In My Garden I Am Queene

I have always marvelled at the beautiful samplers and embroideries from the past which were made by girls of ten and eleven. The most remarkable are those of Martha Edlin and Hannah Smith who , at the age of eleven , completed the most stunning embroidered boxes. In the seventeenth century there was a fashion for raised work or stumpwork(a 19th C. term).
So , I decided it was time to create something like it of my own on a corset. I began planning at the start of this year and began work at the beginning of March...my deadline is the first of May ! when it will be exhibited.
The design includes some mythical creatures , created for me some time ago by fashion illustrator Richard Gray , the first is a boarfinch......

Valentines and other beloveds

I have been making a few new pieces for sale on Etsy..... old lockets and fob watches filled with mementos ,lace and embroidery and a little haberdashery ring . Inspired by the watch
in 'Little Dorrit' I have collected together old pieces that I could add to. Then I added some of my embroidery together with fragments of old lace or paste brooches. The sentimental jewellery of this era is a great source of inspiration to me and , as ever, what I can't afford I make instead !!!!

Goblin Market

One of my favourite poems is 'Goblin Market' by Christina Rossetti and so I have been inspired to produce various pieces in response. The first was a corset , here photographed in a very old mirror and previously written about when I did a window for PYF. Now some buttons have emerged from the realms of the poem too and are for sale ( see right hand column).


The first is the berry that the sisters are tempted by , the second is a lock of the golden hair that fades as a result. Then the initial of the sisters Lizzie andLaura and the silver coin used to pay the goblins. Finally the last two buttons are a feather and some fur bursting out through torn satin.......goblins !

Happy New Year

Always winter but never christmas...

....through the fur coats , past the lampost , snow under foot in the deep winter that has engulfed the museum for objects of vertu. Here we find some turkish delight..............

...and then a cosy corner with tea and presents. Thankyou to all the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve who ventured through ( and also to Rachel and Louise)

Oliver Postgate

alas... the mice will quiet their pingling for a while as we all mourn the passing of a lovely man. There would be no Glass Pingle without him.

sons of Adam and daughters of Eve....

...soon the Museum for Objects of Vertu will only be reached through an old wardrobe. If you are a son of Adam or a daughter of Eve you are welcome on the 7th of December.
contact museumforobjects@tiscali.co.ukfor details

a christmas pingle

...just a little look at christmas things on their way to Prick your Finger...

little knot gardens

These are some of the most absorbing buttons to make. I use hand dyed silks and just knot and knot ! (about seventy or more)
....and they end up like this

Time flies....

Many thanks to Prick Your Finger for allowing me to do their window , alas now all over. This picture is of the Goblin Market corset which hung 'in flight' above the nest I made . Inspired by Christina Rossetti's poem I made a pristine duchesse satin corset complete with little hand sewn pockets , some edged in pearls.In the pockets are a nice clean handky , a watch and a silver sixpence. THEN I savaged it like a goblin and stained it with berries!! Inside, the seams bristle with fur and owl feathers poke out from the rips. One berry pip hides inside one of the pockets and a broken silver backed comb hangs at the front.
I can, of course, make a less ravaged corset for anyone who is interested...............
As for the poem , follow the link !