Hazy Days of Summer

 Basking in these summery days in the garden and then going out and about has inspired  me to think of a new children's book and the butterfly girl ( who has jumped to the bottom of the post unexpectedly ! ) is a sample drawing . Can't tell you the story ; suffice to say there are fairies in it ! I do have various projects like this sitting in the proverbial drawer - I get all excited about them and then other work takes over and I go off the boil ... one day I hope to get them out there ...
I think the fairies are fed up with being kept in a darkened place - cruel really when I come to think of it !

 One of the delights of summer is picking posies and bringing them in - choosing what piece of china will suit them best ... pansy and grannies bonnets in my good friend's Belen Gomez's Ric rac and
Roses jug.

 Daisies in Honiton ware ... must do a post with all my Honiton collection one day . I love their jolly decorative brushwork.

 A view from the kitchen door  ... on my way to go and pick ...

 A lovely day out in the Sussex village of Mayfield with another good friend and we chanced upon this
bank of  Erigeron ( also called Fleabane or Summer Starwort - we decided the latter was what we preferred ! ) and which I am very envious of as it will never settle in my garden as much as I try to encourage it to.

 A silvery shimmer on Shoreham beach ...

 And this wonderful mound of daisies .

 A walk on the Downs always does one's spirit good - this is taken from Kingston Ridge.

 A couple of water colour sketches from my summer sketch book

 In the meantime no opportunity to sail away like these two below, as in between flower arranging and jaunts out, I have joined Facebook in the hope it will direct more people to the blog and website . It has taken a bit of time to work it out as my computer seems to play up if I give it something new to do ( or is it me ?) No it isn't as it refuses to play Listen Again when I miss a Radio 4 programme and the computer man says that 6 years old is getting on a bit to expect it to keep up with things ... anyway please do go to my Facebook page Lesley Buckingham. I've yet to work out how to install a button to make that easier for you and to make separate page for Betty - it may be just the excuse I need to buy an i pad !

Looking Fairy Closely

Cosmos

 Now that the rain seems to have stopped for a while it has been lovely to waft through the garden and I always love to get up really close ( you never know if you are going to come across a fairy or two. )

Leucanthemum

Nigella

Delphinium

Verbena

Hydrangeas 

More Cosmos

Hydrangea Quercifolia

 Although the alphabet is now finished and getting in to the shops now - The Medici Gallery in South
Kensington is one place you can find them ... I'm painting some new letters as I plan to make words from them and need some duplicate letters - so here is ...

Sweet Pea

Day Lily

Gentian

Inspiring Colour

 I recently went out to All Saints Church , Tudley in Sussex to see the fabulous Marc Chagall windows.
All twelve windows are by him - made as a memorial to Sarah d' Aridor-Goldsmid who died in a sailing accident off Rye in Sussex. There is a beautiful mystery engendered by these fantastic blues and mauves - delphinium colours that flood through the space. Do check out their website All Saints Church 

 Hard to follow that but still on the theme of colour , I picked up these satin ribbons with thoughts of
glorious shiny fairy dresses ...

and these cooling shades of cotton for some fairy embroidered cards with children's birthday numbers on them ( to be featured soon. )

And then inspired by the rosy colours of summer ...

 I painted this picture in watercolour ( which at it's best , I feel has the luminosity of a stained glass window. )  It has generated some ideas for a children's picture book ... but I'm getting sidetracked again and one of my resolutions this year was to be more focussed on fewer things !

Greetings !

 I have been working on some images for greetings cards and thought I would post these up for an airing. I am making them more graphic with less embroidery and a mixture of cut and stiffened fabrics with painting and hand stitching combined . It does mean I have to be more thoughtful about the choice and placement of materials which is a bit of a discipline as what I love about my usual method of machine embroidery is the happy accidents and layering in an organic fashion ... so not so much room for error here.

The first two are based on some designs I did for a dog food campaign some years ago - I'd forgotten about them until Nina at Cherry Picked For You saw them and suggested I revisited the style. I do like the challenge of finding just the right scale and texture of fabric for the design.

 I'm thinking of adding the words ' happy handbags ' to this one  ...

 These spotty buttons have been most useful ... stripes , spots, checks and ric-rac - some of my favourite things !

Red , White and Blue !

Hope everyone has had a jolly Jubilee ! Here's some fairy, flowery  red, white blue for you from my archives ...