Painted Lady

This week it was reported in the UK that we are being invaded by a beautiful butterfly called Painted Lady.

The Painted Lady is a long-distance migrant, which causes the most spectacular butterfly migrations observed in Britain and Ireland.

Each year, it spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, across mainland Europe and reaching Britain and Ireland. In some years it is an abundant butterfly, frequenting gardens and other flowery places in late summer.  Well, this year, for whatever reason they have decided to come in their droves!  We even had one visit us whilst we were sitting in our conservatory reading the Sunday papers.  Luckily, we were able to release it back into our garden so that it could fly away to join its mates.  Apparently, they thrive on the common Thistle plant which grows in abundance everywhere.

In honour of this beautiful migrant I thought I would search the Design Style Guide team for further examples of butterflies.  Here is what I found!

Butterfly Garden Original Oil Painting

by

Loves2paint

 

 

 

Blue Butterfly on Bevel Suncatcher

by

Sundance Reflections

 

 

Colorful Butterfly Window Cling Suncatcher with Stained Glass Effects

by

Clinging Images

 

 

Butterfly Pillowcases

by

The Closet and Curio Shop

 

Embroidered Clock, Floral Garden and Butterflies

by
Satin Stitchery

 

 

You can tell I like butterflies, can’t you?

Slightly altered…..

If you remember in my last post I described a boutonnière that as to be offered in a swap? Well, I am still doing that but I have embellished it with some gold coloured seed beads.

I just thought it gave it another dimension, don’t you?

A March ACEO swap!

A super team on Etsy.com that I belong to is called Boomers and Beyond or BBEST for short.  You may have heard of us or, certainly, read about the group in this blog.  Do check out the group blog link above to find out more about them. 

Each month we have an event and for the month of March members were asked to join in and create an ACEO (an item measuring 2.5” x 3.5”) in any medium they wished but the theme was to be Spring.  Quite a few of us signed up and as the ACEOs were created they were posted on this site for all to admire.  The fun of this swap is that you are given the name and address to whom you are to send your ACEO but you have no idea whose ACEO you will receive in return.  Of course, I did try to suggest that all ACEOs could easily be sent to me!  Somehow I think that request fell on deaf ears, can’t think why?  Anyway, as many as possible are always encouraged to join in the fun as it is such a brilliant way of communicating with each other and learning more about other artisans in the group.

Several members had never created anything so small or in this format but it just goes to show that if you decide to step outside of the box you will surprise and surpass yourself!

In my capacity of PQ I wracked my brains for quite a while before I came up with my Spring ACEO.  I had some old buttons which I wanted to feature.  Then came the idea of using the buttons as flowers with an embroidered sun.  I even found a butterfly!   See what you think? 

OK, you will want to see what I received?

Today the postman stopped by with a package from Milton Keynes.  That would have to mean something from Makeyourpresentsfelt!  If you remember from the Flickr gallery pictures you might have spotted the chicken already.  I had already mentioned/suggested that it come to me….. well, it did!

It is so cute!  But, not only was I lucky enough to have won this ACEO but Chrissie also treated me to another using her felted expertise to create an ACEO entitled Spring Seedlings.

As if that wasn’t enough look at the pretty envelope that held them safe from the outer wrapping.

I would love to tell you who is due to receive mine but it would spoil the surprise.  I do hope they like it!!!!!

 

 

PQ

It was….. Mother’s day yesterday

Well, better late than never!  I should have posted about this yesterday but as you can imagine I was more involved with the family and being outdoors in the wonderful spring sunshine than wanting to spend time indoors on the computer!

I rose to a beautiful sunny spring morning.  During the day the kids came round (my youngest baby is going to be 29 this year!) with lovely flowers/plants and cards.  Aaaaaaah!  I know it is a commercial thingy but, heck, it is nice to be spoilt any time, isn’t it?

Anyway, we had several jobs to do which were outstanding like putting up a new clothes line.  Sad really.  To think of the things that excite you as you get older!

