Happy to announce ...

... the winners of my Market research give-away

I allotted each commentator a number and then went to The Random Number Generator  here to select 5 numbers. The result are:-

No. 1 A Purse,  to Kate at  thekathrynwheel

No. 2 A Scented Heart, to  Linda at Blu-eyed girl

No. 3 A flower brooch, to Webb at fromthegardenbench

No. 4 A Lotus flower book, to Jane at jeeandme

and

No. 5 Gift Tags, to Cathy at menopausalmusing

I hope to get them posted off after the weekend if I hear from you (but realise you may be away).  Thank you everyone for your encouraging and useful comments. I am thinking seriously about setting up an etsy shop, but need things to be sorted out here first. However if you are interested in any of the items listed, do contact me via e mail on my profile.

(Mr T is now on his third lot of mega antibiotics, we've still got our fingers crossed.)

Wednesday

My give away draw will stop this evening - there is still room for one more! Meanwhile I will share with you my hand made books I made at the Frances Pickering workshop. They are nearly full now.

First J is for ....

Now 'Come into my garden'...

I have a lot of Euphorbia wulfenni, it fills in lots of spaces and always looks elegant. 

The darling buds of May were inspired by ...

clematis montana 'Elizabeth'  that fills the garden with perfume.

You may recognise the pink campion from the previous post.

Can there be any gardens without dandelions?

And finally the daisy, one of my favourite pages, at the moment.

The turning of the year

So it is August. How did that happen? July, been and gone. At least keeping a visual diary like this helps you look back and see what did happen.

Unfortunately I should have kept my mouth shut on my last post about Mr T as the next day he developed an infection and will probably have to return to hospital for some more work. He is on mega antibiotics and a district nurse is calling weekly to change dressings. What a wonderful service they provide - last year they were calling for seven months!! Goodness knows what that would cost if we had to pay. (PLEASE don't let it go on so long this time!!) Meanwhile we are keeping cheerful and busy.

I had an inspiration for my August page when I saw this picture in The Guardian from the Garima Gospel. You can read more about it here.

As I say on my journal page the colours remind me of Italian majolica ware which I love for its association with some great holidays so that was my inspiration for August.

What will August hold?

The summer seems to have peaked early this year. I do hope the brighter weather returns for all those who are forced to take their holidays within the school break. But I have been spending time in the garden this week. Not only tidying up, but doing some drawing. This year I have lots of Rose Campion - Lychnis coronaria. I love the way it brightens up the dullest corners.  I had lost all of mine, but seeds from a friend have brought them back to the borders. Only a process red acrylic ink would be bright enough for this flower.

The pinkest pink in the garden!

There are lost of great seed heads appearing and some leaves are turning red early so here is another composition from my A4 journal.

This is drawn with a waterproof pigment liner pen and coloured with Brusho powder watercolours. I have some jars of mixed up colours and I enjoy using the limited palette, mixing the colours only by layering them, some times dry and sometimes wet in wet. It certainly helps keep the piece loose and lively.

If you have been, thank you for 'listening'. I hope your weekend is turning out well and have a good August.

Give away

At last after all the teasers I have got it together to organize my give-away. I have an ulteria motive as I am offering one each of the items that I am thinking of selling. I have already had lots of lovely feedback from people viewing the photos on previous posts, but I would like some from people who have handled the 'goods' too. I have sold some to friends and given some as presents, but it is different to sell to a 'stranger'.


Plea for advice
I would also be very grateful for any tips on selling you may have. I have not got enough stuff to set up a stall of my own at a craft fair and I know that the rental for space can be very high. I am thinking of an Etsy or Folksy shop. But I am not self employed and a pensioner, so I am not sure of the UK tax implication, even though selling at a reasonable price would be unlikely to yield a profit when I consider all the 'stuff' I have bought. The other possibility is to set up a separate blog, but the only publicity  would be through this blog page. The reason I want to sell is that I enjoy making things and there is great satisfaction in thinking that someone is willing to part with their money to own something you have created. It is also a great incentive to create. I have sold paintings and drawings in the past, but this has been through exhibitions. If you have any experiences you are willing to share I will be very grateful. You can e mail me via my profile page if you prefer.

