Thursday 6 July 2017

Illustrated Birthday Present Extravaganza!

A post shared by Emmeline Pidgen (@emmelinedraws)

Ahhh what a pile of loveliness! So, back in May I was incredibly lucky to receive these awesome gifts from my nearest and dearest for my birthday. I like to think this builds a bloomin' strong case that my friends and family know me well - has there ever been a photo that sums up my interests quite so well?

Okay, so maybe I've been a bit slow in posting this - but can you blame me? Look how distracting all these things are! 

First up, wow, I finally got my paws on the first two volumes of Sam Bosma's incredible 'Fantasy Sports' series. It's funny, unusual, brilliantly paced and has great characters - and uarghh it looks amazing! So completely up my street. I haven't read the second one yet, but I'm excited to set aside some time to drink it in. After the first one, I'll admit I had a bit of a rummage in my garage for a basketball (before realising it went flat years ago, noo!) hurray for books that make you wanna move!

Following the Nobrow thread, I also snagged myself a copy of Robert Hunter's Map of Days, an absolutely stunning graphic novel - seriously, every panel could be a poster in its own right. Nobrow and Flying Eye Books stories are rapidly filling up my bookshelves, and I couldn't be happier - they always have such incredible curation and pay such good attention to detail and quality in their printing and binding.

Okay, I won't get far without mentioning Stardew Valley. My. Oh. My. What an addictive game! I'm not going to lie, I've sunk a loooong time into this game already. It's just...lovely! There's farming, fighting, foraging and friends - all with a nice little 'let's support the little guy!' and a 'follow your passion!' subtext to it. Speaking of games, you'll notice the Andrez Sapkowski novel in the picture, well that's the first (chronologically) in the series of books which my other current favourite game, The Witcher 3, is based on! It's on an entirely different spectrum to Stardew, but it's honestly incredible. I'm finding it hard not to read the book and completely imagine everything from the game; the short stories read exactly like the missions, although in a way it's quite a relief to know you're not going to have to make some harrowing grey-area moral choice at the end (who am I kidding? I love those!). 

Alongside that I got so many gorgeously patterned and illustrated goodies - I felt so spoilt this year. Two of my lovely friends got me this Cath Kidston bag with an incredible horse print on it (I'd seen it a few days before and fallen in love with it, but didn't quite have the pennies!); I got some beautiful quirky stationery and homeware; and my mum and dad bought me a Janome sewing machine! I've been wanting a sewing machine for years, but never had the space for it until now. Okay, I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to sewing, but I've got the drive at least! On one of my first days having it, I completely winged it with a vague idea of a pattern and sewed a top! Yeah, it was a bit short, and maybe a bit messy - but it felt so good to do. One of my serious goals at the moment is to start thinking of designing and screen-printing my own fabric to sew into products for my shop - so watch this space!

It feels like so long since my birthday now, but I still completely brim up with feelings when I think about the lovely time I spent with my friends and family, and how perfectly they know what gifts I'd like! There's no denying I'm a lucky duck (and I have a lot of reading to do). Hurray! 💗

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