I have finally completed # 12...the forever-in-the-works book for the season that is Summer. 

It follows Pick a Pick a Pumpkin (Autumn) Here We Go a'Gathering (Winter) Goat's Milk and Gardening (Spring)….

and...

It is my hope and plan to have the launch of  

Eliza Meets Ella Grace Louise

coincide with the launch of the clothing line 

Grammy & Marmeé
…clothing and accessories for living life in your storybook world…
including,
Christiefied Overalls…







Miss Opal's Thimble Necklace


with its tiny vintage button inside…


hanging from hand-dyed silk ribbon…
 ...numbered and personalized card, included…


and Pinnys …
(darling aprons crafted from vintage white damask table cloths)

...and Effie Belles
(dainty hand sewn silk ribbon embroidered rosettes, hand stitched to ballet slippers)


at 

The Hayloft barn sale event in Port Royal, Tennessee…May 2015

The first illustration sets the scene and takes you to the heat of summer…and barn sales…and vintage marketplaces…and old fans…and bunting…

It was decided that bunting would be created from fabrics we love…

old and new…and not so new…

and bleached…

and with lace…coffee--dyed… (Just like one certain little mouse;) ..

and with seam-binding ribbon…and old buttons …and sometimes new buttons… (we LOVE buttons)

Especially vintage Beatrix Potter buttons…

Sweet Little Miss Moppet…

…and we love Liberty of London fabrics and bias tape…

Who could NOT love it…

Little Eliza the Mouse, longs for bunting, as well…

and with the snippets that remained (feeling very much like the Tailor of Gloucester) …

I create Mousie-sized bunting…

Susan Branch was on her book signing tour in California, at the most charming quilt shop…
Strawberry Patches
in Bakersfield,

 and after she shared the website on her blog…

I ordered some of their fabric.

It is such a Happy print…

and there was this fabric, with its Polka Dots and Rose-y's…

….and a certain little granddaughter makes it even sweeter, as she poses with her piggies…

Now, there is a Bridal Fair…fast approaching…

showcasing the "Effie Belle's" created specifically for weddings…
  "Wedding Belles"


and there must be bunting…suitable for a booth at a Bridal Fair…

antique and vintage doilies in varying shades of white and off-white and ecru…

The other Bunting is sent off with creative artist owner of the lovely Vintage Patina House, Embi Ferro

…and there is a request for more sachets and hanging pillows.

So I begin…

with a heart of Liberty of London pink…attached with a blanket stitch…

…and I am smitten with my lovely new hoop.

It's called a Fanny Frame.

 It's amazing.

I can stitch without holding the hoop with my hands...

So I create.

This hanging pillow has stuffing...

These tiny sachets are filled with fragrant lavender buds…

These sachets are dainty… created from Victorian/Edwardian era fabrics and laces…

and embellished with french knots and silk ribbons...

Sophia has echoed my sentiment…

"it looks like a dress!"

Yes, it does….and tiny french knots are sewn across its "bodice"

 From the same piece, another fragile sachet is created, and french knots in palest pink, anchor the lace trim…

begins to whisper….

I "untangle" her silk hair

and tenderly stitch her lace round an embroidery hoop…

I attach my hand-dyed seam binding ribbon..

and bring her back to life as a dream catcher, of sorts…

She is quite lovely hanging on the Eastlake mirror over my cast iron tub.

Both are from another era…

and both have found new life...

Every snippet is used…

every bit of beloved lace…

and even the back of the sachet must be as pleasing to the eye..

They are especially lovely, hanging all together…

from the pink glass knobs of the glass doored cupboard…

The lavender floats about the "skirt" of the dress…

and the palest shades of pinks and peach remind our dear friend Georgie

of her grandmother's clear peach depression glass plates.

That something I created causes the stirring of a memory such as this…

there is no greater joy.

 From Pinnys and Christified Overalls…to Books and Bunting….Lavender Sachets and Embroidered Silk Roses….

To Create is Bliss.

The umbrella…or parasol…which seems more fitting...  

that is Rose Water Cottage, 

continues to expand.

.
Thank you for joining the adventure as we find our way on this journey.

Blessings to you and yours, as we approach Spring

with a new book…

and a new venture..

and hopes and dreams a'plenty.

 My little book, Eliza Visits Martha's Vineyard, is up for an award in two categories.

We find out in the next week or so, if we have won.

The awards ceremony will take place in Austin, Texas in April,

while I am in absolute entrepreneurial heaven at 

Rachel Ashwell's Seminar at The Prairie 

in Round Top, Texas

that very weekend.

My unending gratitude to Jan Pogue, Publisher

Vineyard Stories

Edgartown, Massachusetts,

for her belief in me as an author/illustrator

and her confidence that a win in both categories is a very real possibility.

That in itself, is a win!

Stay tuned….