30.6.13

I like.....



I like kind,
I like honest, funny, real, genuine.

I like inspiration!
I like brave, 
I like warmth,
I like welcome.



I like creative, artistic, modern,
I like pre-loved,
I like home, journey, travel,

I like endeavor
and I like care.



I like daring, safely......!

I like heart and I like soul,
I like moving and stretching.

I like gentle and strong,
I like reading and seeking,
I like watching and growing,
being and seeing.



I like colour,
I like encourage,
I like motivate.

I like friend,
I like lover.



I like smiles,
I like opening.

I like forgiving,
I like green,
I like trees, sunshine and stars.



I like creative folks,
blue sky and flowers,

I like handmade, homespun and thrift.

I like mother earth wearing it's big beautiful breathing flowery dress on the common!



Welcome July!




is there anywhere you go daily and watch things grow?

have a good week,

Heather
X

28.6.13

food for the weekend and more cushions!


Oh the ease of summer food. This will keep me going all weekend. A trip to the farmers market, a chunk of fresh bread, olives, feta and sundried tomatoes. Add some sweet, juicy, organic tomatoes and a large handful of spicy rocket from the floor of my greenhouse, where it grows with abundance! So simple. My kind of food. It leaves more time for all the things in life which call 'right now'.  

Eaten in any sunny corner which beckons. I love the way my life expands out into new corners of my world and a sunny meal or a spontaneous chat with a friend calling by can take place in a comfy sunny spot! So good.

This week I've actually been sleeping in my conservatory, under the stars, kind of!! The air feels fresh, I feel more connected to the outside. I wake up with the dawn chorus and fall asleep as the last glowing light leaves the sky. What can I say, it feels more real, I feel more in the world. It's a little like glamping in your own house!

I wonder if you ever camp-out in your garden or sleep anywhere different in the summer? and wouldn't a summer house be great!  for adults!! 
***

I have added my finished cushions to my shop. Here they are in all there glory! I really enjoyed making these. My mind is already racing ahead to new ones and I have some new things to show you soon.

 Here is my summer cushion.



And here is my new biscuit cushion!

Enjoy the weekend, enjoy some simple summer food, create something you love! relax!!

Heather
X  

22.6.13

midsummer makings

I hope you had a good solstice or mid-summers day. I have been flat out here creating, gardening, parenting. This week the energy building up to the solstice was oh so strong! it felt as though all the parts of my life were being expanded to the maximum.

Sometimes I can feel over-wrought at this time of year, this year even with all it's calling and challenges I am managing to keep my feet on the ground. I have been following the drumming and journeying of Pixie Campbell, each day building up to the solstice with her 7 journeys. It has been a lovely calm way to end these days of intensity.

So I have been totally immersed in nature, planting vegetables, walking in the woods and stretching there too! Many things this week reached the pinnacle of me needing to act. I am learning that when I can bring myself to ask for help, it's usually readily bountiful. There is so much wisdom out there.





Many makings have been happening too. I down one set of tools and pick up another! Do you know the feeling?.......This is my summer time cushion. The reds, pinks and yellows of the summer especially have been calling me here.

I love making these. I like the quick colour changes and the way it all comes together. This together with this next cushion will be in my shop very soon.


I began this cushion in the winter and choose this biscuit colour to edge it in. It seems to set off all the colour quite well. I just love some of these colour combinations. Love that blue and aqua, and the pink and yellow, it's always tempting to keep em'!

Can I show you my bows. One thing led to another as you can see! This is the free gift from mollie makes and I used some pink thread too. Aren't they sweet! So simple too.

As I'm playing creative catch up I'll show you these, made during the last half-term holidays. This cushion became a birthday present. This was some very cute, folksy style material I found on my travels, edged with pompoms, which were a little tricky to sew but I love the finish.

And here's the back! I'm enjoying using my labels. I don't sew them on my crochet cushions. I put them on my detachable labels instead.

This ones sitting on my couch! It's made from some vintage Sanderson fabric I found. I had fun decorating the top with doilies and pearl buttons. It was very theraputic, although it's all a bit haphazard!

Here's the back. I thought the edge of the fabric was too nice to cover up so I kept it as part of the cushion and added some vintage buttons and little loops. I seem to make a lot of cushions. I am a great believer in the power of the cushion to change our lives!!

On my couch right now!

And still adding to them. Good job it's a big couch! All the better for flopping on at the end of the day!

Have a good weekend!

Heather
X
  

17.6.13

feeling creative right now!

I don't know about you, but quite frankly, right now anything else which isn't me being creative feels like a chore! ...... there it is, it's the truth. So much for being present in each moment and enjoying the journey!

There is so much to do and so many ideas in my head. All I want to do is be making. Everything else just has to be done so I can get on with my real 'work' !

How about you? Is this the juicy summer energy kicking in leading up to the summer solstice I wonder!

be back later this week with a creative catch up post,

happy making, working, playing in these busy days,

Heather
X

16.6.13

blue sky and bunting!

the beautiful old town of tetbury
Oh we do need some summer sun......! some blue skies and some bunting flapping gently in the breeze.

This was a little jaunt I went on last week. I had three hours to spare, while I waited for an appointment. After doing the early morning drop off it seemed silly to drive back and forth again. Not much has changed since I wrote this post here, except less snoozing time on my part.

I do love to wander around nice places, just taking in the day. I realize that some of my happiest moments are when I am escaping for a while into another place, either that or when I'm creating. It's nice to give yourself permission to just hang out somewhere and watch the world go by. It's a way re-finding myself for a while, away from everyday.

Tetbury is a very traditional English town in the Cotswolds. Originally a center for wool and yarn trading in the middle ages. The houses are characterful and built from Cotswold stone, many with original Tudor detail.

