Saturday 15 December 2007

The Best Laid Plans

of mice and men- as they say! Did I say I was doing a workshop today? Wrong! Unfortunately it turned out that, because of illness, bereavement, house moving and Christmas holiday plans there were only 2 of us available to do the workshop (and the other girl really would have preferred not to be doing it!). So, after a phone call to the organiser, it was agreed to cancel it. :((
That's ok I thought. I'll just work at home on my embellisher! :)) Wrong! My dear friend Ann, who is struggling with a flare up of her ME, needed some help as her husband had to go into hospital today to get a repair done to his shoulder ligament (they only offered the date for the op on Monday). The help she needed was a little shopping and some baby sitting:-


Well, dog-sitting actually. May I present Floss! She's a cute little dog and was obviously keeping her beady eye on me!

Floss was busy watching me photograph the great post I received today.

First of all, a parcel from Lesley, otherwise known as Moogsmum. I ordered one of her Dammit Dolls to give to one of my friends for Christmas (the same friend who has PG monkey and Benji the confused bear). If you enlarge the pic you should be able to read the poem that goes with him and which still cracks me up when I read it.


Also in the parcel this delightful corsage (plus another which I can't show, in case......)


And finally, this lovely extra which I was not expecting! This is a coffee cup ring/cuff so you don't burn your fingers on your takeaway cuppa! Oh and not forgetting, chocolates! And my favourite maltesers too! Thank you Lesley, you are too kind! and very generous!

The next parcel came from Kate and was some beautiful blocks that she had offered to send me.

Aren't they beautiful? There are some lovely prints and batiks in these pieces. Kate is offering more of these on her blog as a giveaway (you need to pop over there quickly if you're interested). As I don't know much about quilting, and as I don't quilt myself, I cheekily said I wouldn't mind just one or two to give me a head start on some crazy quilting, well, crazy embroidery really. Kate very kindly sent me these. Not only that, but she followed it up with a quick tutorial by email! Thank you Kate! (She's probably fed up of me by now! LOL) These 4 blocks should keep me quiet for a while as I will use them for postcards and ATCs most probably.

I don't have any art from this week to show you so I thought I would pop up this watercolour I did a while ago of a ruined cottage near Roundstone in Ireland. (This is supposed to be an art blog, after all!) :))
Now, where did I put those chocolates??

10 comments:

Kate North said...

Nice watercolour - now there's something I can't do at all - paint. I'm not sure whether I appreciate more the things I have no idea how to begin doing and can't ever acheive (like painting) or the things which I can sort of do but am just nowhere near as good at (like free motion quilting). Or maybe, lol, I appreciate seeing things which I know I can do myself, (& perhaps even do better), to reassure myself that in this world of incredibly talented bloggers, my stuff is worth something!

Fannie said...

Hi, Julie~
I found your blog through Stephanie.

Nice work here, a potpourri of different artwork. I like your watercolor piece, and the string-pieced blocks will make nice postcards and ATCs.

Great blog.

sharon young said...

Hi julie
Love the Damit doll, not sure I could quite manage to fling him at the wall though even though he does look incredibly cross.
You managed to start my day with a laugh again many thanks for that:-)
What a lovely WC, I love the range of colours. I do like working in WC, just not very accomplished

The WestCountryBuddha said...

Wow this is a fantastic watercolour - I really really love it! Rich colours and textures-beautiful. How on earth do you get the time to do everything?? Your life seems so action packed. x

Mrs Moog said...

Glad you like them Julie and that they got there ok! I somehow thought you might like the chocolates ;)
I love your watercolour, it's so evocative.
love Lesley x

Purple Missus said...

Hadn't seen these Dammit Dolls before - definitely a good idea to keep one in the workroom :)
How can you bear to part with him/her? Or give Floss back to her rightful owner for that matter?
Love your watercolour painting, the way you've captured the colours on the stone is really good.

Gina said...

Lots of lovely things in parcels Julie. The watercolour is gorgeous... clever you!
Gina x

mrsnesbitt said...

WOW!
Awesome stuff!

Love the ATC!

Feeling better dear, nearly back to my old self! LOL!

Sandra Wyman said...

I love this watercolour - one of the things I intend to go back to - though your skill is greater than mine so it'll be some time before anything makes a public appearance.

saturn65 said...

This looks professional! Absolutely beautiful colours.
Wish I'd know how to paint watercolours...