little bits and pieces
Here in Cornwall the weather has definitely moved away from summer and into autumn. Monday really felt like the last of the summer days. We had our early swim down at Battery Rocks and were lucky enough to see a beautiful red sunrise. The next day we were swimming in the rain!
Autumn is my favourite season, especially in Cornwall. The weather is still mild, the sea is actually still warm but the nights are getting a little longer and sometimes a bit of bad weather at the weekend means cosying up, stitching and sketching while listening to an audio book. At the moment it’s Wilkie Collins ‘Woman in White’, I can’t help myself I just love a bit of Victorian Gothic melodrama!
Autumn also means hallowe’en (or Samhain if you’re a little bit witchy). This has always been a family favourite but this year there won’t be any children home to celebrate it so it will be a more reflective festival. I am in the midst of putting together some ‘feeling witchy’ kits at the moment. I’m hoping to have all the ingredients here by the end of next week but Covid is still having an impact on my suppliers so fingers crossed. The kit will contain some DMC etoile (sparkly while still easy to use) so the witchy hat and boots can sparkle a little. It’s hard to see in the photo unfortunately.
An exciting new discovery this week has been recycled cotton stuffing. I have been looking for a good replacement for the toy stuffing I use in some of my kits for such a long time and now, thanks to Loop London I have found it! The stuffing is made by hoooked and is beautiful. It’s very soft and denser than the stuffing I was using but I prefer it as I find the end product weightier and of course I’m so happy to have recycled stuffing. If you crochet then Hoooked also do quite a few recycled yarns too. The next batch of fairy with attitude kits will include this stuffing.
Finally, something I’m a little nervous about! I have prints for sale! When I started LiliPopo it came from a love of drawing, I started stitching some of my drawings and it became an embroidery business but I still spend a lot of my time drawing and painting. The first print is from the original drawing that became the ‘quiet place to read’ embroidery pattern. I will gradually increase the number of prints I sell but don’t worry I am not abandoning embroidery I will still be making patterns and selling panels and occasional kits.
The print is available here
When the ‘feeling witchy’ kits are ready I will send out a newsletter. They will be a little limited at first because stock of DMC threads is a little low at the moment for some colours but I will replenish them as I get more stock. If you are not signed up to my newsletter you can sign up here about half way down the page. Readers of my newsletter are generally the first to hear about kits and my blog posts.
I hope you are enjoying some lovely autumnal (or spring!) weather wherever you are and managing to do a little stitching too