📘May is here! And a look back at April

 May, my favourite month of the year

The Oak tree (leaning over from next door) is in full leaf but
our Mulberry (which you can see in background) is not ready to chance the weather just yet

So far this year we have had perfect Spring conditions in terms of weather with some rain and lots of sunshine. Sadly, I am very far behind in getting my gardening underway as I have had a dreadful viral infection which robbed me of all energy and motivation.

I am hoping to get going soon and am taking my queue from Susan Hill's lovely book "The Magic Apple Tree" to be like Mr Elder who, having been ill, couldn't start his gardening until May and then used his seventy years of experience to catch up and overtake his neighbours!

I have several copies of Susan Hill's book The Magic Apple Tree
and this is a really lovely one on my reading chair in the sunshine

Hannah Green 1826 Stitch Along Progress

April's progress for the Hannah Green Stitch Along

Oh my goodness, there was a lot of grass to be stitched for the section allocated for April on the Hannah Green sampler. It took absolutely ages but it was so satisfying when the sheep stood out from the linen and everything in the scene came to life. I just love the spotty sheep dog, the deer and that huge yellow spotted cat. This is such a fun project, despite all the grass, and the idea is to finish it next year for the two hundred year anniversary of Hannah's finish. I am using DMC threads one over two on 40 count Country Mocha linen. The pattern is the Queen of the May 2024 by Hands Across the Sea Designs

I am attending the Mrs Parkman's Academy of Needlework later this year in Swindon and one of the workshops I have been lucky enough to get a place on is with Cissy Bailey-Smith and we will be finishing a Scottish Castle Etui Box. Another huge stitching project but I am making slow progress and it is a delight to stitch on. You use a Nun's stitch all the way around so that you can cut the linen right up to the stitching - we shall see if I am able to count and sew well enough to achieve that but so far I think it is working out.

 

The start of the Scottish Castle Etui Box - I added some fluffy
tails to my rabbits

Stitching Retreat

I was so lucky to be able to attend the Stitch in London Sampler Retreat 2025 in March. The project we had to stitch before we arrived was a beautiful needle book designed by Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery. 

We had some wonderful talks. Ruth Taylor of Crowsfeet Stitching told us about Irish Samplers, Michelle Baddeley of Mummalovesyougb talked about Welsh Samplers, Letitia Gibbier spoke about copyright. We had a zoom talk with Bethany Clements in America about Norfolk Samplers and Chloe, Girl With A Gavel Stitches, gave us the low down on how to bid for samplers. We then went on to bid on some antique samplers which was great fun. I received a beautifully stitched and finished pin cushion in the gift exchange which was a motif taken from a sampler and I stitched a Stacy Nash needlework pouch as my gift. It was such a fabulous retreat and I can't wait to go again. 

The Stacy Nash I stitched on the left and the beautiful gift I
received on the right

Knitting

I have so many projects on the go at the moment but I decided to start a project which will be perfect for knitting in the car for a trip we are planning. It is The Reader Shawl by Tracy Bakkelokken. Tracy has a wonderful YouTube and Blog that you can follow as well as patterns for sale on Ravelry

Nothing could be nicer than sitting in the garden knitting on this lovely
shawl - I have a cute 'cat' progress keeper to remind me of Tracy the designer and her sweet cat

An Outing to see the Tirzah Garwood Exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery

In April I was lucky enough to be able to visit this wonderful exhibition with my dear son, Toby. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a drink in the gallery cafe (I had the most delicious hot chocolate which may have been the best I've ever had!) before heading into the exhibition. 

I have long been a fan of Tirzah Garwood and enjoyed reading the Persephone edition of her memoir 'Long Live Great Barfield'. Tirzah is buried in a village churchyard not far from me which I visited with Toby last year. 

It is difficult to imagine a life where your own artistic abilities are put to one side so that you can raise a family and run a home but that was expected when Tirzah became a young wife to the artist Eric Ravillious. Toby and I visited the exhibition of his work at this gallery a few years ago but I was struck by how much more personality Tirzah managed to evoke in her work sometimes of the same subject as Eric. What a stoic and inspiring attitude Tirzah had to a life struck by tragedy after losing her husband, bringing up three children on her own and suffering from cancer which finally claimed her life at far too young an age. She was so happy in her final few months in the home she lived in near me which meant she could finally be free to explore her artistic thoughts through painting and the results are highly personal and beautiful works of art.

