Airy Spirits ~ Textile Art

Continuing with my new hobby love ~ a little more Textile Art, only this time, something with wings.

During the lock-down, due to Covid 19/Coronavirus, my brain got busy and spoke to my fingers, which began conjuring up butterflies. Although textile butterflies aren’t the easiest thing I’ve ever made, they’re mighty enjoyable, and all so precious when I’ve finished them. They all seem to have their own personalities, and they make me smile for one reason or another.

The Nectar Collector

Each one I’ve made is in a different fabric, and this particular one, called: The Nectar Collector; was made from Vintage Embroidered Fabric, which I tea stained then added a little ink to give it a warm peachy effect to the fabric itself

Why is this butterfly called: The Nectar Collector? Ah, well that’s an easy one to answer….

Butterflies ‘eat’ nectar and do so by the use of their ‘tongue’ – they have a long, curled proboscis, which is like a soft drinking straw, which uncoils to sip liquid food, and then coils up again into a spiral when the butterfly isn’t feeding.

But … what happens to all the nectar which the butterflies can’t reach, or miss because they don’t notice it?

Well, *I’m reliably informed by the Fairies which live in Cobweb Wood*, that there are special butterflies whose job it is to go around foraging for all the left over nectar which can be found on flowers, and collect it in special bottles. They then take it back to ‘Nectar Central’, where each of the bottles of nectar are dated, stored on shelves and saved for use on days when it’s too cold to go out or too windy, too blustery or those rainy days when the weather isn’t suitable for delicate Butterfly wings.

*Once all this was explained to me* it totally made sense, as I’m sure it does to you too, now that I’ve explained it to you!

The underside of a Butterflys wings are just as important as the tops, but for a totally different reason. The underside of a butterfly wing is actually called ‘The Ventral Side’. This ventral (under) side is more often than not, used for camouflage so that it can avoid being dinner for some passing bird or frog.

And the importance of the Ventral Side of the wings was important to me too. After all … I don’t want some passing frog to eat the Nectar Collector! So it clearly states on the underside of it’s wings that this butterfly isn’t for chomping on – for this is a Cobwebs Butterfly!

The tops of butterfly wings are used for signalling to another butterfly that the butterfly rather likes them and would like to marry them. (*That’s how it was explained to me, anyhow*).

Before this particular butterfly takes flight and leaves me, when it’s found it’s forever home, there will be a very tiny button sewn to the underside – of a particular colour and shape, which will have a special meaning. An explanation of the meaning of that button, will be sent along with him, so that he can be treasured for the treasure he actually is.

Now before I sign off …

I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU – to all who replied and commented on my last post [<— clickable link] and who helped me – because I was near to being a big melted down mess on the floor, and BIG THANKS to those who gave me hints, tips and guidance on how to use the new block editor that WordPress have forced upon us.

As you can see, with your help, I have made a post! [a roar of cheers can be heard from all over the land].

I can’t say that I like the new editor, because I don’t. I REALLY don’t.

  • It has no spellcheck;
  • No ‘update’ button;
  • It won’t colour selected words in a paragraphbut simply colours all the words in that paragraph. (Unless you know a trick to that … and if you do, please share it with me);
  • It has pop up boxes which appear out of nowhere and block the view of what you want to seewhich I’m sure are meant to be helpful, when the time is right – but they’re a darn nuisance!;
  • Things are hidden behind unknown ‘terms’ and names;
  • Silly symbols which mean diddly squat to regular, not unintelligent users!;
  • Everything about it is so darn tiresome and seems to need an abundance of clicks to do the simplest thing
  • even changing the colour of the words isn’t the one click it used to be!

The new system is clunky, silly, old fashioned in many ways, behind the times and boringly, stupidly long winded.

It truthfully feels like the coding has been written by a junior member of staff instead of someone who knows what she/he is actually doing. It’s taken me a lot longer than I would normally have spent building a post – but . . . at least I now have a post, after lots of help from other WordPress users.

My sincere thanks to you all – for without you, I truthfully would have thrown the towel in and given up. Bless each and every one of you.

Thank you so much for coming today and sharing a coffee and some time with me, while I introduced you to the Nectar Collector – who is the first of my Airy Spirits. I love seeing you here, and love chatting with you all. So please feel welcome to leave a comment. It doesn’t have to be a huge comment, just say hello – because it’s always so nice to know who I’m chatting with.

And …. before I sign off, there HAS to be some Monday jokes:-

Q:- Where are average things manufactured?

A:- The satisfactory.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What does Charles Dickens keep in his spice rack?

A:- The best of thymes, the worst of thymes.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What do you call an apology written in dots and dashes?

