My favourite things ...

Raindrops on roses hehe!

There is a tale needs telling. The drive-way went all the way around our house and off to one side, just before the gate there was a rock garden, and a pathway that beckoned most enticingly. Such adventures this path held. The path was sandy at the start and in the rock trimmed flowerbeds were miniature azaleas which my Gan Gan (Grandma) had made from grafting hybirds, they were tiny and perfect and there was even one with flowers that were cerise & white with a splash of green. On the other side of the path was a giant ol' Magnolia tree, with its greyish bark, greyish green leaves and oft'imes the flowers of pink adorned it with grace.

There was a sparkle of water, to be glimpsed through a citrus orchard and a few steps onwards there was a giant walnut tree. The roots and trunk of this tree afforded hours & hours of games with our animals of great rarity. My sister and I each had a small suitcase with our menagerie within. My Godmother had taken us to a shop where there were glass cases filled with every animal/creature that inhabits this world, so we has baby pandas, pygmy hippo's. spider monkeys, duck-billed platypus and so many more rare and wonderful animals, all beautifully made. We had weddings & funerals & world wars & whole other lives going on under that tree. ('The Sound of Music' had recently come into our world)

This was a truly magical place for me and one day when i am older and greyer I would love to draw these memories. This is from whence the inspiration for my work comes methinks ...

I call this bag Birdy, though this side has leaves & dandilions!

Further on down the path the moss began to peep. Under towering Pride of India and giant azaleas, the moss grows thicker and thicker, til its is like walking on the most luxurious carpet nature made. At the end of the Moss path was a tiny gate, seemingly made for wee folk and a tiny stream which fed the source of the sparkling water glimpsed through the orchard. This trickled into a pond abounding with waterlilies and frogs, tadpoles & dragonflies.

Twisty trees & said Bird! All handmade, hand stitched & tooled. I do love having Nature in my designs. This was one of the first bags I made when life took an unexpected turn from making a newspaper from home, which i had been doing for 4 years, to reconnecting with my craft from the 70's!

... Whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles & warm woolen mittens ...

Thank you for taking the time to read some of my fondest childhood memories & for seeing some of the inspirations I have drawn from my life. Peace & Love & Blessed be.

@artzone