An Update

I've now finished my Williamsburg 2008 project which is 'Carried Away' by Jackie du Plessis. Those of you who follow my blog will know, from my previous posts, how much I like her projects and this was no exception. Once again she has designed a piece totally different from all her others. Immediately I saw it, I loved it. Perhaps it was helped by the fact that it was in my favourite autumnal colours which I love. The first picture shows the beautiful box and all the acesories together. The box is lined with solid rust coloured silk and wonderful checked silk.



The next picture is the outside of the needlebook. The inside has pockets made from the solid rust silk.



This picture is of the bottom cushion which lays in the box.



and the final picture is of the bottom of the cushion which has a very clever secret envelope.



I really am so impressed with Jackie's designs and I'm looking forward to taking more classes with her.

The final part of this post shows a thimble and scissor keeper designed by Betsy Morgan of 'Willing Hands'. I found this chart in this month's copy of the Australian magazine 'Classic Inspirations'. As I was stitching it I seemed to remember something similar. When I checked my class kits it transpired that I had taken Betsy's class for the self same design. No wonder it seemed familiar. Am I an idiot or what? The design is three sided and is opened by pressing the edges together.









On another note I had a wonderful time in Paris with friends Bertie and Britta. Catherine, who lives in France, kept us busy for the entire four days. The aiguille-en-fete (French Needlework Show) was wonderful and needless to say I came home ladended with French charts. There is some wonderful talent out there which I tend to forget as I concentrate on the American market.

More Finishes

As anyone living in or around the south of England can tell you we had more snow than we have seen in years. It started to fall on Sunday night and didn't stop until late yesterday afternoon. It was forecast but of cause, this being England,no forward plans were made so no roads were gritted or salted. Everything ground to a halt. London was a ghost town with only the intrepid few making it in to work. My son works in 5 miles away in Harefield. He managed to make it to work and he was one of only seven people in an office of forty-five to do so. Anyone relying on bus or train transport was out of luck. I took my rule outside and measured the depth of snow in my garden. It measured ten inches deep. The dogs were in their element. Even Willow, at fourteen, was charging around with her nose buried in the snow.
As I was effectively snowed in, I decided I would photograph a few more of my finishes to show you.

The first is an old class piece that I took at Sampler Gathering in Plymouth.As far as I can remember I took the class in 2003 or 4 The design is by Wendy White of WeeWorks and is called 'A Sailor's Valentine' I have put one of the few pictures my Mother allowed taken of herself inside. I thought this would be much more difficult to assemble than it actually was. I'm very pleased with the outcome.






The next piece is a Breast Cancer piece from Blackbird Designs called 'Buttons and Blooms For The Cure' I had never sewn piping around a finished piece and was very pleased that I managed it.




In October 12008 I was lucky enough to attend Rae Iverson's ASG on Hilton Head in South Carolina. This class was taught by Catherine Jordan. We had to prepare our linen and paint the background colours before we started stitching the design. I think most of us were very hesitant but Catherine was very good and helped us all to achieve the finished product.