Pleasures and Treasures

Today, a parcel arrived. A very exciting looking brown box.
A couple of days ago, Rachael from the fabulously lovely 'Made With Love' blog sent me a delightful message to tell me that I was the winner of her giveaway! Woo-hooooo!! Very exciting stuff indeed!! And look at what arrived...the most stunning handmade cushion with a patchwork of vibrant red fabrics shaped into a heart...a gorgeous card and 4 little gifts, each carefully wrapped in pretty pink tissue paper.

Little helping hands were soon at the ready, I think the Little One thought it was Christmas come again!!

The delight of finding what was wrapped in these little parcels was beyond words - exquisite lavender hearts, hand embroidered...

...the most eye catching corsage, which I have the very jacket for it to adorn, and a gorgeous floral vintage keyring (a timely arrival for isn't mine just falling to bits??!)

Here is that stunning cushion, given pride of place in my most comfortable arm chair!

I am absolutely over the moon happy, the generosity of dear Rachael has blown me sidewards in delight - and you do find this in the world of blogging, that there are wonderfully talented people out there prepared to share their makings and doings with us, for no other reason than that its nice to do it, its nice to give - and its that generosity and loving spirit that has filled my soul with happiness this grey and miserable day. Thank you Rachael, very very much.


So, like I was saying, its a cold damp and dreary day here in Yorkshire. The fog occasionally swirls around the garden and we feel grateful when it lifts to reveal the trees on the opposite side of the river.
The Little One who is full of an awful cold declared 'Baking would be a good idea' and I had to agree. What better way to spend a morning stuck indoors amidst tissues and calpol than to bake something scrumptious!


So first of all, we peruse the recipie books...

Inspired by Kate Shirazi's Cupcake Magic book, work begins in earnest:

I don't get a look in with licking the spoon these days, no, that is a job reserved for the Head Chef. However, once they were cooked and cooled and a messy ten minutes of spooning jam into the middles had ensued, Head Icing Chef took over to finish these glorious little vanilla cupcakes with a swirl of rich buttercream...well, nothing else will suffice really when it comes down to it!

And here they are, in all their vanilla-jammy-creamy glory!

They taste pretty damn good too, even if we do say so ourselves!!


And so, on the Character Illustration front, you will be pleased to see that they are finally finished. She looks a bit different to the girl on my last post doesn't she!! I had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right with the face I'd done, and this is what its all about you see - to keep recreating the work until it feels right, until suddenley its a little person that has a character, and also, most importantly that you believe in it.

So at last, these little girls will be heading south. Im pleased to have completed them as it means I can set to work on a new painting now! I love that delicious feeling that settles upon me when a new idea takes hold. I like doodling in my sketch book until the idea ripens, and then the journey from sketchbook to canvas/paper is an adventure in itself, sometimes its an easy ride and other times its fraught with trouble and a great dose of perseverence is necessary.

So my next post will probably be about my next new artwork, an unfolding of the ripple blanket, which is rippling marvellously at the moment and providing a nice half hour of escapism here and there for me. It might be about the next baking project, or something completely different. And I hope you'll come by again, its lovely of you to visit me today and its lovely to have your company here - all of your comments make me smile and its a real gift to be getting to know so many nice people and discovering a world of hidden talent on your individual blogs.

And with that, its time to go! You know the routine by now don't you...its at about this time that the kettle goes on and a nice bit of sweet something is popped on a plate to be eaten slowly with a steaming cup of hot tea...simple pleasures...

They're the best ones.

With love
Julia x x x