A week of good things

Such a lovely week full of things to do and achievements of different sorts. It went something like this....

The little house was filled to bursting as Sam's girlfriend came to stay for the week, Tom and his girlfriend came for dinner and Dave's daughter, Matty, and boyfriend came for the night to see Lucy's school play (how sweet is that? With no prompting at all they travelled the 68 miles from their home after work just to see her perform, even though it meant leaving at 6.45 am to make sure they were back in time for work the next day). Lucy of course sang her little heart out and twirled around the stage beautifully. Just next week's Sports Day to get through and we are done - holidays!





Mr Dave passed his Headship training and has one more stage to go before completing the entire course. We are all so proud of him as he has worked incredibly hard for this on top of all his usual teaching duties and trouble shooting at other schools. Well done Davey xx





We have had many trips down to the beach, often in the evenings when there is that wonderfully calm feel to the day. I love this time the best of all, particularly when the day has perhaps been a bit trying, full of rush and bluster enough to fray the temper more than one would wish; the effort of throwing towels into the well-worn beach bag can sometimes seem too much and yet once you reach that shore where the sea rolls gently over the sand and the light has that calm, still quality of late afternoon, the tension just drifts away....bliss.






And yet in contrast are the days like Sunday - a bright, breezy, sunshiney day where friends and family all piled down to the beach for games and swims and shell collecting. A day where the sun turned the waters to azure blue and the rockpools tempted little people to grasp their buckets in the hope of finding a crab or fish before being reminded to put them back in the pools where they would be safe. The tide was on the way out and revealed sandy stretches just perfect for the youngest ones to run along, their feet splish-splashing through the shallow waters and Isabella trailing her skirts as she waded along. No point in removing yet another set of clothes and anyway, I like the idea that the dress I made her will have that softly faded look that speaks of sun and sand and salty seas, of a beachy childhood.







The final achievement of the week for me has been my latest range of bags which I have been working on for a little while now. Surrounded by gorgeous tolies of differing hues has had me trying out a range of designs to complement the delicate patterns until finally I hit on one which fitted my remit: a bag which echoes the soft feel of toile in its shape, which has a capacious interior without feeling bulky to carry and which is strong enough to last. And here it is - the Miss Matty bag




It will also be available in this soft lilac toile





And this gorgeous cherry/raspberry red (depending on the light) too






I like the shape so much that I decided to use it for my next range, my new baby which I spend long hours thinking about! I have so loved working on these, taking inspiration from all around me - the Cornish cliffs, moors, rivers and ocean, and the interplay of all of these elements with bright flowers, stormy skies...oh, so much to draw on! - and interpreting it in soft linens, applique and hand embroidery. This is the first of my new Cornish collection and is called Trevaunance after the North Cornish cove that inspired it.





Here is a detail picture of the hand embroidery which reads ' time drifts by on a sea of green'.






On taking the bags to the beach to photograph I sold one within a few moments to a lovely lady who was watching - very encouraging and hopefully a sign of things to come.


More to come another day and well done again Davey xx

What a mess.

Oh good grief, do I regret writing that the sun had returned? Rhetorical question as I'm sure you have worked out, especially if you too are swimming your way from front door to car at school run time. Cornwall has been so wet for what seems like so long that I am struggling to even remember what the caress of warm sunshine upon the skin actually feels like...sigh. Ah well, a brief resume of things at Poltisko Farm in the last week or so (golly, that long since I last posted?).





Lucy and Isabella decided to forget the bad weather in a graceful version of Swan Lake where Lucy glided elegantly across the room and Isabella did a fair rendition of baby elephant, throwing a leg up on the sofa as she stretched a chubby arm behind her. Think of Dawn French and Darcy Bussel in the Vicar of Dibley here. Not sure what this particular balletic pose is called.





Dave and the children went to the allotment last weekend, returning to inform me that it was so wet there that even the slugs were doing a crawl across the beds. Unfortunately, the damage to plants has been quite substantial and the cold weather has slowed down growth - just perfect for those munching machines. Very disheartening, but I sowed more peas, etc on the Sunday in a bitter act of defiance. Our own garden has become a battered version of how it usually looks at this time of the year, which is shown in this picture with a wild mass of flowers all tangled together in a glorious profusion. I never quite get around to staking in time for the monsoon season. (and how is it that out of four ducks it is always Lemony who gets in on the act? Such a poser).




And now to the nub of it all - what I have actually been trying to do in my bid for a professional yet aesthetically soothing/ pleasing environment: enter my sewing room... (I am so mortified!)





This disgusting mess is what I managed to create in an effort to change things and it is taking me forever to organise. Of coure, this is not how it usually looks - I could never work in this! - but I have been so busy with new wholseale orders that the whole room had become increasingly impossible to work in. Awful isn't it? Still, it is slowly becoming this...





a land where delicate toiles snuggle up with dainty Liberty lawns (thank you again Elizabeth), where bright stripes and checks share space with colourful circles and blossom on jade. So much better I think, though heaven only knows there is far more to sort. Piles of fabric, notions in jars, and I can't even bare to think about the shelves at the other end of the room - haven't shown these as that is just too much embarrassment even for me!





Well, I must carry on now with Isabella's 'help'. Hopefully the sun will soon re-appear and the weekend will be lovely for everyone.




Have a good day xx

P.S. Thank you for the awards I have been given - I will try to do my bit over the weekend x