continuing to ripen making this the best year we have had for the pretty earrings. They are sweet and juicy but alas the birds have finally discovered them. How much longer will they last?

Ah well, we'll just have to eat as many as we can before they are gone for yet another year. Soft and warm in the rare Cornish sunshine, juices dribbling through sticky fingers...Mmmm.

The designing of items goes on apace and new contacts with potential stockists are being made. It is a busy time, but I am feeling as though the tide is pulling me along and I am happy to drift along with it, seeing what presents itself and letting a few ideas float away to see where they land like so many colourful balloons upon the breeze.

Boats and berries and fluttery insects are being worked onto fabric, the threads drawing themselves along almost separate to me as my mind wanders as freely as my fingers over the cloth. It feels good to allow things to unfold in this way rather than forcing the ideas out of my often-stressed head. Sometimes it is right not to allow the need to earn, the need to produce to over-ride the very creativity that is necessary to have a viable business in the first place and I must remember that a little more often than I do.

Having said that of course, I am as ever a complicated soul who is such a strange mix of practicality and head-in-the-clouds, of realist and romantic all at once that even as I applaud the need for creativity I know I must keep a weather eye on things to ensure that my business is just that: a business and not a hobby. And so, before I go, may I thank those of you who have ordered from me both past and present, and thank those who have lightened the load of my shelves a little by purchasing one of the Beach Bags I blogged of yesterday.

Yes, a complex creature is a Pipany requiring much in the way of patience. Thank heavens for a Davey to complete the mix x

A Post With a Point.

Just a quick post today as I am a little busy and a little poorly too...sympathy please! It's nothing much but my head feels so full of cotton wool as the last dregs of a summer (ha!) virus recedes into the mist - and rain - that I really feel I am sewing in a cloud rather than my sewing room. Still, it's nothing that an early night won't see the end of and as I am rambling I shall proced to the point - yes, there is one - of today's post. It is not pertaining to the ducks, though I felt an update on progress was necessary just because...

So cute aren't they? Ahem, the point is actually to do with these Ship Ahoy Beach Bags which are on offer until Friday 1st of July (that is this coming Friday for those of a similarly fuzzy headed state) as I desperately need to make some room for new products on my shelves. These bags have a hand embroidered panel of a jaunty boat in wavy sea and are lined with ticking to make them very durable for those trips to the beach. They come in two sizes: Adult sized with an interior pocket and little bag of shells collected by the Cornish fairies (me and the children) from around our coast

and child sized, also with a bag of shells which can be added to on similar beach forays.

The adult version is reduced from £24.00 to £20.00

The child's version is reduced from £18.50 to £15.00

By the way, thank you for such lovely comments about the Berry Cushions which are already pleasingly popular on the website.

So did you get it? This was the point of the post....

Thank you from a fuzzy Pip (which sounds like something rather horridly mouldy and is similar to how I felt this weekend...poor me) x

Berry Lavender Cushion by Pipany.

I am still feeling drawn to all the gorgeous fruits burgeoning in the garden: the redcurrants, plums and cheery cherries dangling from the trees. They have inspired me to make this newest item in my Pipany range - a Berry Lavender Cushion.

This bowl of redcurrants picked from our old bush made me decide to add a Cornish Blue inspired appliqued bowl

and here it is...

I used a mix of techniques including hand embroidery, freehand machine embroidery and applique to get the effect I was after.

The reverse can be personalised with the name of your choice & a butterfly or two.

Who could fail to be inspired by such beautiful, glowing colours?

Not Isabella that's for sure.

So there you have it: a Pipany berry inspired lavender cushion, lovingly stitched by me in my little sewing room in (finally) sunny Cornwall & available here!

Do you like it? (Oh, I do hope so!) x