i mentioned that deborah had gone to norway to visit
rebekah and matthew
one of the highlights of her trip was a hike to Preikestolen
beautiful photographs of one of my naturally dyed crochet covered stone
So here begins a first installment of the travelling stone diaries
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xo
m
photographs by deborah
bits and pieces of the environs of my home tonight
nuts that fell from the sky during this afternoons storm
i wonder what color they would dye fabric
exploding seed pods
backyard snails on the sedum
aren't they delicate and pretty
the obedient flower has bloomed weeks earlier than normal
stones gathered from Lake Ontario last weekend sit on the garden bench
the love snail came to visit
sea stones and a few shells
a gift from tamara from cape cod
lovely grey moth on the paper lampshade
pretty arwen just before sunset
xo
m
I know it has been a while. This stone diary is from another "Canadian Margaret" from BC transplanted to Australia. She is one of those special people who has neither a blog or flickr ( just like I was up until about three years ago). The gorgeous sea stones come from Aldinga beach, which according to Margaret is 50 km south of Adelaide on the Fleurien Peninsula.
Each one a different color and size of ever so smooth stone. I am going to love to create with these. Thanks so much margaret.
xxoo
m
I decided to use pins and a map and mark where all the stones from each of the 20 stone diaries have come from. A very interesting pattern arose.
What i concluded from this little exercise is that there are huge parts of the earth's crust that I have yet to discover. So if any of you reading this little blog are from south america, africa, or asia and would like to send me a pebble or two please drop me a line or leave a comment below.
A tale of two american states that start with the letter M , Montana and Minnesota, and two beautiful nature loving women who live in them.
First off is Rachel from Minnesota. If you know Rachel already you will know she has a thing for eggs and nests. Her blog is a testimony to that fact. If you don't know her I would please ask you to come out from under that stone and get to know her. She has so many wonderful ideas on her blog especially if you have a young family. She really pays extra special attention to all the little details that turn a hand made item into a treasured keepsake.
You can get a feel for what I am saying by looking at this series of pictures of her parcel. I was looking for an image of where the stones came from a beach on Lake Superior near Duluth according to Rachel and came across this awesome vintage postcard.
Next is the parcel from Siri who has lived almost her entire life near mountains of Montana. Is you have seen images of her homestead you would agree with me that if you lived somewhere that complete in natural beauty why on earth would you ever want to live elsewhere. This parcel began as a sort of blog giveaway and as time passed it turned into something much more. She knit the softest and most beautiful shade or orangish pink neck shawl and that was only the beginning of a very exciting parcel. First off I was looking for a vintage photo of Montana and came across curious one of the friendly wildlife.
I should have subtitled this the Alice installment because each of these wonderful women included a tribute or memory of Alice in the parcel. Siri with the wonderful pinkness of everything. In her words " lots of love coming your way in the form of wooly stitches, smooth pink stones and some fabric pieces from my little stash o' vintage textiles." Rachel who also lost her mother to cancer last year passed on a small smooth green stone that a friend had given to her with a note. One part of it goes like this ,"One blessedly ordinary day , we wake up without the weight of a boulder on our hearts. In place of the boulder at our breast is a smooth pebble in our hand. We hold it for a minute, remembering. Then with a kiss, we put it in our pocket." As I was reading this a tiny little friend came out from the forget me nots in a small green vintage container on the porch table and we shared the last sunlight of the day together and it was good.
This next installment us actually composed of two darling little parcels from the isle of Jersey. Jersey is a beautiful little place located between England and France and is home for a most wonderful artist, maker of things and former librarian, Lisa better known as the creator behind lou, lou and oscar. I was the first person to buy something when she opened up her etsy shop last year and I decided to buy a companion for my dear polar fish boy this year when it was her shop's anniversary. There is something so unique about Lisa's soft artistry and yesterday I think my thought finally distilled what I believe to be the essence of it. Her plush are very special in that they are unique, made with the most beautiful materials and attention to hand stitched details and yet they are completely child and as you will see later kittie friendly. Oh but this post is about the stones. The first parcel had a very special collection curated by her darling son, Ishi. It literally melted my heart.
Edgar so loves polar fish boy!!!
