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.