Toby and I walked through the gorgeous park opposite the gallery and down to Lordship Lane where we had a lovely lunch in one of the many eating places in this lively part of South London. It was a day I will savour for ever and I am so grateful to have had the chance to visit the gallery and to spend time with Toby.

Tirzah and some of her wonderful textile pieces
she worked in so many mediums including marbling, woodcuts and painting among others

Easter

We were delighted to have our family the week before Easter and so we had an Easter Egg hunt in the garden and a lovely family meal together. The sun shone and it was a glorious time.

Some rather glum bunnies came to live in our house made by
Sue of homespunwithlove

Some May Delights to finish

Well, there are so many things to enjoy this Spring, and I am off now to catch up if I can but here are some delights from my garden which bring such joy. Blue and white bells, trees and some lingering daffodils.

The Lilacs are in bloom

Whitebells

Bluebells

Lots of figs to look forward to

Not a host but a somewhat lonely daffodil still blooming

The Rosemary is flowering

How different the garden looks now the leaves are coming and the sky is blue and not grey

A Summer full of Crafting Loveliness

So many crafts...

Crafting is really such a panacea when the world seems such a difficult place to navigate. The past few months have been a time of calming the mind with lots of lovely crafting projects and events. So let's have a look at some of the things I have been up to.

Tour de Fleece 2022 Team Spindler

 One of the highlights of Summer each year is to follow the Tour de France cycling alongside spinning each day. This year I joined Team Spindlers on Ravelry and I am really enjoying learning about different fibres from their general pages as well as sharing what I spin each day on the Team page. I very sadly had to say goodbye to my spinning wheel recently because she had come to a point where there was more repair than spinning time spent on her. 

That meant I would have to do the Tour using my spindles and I looked around for a suitable team to join and came across Team Spindlers which has members from all around the world with a great deal of knowledge and some absolutely stunning spindles. If only we could get some more interesting spindles here in the UK.

The Tour goes on through July and I hope to have a lovely amount of yarn at the end. I am spinning Falkland at the moment which is a joy to work with and, thanks to all the advice from my fellow spindlers, I am planning to make the yarn into a pair of winter mittens. You can see from the photo below the beautiful fibre from Friday Studios (sadly no longer selling fibre).

Gnoming Along

I've had such a lot of fun joining in with Sarah of Imagined Landscapes and her Gnome Alongs. This time we were making a gnome which included stranded colour work. She is called Gnocci based on season three of the GNetflix programme "It's a Chef's Life". I used Lucy Locketland's Woodland Foragers set of minis which she made specifically for this gnome along. What do you think, isn't she cute? I know she has a beard!

She joins my other Imagined Landscape Gnomes, Gnombleberry with Gnewt in his backpack and Gnorwen who looks like an ice cream.

Dandelion Designs Redwork

I have been sewing along with Mandy Shaw's Secret Society of Redwork Stitchery and Crafty Loveliness for the past year. We have been making an Alphabet Quilt and I am so pleased with the result and have made it my own by adding some of Mandy's fabrics left over from past projects. I also made one of her cute kits for a watch pin cushion which is proving very useful.

Cross Stitch

Here in the UK there have been celebrations for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and I stitched these three designs by Carol X Stitch which I put on display on the table in my entrance hall. 

I also stitched the very pretty "Red Bird Sampler" by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle and Thread. It fitted on a spare piece of 40 count linen using the called for colours of thread which at first I thought were a bit out of my comfort zone but now she is finished I am absolutely loving.

Well I am going to leave this post here and I shall be back soon with some more of the crafting I have been enjoying during the first half of 2022. I will leave you with a lovely photo of my seven month old Grandson enjoying the fireworks for the Jubilee. Going up and down to Yorkshire to spend time with him is so wonderful.

Welcome the New Year 2022 - you have arrived bearing change 🎆

 Like Janus:

A quick look back and then a look forward

There were so many wonderful projects during 2021 and I wish I had recorded them more carefully as I finished them. However, these are a few that I enjoyed working on.