The Give Away

I am giving away the following items in the rough order at which I value them. I will draw names randomly after a week or when I have 25 entries, which ever comes first.
To enter the draw you must be a follower of my blog (new followers welcome) as I feel my regular contributers deserve to have priority. I also ask that if you do receive one of the items you are willing to e mail me with a few comments about the item. I will include a few very straightforward questions.  I hope this is not too big an ask and hopefully you will think it is worth a punt. The item I send may not be exactly the same as the ones photographed.
So here is what I am offering -

Number one: A crazy patchwork purse

Number two: A scented crazy patchwork heart

Number three: A tatty-chic flower brooch

Number four: A lotus flower moth book

Number five: Two packs of gift tags

(One with two large tags and one with three small ones)

I am willing to post overseas.

GOOD LUCK

PS Mr T is making an excellent recovery - thank you to all those who asked.

Jill

Blood, sweat and tears

At last I have finished my crazy patchwork bag.

It has taken me hours - I reckon at least 12! 

First I lay out all the pieces out and bonded them to some felt, then machine stitched them down. I  embellished each patch with machine or hand stitching, then added the fastening, a wooden button and a cord made from toning twisted threads and beads.

I then sewed in the lining complete with zipped pocket. It was at this point that the blood came into it. As I pinned in the lining I hadn't realised I had pricked myself and after I had sweated over the zig-zag edging I found blobs of blood all over the lining. 

The tears followed as I had to sponge off the blood - and also I was not very happy with the finished edge as it is very uneven. 

I made the handle by zig-zagging up and down three pieces of coloured string and wool and then plaiting them together.

A friend of my husband popped in to see him and watched me showing off my bag and asked me if I had been a 'Hippy Chick' - Hmm not sure if I approve of the title 'chick', but I did think that Hippy Chic might be a good description of the style. (By the way I was a bit of a weekend hippy way back in the 70s)

If I was going to make these to sell I would have to simplify it a lot and find a different way of finishing the edge, possibly by binding it. But they would be a labour of love! 

Meanwhile the sewing machine is having a bit of a rest.

GIVE-AWAY COMING SOON

(But not this bag!!)

A Country Walk

You may remember that I gave a talk to my U3A Natural History group on a local beauty spot called Sharpenhoe Clappers. On Thursday the group arranged to take a walk round the hill. We were very lucky as the forecast was for rain, but the sun shone for us. 

Here is the group setting out across the meadows.

The beech wood is just over the brow of the hill.

The meadow is full of wild flowers, bees, butterflies and grasshoppers. 

Wild carrot

Hare bells

A Chalkhill Blue butterfly

We walk through the wood and out onto the edge of the ridge. I love the views from here.

The path along the edge is single file, but there are still things to spot.

Wild Basil

Stemless Thistle (ouch)

and

a nameless pink vetch.

Thanks to Victoria who is brilliant at identifying wild flowers.

The weather stayed fine and the sky was as beautiful as the landscape. I haven't walked up here for ages, it is only a few minutes from home and a brilliant spot for blowing away the cobwebs and restoring the spirits.

Handmade

Whilst Mr T was in hospital I made good use of my time and built up a bit of a collection of hand made bits. The idea is to maybe sell a few things after a give-away as market research. I am writing this to commit myself to organising a give away. I have been thinking about it for ages, but I haven't got it together, so writing this post is to make me get it sorted over the next few days. I hope to whet your appetite with my mosaic of pieces all of which have featured before on my blog. I hope you think it is a good idea.

Meanwhile Mr T is doing well and thank you all for your good wishes they have meant a lot to us both.