Sunday, March 29, 2009

Pinky, creamy lovelyness























Every year I wait impatiently for the coming of spring,  I love to see the countryside around us waking up after its long winter rest.  I love winter with its short quiet days, log fires and of course Christmas, but when buds appear on the trees and little shoots start to push up out of the ground its time to open the windows and let gusts of warm sweet spring air into the house.  
















One of my favourite plants in our garden is the cherry tree,  although its beauty in full blossom only lasts a week or so I watch it start to flower and when in full bloom I  cant wait to go and burry my face in its PINKY LOVELY CREAMINESS.  It smells divine and the blossom against the blue sky as you can see is heavenly.
















I wish blossom would last longer it fades so quickly but we do have cherries to look forward to if we can beet the blackbirds to them, its a waiting game they always seem to win!
















The faded antique colours of helibours (excuse if thats the wrong spelling).























Beautiful quince flowers.























Our garden is stuffed with primroses and primulas, they are everywhere you turn in many colours and shades, little fairy grottos appear in odd corners.   























Back indoors between breaks in the garden gloating over flowering delights I have been busy getting on with new stock. 
















Bracelets made from vintage buttons, this year I thought it would be nice to present them on a card with some jolly fabric. They look like a box full of sweeties.

















Painted boxes decorated with ephemera and buttons.


















And after much stuffing and sewing, here are a few dolly creatures ready to start painting. I am looking forward to getting on with these I will show you them when they are done.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Let me take you on a favourite walk























Hello everyone I hope you have had a good weekend.  In a moment I will take you on my favourite walk around St Antony's Head a few miles from home.  But first I wanted to show you these two little girls 'The Peppermint Twins' that you may remember from a while back.  Well the last week or so I have been busy working on a new book that is to go with 'The Peppermint Twins' I have had to write the story and do some colour artwork for some of the spreads and the cover and work the rest of it up in pencil, as you can imagine that has taken all my time!  I cannot show you any of that as it is hush, hush till after the main childrens book fair of the year this month where the publisher is hoping to get lots of sales lined up.  I can say though that it is based on The Happy Crow!   Well recently I have started to make some painted dolls of some of the characters I have been painting and the publisher saw them and wanted some Twins to take with him to the fair so here they are ready to post off tomorrow.  They were fun to do and will hopefully attract some attention.

Yesterday was such a glorious day that we just couldn't stay indoors working so we decided to go for our favourite walk.  St Antony's Head or Zone Point is owned by the National Trust and I think one of the most beautiful places in Cornwall. Its a circular walk that takes in both sides of the coastline of about 3 miles.  The sky was the brightest blue and milky white round the edges if you know what I mean and it was 'only need a cardie' weather, the best in my opinion. I will not bore you with loads of captions to the photos just put your feet up and enjoy a three mile stroll from the comfort of your armchair!




























































































































































































































































































































































































Wasn't that lovely!  Full of fresh air and a slight tingle on our cheeks we took a tired little doggie (she does at least twice the distance we do) home.  

Have a great week, the weather looks set fair so get out there and enjoy!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

This Friday we went to........Port Isaac
















Hello everyone,  this Friday for our afternoon off we drove over to Port Isaac, a little fishing village on the north coast well known for its appearance in 'Doc Martin'.  We have always liked it but it has become a lot more crowded since the TV show and its best to go out of season if you just want to wander round quietly.  The seagulls are pretty tame as you can tell by the pic, I did not have to crop in on this he just sat there posing for the camera (probably a left over extra from the show!)























Well here is the main street running down to the harbour, the sign sticking out on the left is where Lawrence L. B's wife has her little shop, nice stuff but you would expect it to be a little less 'mainstream'.  I should imagine she makes a fortune in the summer!
















Down on the harbour beach looking up at some lovely houses, (Doc Ms in the middle).  I love those old stone steps.























 Love the colour of the woodwork, you can only get away with that by the sea!  This should be your house Sara(sparkly).























Must be tinyist house in the village, sweet, and I found a stick insect on the door! It must be warm enough for them down here as I have seen them elsewhere too.































From the harbour, fishing boats getting ready to leave.























And, well, you can guess after a good wander there is one thing you must have and thats hot crumpets and a bit of cake!  And a very nice bit of cake it was too!!  If you go there I recommend the chocolate.   























Today I did my usual car booty round the one in Truro and spotted this lovely little nursing chair. I love the shape on the back quite gothic I thought. Well it was mine for a fiver and I thought it would make a nice day bed to Midge.  Well those of you with cats will know that as soon as something new is bought into the house it is immediately made there's by said cats!  No exeption here, five minutes in, blanket and cushion on, call Midge to come and try it out, turn round and......Boris is on it!























Poor little Midge will have to wait till his majesty gets up!!