The Red Manor House Quilt was finished and now awaits the quilting process

I enjoyed taking part in the Royal School of Needlework Postcard from Home in 2020 and found it a beautiful piece to draw inspiration from during 2021

This was the year of redwork and I joined Dandelion Design's Mystery Quilt along for 2021/2 which is great fun and includes lots of extra sewing projects

Sew Sweet Violet's projects this year have been absolutely delightful

One of the 'extra' projects with Dandelion Designs was this cute Bee Skep embroidery

Dandelion Designs again and a really useful 'extra' was this thread holder

Caroline Loves To Sew had a gorgeous Autumn knit along with her new sock pattern

As always I made a pair of socks to be given to someone in a Marie Curie Hospital ward this Christmas and this was yarn especially dyed for the Flower Power Fund which organises the sock knitting

I loved the first Sew Sweet Violet tiny EPP project and couldn't resist a Christmas version

Then there was a gnome along with Imagined Landscapes - who knew making a mystery knitted gnome could be such fun!

I won the postcard from Mersea run by my quilting group Ladies Who Sew having based my design on the metal soldiers which stand in the mud flats by the Strood (the stretch of road joining the island to the mainland)

Another 'extra' from Dandelion Designs heavily improvised to make my flower a lilac fairy rather than a sunflower

Hallowe'en stitching is one of my favourite things to do.

Hands Across The Sea Samplers had a stitch along for Martha Dawson and this is tiny being stitched on  a 56/64 linen count fabric

Sew Sweet Violet's "St Nick Socks" was a gorgeous test knit for my lovely friend Jooles Hill 

Another Hands Across the Sea Sampler this time Ann Morison. It was a celebratory piece for a Canadian needlework shop

Then there were all the wonderful tiny kits from Nicki Franklin of The Stitchery and this beautiful needle/pin cushion was a delight to sew

From knitting to stitching and many crafts in-between it was a year of many different projects. I signed up for stitch alongs and knit alongs and had such fun working on them month by month. 

For me crafting is a panacea and it allowed me to push all the stresses of life away for a few hours each day so that my mind could function without being overloaded with worries.

Then looking forward to what I might make in 2022 I have to start with a year long project with Alice Caroline which will be a Liberty Fabric Alice in Wonderland Quilt. I can't wait to get started on it around March/April time. 

I might decide to hand sew my nine blocks for this stunning quilt - slow stitching might be just what the Doctor ordered this year!

Cross stitching is going to be working my way through wips as I have way too many and the same is true of knitting and other sewing. 

We may also be moving this year so that will seriously impact my making time. I only hope I can find time to sit down and relax with my crafting in 2022 what with our new Grandson, William, who arrived in October 2021 also being a most excellent distraction too!

I hope you have lots of plans for the year and that you have a joyful, peaceful and healthy year ahead. Happy New Year!

William my new Grandson wearing a cute hat made using a pattern given to me by my lovely friend Lisette 

September Edit 2020

 A bit of this and a bit of that....

Reading, knitting, sewing, outings and life in general...

We have moved into Autumn and already there is an abundance of berries and other signs of the changing year.

Earlier this month we went to South Creake in Norfolk where we rented a small cottage and enjoyed visiting the surrounding area. 

At Houghton Hall there was an exhibition of works by Anish Kapoor who is one of my favourite artists. Isn't this mirrored piece stunning:

The beaches along that part of the Norfolk coast are spectacular and we were lucky enough to enjoy really good weather whilst we were there.

I took my Purl Soho Half and Half Wrap which I am knitting for the Cady Jax knit along.

Near where we were staying was Bloodgate Hill, an iron age fort. There were only the sheep there that evening but we enjoyed the huge East Anglian skies on our walk.

We took the opportunity to visit St Withburga's Holy Well in Dereham which was very interesting to see. It made me think of my favourite cathedral, Ely, in quite a different light as the Abbott and monks stole her remains to keep as a holy relic for themselves and this healing waters well sprang up in Dereham as a result.

Another great visit was to Burn Valley Vineyard which we visited on a very wet and wild day. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the wines we tasted were and we took some bottles home with us including a sparkling wine we opened on a visit to my daughter in Yorkshire later in the month.

I signed up for a Selbu Mitten Course run by Patricia of Knitographyfarm and it has been great fun learning and recording how to knit these traditional mittens in my knitting bag notebook.

