Botanicals 5 - Eagle & Tiny

I have coveted Tiny Happy's embroidered felt brooches for ages, but I seemed to keep missing out on buying one whenever TH (aka Melissa) updated her Etsy shop at the end of each week. But last week I was quick as lightning and managed to nab two of them. They arrived in a small brown paper parcel on Tuesday. They're such lovely little objects and will pretty up my working wardrobe when the new teaching semester begins at Massey next week.

I love Melissa's botanical drawings of small blooms, foliage, twigs and sprigs, which she makes into cards (like the one above), and turns into printed fabrics and embroidered brooches.  They remind me of Audrey Eagle's drawings in the book Eagle's Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand, which has been reprinted numerous times since it's original publication in 1975.

I have a very battered 1977 single-volume edition of the book. Some of the pages have leaf specimens tucked inside that correspond to Eagle's drawings.

The generous amount of space around each of Eagle's drawings means that you can really scrutinise each one, and the delightful author photo on the back flyleaf of my edition of the book shows a woman who so obviously loves what she does.

I get the feeling that Tiny Happy loves what she does too, and I know I'll get a lot of pleasure from wearing her beautiful brooches.