Crewel work

On Wednesday mornings I go to a modern and traditional embroidery class at our local college.
During this term we have been working on crewel. It is not something I have particularly enjoyed doing but here is my completed piece.

I have used satin stitch, chain stitch, stem stitch, fly stitch, backstitch, french knots and seeding stitch.
I am going to make it up into a cushion after I have given it a good press.
Bye for now

Castles part 20 and my first crop of the year.

I popped into the garden this morning for a look around - I always do this first thing on dry mornings with a cup of tea - I checked under the forcing pot and some of this was ready for picking - yummy.

I have completed part 20 of Castles in the air. I can't see how it will be complete in 4 more parts though unless they are very big parts.

A close - up

By for now.

A new giveaway.

Over at  Teresa's blog there is a giveaway and oooohhh it is lovely! Lots of stitched goodies and the promise of something sweet too.
Go on over and take a look.

By popular demand.

Here are a couple of pictures of my veggie plot and greenhouse.

This shows a couple of the raised beds with purple sprouting broccoli still in it, and the greenhouse.

And this one shows the water butts and in the corner, a pot of rhubarb that I am forcing by putting another pot on top to keep it dark and encourage it to stay thin and pale.

None of the other beds or fruit trees have anything to show yet as it is too early in the year but I really look forwards to showing you some more photo's another time.

The next part of Castles in the Air has arrived and hopefully, my next post will be a photo of that.
Bye for now.

Stylish Blogger Award and pics of my Parchment work

I have been given this by two people, toni and wired to my world. It is lovely to receive such an accolade.

I have compiled 7 things about myself :-
1. I am married with two children - a boy and a girl (lucky me)
2. I am somewhat obsessed with peacocks and collect them in all forms
3. I am a stay-at-home-Mum who does voluntary work at various establishments
4. I like to read and was bought a kindle for Christmas by Mr Midge and the children
5. I have other hobbies including gardening - you may have guessed that.
6. My second favorite craft is Parchment Craft or Pergamano (photo's further down this post)
7. When Mr Midge and I retire, our dream will be to a Croft in Western Scotland, we will be going on an overseas cricket tour to watch England play - either in the West Indies, Australia or New Zealand. Both of us are cricket nuts.

Now all I need to do is decide who to pass this award on to as most of the blogs I subscribe to have already got one - I'll think on that if you don't mind.

Now to some parching.

I think that will do for now.
Parchment is done by tracing, embossing and perforating a piece of parchment paper. The perforations are then cut to give a lacy pattern. The pictures are drawn with polychromos (oil-based ,blendable) pencils.
very theraputic.
Right, time to get my togs on and head out to the potting shed - I've got perennials to divide, a clematis to prune and loads of seeds to sow for the greenhouse.
Bye for now.

A bit more work on pearl.

I had a stitchy day yesterday. I felt I needed it after spring cleaning the house from top to bottom - well that is my excuse for sitting stitching all day and I had a clean tidy house in which to do it.
I have made some progress with Pearl.

The algerian eyes are driving me around the twist but they are so worth it once the other colours go on. There are only the beads to add on this side and here is a close-up.

I hope you like it.
The weather forcast for the weekend is great so I am expecting to be in the garden. Some of you have e-mailed or left comments to ask if I will post pics of the veggie patch so I'll do my best to get some shots in the sunshine.
Thanks for looking in.

Pearl Tissue Case

Here are my efforts with the pearl tissue case by Polstitches. As I said before, the cream on cream doesn't really show - I have used 3 different colours so far. The outlines are done in satin stitch and then you can see some algerian eye's. I am enjoying stitching this up although it is repetitive to say the least. Once the other colours come in I am sure it will look a bit more impressive. If you click on the photo, it enlarges it so you can see the stitches better.

It looks from the photo as if it won't line up but this is just a fold  in the fabric.
It is also the first time that I have used a gold needle to stitch with and I have to say thet they are fabulous. The needle just glides through the fabric and makes stitching a real pleasure. I will definately be buying more of those.
Untill next time.........

I have nothing to report on the stitching front!! For the last week, I have been full of cold and not very well so I have just been sat festering in the evenings.
We went off to the Lake District on Friday and stayed up there untill today (Sunday) the weather was fantastic, very spring like, and I now feel much better and ready to get going again.
Hopefully, I'll have something to show you by the end of the week.
Bye for now.

Bent Creek Snapper Year - March

I love stitching this up. It is so unlike any of my other projects. All whole stitches, no backstitch and no blended threads. Fab!!

Now I know that I was supposed to be completeing all the UFO's I have this year but I have to confess to a new start.
I have made a start on the Pearl tissue case I bought when I was on Holiday in Wales.
So far so good but no pics yet - cream on cream hardly shows on a photo.
Thanks for looking in.

Tusal - 4th March

Here is my ORT update for this new moon.

As you can see, it has filled up quite considerably as I have been doing quite a bit of stitching.
Catch you later.
H x

To stitch or not to stitch - A fab giveaway!!

Just a quick post to let you know that there is a wonderful birthday month giveaway on this blog
There are some lovely prizes and the promise of chocolate.
Go on over and take a look.