Catching up with blogging after a loooong break.

I can hardly believe that it is 10 months since I blogged.....time seems to go faster each year, and this one seems to have beaten all the others.
It has been a busy one. When I last added a post, my Etsy shop was very new, but now it has been open for a year and is one of the reasons that the Blog suffered I think, as making and creating things always comes first, and once people started to like what I was making, then of course you keep going....I also find it a relaxing contrast to the deeper textile work I make for our E.A.S.T ( East Anglian Stitch Textiles) which is either very personal, or much deeper in meaning.....for Etsy I can just make beautiful things which I hope will bring some joy to others.....here is a photo of the detail of one of my favourites, which is off to a new home tomorrow. It was made from a piece of an antique handmade quilt, which I use for much of both my art, and craft work, with the addition of hand embroidery and antique lace.

Once we got into Spring, then the garden work took over, as I have a wildlife garden which is very labour intensive......so trying to keep up with both areas of creating, plus the garden, and all the normal household work....and a new role of responsibility in my textile are group, just put the Blog right at the back of the queue, and it seemed easier and quicker to use my Facebook art page: https://www.facebook.com/Fragments.by.EllenDevall/ but I would like to start writing again....especially now that many of us are going into winter, and have the dark long evenings, and writing on a more personal level....not as a platform for the shop ( ive spoken about that here, as it's one of the reasons for my blogging absence), but as one to share both life, art and creativity.....I shall try to keep it up.....especially as I seem to have kept many of my followers.....thank you.
( Looking at my blog now, after so long, I can see that I really need to change the layout too, so please bear with me!  )

Antique Sweetheart Swallow brooch with little hanging gem.

The complete panel....a grey, wet old day makes it look rather dull though.

Little Oofs and the Rats....and a New Year

Good morning...on the first day of the New Year....we know not what lies ahead of good or not so good, but at this time of the year I think most of us are full of hope and plans for the future, and it is a good time to reflect.....I have a headache from a lovely and very noisy family gathering last night....and I dont even drink....I can only image how many poor folk are nursing hangovers this morning....I feel like I have one, and I only had coffee and fruit juices all evening!
Here is a totally unrelated photograph from a corner of my workroom....well two actually....they make me smile, and they may make some one else here smile too.

"Mischief" ( a doll found broken in a charity shop) playing with the rats from my WW1 art work last year.

 

Where did the rats go?..."Little Oofs", my 14-15 year old rescue cat that I've had for just over a year now.

Happy New Year everyone, and thank you for staying with me!

A thank you to everyone who has read my blog...and stayed with me after such a long break.
I wish you all a Happy New Year that will be full of hope for the future.....and joy just in living one day at a time, Ellen x

Happy New Year from my house to yours.

 

Getting Back to Making, opening an Etsy shop and being creative again

After the illness it took a surprisingly long time for my creativity to return properly, and at one point I thought it never would. The thing that helped me the most was just getting back into the garden throughout the summer; even though our summer was a poor one, it was just wonderful to be strong enough....and to have the motivation to clear certain things, dig new beds.....make another herb garden and grow some vegetables.....there is nothing like nature to put us right again, mentally.
I had so missed doing these things and have been able this year to really bring the garden on and see such great changes......I think that being creative and almost childlike in my enjoyment of gardening triggered my creativity again by giving me the desire to stitch and make.
I still struggled a bit with the more serious art work that I would need to do, as I am a member of EAST ( East Anglian Stitch Textiles), and we exhibit seriously, as with the WW1 exhibition that I think I put on here last year, my suitcase with the rats......so I decided to make small things just for the pleasure of making....both decorative and or useful, and decide what to do wih them afterwards!

My dream for next year is to be able to clear out and get rid of an old metal shed and replace it with a greenhouse.....for this I will need physical help and finance and this is one of the reasons  why I recently decided to open an Etsy shop.....it is a small beginning for me with fabric pictures, cards and needlebooks at the moment, but I have lots more ideas which I shall aim for soon, all being well.

I also want to re-do my Blog page and try to make it more interesting, so please bear with me if strange things happen as I'm not very experienced in this.
I also started a Facebook page specifically for my art and craftwork, and I shall now endeavour to add those links here....one way or another

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EllenDevallArtwork?ref=hdr_shop_menu

https://www.facebook.com/Fragments.by.EllenDevall/?ref=hl

I think I did it :)...now for some photos.

Some textile Pictures/Collages...now all mounted but unframed, Needlebooks and Cards 

Some Cards...which can be framed as mini artworks.

More Cards....the one on the left is made from 19th century Toile de Jouy & has been embroidered with the words " Love is all"

More cards and a Needlebook.....these are not in the shop until later this week as they're bot quite finished.

Work in progress.....a tiny Victorian wool crepe petticoat to be worked on.

 

Joyeux Noel, Blessings and Merry Christmas faithful followers.

I have been away from my blog for such a long time, and have been busy with many things......however, it is too late tonight to catch up as it's nearly bedtime....but....I shall be catching up properly over the next few days as now I have a peaceful and relaxed time to do so.

Thank you to everyone who has stayed with me.....I'm sorry, but not surprised to have lost three followers....I can hardly believe that it is 9 months since I wrote last......but I had such a lot to catch up with in both in the garden and my home after the "lost chemo year" of 2014.......and then there  was the artwork to try to get back into, and I've actuall managed to get an Etsy shop up and running at last.....but that is enough for tonight.....I would like to wish everyone a blessed Christmas time of peace, joy and hope for 2016 x

A Christmas corner of my workroom....the weather has been unusually mild for winter, with some plants getting confused and starting to blooom! I'm sure the cold will eventually arrive and those poor plants will then go into shock.

Evening Corners of my home.....

Every now and then I take random photos indoors as I always find that looking at these images is somehow different to how I see things when I just look around my home....if you know what I mean....it's like seeing through new eyes I guess. Here are two corners of my work room, taken in the evening with one small electric light.

Evening

Hickory - Dickory....

A tidy worktable and an antique dolls bed...

After two overly busy weeks the worktable was a mess, and it really did feel as if my mind was going in the same direction.....only a little while back it was all neat...and I photographed it then, but how quickly order desolves into chaos! I find it very hard to work unless things are organised, so this blitz should now lead to productivity....Missy likes it too.....and I am admiring the new addition of the antique  Italian  dolls bed which may become part of a set for photography shortly.....Mehitable ( from the "Nine Lives" exhibition) is sitting on it....I just love the original mattresses.

Missy T has inspected and is pleased with the orderlieness.