beautiful annie & the pirates...rah, rah, rah

Have you ever been lucky enough to meet someone, become friends and then have the friendship grow in ways you could have never imagined and then the friendship turns into love, the very rare kind of love that only happens a few times in a lifetime (and only if you are very lucky)? Well I have been lucky enough to experience this and it is pretty damn amazing. This friend I am talking about is Annie. Annie  definitely makes me want to be a better person, hey she makes the world a better place and the future of the world that bit more hopeful, she is someone who is so open and honest and loving with those around her that i often just stare at her in awe. And, oh my goodness to see both her and her lovely; Pearl, together, yikes, they are the most inspiring couple i have ever met. 

Anywhoo, Annie as i may have mentioned in a previous post, is the ultimate crafter, her ideas and the way in which she creates them blows my mind, but it also (luckily) totally inspires and delights me and makes me feel that anything is possible.

 So this year's present to Annie started with the love for this book (and a conversation about embroidery and tattoos):

The book led me here

then here

and here

and finally here,  safe in the bosom of the lovely Annie

This embroidery/applique piece was created by hand and it was so much fun to make but it definitely went against my usual freehand approach to embroidery, which meant i actually had to draw what i was going to sew first (crazy i know), just so things didn't end up looking wacky and totally our of proportion or just crazy weird. It was an interesting insight into how other people get their pieces looking so neat, a definite aha moment for me but one i won't be dwelling on too much as i quite like the more um let's say relaxed approach that i usually adopt. Annie was totally delighted with her gift (which also included one of these to keep with the foxy theme and because it is totally amazing and looks hot on), which makes me very happy.

Annie was celebrating her and her daughter Olive's birthday in Pirate style, luckily we were able to swing by Sydneytown and enjoy the festivities!

the arrival of some particularly fetching pirates

those beautiful faces, such delight

handcrafted pirateness 

hand drawn amazingness

Oh so much to say, so few hours in the day. Will post again tomorrow about the amazing Ilo who just turned Two, get ready for some gushing.