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Hello friends, and welcome to our first newsletter from the beautiful city of York!
It's been quite the adventure getting here, and now that our little shop on Stonegate is open, it's time to begin our monthly newsletter!
Thank you for signing up, and we hope you enjoy it.
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I'm so excited to share a little about the projects I am working on in my studio. We recently changed out the winter window that featured Katenka in the snow, for a spring window that is all about flowers and foxes.
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I start all my projects by making a little sketch in my notebook (what could be more perfect for spring than Violet and Fredrick Foxton and their family?) I had already painted a picture of Violet and her children outside their home and that was my jumping off point for the background, I just needed to extend the picture so that it was long enough for the window....
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Once my background was done, I turned my attention to Fredrick. I had a fine needle-felted version of him, which had been in my old store for a long time, but he had become a bit moth-eaten and needed a little attention. I replaced his missing fur, made a lovely new tail for him, gave him a new pair of glass eyes, and sewed a costume. I made his shirt from an old dress shirt of my grandfather's and his jacket from green Harris tweed. His trousers are made from an old wool army blanket, and I made a cup, plate, and scone from air-dry clay.
I collected fallen sticks from under the apple trees and glued artificial spring buds and blossoms onto them, and everything was ready to go.
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Early one morning, my husband Ben and I took everything down to the shop and put the new window together, a little spring cheer for the shoppers on Stonegate. If you visit, I hope it brings a smile to your face.
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I am excited to share so many other little projects with you! We are working on some great new things to add to the shop, and I'm sketching out some designs for new china cups. I've always dreamed of having some made, and I'm working with an English company to see if it might be possible (the shop is so small, and I can't afford to order too many at once, so fingers crossed).
I'm also designing some T-shirts and a new set of postcards, and Ben is helping me make a wooden house that I can pop my mouse rooms into so that there are more little treasures to find when you next visit.
I've taken up a lot of your time already, so let me pass you along to my dear friends Quentin and Robin, who are excited to say hello.
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Well, Hello there!
Spring is finally springing, don't you agree? The sunshine and showers, the blossoms and flowers, and, of course, the pollen is simply everywhere! My beak has been a bit sniffly this past week, but I'm coping thanks to the monogrammed handkerchief I received from Sarah Foxton at Christmas...What a tasteful little madam she is!
Speaking of Sarah, I've heard whispers that she is back at her home on Muddy Lane for a few weeks until the Circus sets out again on its new engagements. I believe they may be sailing back to Paris to perform in their new venue there; can you imagine? Paris! I've read they have the best cakes... I swear, what I wouldn't do for a reckless afternoon in a dark cafe; just me, a black coffee and a slice of chocolate cake! Now, wouldn't that be a treat for the ages? Just the thought of it makes me swoon.
Do you suppose Jayne will take me to see Sarah before she leaves? Perhaps I could convince her to send me some trinket from the markets in exchange for a choice feather or two (my tail is molting right now, and some of the longer feathers would make perfect quill pens for her letters home). She seems cordial enough, but when it comes to visiting foxes, birds like me can never be too careful (especially considering she was the last one to see Robins's family alive...I'll leave that one there).
Oh, look, the sun's coming out! I might take a quick wander round the garden before tea.
It's been lovely talking to you.
Until next time, take care and beak up!
~Quentin
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Hello again,
I'm so happy you're here! Did you see the sunset yesterday? It was very fiery and orange. I wanted to paint it, but I didn't have an orange, a red, or a yellow, so I had to take a picture with my mind's eye, I didn't know how to share that with you, but perhaps you can imagine it.
There were birds, too, flying past the sunset, I thought they were flies going by because they were so small, but Quentin saw them and said that they were ducks and that they looked small because of 'perspective', but I don't know what that is...They must have been very small ducks.
Quentin wants to go and see Sarah and I want to go with him! It's been a while since I saw her; maybe I can see my brothers and sisters there, it's been such a long time since she had them over for dinner, and it would be nice to see them again. Maybe they saw the sunset yesterday, they might even have seen the ducks; I should pack a little snack for the journey, maybe I should take a book as well, I would love to show them my book on sea monsters, but perhaps that's a bit scary, and it's also heavy, so maybe I will paint a picture and take it to them instead...If only I had some green and blue paints.
Bye bye
Robin
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I hope you enjoyed our first English newsletter. Until next time, take care and don't forget to enter the raffle below, you might just win the mystery prize.
Jayne
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