Flutterby Patch

Card making - fabric scraps and threads

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t make greetings cards for family and friends; painted, sketched, stuck or stitched..... anything goes. Instead of a ‘batch baking’ session I will have a ‘batch making’ session which gives me hours of fun and hopefully cards for several months in advance.

The excellent book by Gilda Baron 'The Art of Embroidered Flowers' gave me inspiration for the card below.

First paint a pastel coloured background onto cotton fabric with fabric dies. To create a grassy background use green pencil crayon overlaid with straight machine stitching. Next hand embroider the stems, add French dots for buds and finally flowers by attaching little circles of zingy pink and purple fabric held in place with a single cross stitch. What could be easier!

Pesky rabbits

I’ve given up trying to keep these furry fiends out of the garden and they continue to nosh their way through any plants that take their fancy. This little scamp was photographed through our window (hence the mist!) “Do us a big favour, eat those bramble leaves!” No such luck, a carefully nurtured azalea looked much tastier. Can’t you just see him wearing a little blue jacket with Mr McGregor hot on his tail?

Singing shades in the garden

The garden sings with colour during May and June when the rhododendrons and azaleas are in flower. It’s a wonderful time of year and they grow with gay abandon seeding themselves into any available crack or crevice.

Pink dominates the garden

An Ode to Solitiude

How happy he, who free from care
The rage of courts, and noise of towns;
Contented breathes his native air,
In his own grounds.

Alexander Pope