Nearly there

It's been really busy here over the last few weeks, we're moving house and had a lovely holiday in France over the half term holiday.

I'm off to Hampton Court on Saturday and it looks like it's all set fair for a sunny day so I'm planning my picnic and looking forward to another lovely day with Rachel and Owen.  I'm not sure how much stitching I will be doing as I think my Jacobean Crewelwork piece is almost finished!  I'll be seeking Rachel and Owens advice to find out if everything is up to RSN standards, if I need to rework any of it or add any further elements, but if not, ta dah!  I will then be on to mounting which fills me with dread I have to admit.  It's so important for a piece to be well mounted, as it can really spoke all the effort you have put in to making it if the mounting is careless or sloppy.  I know this from many years of mounting bobbin lace where there are some pieces I wish I had taken more time over, and some I'm really proud of.  So watch this space.  Here's the nearly finished piece- and I'd be really interested in other peoples views as I can mostly see what I don't like!  

I'm also going to be asking Rachel and Owen about my next piece.  I can't quite decide whether to go for blackwork or canvaswork but I think I've decided I want to use one of my holiday photos of lighthouses or carrelets from the Gironde.  

Perhaps one of these photos will be suitable......

Perfectly imperfect

Arriving at our holiday home in the Charente Maritime this week, the sense of relaxation and contentment was immediate.  We've stayed here before a few times, in fact that was one of the reasons for coming this year as we needed something stress-free and easy.  I love this house- it's an old grande-dame of a French villa, and it's a happy house.   It's not perfectly decorated and the furniture is the most mish- mashed mixture of secondhand French flea market finds you have ever seen.  It's creaky and quirky and what I would call well-loved.  It's also light with huge high ceilings and a five minute walk from one of my favourite places in the whole wide world - the Plage des Nonnes. 

Something about this lovely house makes it a happy place for our family.  I think it's just the perfect place for our family holidays- close to the beach  and town for morning croissants.  It's got a great garden with a huge table for al fresco BBQ suppers accompanied by copious quantities of local pineau and wine.  And the house is forgiving enough to cope with the battering of an energetic enthusiastic,rumble tumble, sandy family.  It's imperfect but makes the perfect place for us to unwind and relax.  I will be first in the queue if the owners ever want to sell!

I've brought some stitching with me and I will be hunting around for some images for future RSN projects.  One of the particular features of this area I hope to be able to capture are the carrelets- local fishing huts on stilts.  I have hundreds of photos of them at home but I will be on the look-out for new ones!
Here's one from yesterday afternoon- with the Phare (lighthouse) of St George's de Didonne in the background.  I originally thought canvas work but there may be blackwork potential for these images as well.  I'd welcome ideas as I find the design part the hardest part of the course!

Gifts for family and friends

As well as my RSN crewelwork, I've recently been working on a number of creative gift projects for family and friends.  I'm thrilled how both of them turned out.  First of all there was the housewarming present for my in-laws, who are swapping the Wirral for Leicestershire to be closer to my sister-in-law and her family.

After a lifetime in the north west this was a huge upheaval physically and emotionally, and I decided on a present which would remind them of good times past and future.  I obtained a number of old maps from a charity shop (literally, I think the maps are as old as me!)- one of the north west and north Wales, the other of the Midlands.  I cut heart shapes out of the north west map, to include places they lived, family lived or they loved to visit.  I also cut a heart shape from the midlands map, to include their new home and the home of my sister-in-law.  I framed these up, and found the perfect quote to go with it from Oliver Wendell-Holmes: "where we love is home, home that our feet may leave but not our hearts".  

Here is the finished present- I was so pleased with it!

Next there was the present for one of my sons teachers, who is leaving to go on maternity leave.  He is in his last year of primary school, and this particular teacher has been so inspirational for him that I wanted to really thank her with something unique and special.  I decided on a stitched portrait for a card that she could frame up afterwards if she wants.  

Here is the finished portrait- isn't she beautiful?

I'm so pleased with both of these gifts.  They turned out looking quite professional and they were so personal for the recipients.  I hope they loved them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Jacobean progress

I was looking back over my last few posts and realised I hadn't posted an update on my crewelwork for weeks, and it has moved on quite a bit since then, despite the demands of Easter, an imminent house move, and of course,the day job.