Across the street there I found my new colour inspiration house there on the corner! Freshly painted sandy colour walls, with a bright aqua blue woodwork. I like it very much. Re-painting a house is quite something though.


There it is again on the corner. I think it might have been an old pub looking at the billboard. I like to wander around looking at the houses, the tastefully painted woodwork and pretty Wysteria climbing the walls.

It truly is Wysteria season here in the Cotswolds. It's so very pretty. Looks nice with the painted windows!


We are definitely on royal stomping ground here. We call it Prince Charles' polo country! He lives nearby at Highgrove and also has a shop in the high street called Highgrove. 


The high street is full of antique shops. Everything is quite expensive here, although I do have a look in several charity shops. Little dog is allowed in everywhere except Highgrove! She is greatly admired by many here, a town full of dog lovers it seems!

early sunflowers for sale


























I love all the bunting, it's seems to be what we do best.
Lots of visitors come here. It's daytripable from London. Looking in the toy shop window I spied this London in a bag set, love this. I grew up in the suburbs of London and enjoyed roaming around there. Now I love the countryside here. This has become my sons childhood home, which makes it really important. But if I were to live anywhere else it would probably be the coast. I like the Jurassic coast.



Oh and last thing to do before my meeting, refreshments of course!

Sometimes I people watch from the cafe sitting outside on the street. Little dog is allowed in, even inside! (dog-lovers!) sitting outside, each chair has it's own sheepskin thrown across and a wool blanket should it be chilly! so you can sit here even in the winter.

But this day, I have a mini flask and I find a quiet spot in the churchyard amongst the Cowparsley. I have to compose myself.




While I was there I've taken a picture of the wild flower guide, so I can learn the names.



Can you identify many?

And then it was off to my meeting. It's nice to escape now and again.

I think I'm going to have to get out the bunting and bunitfy something this weekend. Do you like that word?!

Hope the sun comes out where you are,

Heather
X     

10.6.13

a summery gathering

This Saturday I went to a friends summery tea party. It was actually a little gathering of friends and neighbours  for her daughters 17th birthday.

It was good medicine to be out in the summer sun and socialize for a few hours.

......and I might of had to overcome my I just can't socialize feeling like this persona in order to go!......I decided not to think about too hard and just went. Thankfully I did.


In fact, I'm sure it was me who was getting rather excited about the wonderful egg and cress sandwiches and exclaiming loudly all about it. I had never tasted better!......apparently it's all down the seasoning and the cress......I can tell you going to the gym prior eating said sandwiches also helps!! In fact I think I ate nearly all of them. Hope that doesn't mean I will be forgotten to be invited next time!

I was also rather excited about this lady's red and white gingham sundress, sadly that's not me wearing it! I was so ready to believe it was handmade! Very suitable attire for a tea party don't you think?


We ooed and aahed over the handmade bunting. Sewn on to a measuring tape from a christmas cracker no less! very clever!

We admired the vintage teapots and drank copious amounts of tea and ate delicious victoria sponge cake and meringues and cream. Oh and gorgeous ripe strawberries too.


I was a very well fed and happy guest. Feeling virtuous by way of having gone to the gym first! It's only once a week, but it keeps everything moving and the endorphins are good.

I also managed to score a summery top on the way there, which I wore. By using my thrifting skills! Which helped, oh and I wore my vintage sunglasses, so all was good. 

Back at home we kicked off shoes and relaxed on the swing seat. By we I mean me and my little dog of course!

Accompanied by the wool basket. I loved working with the bright colours in the sunshine. Another cushion is being made, I'll show you soon. This is our sweet spot this summer, lots of time going to be spent here!

Thank you for your support and advice on my last post. I was thinking it would be good to join a parents of teenagers support group, if there is such a thing! it only takes a few wise words from others and you can get a glimmer of hope again going again. So thank you lovely people. 

Have a good week. Got to go now and mow a meadow!

Heather
X  





  

7.6.13

well being, looking for okay


So much of our well being day to day can depend on our family members;
if they're happy, we're happy.
Life can feel easy and relaxed when all is well.

But bring in some teenage angst,
and the mantra 'this too shall pass',
becomes just a bit harder to swallow!

You realize one day that happy, relaxed and just plain okay
has been lost along the way.
And it's place has been taken by
the worrier,
the negotiator,
the lets not leave this alone until it's sorted person,
the decider,
the explainer,
the are we going in the right direction now?
the I think this all depends on me to make this happen person,

and while we're at it,
how about sorting out x,y and z etc,
so we can all breathe out and just quietly move along in the direction we were going in,
(whichever that was!)


and then you realize that your doing that 'thing' again,
you know the thing where you try and get someone to change,
or at least in the way that you want them to,
and then it stops being about them and more about what you want,
and I'm sure I could remember what that was if only everything was nicely sorted!

and just lately this blog reader extraordinaire has become much more resident gardener,
and I swear it helps.
I go out and chop and tame the garden instead.
And if you could see this garden you would laugh and exclaim,
 that it is impossible to tame a wild garden like this really,
but I do try!

But I am sure that if you can become an okay teenager, 
that I can become an okay Mum,
actually I'm sure it works both ways
(there's a thought......!)

So I shall practise that,
just that,
being okay.

I shall do simple things,
here and there,
and just for a short while I shall just be okay.
It won't all depend me,
I will trust in his life and how it works itself out.
I shall be okay and even a few happy moments now and again,
and perhaps a few laughs and smiles and a bit of fun
might pop by.

It will be okay.
And I'm sure looking back it will become clear
 that this too did indeed pass 
and okay will rule again.


where do you find yourself okay?
is it in the simple things?

Heather
X