I know I moaned about the approach of winter and how I don't like the dark days but today, when the sun is shining brightly, there are glorious compensations to be found in the garden!
Can you believe the colour of this dogwood? It lifts my spirit every time I see it.
And of course my favourite Forest Pansy is looking glorious although it's impossible to do it justice when it won't keep still long enough to be photographed on a windy day like today.
And just in case you haven't noticed yet that my favourite colour is red, here is the rather exotic looking bloom of the Ricinus Carmencita outside the conservatory window. This one is just for Graham who was curious to know what the plant was. I believe it has sinister properties - but I promise you we grow them because we like how they look!
It's a big week for us because the Through Our Hands exhibition opens in Leamington Spa on Thursday. I'll be one of the artists giving a short presentation on Friday afternoon and so I've been sorting out the bits and pieces I'll take along for the visitors to see. The theme of my quilts in the gallery is moths so this panel in paper, stitch and wax will suit.
I usually only wax the paper but this time I included some of the stitch and the buttons. It all helps integrate the different elements.
This is a detail of a panel that still needs a lot of stitching but I may try to do that on Friday. I shall find out a couple of small quilts to pass around the audience and as many examples of printed moths as I can find.
These are monoprints on top of screen prints. I haven't found a use for them yet but their time will come when the moment is right.
I wondered if I had overstepped the mark with all the baby photos lately but I have been castigated heartily for leaving Amelie out of the last blog post. To make up for the omission today I'll give you two! Here she is doing her Wee Willy Winkie impression. Looking quite chubby now don't you think?
And finally, just to prove that a girl's never too young for a few frills. Actually they should be a bit lower but I'm sure she'll fit them properly very soon!
Thanks for reading this and I hope to meet some of you at the exhibition on Friday. Bye for now, Linda