Portrait Painting

It's the school holidays and that means we get to spend a bit more time with our granddaughter.

Today's activity involved lying on a large sheet of cardboard while I drew around her with a black marker pen. Then the good bit - lots of paint!

The finished portrait is standing in a corner of my office until Amelie visits again to paint the back. It's very startling when you walk into the room having forgotten it's there!

The face isn't very angelic is it? Looks to me rather like Dennis the Menace!

Out in the garden these monsters are ripening nicely.

They'll never win a beauty contest but I bet they'll taste great. We're having the first one tonight with a nice mustard dressing and lots of torn basil. Yum!

I've got one blank page left in my concertina sketchbook, I might make a drawing of it before I slice it up!

Bye for now - Linda x

A reminder about Max & Rosie in Cheltenham

Just thought I'd remind anyone near to Cheltenham this weekend that my daughter Frances is having a stall at the Suffolks Sunday Market, on Suffolk Parade in the lovely town of Cheltenham. Frances and her partner Matt will be there with her beautiful hand made wares between 11am and 4 pm on Sunday - please go and tell her I said to say hello. Of course it would also be wonderful if you bought something!!

If you can't get to Cheltenham on Sunday you can always visit Frances' website to buy her gorgeous accessories online. Frances uses original, digital prints produced by my other daughter Laura, in the Fingerprint studio she runs with her partner Jamie. As you can see it's a great family collaboration! I'm really lucky to have two such talented girls!

Here at home I've been working on our Summer Stitch-Along book wrap. You can find all the latest details in the 'News' section at DMTV. We'll be posting this week's instalment later today. (That's Thursday 27th July). I hope you're enjoying working along with us and will post photos of your book wraps in the gallery once you're done! Mine is going to transform an old photograph album and I'm liking how it's coming along even before I do any stitching.

I've also set myself something of a challenge with my latest project. These tiny hexagons do take time to put together but I love the results I'm getting - despite all the raw edges I think even the back of the work is lovely! DMTV members saw how the colour palette was selected last week and very soon I'll reveal how the quilt is coming along. I was thinking this would be a small throw for the back of a sofa but I'm enjoying the piecing so much it's given me some very much more ambitious ideas - we'll have to wait and see how those pan out!

Thanks for reading today. I hope whatever creative thing you're doing it's giving you satisfaction and pleasure.

Love Linda x

Another Year Older........

I had another birthday this week and celebrated it just how I like to, with family and friends and lots of good food. The champagne went down quite well too. You certainly need some kind of anaesthetic when you reach 66!

Although I always say please don't make a fuss, of course they do. And I'm so fortunate that they know exactly what I'll love.

How about this wonderful antique evening bag my mother found for me? My daughter Frances has her beady eyes on it so I'll have to make sure I get to use it at least once before she sneaks it away. With its gorgeous purple velvet lining it's just her style! By the way, Frances will be having a stall at the Suffolks Sunday Market in Cheltenham on July 30th. She'll have a selection of her gorgeous hand made items for sale and if you are in the area between 11am and 4pm I know she'd love to see you!

After the fun of the party we're back at work. This little garden posy is providing lots of inspiration for our latest project - are you joining in? Make sure to read the newsletter or click on the image in the sidebar of my blog to find out more about our Summer Stitch Along

Don't forget to let us see your work in the gallery - we love to see what you create!
Talk to you soon - Linda x

What the hard work is about.......

Summertime is when a walk up the garden path reveals the reason why 'He Who Gardens' perseveres every year against unpredictable weather, marauding rabbits, squirrels and pesky pigeons! 

We're spoilt for choice when it comes to dinner time. Will we have courgettes, broad beans or French beans tonight? Maybe all three and a salad with fresh chilli, wild rocket, mint and coriander for good measure!

No question about pudding - with all those raspberries and gooseberries today it has to be a crumble made using both and served with custard of course. Another reason why I'll never be thin!

With dinner taken care of I can return my thoughts to things creative. On one of our regular visits to my mom recently I photographed the lovely hexagon quilt she made for her guest bedroom. It was finished a couple of years ago and was no mean feat for someone who's now 89. It was English paper pieced using 1 inch hexagons.

I thought it looked so beautiful I couldn't resist starting a new quilt of my own. DMTV viewers will be able to see how that's going next week. I'm using a very different colour palette and the set of the hexagons won't be traditional like mom's lovely rosettes in a diamond arrangement. I'll explain all the inspiration that has influenced my choices in the video meanwhile I need to get back to tacking all those bits of fabric to the papers!

Bye for now - Linda x