Then, since the weather was being so kind we decided to go for a walk and I took these pictures.  Yes, I know they are of the usual spring like flowers etc but  it is a wonderful time of year!

 

I have this as my desktop background.  I just love the way the daffodils are peeking out!  If you click on the photo you will see the enlarged version.

Here we have a host of golden daffodils!

Walking round the corner we spotted this swan.  There is usually a mate nearby but today this one was the only one in evidence.

 

Usually you would see plenty of green algae and moss on these rocks but I guess it was still a wee bit too cold.

To finish up I couldn’t resist taking this shot of the sun shimmering and twinkling on the water.

As the seasons change more colour will appear and we will be able shed our winter overcoats to enjoy the warm sunshine once again!

PQ

Who was Saint Patrick?

Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is well known for all sort of stories like the belief that he rid Ireland of all snakes.  Totally untrue and merely a result of many years of folklore and handed down stories that were often exaggerated. For your information Ireland never had snakes but it is thought that the meaning came from the fact that St Patrick was to eradicate all pagan beliefs!

It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century.   At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity.  Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian. (It is also believed that Patrick first began to dream of converting the Irish people to Christianity during his captivity.)

After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice which he believed to be God's, spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland.

To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation; an angel in a dream telling him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.

His mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. After that time, Patrick retired to County Down. He died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since.

So, are you feeling Irish?  Why not find out how Irish by completing the Irish quiz at this link?

Meanwhile I thought I would search through Etsy to find some Irish related items that had been created by the Boomers and Beyond Street Team (BBEST for short!).  Here goes…….

Irish Eyes Earrings

by

J Stinson

 

 

4 Knit Shamrock Mugrugs

by

Blazing Needles

 

Dichroic Shamrocks Brooch

by

Designs by Christine

 

 

Neighborhood Girl - Original Watercolor ACEO

by

Six Sisters

 

 

St. Pats Day Can Cozies

by

Bags and More by Pam

 

Why not take a scroll over to Etsy and search for more wonderful items from the BBEST team?  Follow the BBEST link or just type in BBEST when you do a search and see what comes up!  I think you may be amazed by the talent in this team, but then I am biased!!!

May the roads rise to meet you.
May the wind be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
The rain fall soft upon your fields
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
A GAELIC BLESSING

 

Happy St Patrick’s Day to you!

PQ

Spring is in the air!

An Etsy team called Boomers and Beyond or BBEST for short, are having a new swap challenge this month is to create an ACEO with the theme entitled….. Spring! 

I love sitting back to see what comes out of the woodwork.  Truly inspirational pieces are being created in all manner of mediums.  The excitement is always that each person who contributed is given a name of their swapee but they do not know who will be sending them an ACEO.  To remind readers, an ACEO has only one rule.  That is, it has to measure 3.5” x 2.5”.  It can be created in any medium.  You will note there are glass based ones, fabric, painted ones.  The list is endless.

What did I create?  Well, under the name of Precious Quilts I decided to create an ACEO depicting Spring in the form of the sun shining down on some pretty flowers made with cute little buttons I had in my stash.  For the centres of the flowers I added some seed beads to enhance the image.

Oh yes!  I love butterflies and have one in my avatar  on Etsy so, of course, I had to include a pretty pink one to complete my picture composition!

Now, I urge you to follow this link to see the other ACEOs offered for the March BBEST swap.

Hard to choose my favourite and even harder is the waiting and wondering which ACEO I will be lucky enough to receive!

I was undecided so…..

A couple of posts ago I described a quiltie I had created for a swap group I belong to. Once I sat and thought about it, I looked hard again but decided that maybe I could do better!

So, I took some felt viscose from Sassalynne’s Shop on Etsy and used that as a base. Now taking various handmade papers I cut out rectangle shapes to place and sew. To finish I attached a vintage button from my MIL’s collection but placed some seed beads in its centre. For the reverse I simply took another piece of the felted viscose and zigzagged a border to keep it all together. And so, an Abstract Pink Rectangle Quiltie was born!

