December

December was a very busy month

we had stressful conveyancing and legal things going on
lots of paperwork and contracts to push around
lots of typing and "swearing" of documents
it took up a lot of my time

whenever I did have spare time I made snowflakes for friends
and one or two for our own tree

I decorated our tree quite late this year ...
around the 10th December which is pretty late for me ...
but it looked lovely when it was finished

on 13 December my friend Rosie came over for the day

we just managed to walk down into St. Ives
before it poured with rain (big blobs)
it was bitter cold too

we took shelter in a cafe on the seafront
where we steamed up the windows
with fish and chips and a mug of tea

then we did Christmas shopping

and admired the festive displays
in the shop windows in Fore Street

we had more tea
and a hot mince pie with Cornish clotted cream
in Madeleine's Tea Room

(necessary ... of course)

thank you for a lovely day Rosie ♥

in December ...

I made a seaside heart
the first one for a while ... and a little different
using some beautiful chiffon fabric my friend Cathie gave me

the chiffon had swirls of aqua sparkles which
made me think of waves and as it's been so windy
I was thinking how the winter wind
whips up the sea creating larger than usual "rollers"

the winter sea air carrying a saltiness

I layered it up with scrim, melted chiffons
and a little bit of my own hand dyed silk
free motion embroidery
lots of aqua and blue seed beads
and french knots

the beaded dangly is a "scrumble" of peyote
in various tones of aqua, sky blue and turquoise
with turquoise accent bead

so happy this heart sold to a lovely lady in the Channel Islands

in December I created lots of different beads
and I'm pleased to say I need to make more
(hopefully next week)

such lovely seaside colours

mid December I got mild shingles
and the week before Christmas got very stressful
feeling like our conveyancing was going to fall apart
it finally completed on 21st December
and we didn't get home until 23rd December

but once home I felt a whole load better
and had a very lovely, peaceful Christmas

we had some beautiful cards this year
so many featured snow and snowflakes
and were covered in glitter like cards from Christmas past

I love all the different silver snowflakes on this one
that make up the tree

this gorgeous one is Sally MacCabe's card for 2012
from her original painting

let it snow

Christmas Eve

I only managed to make a few hand made cards
and hand delivered them on Christmas Eve

an inch of snow - for Sally
some of my cards featured snow and snowflakes too

and I had coffee with Sally
mmm ... she does make a great cup of coffee!

then I popped in to see Lesley at Art Space with a card
and met her lovely mum

it was such a grey day ... cold fingers and toes ...
but the snowflakes on the gallery window gave me an idea ...

we haven't had any snow in St. Ives yet this winter
and it's quite a rare thing in this part of Cornwall
so I created some snow magic of my own
on my Christmas Eve photos of the harbour

a snowy baby seagull

and ... snow on a winter beach

I got these inspiring and beautiful cards (below) in Art Space

they are the work of Sara Pound

I fell in love with Sara's starlings and bought this card

St. Ives starlings are such friendly birds
it's possible to sit on the beach by the cafes
and hand feed them crumbs of cake ... they are so tame

it was lovely to see you Lesley ♥

Christmas arrived and I had some wonderful books

from my lovely friend Jo ♥
I was thrilled to receive Angie Lewin's "Plants and Places"

I adore Angie Lewin's nature prints of seedhead shapes
so very inspiring

and was delighted to find a whole section of her work
dedicated to the coast and seaside finds

books are probably my most favourite presents
and from my darling hubby I received

Kim Thittichai's "Layered Textiles"

straight away this project jumped out at me
using painted bondaweb on canvas
it would lend itself to a seacape

Dawn Thorne's book "Transparency in Textiles"

loving this project that reminds me of the scrumble
of flotsam and jetsam I often find tangled up on the beach
sea glass mixed with seaweed and wire ... yummy!

Sarah Tuttle's "Exhibition 36"

this beautiful mixed media book of techniques
demonstrations and explorations

and a book I shall save for picnics on the rug at Godrevy
a beautiful summer read

The Day of the Storm - Rosamunde Pilcher

Rosamunde Pilcher was born in Lelant, which is only a few miles outside of St. Ives, so when she writes about Cornwall I can lose myself in her stories imagining that she is writing of St. Ives and this very pretty part of Cornwall. All of Cornwall is beautiful, of course, but this area of outstanding natural beauty has a very special pull
on my heart strings ... and yours too ... I know!

snowflakes in St. Ives

on 28th December Jo and I had our Christmas crow day
a very special day swapping pressies and cards
thank you so much for a lovely day Jo ♥

then we went for a winter walk in St. Ives taking photoswhich will be a base for textile art work for our exhibition
in The Library, St. Ives in March 2012

"inspired to stitch"

a very Happy Christmas to you - a card for Jo

and my year ended on a lovely note
with a beautiful swap with Mimilove

who stuffed a budgie through my letterbox
isn't he gorgeous!!

he is painted on fabric with lovely embroidery stitches
and adorned with sequin flowers and a bell
in a stitched and stuffed budgie cage

he is so like a budgie called "Beauty" (that we had as kids)
who sat on top of the mirror looking down at himself
and telling himself he was a "pretty boy"

"Beauty, pretty boy"

what a beauty

Mimilove
I adore your gift - thank you ♥

well that's December and 2011 all caught up with

thank you for visiting and reading my ramblings
January is already looking good ...
hope you come back and visit again soon ♥