I'll leave you with these thoughts.

I am off to Cornwall for a few days but leave you with these thoughts ...

Embrace possibility

Acknowledge your talents

Create with abandon

Wear more skirts

Be fearless

Surprise yourself and do more things you didn't think you could do

Believe in healing

Speak of your gratitude

Ask questions

Take a journey back to yourself

Explore the night sky

Be quirky

Be yourself

Dance in your living room

Seek joy

Share your story

Surround yourself with beauty

Unleash your dreams

Begin, begin

Remember your 8 year old self

What are you waiting for?

Enjoy your week. x

New Beginnings x

Many things in my life have changed recently. Some for the good others are sad partings.

It has lead me to ask certain questions of myself. Taking me back to being a little girl and the things I believed in then and the things I value now.

The people in life that are precious and who are always there no matter what with their constant support and love.

It has all helped to make me shine again when I thought there was no shiny me left.

I have questioned my view of me and of who I am.

And of what I now wish for my life ahead.

All of life's experiences are lessons that we can hopefully learn a great deal from.

Then move forward with new and exciting knowledge of horizons to be explored.

I am beginning to understand why these things have happened.

And I am now ready for my new beginnings. Enjoy yours. x

Beauty All Around Part Two

A close up of my favourite eiderdown

My gorgeous Mum

A kiss in the sky

Finding a perfect match - this old postcard and an untouched frame from a car boot

And the prettiest of pink roses.

Enjoy your evening.

Back to business - A recent car boot visit.

You know how it is. Sometimes you get up at the crack of dawn, throw on some clothes and rush off to the nearest car boot sale. You walk round eagle eyed only to return home with absolutely nothing! But not this week! Look at these goodies. :)

Lucky for me it started off with the suitcase complete with tags and labels.

Oh Naples looks fab.

Then I came across this old artist box with lots of compartments inside.

Linens, old tape measures and a plastic quilted peg bag still in its packet. (This item was just so kitsch I just had to buy it!)

Next came the beautiful pink glass bowls and rose china dish.

And finally this wonderful old wooden truck.

What a morning! Thank you booty people.

A Big Thank You x

I wanted to say a big thank you to all my friends, family and blog pals for all the wonderful support you have shown me over the last three weeks. I have been overwhelmed with all the calls, texts, messages and daily acts of kindness. Although I now find myself in a place I never expected to be with all your help I can now see the sunshine ahead through the clouds. x

Happy Easter

Wishing all my wonderful friends, family and everyone out there in blog land a very Happy Easter. Thanks Rosie and Pete for my lovely pink spotty Easter mug. I love it. xxx

Sorry I've been away.

I'm sorry for not keeping up with my blog recently. I have been making some lovely things and spent Saturday with Julie Arkell on a workshop and I have loads of photos to publish. But on Sunday I had a devastating blow which has rocked me to my core and it make take me a while to recover. I hope you understand and I will be right back as soon as I am able. I am hoping tonights full moon changes things around for me. Dont forget to check it out weather permitting!

Beauty all around.

After driving my husband to Newark train station a brown paper parcel was waiting on the door step when I returned.

The Secret Garden ordered from Milly and Dotties Emporium.

It came beautifully wrapped in green tissue paper and tied with string.

And is full of gorgeous illustrations.

I have to confess that I took rather a long coffee break looking through it.

But then back to the real world. I changed the bed and put on my favourite Shabby Chic bedding. The cotton is fabulous and is still feels like new two years after I bought it.

Then to the ironing mountain from last week although I have to say I think my p.j's looked scrummy all folded and ready to wear.

Then finally another wonderful sunset. What a sky. If only I could paint!

Enjoy your evening.

Wish I still had these.

I have been looking through some old photos and found this one of me about aged 3ish sitting on these gorgeous floral deck chairs. Oh how I wished my parents had saved them although I do remember that if you sat too near the top or bottom they tipped up and folded completely over your head!!!

More creatures to share

As promised here are some more creatures inspired by Julie Arkell.

This is 'Lost shoe'.

I just love embroidering words onto things!

Her ears are made of a gorgeous scrap of fabric that came from the States.

The jumper was part of a worn out sock from GAP which I just couldn't throw away.

As you may be aware I work one day a week in a fantastic shop called Heaths Country Store. (I will post some photos soon) My boss, after I showed him 'One shoe' , walked up to me with a pair of mittens on the top of his head and said "Anyone can be a Julie Arkell". The next creature was inspired from that conversation although it looks nothing like Heath!!

She is wearing a beautiful vintage dolly coat with a tiny little doll in her pocket which was knitted by my very talented Mum.

Here they sit, best of friends together.

Instead of the ironing.

Today I set off with all good intentions to try and clear my ironing mountain but then found myself distracted by a piece of tea dyed muslin in my stash.

After drawing out the pattern in pencil I machined over the line on the body...

and around the arms and legs.

She was then stuffed with rags and bits of leftover calico. This gives a heavy and bumpy feel to the doll.

Next comes the face carefully stitched and blusher added for some rosy cheeks.

Her 'hat /ears' are an inpiration from my love of Julie Arkell creatures.

Add a button to hide a small mark on the vintage dolly tights.

I have never been able to resist vintage dolly dresses on my travels and have thought for a while how great it would be to make some dolls to fit them. Now complete with her socks she is finished but my ironing sadly is not!

A weekend with Janet Bolton - "Follow your star"

I wanted to share with you the lovely weekend I have spent on a Janet Bolton workshop at the Hope and Elvis studio run by Louise Presley. Janet gave a great talk on her life and inspiration and gave us lots of tips and advice on how to start to create a piece of our own. This is my journey.

My finished piece and the inspiration behind it.

My inspiration came from this lovely picture in one of my all time favourite books - Seasons at Seven Gates Farm.

From the picture I then chose a colour palette from Louises wonderful stash of fabric.

Then I had to piece together the background and frame.

The 'almost' finished piece. Just a bit of snow to quilt on.

This picture shows a close up of the dress which was made from a very old piece of quilt. A truly fabulous day.