Brooches Stash

My husband and I decided to make the most of the sunshine the UK is experiencing at the moment and went out for dinner in our favourite cafe/bar/restaurant. Just as we were sitting down I realised the brooch I had being wearing was missing! Uh oh, this led to a panic and I ran off to retrace my steps. Thankfully I found it on the ground next to the car, I think it must have caught on my seat belt but I recovered it, phewee! It was this sparkly delight...

A few years ago I lost a real beauty on the way to a concert and even to this day when I walk the same route I look for it. My only consolation is imagining the delight on the lucky finder's face when they discovered it.
I've got a thing about brooches, I think they really are a nice finishing touch to an outfit, especially a blazer or summer cardigan. A lot of people I know see them as old fashioned and don't tend to wear them but that's definitely not me, anyway old fashioned is a plus in my eyes. 
As such I have a lot of brooches and some are really special to me so I thought I'd share a few of my favourites with you, they are either very sentimental to me or I just love the design but a lot of the time it's actually both.

As all my family know how much I like them I was very lucky to get my Grandma's collection when she passed away and these are very dear to my heart. 
This one I simply adore even though it's a little damaged but to me that just shows it has a history. I love the design and colour but most of all I love that my dad said he remembers his mum wearing it when he was young.

This next one was a present from one of my truly best friends, she gave it to me for making the place settings for her wedding. She knows me so well as I couldn't have picked better myself, it was such a delightful surprise.

This one I've mentioned before, my husband bought it for me because I love bumblebees. Again, this one has "history" as I dropped it the day after receiving it (so like me) but thankfully it was a clean break and could be glued, otherwise I would have been heading straight back to the shop.

This is a fun one that was originally a child's hairclip but thanks to a pair of pliers, some glue and a brooch finding, it has a new purpose.

Tortoises are another favourite of mine (none more so than my actual tortoise Evie) and as such I have numerous ones, many of which were gifts.

This one a good friend of mine bought for me as a souvenir when we visited San Francisco Zoo, sadly we're no longer in touch but it brings back very fond memories of a wonderful Summer.

On the subject of animals, birds make numerous appearances in my brooch selection, especially owls. Oh and insects too for that matter.

OK, this was supposed to be a quick post but I could go on and on so I'm going to stop here. It has occurred to me though that they could be displayed a little better so I can enjoy them even when I'm not wearing them rather than sticking them in a box. That's my next project sorted...
Until next time craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

Springtime Artwork

How unpredictable is the weather in the UK at the moment? It's almost June and I'm sat here wrapped up in two blankets! After a beautiful Bank Holiday Weekend, where my husband burnt the back of his neck because he forgot to apply sunscreen there (silly billy), it's turned most chilly and hasn't stopped raining. This Spring has certainly been a mixed bag. I am eagerly awaiting my alliums to burst into flower to add some colour to the garden. I'm by no means at all green fingered but I loved them so much I planted some bulbs a few years ago and they were certainly worth the effort - not that is was all that difficult. They are just starting to open and each day I look forward to seeing how they are progressing. In the mean time I'll have to settle for a picture from the Royal Horticultural Society (here's a link to their advice on growing alliums- trust me it's not hard if I can do it http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?PID=316)

With the alliums comes the butterflies. I truly love butterflies, they were the theme at my wedding and I now have them dotted round the house.

Here's a wonderful, little webpage  about which flowers are great to attract butterflies and includes all three of my favourites- alliums, chives and cosmos- there's a variety of cosmos called "Chocolate Cosmos", it's a beautiful dark browny red and yep, you guessed it, smells of chocolate- what's not to love?!

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gardenerscorner/issue_02/spring_04_06.cfm

To get a little taste of Spring on the dull days like today I have sewn a little canvas. Using freehand machine embroidery and some fabric with a large flower print, I "drew" round an individual flower motif with stitches and in a contrasting colour wrote "flutter by Butterfly". Then using some transfer paper, the kind used with your home printer and a iron to transfer the image to fabric, I transferred a picture of a butterfly to some plain white cotton and cut it out. The great thing is the transfer process gives the fabric a bit of structure. I added a few beads and stitched the body of the butterfly to the picture, allowing the wings to stand out.

It's a little bit of Springtime when the outside thinks otherwise! Though the photo makes the colours seem more muted than they really are

I hope you like it?

Until next time, craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x