New Year, New Blogs..

PLEASE NOTE:

Just a quick update to say that I now have a Wordpress blog and so will be scaling back the blogs I have on Blogger as I don't want to keep duplicating stuff! So, in the New Year, this blog will be redesigned and content minimised before I take a decision whether to remove it completely. 

But, before then you can find me on Instagram, and Wordpress or find links to my bio.site here

Lytes Cary Manor Craft Fair in July

I'm delighted to be at Lytes Cary Manor next month

with a range of my original art, handmade cards and craft.

Weekend of  26th and 27th July 2025

No Mow May?

This week feels as though summer has arrived with its hot, dry weather. The reminder it's still Spring is the tree pollen! I couldn't resist a few photos of the flowers in bloom at the moment. With the start of no mow May it's worth being a bit more flexible with the dates, this year's early Spring has meant leaving wilder spots earlier for earlier emerging insects and nesting birds. 

(If you can't cope with an entire lawn of unkempt grass, try leaving longer areas under trees or mow lots of paths. Or just plant some insect friendly flowers in your borders or pots.)

Spring Sunshine!

The return of longer and drier days has seen plenty of jobs to catch up on in the garden, from cleaning out the birdbaths and bird feeders to clearing the vast amount of sticks fallen from nearby trees, deposited during winter storms and mowing the lawn back into some kind of shape. (I always check to see if a frost is due overnight and don't cut if it is.) The return of blossom, daisies, dandelions, early flowers like wallflower, rosemary, wood violet, primrose and pulmonaria is good news for bees and insects. Look out for butterflies like brimstone and skipper emerging from hibernation.

To catch up on the wildlife in the garden follow my YouTube channel here.

Spring blossom and daffodils flowering in the garden at the moment.

 

Brighten up your desk with these freestanding pictures.

 

Cactus and Paperweight Pastel drawing available in my Etsy shop now (click link here).

Retro Glastonbury Tor Collage available in my Etsy shop now (clink link here).

Two Handmade Cards, perfect for Valentine's Day!

This pack of two handmade cards feature locally made watercolour that I've hand-dyed to produced bright, textural colours, featuring two little hand-cut hearts. The cards are blank inside for your own personal message.

Handmade Valentine's Day Cards

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND SALE 25% OFF

 Shop my sale at:

For handmade gifts, crochet, original art and cards. Click on logo for link.

29th November to 2nd December 2024.

https://patriciarustart.etsy.com

New Publication: Whyllmoon

 Delighted to announce the publication of my new fantasy adventure book, Whyllmoon. Now available as a Kindle Unlimited eBook on Amazon:

(Click on the book cover to go to Amazon site)

Find Halloween and seasonal gifts in my Etsy shop today.

These little linocut pumpkins, designed and printed by me, will add a bit of seasonal cheer to any window or Halloween themed party. There are several colourways available in my Esty shop so click on the photo to go directly there.

There are also original linocut prints of Glastonbury Tor available, featuring a stile and ploughed fields with the Tor in the distance, from a limited edition of ten prints. Click on the photo to go directly to my Etsy shop.

Also now in stock are a pair of hand crochet bowls featuring beautiful local wool from the Mendip Hills (Fernhill Farm) mixed with cotton from India to make useful extra storage on any shelf or table in your home.  Find them for sale in my Etsy shop by clicking on the photo below.

In my Etsy shop for Autumn

(click on photos for links to item)

The last of this year's Little Egret hand modified lino cuts prints :

This Spring (2024) a small flock of Little Egrets visited the flooded fields nearby, grazing in the shallow waters for several weeks. Little Egrets can often be found in the bird reserves near Glastonbury and, as a birdwatcher, I was delighted to be able to see these birds close to home and they inspired this linocut of a wading Little Egret by me. This hand modified linocut print is left loose in a card mount so it can either be framed or used as a card. It is supplied with an envelope and the card is blank inside for your own message.

Three original watercolour cards of Somerset:

These three watercolours were painted by me in 2021 and 2022 and I have turned them into greetings cards. Each card is blank inside for your own message or could be framed to make a piece of instant art. 

They are all scenes from Somerset:

Brean Down and Steep Holm from Weston-Super-Mare. (landscape format)

Sheep on the Quantock Hills. (Portrait format)

View of Exmoor from Kilve beach, Somerset. (Landscape format)

Summer in the garden, everything flowering all at the same time...

 

A quick update on some of the flowers in the garden this summer. A few might seem to be weeds to some, but I find them to be useful as pollinator foods and very pretty as well. (A lawn with white clover smells gorgeous and is good for common blue butterflies and bees.) I admit, due to the very wet spring, the bindweed is ferocious this year but autumn pulling and digging will get it back under control for next year and for now, the white flowers are appealing. The very wet Spring seems to have triggered a profusion of flowers with everything flowering all at the same time... these are some that caught my eye today.

Self-Heal (butterflies and bees)

Snapdragon (bumblebees)

Crocosmia (pollinating insects)

Valerian (all insects plus moths like the hummingbird hawkmoth)

Bindweed (pollinating insects)

Buddleia (pollinating insects, in particular moths and butterflies)

white clover (bumble bees, common blue butterfly)

lawn flowers!

roses (good for this human!)

fox and cubs (bees)

Love in a mist seed heads (for next years' garden!)

Buddleia 

Chicory (bees)

Sweet William (bees)

Cornflower (pollinating insects)

Calendula (pollinating insects)

Saturday 25th May Bank Holiday Craft Fair 2024

 Very much looking forward to the next craft fair on the Bank Holiday Saturday, 25th May, in Glastonbury Town Hall, Somerset with West Country Fairs. I'll have a range of crochet and handmade items including a couple of new linocuts for this year based on Glastonbury Tor and the Little Egrets who who visited our local flooded fields this Spring.

hand dyed crochet items

Small linocut prints. (Tor & Stile)

Cards and prints.

Handmade crochet and fabric items.

Dip-dyed paper collages. (Overhead I, Overhead II)