Katie and Nina's Cloud: January 2012

Sunday 29 January 2012

Sunday 22 January 2012

Lily...

Lily fell into a pumpkin-head

and the pumpkin-head was red.

It beat like a heart,

soft like a pillow,

and moaned in the wind

like a weeping willow.

Here's the new piece I've been working on for the last three weeks - 'Lily' - about how a young girl, oddly enough named Lily, falls in love. A very surreal little ditty I wrote a few years ago, and finally found something to do with it.

Click on image to enlarge

It has green vines for a border, a lovely wooden-effect embroidery frame, perfect to display on the wall, and a red-rose antique lace trimming. And...

...a heart on the back with the words 'Ectopic Heartbeats', which will be my signature motif when I have enough embroidery art to sell on Etsy, which I will hopefully open sometime in the summer. A Valentine's Day gift with a difference, no? If anyone's interested contact me: nina@ninapascoe.freeserve.co.uk

The idea behind the tagline Ectopic Heartbeats came after I went to the doctor about heart palpitations that I'd been having on and off over a period of time, that were becoming quite intense and alarming. The doctor told me there was nothing wrong, that they're quite normal, and usually caused by stress or a high intake of caffeine. I realised that both were factors in my lifestyle, and probably more likely than having a foetus growing so far outside the womb that it was misplaced within the heart. (The poem in the post below, 'Robin's Nest' by Bantam Beasts, comes to mind.) I thought that the condition would make a good name for the range of embroidery I'm making, as the strange, dark ditties are small yet punchy, much like the palpitations I'd been experiencing.

And the style of motif was inspired by the picture book The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers that I've become obsessed with since working in a bookshop. I won't tell you too much, but it's about a li'l girl who has a very positive outlook on the world, but then something happens to threaten how secure she feels, and so to protect herself and her feelings she puts her heart in a bottle - one that cannot be broken. Yet there are consequences. It's a charming little fable about taking chances and staying curious. Watch the clip below to get an insight into the wonderfully quirky mind of the author, especially interesting if you're into illustration :)

And while we're on the subject of hearts...

This is a song I love by Japanese Voyeurs, called 'Heart is a Fist'. It's on their debut album Yolk which I have been listening to to death, but this demo version is much louder and heavier. I love.

Hope you like the embroidery...

toodle pip

Nina x

Saturday 14 January 2012

We Heart Bantam Beasts

Bought impulsively, though not carelessly, as I have had a soft-spot for the micro-poem 'Robin's Nest' since I first read it, I am soon to be the proud owner of the above brooch that beholds said poem. I have previously bought another brooch and mirror through the Etsy shop Bantam Beasts - http://www.etsy.com/shop/BantamBeasts - the love-child of Lisa Falzon and Rhona Flynn, and expressed to them my desire to have my favourite of their poems within a similar brooch to wear near my heart where my own robin flutters his tiny embryonic wings. I was delighted when, on one Friday 13th, they sent me a message to inform me of the creation of such a beautiful little beast. My heart jerks like an ectopic heartbeat when I think of wearing it soon! Below is the poem, and here you can read more of their beastly little tales <3

'Once we

shared a cocoon.

Eventually, you fluttered out.

But I stayed.

Cuddling this silk that still

smells of you.'

Much love

Nina x
ps. a sneak peak at what I'm working on right now - hope to have it finished by end of the weekend...

Wednesday 4 January 2012

A little closer to the sky

There’s this one tree in Queens Park with branches shaped like a heart, and ever since last year when I first found it I’ve climbed it to the top every time I pass by, because I want to feel just a little closer the sky. Today I climbed it again, but last year I remember the weather being nicer with orange sunsets and warmer limbs.

Summer seems to be taking much longer to come back; I miss the butterflies, and the swallows. A few summers back I used to sneak out really early in the morning (about 6ish, I’m aware how mad that makes me sound) and take the dog to the forest while no one else was awake, and the birds were still making as much noise as possible. Usually, Beau would end up barking at a stick while I chased around after butterflies, or take photos of our ridiculously long morning shadows.

Here are some flutter-bugs I met last year, when the sun wasn’t as much a rare thing as now…

-Katie xxx

Monday 2 January 2012

2012 is going to be a goodun...

Happy New Year!!!

So far, two days in, it's been good. I got this lovely calendar made by Santoro that I adore, so I've decided to share each picture with you at the start of each corresponding month - or at least try to remember to.

Katie and I spent her birthday (Dec 31st) in Hobbycraft (yeah!) where I spent a small fortune on embroidery thread, lace trimmings and embroidery hoops of various shapes and sizes; then met our folks in Haskins (my mum is green-fingered, though there are far more restaurant chairs and tables than there are plants and flowers there) where we ate cake. I have it in mind that this year I will use the hoops as frames I bought for my embroidery which will include the little ditties and poetry that I occasionally post here. I've just started making one called 'Lily' which I will show you when it's finished.

I plan to do a few of these as well as more cushions with poetry and embroidery like 'Babbit the Moon Baby' suitable for children and grown-ups and older children who refuse to grow up or the child trapped within a grown-up's body, and so forth...I'm also thinking about making bookmarks and portraits. Nick Cave and Katiejane Garside are a few I have in mind. And some combined projects with Katie. I have so many plans for this year - they're pouring out of my ears! I'm aiming to make between 8-10 pieces by midsummer so that I can open an online shop on Etsy if they work out well; and also have an idea to start a second-hand thrift store through Ebay to sell some clothes of mine as I have way too many that won't fit within my red-heart atrium room. So if you like it here on our cloud please keep hanging out, as we're only just getting started :)

As today was a fine day, and the last of a brief holiday over New Year's, I took my new bike Gertie (I loathe the naming of vehicles, but once I had her I couldn't help it. She has such a personality; and anyway it keeps the memory of my pa's auntie alive, for that was her name) out for her maiden voyage along the promenade at Boscombe Pier with my good friends Fiona and Paddy.

Below is said bike, a beautiful vintage ladies bike that my lovely boyfriend bought me for Christmas from Clobber (http://vintage-clobber.blogspot.com/). She's a great ride ;)

I got some lovely gifts from friends and family: some memorable ones being the owl that Katie made me (as pictured below); a sewing book from my dear friend Clair; some great gifts from India that Lubix brought back for Katie and myself; and tickets to see Swan Lake at the Lighthouse theatre in February that Lynsey and I bought for each other, amongst other things.