ruth.eaton

Appreciating the wisdom of Iris Murdoch, Louisa M Alcott and Edgar Allan Poe and taking time to enjoy the little and not-so-little things in life: an abundance of cherries and now plums on the fruit trees, watching a sparrow teach its fledglings to fly, a cool dip on a sweltering day … Which “little” things are bringing you joy this summer?

Details from Eloïse’s paintings and sketches in the gallery in Rye.

A selection of my clothes are currently enjoying an indigo-coloured conversation with some of Eloïse’s watercolours there for a few weeks this summer. A happy mother-daughter collaboration. 💙💙

Eloise Dethier-Eaton گالری ایده

Greetings from Rye where Eloïse (my daughter) and I are taking part in South East Open Studios. It’s great using her gallery as both a gallery and a working studio space with Eloïse painting and exhibiting her art and yours truly stitching a little and presenting some of the embroidered cushions and clothes. We’ve met so many interesting visitors while we’ve been here.
If you’re in the Rye area, it would be wonderful if you were to drop by. The gallery is at 4 Cinque Ports Street, TN31 7AD. The Open Studios are running over the next two weekends (Friday-Sunday) but we’re enjoying it so much that we’ll be open other days too and are planning to continue into July.

Wonky walls and wild grasses.
Our cottage in Normandy is simply an old cattle barn in the corner of a field that once, in a previous life long before we arrived, was a thriving apple orchard. Now there is just one ancient apple tree left, heavy with mistletoe, and a couple of babies that we’ve planted.
The field is lovely at this time of year, filled with grasses that sway gracefully in the breeze and occasional clusters of daisies and buttercups.
It’s dangerous territory, though, for a 17-year old dachshund who has a tendency to wander aimlessly and has lost most of his sight and hearing as well as his ability to bark to alert attention when he does get lost. ❤️

Is it tooooo late to still post photos of tulips? We still have a few in our garden though the peonies are looking to steal the show any minute from now.
So, at the risk of being late to the game, I couldn’t resist sharing these photos of some fabulous tulips grown and captured by brilliant during a recent trip to Easter Cottage. A very happy few days were spent together in Rye with .chappell.flowers and dining at favourite restaurants ( ), wandering the town’s cobbled streets, visiting antique shops and venturing further afield to .

I’ve spent a happy afternoon looking after Eloïse’s gallery in Rye today, with visitors dropping by and the sun streaming in. The exhibition “Common Good” is showing until Sunday evening with ceramics, paintings and photographs by Berni Cooper, Julia Corfe, Louise Pettiver and David Scrivener. If you’re in the area it would be lovely to meet you ( will be there all weekend and I’m planning to visit a lot).

A hand stitched gathered lampshade, a floral watercolour painting by with some of her marbled papers, an antique portrait found at (I find the woman’s face both endearing and intriguing) and flowers from the garden.
We have been treated to the most beautiful start to April in England and the garden is overflowing with bluebells. 💙

Designs for embroideries. Though perhaps they’ll end up being painted onto the walls of Easter Cottage instead. 🤔 Or maybe both.

Here’s my daughter Eloïse in her new gallery in Rye.

is an artist (you can see her work in the background of some of the photos) but also a curator and creator of decorative surfaces such as marbled paper. The gallery, EDE Projects, is a hybrid space so she hosts art exhibitions, workshops and other events there.

Upcoming workshops include a full day’s immersion into paper marbling (including preparation) this Sunday 28th March (I think there are still a couple of spaces) and a combined bookbinding and paper marbling workshop on April 28-29.

Moments in Easter Cottage …

We haven’t any ladybirds in Rye (so far) but at home in London we have two lovelinesses* that hibernate just inside our back door every winter (always in exactly the same spots). We know that Spring is around the corner when they start to fly away. I’d never seen this anywhere else so I was happy to see in lovely (!) Rebecca’s recent post that she has oodles of the wee bugs too!

*Isn’t “loveliness” one of the most charming words in the English language? And apparently a synonym is a “bloom”! ❤️