My cotton fabric is, alas, still drying out: the small print on the Bubble Set 2000 revealed that it had to be dried flat, with no short-cut spin-dryer allowed. So the printing results will not be available till next week. But in the meantime, I've been inspired by the Simple Aussie Girls first challenge to put together a few moments from this week:
(The journalling reads: "If you pick me some, I’ll show you what we used to do”, Mum said. “Oh, and a long stem of grass, too.” Our rampant wild strawberries had been the subject of my frustrated grumbling as we walked slowly round the garden. Every so often we’d stop, while she lifted some stems or leaves aside with her walking stick to have a closer look at something hidden in our unkempt and straggly jungle.
“We used to do this on the way back from Sunday School,” she smiled,”my brothers and sisters and me. And yes, there’d be a bit of competition to see who could find the most on the sunny bank, and who could thread most on. Keeping them on was hard too!” I remembered dimly the three miles of winding country lanes with the high hedgerows, and the distant roof of the long, low farmhouse above the waving grasses. “When we got back, we used to tiptoe into the dairy and sneak a teaspoon of cream to eat with them.” We smiled at each other, and I reached down to gently ease the tiny berries into the palm of my hand, just as she had done so many years before ..)
Thank-you for a great sketch over there! And hoping, wherever you are this weekend, that the strawberries in your life might just have a little bit of cream with them too. :)
What a beautiful story and so beautifully written. And I love the way you have interpreted the sketch. Thank you for joining in :)
My 3 strawberries will be playing netball and dancing...and the little bit of cream...is sharing that time with them :)
Posted by: Diane Herman | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 01:35 PM
Alexa, I really like how you have combined interesting type and colour on this layout and enlarging the photos and the text area really fills the page and adds so much emphasis to those delicious looking strawberries!
Posted by: Amy | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 02:45 PM
Wonderful photos.....and your story reminds me of the time we went strawberry picking and watched open mouthed as a family picked strawberries.....sat down....got out the pot of cream.....and proceeded to dip their strawberries and eat them....without paying for a single one!!!!!
Posted by: Jacky S | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 03:43 PM
lovely story Alexa! So love your wish for our stawberries of life! I can report that mine have tons of cream on them at the moment!
Posted by: Linda | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 04:20 PM
I love your story and the photographs to go with it. It all makes a wonderful page. I have never seen strawberries and grass together before!
Posted by: furrypig | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 04:35 PM
Oh, this is lovely! I've never seen that done before. We will be having strawberries and cream tonight - the cream was free with the strawberries in Sainsburys yesterday (not quite the same as picking your own though)
Posted by: Sian | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 04:59 PM
Lovely, lovely memory captured so beautifully.
Posted by: Jimjams | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 06:13 PM
Beautifully and very touching story. I love the colours in your layout.
Posted by: Tracy | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 06:30 PM
Beautiful story, beautiful writing, and beautiful photographs make for quite a stunning layout!
Posted by: Karen W | Friday, 24 June 2011 at 09:54 PM
Alexa this is just gorgeous - the story and the layout. Love it. And am imagining how hard it is to thread the strawberries onto the grass? but how fun to find them growing wild!
Posted by: Sharon | Saturday, 25 June 2011 at 05:54 AM
Pretty page. I especially like how you shaped your journaling around the letter "f"...that's a really nice style touch. And how special is it that you recorded your mother's childhood memory here? Love it!
Posted by: Wanda Jorgensen | Saturday, 25 June 2011 at 01:29 PM
I imagine it's quite hard to thread the strawberries. The black background looks very striking on your page with the green,red and white. Funny I've just scrapped about strawberry picking too.
Posted by: Amanda | Saturday, 25 June 2011 at 03:58 PM
Love the LO and the story..I also have never heard of threading strawberries on grass-I can only imagine how hard that must be to do!
Alison xx
Posted by: Alison McInnes | Sunday, 26 June 2011 at 09:59 PM
Great story and the layout is great as well. Love have you have added the little scallop features to the sides. Thanks for taking part in our challenge.
Posted by: Emma Kirton | Monday, 27 June 2011 at 03:59 AM
Well i learn something new everyday!!! I've neither heard of nor seen strawberries threaded onto grass before. What a lovely idea from days past. We have wild strawberries in our garden too but we rarely eat them. Can't imagine having only a small teaspoon of cream. Tonight, I'm treating Nick & I to homemade Eton Mess with blueberries and strawberries and there'll be more than a teaspoon of cream too lol. Pxx
Posted by: Paul B | Monday, 27 June 2011 at 11:52 AM
What a beautiful memory for your mum to share Alexa :) Love the scalloped borders!
Posted by: Ginger | Thursday, 30 June 2011 at 03:29 AM
Wow!! Amazing layout and such a gorgeous story! THANK YOU so much for sharing this with us. x
Posted by: Nicole S | Thursday, 30 June 2011 at 09:36 AM
Hmmm... something I must do with the kids!! You are going to have some fantastic stories from your Mum's childhood when it's all said and done!
Posted by: Suzanna | Monday, 11 July 2011 at 06:19 PM
Hi Alexa
We where hoping we could use you page for our Challenges Submission post this weekend.
If so would you be able to email me a copy.
[email protected]
Thanks so much
Diane
Posted by: diane | Thursday, 18 August 2011 at 12:02 PM