The second little parcel from Lisa arrived more recently and her artistry shines through in the wrapping of the tiny little packages of joy. I believe they contain little shards of sea glass but I have not yet opened them since I am smitten with them wrapped. I am sure you will understand when you see them shortly.
Lisa, Ishi and Edgar really know how to pull on those heartstrings:)
Thank you so very much my dear friend.
I know the goodness just keeps coming. Thank you sweet, dependable, strong postman. This episode is the tale of two countries, France and England. Three absolutely wonderful, creative, kind and beautiful women all dear blog and flickr friends of mine and of each other. I dream one day of sitting on my porch on a warm summer day with these friends, sipping cool drinks, creating with our hands and experiencing the joy that such relationships can bring. You might even want to join in the party. I could go on but after all this is about the STONES, or is it? The lovely ladies I am referring to are Joanie (ninimakes), Sonia (cozyhomemaking) and Nanou(les fabulations de nanou). I think this will be the year Nanou starts her own blog. No pressure :)
First the very thoughtful parcel from Joanie including a precious heart stone in a little sweater. She picked it up on a walk in her new hometown.
Edgar is showing you just how much he loves that hand quilted card.
Next comes a wonderful parcel filled with special handmade gifts and nature finds that only Nanou and her children could put together. Nanou lives in Nice, France.
Byron really loved this linen treasure bag.
He must smell something from his ancestry. He is a a Charteaux cat and thus his family used to live with the monks in the mountains of France.
Two beautiful stones , the shiny one is labradorite, and so much more. It is hard to see in the picture but the ribbon necklace is covered in beautiful snails. And this little guy stole my heart.
Last but of course not least is Sonia, almost a neighbour of Nanou. Sonia lives in Montpellier, in the south of France. She and her adorable family hunt for treasures when ever they get the chance. Stones , shells and fossils are some of what they seek. You will see from this parcel, as in all the ones above just how much love and care goes into the wrapping.
Okay Byron knows this parcel also came from France.
Or maybe he is just trying to identify the fossils for me.
Can you make out the teeny tiny perfect stitches on the cuff artfully depicting a spider, a web and fern (the snail). On the back is liberty of london fabric (the strawberry thief) and to join these miniposts together the unique vintage green button was a gift from Joanie to Sonia. This is the most beautiful cuff I have ever seen.
You girls really know how to send joy by mail.
Little reminder it is your last day to leave a comment for a chance to win the first giveaway of 2010. I will announce the winner tomorrow.
My daughter has already asked if she can borrow the gorgeous hand felted pin.
The two river snail shells in the clam shell really delighted us. What a thoughtful addition to the collection of river stones. I am in love with the colors here. The red clay color ink may inspire my next visit to the letterpress studio. I love petroglyphs.
I hope you are all having a peaceful weekend.
It is freezing cold outside but look the flowers of a WIP are blooming in the warmth indoors. We had some really warm (for January) weather earlier in the week and all the snails wintering in the gardenia pot woke up. I counted four , all different shapes and sizes. So fern has a family of his own now.
I think I might need someone to help out with the identification of all these seed pods. Aren't they phenomenal. Efkharisto Ariadne and I hope you will all join me in wishing her a very happy birthday.
More stone diaries to come and perhaps some little glimpses at what I am up to in the making of things department.
Okay Edgar is definitely not a stone but he shows such a keen interest in the opening of these parcels that I just couldn't help but show yet another classic Edgar pose. The next wonderful box of treasures came from a real darling of a person, Rose or rosemoo as she is known in flickrland. She is from New Rochelle, New York, USA and according to her blogger profile she "makes art and works in a children's bookstore". What a beautiful combination and it really shows in her artful inclusions and childlike curiosity and sense of discovery. I think her darling pup Rayna and Edgar could be the best of friends.
Onwards with the stone diary post. Rose commented in her sweet letter that she was inspired by my post "distracted by geninne" and she created a very wonderful turquoise felt banner with almost all of my favorite things painted onto the fabric. It was so kind of her to send it to me.
I tell you opening this parcel was more fun than a barrel of "strange squirrels".
Thank you so very much Rose. You really know how to cheer a person up.