I write down what I am listening to, what I am feeling, the weather and all sorts of things that influence how I might knit that day. It is interesting to note because your tension when knitting can vary wildly. It helps if you notice the many things that might be contributing to your stress levels. It is good then to try to adjust the balance in your life in order to keep yourself at a healthy level of tension both in your knitting and yourself.

During September I bought a lot of books and am enjoying reading along with book clubs, especially Miranda's Notebook whose read for this month was R C Sherriff's The Fortnight in September. Set in the thirties it tells of a family who travel to the seaside for their annual holiday but nothing is as static as it seems as underneath each character's stream of consciousness a constant change is uncovered.

I am looking forward to reading the other two books at some point but I have a huge pile of to be read books right now including Miranda's October choice for her Tea & Tattle book club and The Botanical Yarn's book club which I signed up for for three months and have read two so far.

Miranda made a YouTube video telling us of new releases for October and one mentioned was Miss Mole by E H Young and I knew it was one I own and have read so I looked it out and, yes, I added it to that ever growing to be read pile!

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel was the second of The Botanical Yarn's book club choices for September and I found reading this tale of growing up in a disfunctional multi cultured family in America both difficult and absorbing. 

The first book was Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams with it's mini yarn skeins based on the book cover and my chosen pattern the Queenie Cowl by Amanda who used to run the Natural Dye Studio. 

Yarn to interpret a book cover - what do you think?

On a visit to my daughter in Yorkshire I was delighted by the cows who graze on the common have no barriers to stop them walking along the road. Most drivers are able to relax and enjoy the moment but some sadly are not and by harassing the cattle they often find themselves with some damage to their vehicles!! A lesson in life, I think, to understand that we are not supreme beings and need to respect the place given to us in this world.

I enjoyed this really tasty Lychee Martini whilst we were celebrating my daughter's birthday when we visited.

Later in September I was lucky enough to visit Farnham (picture above)  where my son has just moved. The Thread Festival was being held at the Maltings and I went along at the end of the afternoon on a late entry ticket to find I had the place almost to myself. Isn't that one of those dreams people have of being let loose in a shop when everyone has gone and that was exactly how it felt. I had the complete attention of each stall holder and was delighted to be able to chat and look at the wonderful stitching goods on display.

Some of the lovely bits and pieces I picked up at Thread Festival.

Vyckky of West Green Loft Yarns also started stocking yarn and embroidery kits in her online shop and I picked up this beautiful set of sock yarn and an embroidered wreath which I am looking forward to getting to at some point. (picture below)

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic I have tried to continue to support local bookshops using online shops such as Hive but recently we went to Maldon where I was keen to pop into a new little bookshop, Maldon Books, and I picked up two really lovely books: A Poem for Every Autumn Day and D by Michel Faber. They are proving to be thoroughly enjoyable picks which I would really recommend. The poems are divided for each day into one to read in the morning to inspire your day and one for the evening for reflection. D is a children's fantasy book with so many references to children's classics which are fun to identify as you read, although Michel Faber is quite evasive about whether he sees them as influences or not, and the story is absorbing and great fun too.

Keeping me super busy this month too has been test knitting for the lovely Jooles of Sew Sweet Violet. Above is the Hybernation Sock which was a collaboration with Vykky of West Green loft linked further up in this post. And below is the Lola Sock which was another collaboration with Ali of Little Drops of Wonderful who hosts the Strictly Sock Along and was also a fund raiser for Bill's Special Bus who is Gayna of Tales from Cuckoo Land's son and they are raising money for his school bus where he is a pupil.

I am still very busy with my cross stitching too and was so pleased to make a start on this free gift from Nicola of Hands Across the Sea Samplers for those taking part in the Exclusive Ann Morison Stitch Along being hosted by Traditional Stitches, a needlework store based in Canada celebrating their twentieth anniversary. I have signed up for the sal which has been put back to December because of the problems the pandemic has caused with supplies but that is fine by me as I was more than happy to have this free stitch to be getting on with.

I am going to finish this September Edit with a few images from a Sunday morning walk in Colchester with all it's historical architecture and lovely riverside walk. We ended our morning with a cup of mocha in Bill's restaurant and were very glad of an outing during these difficult days but, as you will see from my favourite stitches right at the bottom of this post, they shall pass and we will have hope. 

                                                 🍂Teresa🧡