Time to put this right!  I'm going back to the RSN next weekend and with a very hectic week ahead, I've taken a few photographs of progress to date.

A shot of overall progress.  It's coming on ok, but I'm not happy with the purple long and short stitch leaf.  I'm loathe to take it out, but will be talking with my tutors about it on Saturday......

Fly stitch leaves with heavy chain stitch stems

Oxburgh Hangings

The Oxburgh Hangings are not some macabre re-enactment of medieval executions but a set of embroidered panels, housed at the National Trust owned Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk.  It being Easter weekend, we were on the lookout for a NT Easter egg hunt location, and the opportunity to combine this with a visit to some needlepoint by none other than Mary, Queen of Scots, was too good to miss.

The panels were thought to be embroidered by Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury between 1569 and 1584, during which period Mary was held captive in England.  Oxburgh Hall has 3 large panels, in absolutely amazing condition considering their age, mainly consisting of motifs of animals and fish, real and imaginary, copied from illustrations of the time.  

The embroideries are now owned by the V&A and some are loaned back to Oxburgh hall for display.  You can see some of the stock images from the V&A collection here: http://www.vandaimages.com/results.asp?cat1=Oxburgh+Hangings&X8=17-25

Some of the pictures I took of the hangings are below.  I'm hoping to perhaps be able to draw inspiration from them for one of my future RSN certificate projects.  It was a treat for me to be able to spend some time alone admiring the hangings while the children explored the grounds.  I would recommend Oxburgh Hall, it's a gorgeous house, easily explored, with lovely woodland walks.  The tea shop though is a bit of a disappointment by National trust standards- my advice would be to picnic in the lovely grounds instead.

Seriously addicted to Pinterest....

I have a confession to make.  When I first signed up for the RSN certificate, and I received the design brief for the Jacobean module, I knew I would need inspiration.  The internet is an amazing resource, and I soon had more ideas and images than I could sensibly print and keep.  Then, I succumbed.  I had been holding out for so long but I knew the time was right.  I opened my Pinterest account.  Within hours I had a board full of ideas and inspiration, and many previous students work.  Actually, the design I am working on looks nothing like my ideas, thanks to the input of the RSN tutors and the constraints of the certificate,but I hope to return to some of them for fun maybe over the summer.

Now, 4 months on, I have a serious Pinterest habit, lots of boards and more ideas than I know what to do with.  This morning I have been gathering ideas for bean bags.  I have been saving old jeans for months to upcycle them into a bean bag for my boys.  I think I have enough now but I can I find the design /pattern I found online in my pre-Pinterest days?  No chance.  I now have a new board, where the alternatives are safely pinned until after Easter, when I can dust off my machine again (if it has recovered from its slate frame bag exploits) and experiment.  In the meantime, there are more RSN projects to think about, and other fantastic projects I stumble on just begging to be pinned.  Happy days.  

All bagged up

Progress on my Jacobean crewelwork had to take a back seat this week as I set myself a new but related challenge.  For some time I have been wanting to make an bag for my slate frame, as it is so awkward to carry any distance in the rather large plastic bag supplied by the RSN.

My idea was to make a simple bag from PVC coated cotton, to protect my frame from the weather.  I wanted to line it with cotton, to provide some cushioning for the frame and the embroidery in progress and a couple of simple handles.  I wanted a really long zip to go right round the top and sides if the bag, to allow the frame to be slid easily in and out of the bag.

The sheer size of the frame the bars are about 32" long, meant that this was never going to be a small (or cheap) endeavour.  A trip to Dunelm later and I was equipped with fabrics, super long zip and extra strong sewing thread.  I dusted off my sewing machine and channelled my inner sewing bee, and before nightfall I was the proud owner of a new bag for my slate frame, complete with pocket to carry notes, design brief, small books etc.  the process wasn't without hiccups (I didn't have the right kind of machine foot for sewing PVC coated cotton and to start off with the cloth just stuck to the foot and the feed teeth).  And the scale and stiffness of the fabric meant that wresting with the bag wasn't just a turn of phrase!

