Is Summer here at last

Well I’m afraid that this last week has been quite unproductive in the stitching line but sometimes that’s the way it goes. That doesn’t mean that my little brain has not been buzzing with other things and ideas.

I mounted my blackwork and it is now with Tracy for assessment next month so I will let you all have a view of the finished piece when it comes back to me. In the meantime the sun came out – and has stayed out now for a whole 10 days!! Unheard of in the wet and chilly North West. So, I’m afraid I succumbed to vanity, stripped off my woolly jumpers and started on the holiday tan. Oh, I did do some gardening as well, so now my little plot is starting to look all neat and tidy and ready to face the world. Thought you might like to see my little herb patch all weeded and straight (yep, ‘fraid I’m one of those manic control freak gardeners who whisks away a weed at first sight!). Some day I’ll turn it into an embroidered garden, maybe. Another one to add to the list.

                                                           Herb Bed all neat and tidy!    

Anyway, as it got hotter and hotter it was too much to embroider in, even in my nice cool dining room. You see your hands get sweaty and dirty and I couldn’t settle into a rhythm. I have promised our church some new vestments, so have started a burse and veil. The front of the burse is nearly finished, just a few threads to couch down and I need to clear it off. Is it me or is the hardest part finishing?

                                                   The Burse front on my frame-nearly finished!

Anyway, this morning it was cooler and so I thought I’ll have a go at something new and whizzed up this little Dorset button in ordinary stranded floss-some old Anchor threads I had been given and a brass ring I happened to have lying around!. Not bad I think for a first go and not too fiddly to do. I’m sure it will be useful somewhere when I get more adventurous.

                                                     First attempt at a Dorset Button

Then, it was off to Lancaster for some IT lessons with my lovely future daughter-in-law Lucy of littlelostsoul and lunch at The Borough. She’s given me my homework to do so now I have to get on – and concentrate on finishing!

Hiya

Hello there. I am Pippa Foulds and for as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by needlework and making things in general. My other great passion is history, so combine the two and you can see where we are going!

I always wanted to embroider ‘properly’. My wonderful husband patiently put up with the incomplete kits as I fell down somewhere with the instructions and eventually built me a bookshelf to accommodate the ever growing pile of embroidery books designed to ‘show me how’. No one really embroidered in the family to teach me, if only……..

Then at the Knit and Stitch in Harrogate a lovely lady told me about a Royal School of Needlework class ‘up north’ with Tracy Franklin. Plucking up the last of my courage I signed up for the RSN Certificate. Three years later, Certificate achieved I’m half way into my Diploma and I loooooooove it.

So, I thought that maybe some like minded fellows out there might be interested in what I create and where it might lead.

                                                        RSN Diploma Blackwork piece

Here’s the piece for my Blackwork module just about ready for mounting and still on my frame. It’s taken from a Leonardo sketch of the head of Leda and I’ve quite enjoyed doing it after some initial trauma as I’d never done anything in Blackwork before! It’s done on 36 count linen and the threads are Mulberry silks - with a lot of invisible thread as well, grrh! Hope you like it although it’s not what you might initially expect as traditional blackwork. Took  me from January to May to complete - 8 days tutoring and lots of homework!

Would love to hear your comments.

See ya soon.