As its predecessor it measures 5” square. Hopefully this will look better than my Valentine quiltie. Regardless, it has now been posted so I had better stop trying to make my mind up and being so undecided!

Before the snow!

We knew the snow was coming and on this particular Saturday the sun was shining and the air was still crystal clear. What better excuse to get out and go for a walk in the countryside. Having looked at a map and various National Trust publications we decided to visit a place called Scotney Castle. Unfortunately, the house and gardens were closed for the winter and not due to open for a few weeks but the general public are still allowed to wander through the estate. This we did. It was wonderful! Walking in the fields you had to be careful where you placed your feet! Apart from that it really was lovely to be well wrapped up and able to enjoy the crisp frosty weather before the impending bad weather which heralded snow!

The sheep did not seem to mind us walking amongst them. They simply raised their heads, checked us out and resumed the serious business of eating!

I am told sheep actually prefer the dry, crisp frosty days rather than wet wintry ones because although their wool is waterproof I guess I wouldn't want to sit around in my wool coat on a wet day feeling soggy!

I must admit it was great to walk around without seeing any snow, just for a change!

Can you imagine choosing to take a walk around your estate if it looked like this? How the other half live!

Some wonderful quilt items

It's snowing outside, cold and wet so what better time to go internet browsing!  I decided to see what I could find in a team I belong to called Boomers and Beyond Etsy Street Team or BBEST for short!

Since we are experiencing above average snow fall for UK I thought I would turn my thoughts to finding quilted items whether they are useful or just really attractive and pretty.

 

Circles 'n Squares Small Textile Art

Liz Plummer, who hails from the UK,  describes this quilt as a small quilted wallhanging which  is a colourful, playful one which would look great in a child's room or to brighten up a gloomy room. Particularly if you like sweets/candy!

 

Another form using quilting is from Libertybelle's shop

 

Flower Fairy Fabric Postcard

This pretty fabric postcard is made with flower fairy fabric and has been embellished with cute little pink heart buttons. It is finished with lace and hand embroidery.

I don't know about the title of this one except winter flurries might be more appropriate!

 

 

Art Quilt Autumn Flurries

by Artmixter who explains that this hand dyed cloth is raw edge applique'd onto a rich blue velvet base, sprinkled with sequin leaves that spiral in the painted and stitched spiral of the wind, with a golden flower in the centre.

No amount of chat etc would allow this team to focus away from one important influence.......

.... that of chocolate!!

Karen Quilted and Beaded Bag in Chocolate and Blue

Chocolate brown and blue 100 percent cotton fabrics, long brown and pink beading, and silver metal accents make the Karen bag one you will grab often thanks to Kimbuktu

 

Since you now have the chocolate, how about a nice warm cup of tea?  The tea would have been kept warm by placing the teapot in this cute tea cozy by Nonnie60.

 

Quilted Mini Tea Cozy - Country/Folk Art Design

This mini-tea cozy was designed and sewn by Nonnie using a quilted cotton fabric in a country or folk art design. It was designed specifically for the nesting 2C pot and cup, which when assembled stand approximately 6" high. It also accommodates any 1C mini-pot. as shown in the main photo. It can also rest on top of a large mug to keep coffee or tea from cooling off too quickly.

Tempted yet?  Why not browse some more?  You will be amazed at the talent in this group!!!

Christmas lights

One of the things we love to do just before Christmas is to take a walk in our neighbourhood to 'inspect' all the Christmas lights that folk have put up on their houses, in the garden etc. We did notice that this year, possibly due to families with small children moving on or a change in circumstances, was that there appeared to be less lights around. A shame really as it always evokes some of the magical feeling of Christmas, doesn't it?

We have always been pretty conservative with our decorations, even when the kids were young. Here is a picture I took the other evening from across the street of our abode. The light on the side of the house is actually a street light and not part of the decorations!

The window to the left is my workroom.

We have a couple of small windows at the side of the house and always place a flickering light in them to make it more cosy looking.

