Gardening gloves off!

I’m ashamed to say that I used to be rather  lazy about the garden – even though ours is really just a patio with the odd bed here and there. This year though I’ve caught the bug and there are pots-a-plenty full of little flowering treasures to paint in watercolour or to inspire my bead embroidery, as well as some herbs and mixed salad leaves to harvest if the snails can be kept at bay. Of course all this outside activity has meant that beadwork has taken rather a back seat. But it’s damp and dull at the moment so I can spend some time this weekend on my latest bead embroidered creation.

I wanted to use this silver coloured leaf and combine it with freshwater pearls, but wasn’t sure how to do it, so it had sat in my components drawer for some time. But my experiments with painted fabric led to the lightbulb moment I needed and I backed it with handpainted silk. This meant that I could stitch a little pearl at the bottom and it sits beautifully over the leaf shaped piece of mother-of-pearl on the other side. I’ve called this piece ‘Elfine’ after a character in ‘Cold Comfort Farm’ by Stella Gibbons – one of my favourite books. Hopefully I will end up with a pretty piece that looks as if it might be worn to dance in the dells and woods!