By the way, I forgot to show you this, which I feel certain you'll adore too! It comes from Poppalina a blog that I discovered recently.
A little indulgence is ok, right? ... so I did some quick sketches (and took some more poor quality images!)
This is an initial idea for a repeating leaf motif, which would probably make a neat border.
This is the second one.
I'm not sure yet how I'll develop these sketches or translate them into embroidery. But sooner or later I figure they'll find their way off the paper and onto the cloth. And I'm excited about that!
I stepped outside and spotted this...
A neat repeat right there in the mud! It's just where the rain has dripped off the roof laminas. And I see some opportunity to incorporate small glass beads in place of the gravel. This also reminds me of those repeating leaves that I did a while back and still really love. You can see an example here.
While I was feasting on the 19th Century prints I came across this magnificent beast! You have to admit, it's begging out to be transformed onto cloth. And moments later I found Susan Fletcher Conaway's marvelous blog Fiber Art and Craft and fell in love with her work and particularly with her strange bird. Just perfect!
