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