A:- Re-Morse code.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Q:- What do you call a rooster staring at a pile of lettuce?

A:- A chicken sees a salad.

~~~ ❤ ~~~

Just before I sign off … although I’ve been commenting on blogs over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been told by various bloggers that they’ve found my comments in their spam folders – so … please check your spam folders, as a comment or two might just be hiding there.

Have a wonderful Monday, and a truly blessed week. Sending love and squidges through the ether to you ….

* the ASTERISK * marked * statements [above] may or may not be entirely, exactly d’ twufe, d’ whole twufe and nuffin but d’ twufe. But I’m absolutely certain dere is some sort of twufe.

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Fairy Shoes ~ Peapody’s Slippers ~ they’re his Sunday Best, don’t you know!

Peapody's Sunday Best Slippers handmade by Cobweb the Fairy Cobbler
Peapody’s Sunday Best Slippers
handmade by
Cobweb the Fairy Cobbler

Peapody is a fabulous rascal in the land of Fae. He’s tall – in fact quite the lankiest of the male fairies that I ever did see – and wears long-legged brown woollen trousers with turn ups – which, he tells me, are there to catch seeds!;  an old (but still very serviceable) white with the faintest of line checks,  collar-less shirt – with the sleeves rolled up;  and braces which hold his trousers up and are attached to them with white bone buttons.

He’s a gardener in Fairy Land and has been around for a gazillion years. Well – that’s what he tells me, but I’m not entirely certain I believe him.  To me he looks around his late eighties / early nineties – but hey, what do I know.  I’m only a ”whipper-snapper” according to Peapody!

He gardens every single day. He says that no one else is going to take care of that forest so he has to work every day!   To be honest, I think he just likes to garden – but he also likes to have people tell him he’s doing a wonderful job – so I did, and still do, often!

He used to wear boots. Brown, wrinkled, crinkled, cracked, leathery looking boots with laces, but he said that he’s far too busy and can’t be bothered with boots now and so decided a while ago that he was going to retire his boots and instead wear something more comfy.  He asked Cobwebs the Cobbler to come up with something which he didn’t have to fuss with.  He wantedcomfy with no laces;  no zippers; no doodly uppy bits; no hobnails; no rivets and no holes.  He said he just wanted to push his feet in and walk.  And this is what Cobwebs the Fairy Cobbler came up with.

Fairy Peapody's Slippers
Fairy Peapody’s Slippers

They look, to all intents and purposes, like they’ve been crafted from the pods of the peas which Peapody grows to make Pea Pod Soup, and they’re even adorned with peas!

Peapody was thrilled with them when he saw them, and, I’m told, hasn’t taken them off since because they’re sooo comfortable. One satisfied customer I think!

If you’re now wondering what Pea Pod Soup tastes like, Peapody very kindly shared his recipe, scroll down to find it!

Peapody's Sunday Best Slippers copy

Pea Pod Soup

Ingredients:

  • A colander full of freshly emptied pea pods, rinsed
  • 1 onion or a handful of spring onions, chopped
  • A generous handful of fresh mint
  • Light vegetable stock
  • Seasoning:  a little salt, a little pepper, a little sugar, a little lemon juice
  • To garnish: more chopped spring onions and chopped fresh herbs of your choice
  • Optional: a little yoghurt or cream (use vegan varieties for vegan soup!)

Method:

  1. In a large saucepan, gently fry the chopped onion or spring onions in a little olive oil for about 3 minutes.  Put the pea pods and mint into the pan – discard any very woody stems but there’s no need to chop everything up, this soup will be going into the food processor later on.  Add enough light vegetable stock to allow the pea pods to float about happily. Bring to the boil, then turn to a low heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Check the water level and top up if you need to.
  2. Allow the mixture to cool a little and then transfer to a food processor or liquidiser and whizz until smooth. Pea pods can be stringy, so be prepared to run the machine for several minutes and taste as you go so that you can be sure that the consistency is right for you. If all else fails and the consistency is still a bit too fibrous you can put the soup through a sieve.
  3. Return the soup to the pan, check the consistency and thin it down with a little more stock if you like. Check the taste and adjust it to suit your own preference using salt, pepper, sugar or lemon juice. This soup can be served warm or chilled. Top with finely chopped spring onions and fresh herbs, or a swirl of cream or yoghurt.

Yes, it’s a genuine recipe.  You really can make and eat it.

Thanks for coming to read and take a peep at Peapody’s Slippers.  I love them.  What do you think?

Have a truly beautiful rest of your day all.  ~ 

Cobs siggy sml

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