Dolls

Rainy day doll-making - we think this one is going to be a ballerina, so great fun doing the tiny shoes.

Meanwhile I'm told that this sleepyhead is not getting up until I finish knitting her new cardigan - I'm making it with some hand-dyed merino wool from Shunklies, Sheffield.

Sea Lavender bottle pendants - the early Autumn chill in the air reminds me to restock these dried flower pendants for the Etsy shop ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/156132441/sea-lavender-botanical-glass-bottle ).

Beach Hares

Bless this weather! I took some sewing to do on the beach after the school run this morning - here is a new 'Pocho' Provence lavender hare under construction. The tiny hares are popular just now and I'm busy restocking the Etsy shop and making extra bunnies for the weekend markets, so that nests around the King Edward's Bay area must be stuffed with little scraps and threads of Nani Iro cotton.

The Bay is peaceful early mornings: a few swimmers, sometimes a treasure-hunter with a metal detector, and this morning a fishing boat close to the shore:

It's almost high tide, very still, and the only surfer in sight yet is a child's blue inflatable ring:

Sea Lavender, Mist

Mist and cloud have descended this a.m. and there's an excuse to desert the beach and make preparations for the Fish Quay Fair, North Shields, this weekend.

I haven't found sea lavender (also known as sea rosemary) growing on this part of the coast, so have decided to grow some from seed for the garden. The beautiful white sea lavender above is from the Yorkshire coast.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/156132441/sea-lavender-botanical-glass-bottle

Heritage Skills at Tynemouth Station

We had a wonderful time at this year's Heritage Skills Festival - new this year were these wonderful coracles:

We also enjoyed meeting again some of last year's exhibitors, trying green woodworking, raku glazing and stone masonry,  as well as learning more about ancient pottery and boat-building techniques, and took away a hand-carved gypsy rose, our own raku fairy door, and a sun plaque to shine on the Sea Witch garden:

Today as I passed by the station again I saw this:

- a peony skillfully self-seeded onto the rubble left from the station refurbishments.

Zam Pollum, Brambles, Bees, Rock Roses...

An afternoon spent in the glorious fragrance of honeycomb, rolling up a fresh batch of 'Zam Pollum' candles (Zam Pollum is the bee queen in Leonora Carrington's novel, 'The Hearing Trumpet'). I make the candles with wax from a supplier in Lincolnshire, whose sales support the charity Bees For Development. More on their work here:

http://www.beesfordevelopment.org

We had a hot, sunny morning here and I walked around the Haven to the Market Garden on Oxford Street, the air busy with swallows, brambles beginning to flower under the goat willow:

I picked some alexanders on the way (buttercups and alexanders were so abundant this year we called it a 'yellow spring', cold as it was) for an experimental soup:

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Then a flower from the market garden, which I didn't realise was the Rock Rose of the Bach Flower Remedies ('Rock Rose became full of terror' Dr Edward Bach, 1934), or a pinkier helianthemum cousin:

It's living under the Buddha Tree by my front door now.

African Queen - A Storm At Sea

https://www.etsy.com/listing/154808330/african-queen-chalk-turquoise-and-wood

Stormy weather on the weekend of the Super Moon, waves beaten back by rain. I've been busy making earrings, including these 'African Queen' chalk turquoise drops, made from the same recycled African beads as the 'African Queen Bracelet' which was so popular last year:

Lily Pearl Earrings

Summer is here - the lifeguards are back on the beaches and today I saw the first wild roses (sheltering behind the supermarket, the cliff-top ones will take a little longer).

To celebrate, here are some pearl and silver earrings, going to the Sea Witch Folksy Shop.

(Also seen: Star of Bethlehem, Pyrenean Lily, Chives, Fritillary.)

http://folksy.com/items/4387785-Lily-Pearl-Earrings