My finished bag is by no means perfect, hopefully the embroidery that gets carried in the bag will be a higher standard(!) but it meets my needs and will hopefully allow me to negotiate the cloisters and staircases of Hampton Court Palace much more safely and easily than before!  It's back to school on Friday so I will find out then......

Happiness is.....

Recently I have come to realise that I have started to feel, well, happy.  Nothing unusual about his you may think, except for the fact that I can't really remember feeling as light and contented as this for a very, very long time.

So what has changed?  I can broadly attribute my change in well being to a number of factors:

• Sunshine- spring has arrived, daffodils are in bloom, days are longer....but that happens every year (ok maybe not so much last year ;-))
• Finding fulfilment in my job, at last.  After a succession of roles where I was a perfectly capable, yet totally mojo-less round peg in a square hole and a job share which in theory should have been great but in practice left me emotionally and physically drained (despite the very best efforts of both of us to make it work I should add), I'm now feeling motivated, driven and inspired by my employment.  That's a revelation.
• Taking time out to persue a talent and a skill that I love- and that is where the RSN comes in.  The added bonus is getting to go to Hampton Court Palace and spend time in such wonderful, uplifting surroundings- that's such a privilege.
• Family life being calmer, and more settled.  This time last year we cancelled Mother's Day things were so bad.  Tomorrow I'm looking forward to spending time with my children.  That's fantastic.

So to everyone that has known that there's been something wrong and tried to help, thank you from the bottom of my heart for putting up with me.  To everyone that didn't realise there was anything wrong and just accepted me for who I was, thank you for treating me like a friend.  But to all those who told me to get a grip, cheer up, stop being so selfish, that I'm not the only one in the world that is fed up etc etc.  I have to say I'm sorry, but you were part of the problem, not part of the solution.  There as nothing more that I would have loved to do than find this emotion, this feeling, this lightness that I now feel.  I hope this feeling lasts. I have a lot to look forward to.  I think it will.

French knots and more french knots

Progress on my Jacobean Crewelwork for the RSN certificate has been slow, mainly due to work and other family commitments (like a little girl's birthday I've been baking and icing cakes for :-)).  During the relatively few opportunities I have had to stitch- I've mostly been spending on french knots. A solid filling for two petals, and as a highlight in some open buttonholes on two others.

I've really enjoyed these two petals- the colours seemed to flow easily and the knots were quite soothing and meditative to stitch- good job as the solid filling took MUCH longer than I expected.

Here's an overview of where I'm up to now- I've actually finished the first couched outline and have the other couched petal outline to do.  

But first I have to decide on the seeding I'm going to use in a couple of the fillings.  Its a long story, but I had to take two petals worth out and start again.  Part of the mistake was the colour choice.  At least with some idea of how the tulip is turning out, I should be able to make a better choice of colour combinations.  

Speaking of colour choices I have to decide whether to stitch my "white" hart in a very pale blue, with a gold crown, or the palest gold, with a darker gold crown.  Originally, I was going to go with pale blue, but I'm having second thoughts.  Decisions decisions!

Taj Mahal inspiration

As a child, I took my Grandma's ability with a needle for granted.  Even so, I always loved this blackwork Taj Mahal that she stitched:

The reflections of the glass frame don't do it any favours, and the passage of time has revealed a stain on the fabric, but for me this exquisite piece of needlework sums up my Grandma, the time she spent in India and her skills with a needle.  For me it's an inspiration, something I hope to live up to as I develop my own skills.

Taking the plunge

Over the past few months on my RSN course I've been hugely inspired and helped by the various people who's blogs I have been following.  I think because I can only attend class once a month it been almost like a little online community, but I feel like a bit of a stalker and now it's time for me to take the plunge and put something out there in return.  

I have decided to call my blog after my grandmother, Gladys Maud Nancarrow, a wonderful embroiderer and passionate member of the embroiderers guild.  She taught me much of the basics as a child that I'm now extending into what I think of as "proper" stitching.  

I hope to share my progress and my challenges with you, and hopefully get some help when things get tough.  Enjoy the ride!