~ Happy Beltane ~

A daisy ritual for the heart sampler on Beltane Eve.

The bottom left wanted to become a balloon ~

I'm still avoiding working the heart edges and am waiting

to understand why that is.

Preparing a 'playground'. The darker shade is linen from a pair

of thrifted trousers and the paler one is heavy, open weave cotton

from a thrifted shirt. They both feel so soft and good. The base

material is very lightweight cotton from curtain lining material

that I keep finding in bootsales, and enjoy working with.

It's going to be a cosy winter in my studio after all :~)

There was a lot of jumping up and down in the bootsale this morning when 

My Man spotted this little wood~stove made from a gas bottle.

We had one very similar in our camper van when we lived in her years ago.

We called that one Alice and I've decided to keep the same name for this one.

That hotplate is going to allow me to have tea or coffee right

there in my workplace....and that bain~marie will be keeping wax

 melted for all sorts of artwork....oh! and I might get to make creams again....

I'm thinking of painting her Jotul Green.

Later, I used Alice to honour Beltane Eve. I carried her out to the garden and lit a fire in her from a pile of prunings that have been drying out since the autumn. We had willow, rosemary, Elder, hibi, blackthorn, and bramble billowing their inimitable aromas over us and our garden  in a giant smudging ceremony.

We boiled water on the hotplate and had ginger and lemon tea...I had meant to get wine, but we drink so infrequently I forgot!

Throughout our little ceremony, until darkness fell, we had the company of one of our sweet friends
who live in our pond. Later we heard the 'plop' as he jumped back in :~)
It was rather apt that he be there  on this night due to frogs' association with fertility.
 Mr Blackbird also serenaded us until dark, then the stars and the bats
 (miniature dragons to the medieval people) came out to play.
My Man softly strummed his guitar and we said 'hello' to Taurus, Gemini, Leo,
The Plough, and Saturn...who looked magnificent through the telescope tonight.

 Earlier I had watched, enthralled, as Mr Frog had climbed out of the pond and sat under the sorrel and red campion leaves with such patience, and in complete stillness, until his dinner had flown or crawled  near him,
then moved his head and flicked out his tongue so quickly, it was almost too fast for my eyes to keep up.


We have had a lovely Beltane Eve with the four elements of earth, air, fire and water represented, and the powerful medicine of frog, blackbird and bat surrounding us.
  Have you done anything to celebrate Beltane Eve?

A day of sewing and sowing

Sampler in green with a few spots of purple for courage

I took a deep breath, gathered my courage, (that is my word for this year after all), and signed on for the wonderful Whispering Hearts class....my very first e-course....with Jude of Spirit Cloth. I have been breathing deep ever since, as I listen, watch and read. I work slowly, so it took a week of mulling before I started.  Today, I was rummaging in our bedroom and a scrap of deep green velvet silk was on the floor....you can't really tell from this picture, but that's it, bottom left. It made me decide to look for other scraps of green fabrics I have and see if they worked together. 

The centre heart is one I had prepared a long time ago. I've been carrying these little squares and cut-out hearts with me wherever I go for a few years. It's great if I have to wait anywhere for any reason to just pick them up and....well, sew! The material is from a shirt I found in a charity shop. It has panels of that green with purple spots you see here, purple with green spots, light blue with dark blue spots and vice versa. It is probably the most garish shirt I have ever seen, but I loved it for use in my sewing.

 I was really pleased with the way the green and white stitching, (Jude's magic stitch), turned out, and as I slowly stitched I was wondering why I chose green today. I rather liked what came to mind...

Green

because it's Spring

because it's the colour associated with the heart chakra

for the Irish in me

and because I am so thrilled that I can wear it at last :~)

Stitching the hearts in place comes next ~

Today I also spent a couple of hours potting compost and sowing seeds in the greenhouse, singing happily as I worked. We now have more lettuce and cucumber, as well as courgettes, peas, runner beans, basil, and a lovely, (I hope), salad and herb mix. Can't wait to be grazing our own salad greens again.

The weather has been glorious. Sunny, blue-skied and warm. I have had such a lovely Sunday with Big Mama Bumblebees coming in to the studio to say hello, Blackbirds singing the sweetest songs all day, and Mrs Wren busying about just outside the doors ~ mere steps from where I was sitting....oh! I love Mrs Wren.

Oh!! and I nearly forgot....I found one of these at the bootsale yesterday ~ for £1!!! Tra~la~la :~) Ours is bright sunshine yellow though, with the faintest blush of orange at the bottom....can't find an image of that colour online anywhere.

Hope you are all having a happy Sunday too.

Cariad Mawr

H x