In the Garden

The challenge theme this time at TRY IT ON TUESDAY called 'In the Garden' gives me an opportunity to share another page from my fabric book!

This is the centre of the book.

Some stamping again like the other pages but no floral fabric background, just left it plain white as I wanted the lace embroidered flower piece to take centre stage!
 
I have to thank my friend for this beautiful piece of lace which I had to chop up to make it fit on the pages - was a 'hold your breath cos if you ruin it you're not going to get anymore' kind of ten minutes as I attacked it with a pair of scissors!

I positioned it first and pinned it then decided where I was going to stamp.
After stamping I very carefully stitched the lace pieces into place. 

I remembered I had a teeny bee stamp in an old Hero Arts set - loved💖 him! 
He was fun to stamp then embroider him hovering over the flowers deciding which one took his fancy. 
I resisted any notion of adding a couple more as I thought it was nice that he had all these pretty flowers🌸 all to himself!
 
The bird house might have been from Clarity eons ago and I found the small butterfly on a stamping block at the back of the drawer.... (don't say anything.....) 

No secret garden is complete without a lock and key to the gate is it?!

Thanks for visiting me today! 
PS The front cover of the book is HERE if you haven't seen it. x
PPS - I am currently away celebrating a birthday (you know one of those that have a zero on the end) so will catch up when I get back. x

Another page

Here's another page from the fabric book (well two actually!)
These two are the last page and inside back cover and it has been a labour of love. 

My lovely visitors will have already seen the front of this book which I have been working on for a while - it's now finished and I still have some pages to share. 
(The front cover is HERE)

Am so very grateful to a good friend who introduced me to 'Slow Stitching' when things here were at rock bottom. 
Not only has it helped my health but it's also served the purpose of making a very large dent in all those scraps of lace, fabric etc which have accumulated over the years!

I simply sat and hand sewed odd bits of stuff and with the exception of me deciding I wanted to do something 'frothy' which also reflected my love of birds and flowers there was no definite plan.
I did what I wanted and didn't concern myself if the stitches were untidy or the edges frayed. The whole point of slow stitching is the mindfulness, where you shut out everything and just let things evolve. Perfection isn't the point - the journey is.

I can honestly say that this has been the best therapy.
Life now has got so much more positivity and I am thankful.
Sometimes 'hanging in there' makes your arms ache but it makes your shoulders stronger!

Thanks for looking. x 
It's been a long long time since I have linked up to any challenges but here goes
Snippets Playground (all my fabric/lace are leftover snippets)
Neglected Stuff
Triple B
Ellibelles Garden Party #14

Feminine

 Our challenge at TRY IT ON TUESDAY for the next 2 weeks is called MAKE IT FEMININE.

I recently was introduced to 'Slow Stitching' which is all about relaxation and mindfulness. 
The idea is not to actually plan anything but to allow your project to simply evolve without any pressure. No using a sewing machine either, just all hand stitching.

I have a very large box of vintage lace, odd bits of fabric and bits of stuff long unused so it seemed a start to maybe use some of it up.

I ended up making an A5 size 6 page fabric book and this is the front cover.

I stamped lots of quotes, some images of flowers and birds onto fabric and as I did each page just picked one which took my fancy at that particular moment.

I found a previously made tag in the box and just used that for the front.

I am not proficient with a needle and thread but can honestly say I really enjoyed making this book.

Stitching with no plan and no worrying if your stitches were even straight was very calming and  I allowed myself to just shut everything out. 
The best thing was being able to pick it up and put it down without trying to plan out a design.

I am delighted with the finished book - no doubt I will be able to share more pages with you over the coming months!
Thanks for looking and I hope to see your 'feminine' projects over on the challenge blog. x