I think you can just make out the Christmas tree in our front room which we placed in the bay of the window.

In case I don't have a chance again, I just want to wish you all a wonderful Christmas! Don't forget it will be a time to make that ultimate sacrifice of helping to eating all the food, including the chocolates! You know your assistance will be rewarded, somehow, somewhere!!!!!!

December Quiltie

A group I belong to are having a quiltie swap this month.  Now a quiltie is a mini quilt measuring a square 5".  This could be framed or hung up on its own or simply placed in an album.

The theme for this month was A Winter Wonderland.  I decided it was far too cold to see outside so decided to stay indoors and peek through the kitchen windows with their red gingham curtains.

 

I hope my swap partner likes it!!!

I will be back!

As someone who shall remain nameless once said.... I will be back!

Regular readers must be wondering what on earth is happening? No posts for ages!! Well the reason is that I have been on holiday in Spain for the last 2 weeks!!

Tomorrow I return to the cold and wet and life will resume. I have loads to tell you about our wonderful holiday, have great new creative ideas so watch this space!!!

My sister blog (one of them!) http://onawhimsey.wordpress.com/ will have an announcement very shortly, I hope, regarding a book that will be for sale on the subject of my encaustics - my paintings created with beeswax!

So until then..... please be patient!

Nearly the end of the month and....

Yes, it is nearly the end of the month and the 30/30 challenge is nearing its end!

Di's 30/30 challenge has quite a number of us participating.  Each of us setting ourselves different targets which we hoped to achieve during the month of October.

My goals were:

1. To create an encaustic painting to enter into a competition on ArtScuttlebut.com  Here is my entry entitled Celestial Magic.  It has been created using pigmented beeswax which was then hot air blown.  To enhance the painting I used my trustworthy iron, hot stylus and tissues.

The painting has been created on canvas as a support and is painted around the sides, top and bottom so is immediately ready to hang.

When you view the painting from the sides you can see the whole subject which makes it rather fun!

 

 

2.  My next goal was to continue using the Wii sports.  This I have done using it to play tennis which is a game I love.  In addition DH and I have taken many walks through local parks to enjoy the beautiful foliage at this time of year.

3. My third goal was to create something every week and this week I have had my encaustic paints out again.  This time to create a painting using one of England's oldest monuments, namely, Stonehenge.  Each year during the summer solstice the druids come from far and wide to celebrate the season. 

This particular painting evolved from a greetings card I was trying to create for my DH whose birthday is on Saturday.  He loves the wax art so I began and the first picture that emerged was this one of  a landscape scene.  I wasn't too happy with it so carried on and then Stonehenge was born! 

 

 

 

 

So you can see the different processes and how a painting can evolve from card to canvas.

All these paintings are created by me but under my 'other' personality!  On a Whimsey where I only have encaustic art.

In addition I have managed to keep up my new blog A Precious Memory where I have written some of my father's memoirs of a dark period in his life.

And so, my friends, I feel that I have managed to acquit myself reasonably well by 'just' keeping up with my self set goals.  Now with Christmas just around the corner there are plenty more challenges.  Thank you, Di, for making us get up and get on with things.  It is always easier if someone goads you into being more productive.

The tiles are starting to be put up!

Today the builders wrestled with pumps in the airing cupboard, radiator taps but then began to put up the tiles!!

I switched on the lights to show this! You can make out the chrome 'bits' sticking out of the wall on which the radiator will be hung.

Also the tiles! They are a soft cream colour.....

.... and here you can see the shower area. The back wall and sides of the shower have now been tiled. On the right side is a 'magic' shelf! This has been built and tiled with chrome edging all around. The shelf itself is ever so slightly sloping to allow water to drain off. So I will be able to put my shampoo and conditioner bottles there along with the soap. Neat isn't it? Tomorrow the screen will arrive for the shower cubicle and the rest of the wall tiles will be put up by close of day. I can actually now see the transformation from what was before to a thoroughly modern shower room!!!!! The kids will be envious of the old folk :0