Two of my favourite presents last Christmas came from Julie. Not only did she buy me a beautiful Sumptuosity brooch, she also pandered to one of my heart’s more random desires and made me a tiny windmill.
If you’ve ever browsed through the images in my Flickr stream, you might have spotted quite a few windmills, and while I’d love to sit here and explain to you why I’m so obsessed with them, I still don’t quite understand it myself. The first time I saw one in real life (or at least the first time I can remember seeing one) was around 7 years ago while we were on holiday in Norfolk. Luckily, it was on a very quiet country road. Yelling in surprise and pulling off the best emergency stop since my driving test didn’t cause anything like the chaos it would’ve done here in London.
Ever since then, I've been infatuated. Whenever we visit somewhere new, I sneak a quick look at the map to see if there might be a windmill nearby. My super-patient boyfriend is usually happy to indulge my detours, and wait while I stand and gaze like a guppy when we get there. I take photos, I feel faintly freaked out and am somehow sated just by looking at them. You really don't need to tell me it's a little bit odd...
But, back to Julie’s wonderful windmill. When we set out to ‘copy’ something from each other, it was the obvious choice for me. I don’t have any windmill-ish souvenirs at home, mostly because they tend to be quite tacky. That was one of the things which, for me, made her version even more special - I love its beautiful, simplified shape and also the vintage print fabrics she used to make it.
Those two things were the starting point for my project - a piece of wall art, made mostly from fabric and stretched around a plain canvas.
The two button details were also inspired by Julie’s decoration, and I was so happy to find such a good home for the square porcelain buttons, which I found in Tinsmiths, a gorgeous gallery and textiles shop that recently opened in the little town where I grew up.
Ok, so my half of the ‘let’s copy and paste each other’ bargain Julie and I struck might not be quite as ground-breaking as a vellocirollercape. But honestly, which would you rather encounter on a quiet country road?
Posts
3 comments:
Kewl & Yummies
That's a great little piece of art, Kirsty!
I love to see windmills, when we go to Norfolk for our holidays. There's one on the coast road between Hunstanton and Wells (where we go to stay). We drive right past it and it always means we're almost there...
There was one on the road to Cambridge, which we passed on our way there when I was a little girl. That also meant "nearly there"!
We have an old Post Mill in a village along the road from where we live (just north of Bedford - the mill is at Stevington). It has been restored and is sometimes in use. You can go and visit it and even go inside sometimes. It's lovely - worth a visit if you're over this way!
Ooh that's gorgeous! And I can relate to windmills - perhaps it's a baby memory - I spent my first 3 months in Norfolk :)
Post a Comment