Hello there and I hope that you are all well and happy. I am in January mode at the minute which means lots and lots of work and marking but thankfully no snow (as yet!) to complicate matters. There is still time however 🙂

Work is very, very busy but enjoyable, the students are lovely and I am teaching an extra set of maths at the moment which I love doing! I only teach maths a bit now in between other subjects and general teaching skills but really enjoy it when I do.

I am making slow progress with the Snow Poem, I hope to be finished by the end of next week but have had little time to stitch so my textile related excitement this week  has been the arrival of more silk from the wonderful Silk Mill. I had some money for Christmas so decided to treat myself so this is the fruit (and veg!) of my online shopping endeavours.

Not only are they fab colours but I love the names of each silk. The beetroot one looks especially yummy!

These are for stitching some more Spring and Summer house ornies for me. Below are the other ones I ordered in the last sale round which will also be fab for flower embroidery.

They are all still in their packets as I need another storage box and some little cards to wind them on to. That will be a fun job as not only do they look pretty they are so soft to touch!

I am planning to make myself versions of the ornies below which were exchange pieces from a while ago that I sent to the USA to go in my little ornie displays.These are both freebie designs from The Workbasket site  and I love the fine detail of them.

There is nothing better for keeping out the cold than a nice bit of stitching in a warm house! Have a lovely week ahead and stay toasty!

Thanks for visiting.

Hello there

I hope you have all been having a lovely week. I am back into the swing of things at work and have had a very nice week, weather is pretty dreadful and have a slightly leaky conservatory roof and a very broken garden trellis to deal with but hey ho – such is Winter in Yorkshire!

I often joke to people that stitching and knitting is my therapy, the stuff that keeps me sane and I know that there are lots of others of you out there who feel the same. It doesn’t matter how bad the day has been, or what has been hurtful or difficult to deal with when I light my candles and get out my stitching, sitting on my sofa with a glass of wine I am the happiest bunny in the world. It is lovely as well to create something that also gives pleasure to other people when they receive so it is a double bonus.

Reading my free Metro newspaper on the bus to work today I came across an article about a prisoner of war who had stitched to save his sanity but also within his stitching had used hidden Morse code to include subversive messages. His name was Alexis Casdagli and his work, along with that of his son who he also taught to stitch, has been included in a recent exhibition at the V and A Museum.

There is a really good article about the piece at the following website and here is a pic of the piece from the Metro newspaper site held by his son Tony, there is a clearer view of the Morse code on the web site.

I know there are many other examples of how people have used crafting to while away the hours. I have seen a cross stitch done entirely in human hair from a prison exhibition in Nottingham , a quilt made from uniform jackets by soldiers on campaign and last year at the Birmingham Quilt Show we were shown a wonderful whitework piece done by sailors during their long voyages.I love the fact that I am part of this long history of people who create as therapy – I think it is a wonderful way of calming the soul!

I do not have much to show you this week in the way of stitching progress. I have just completed the stitching on my Winter Exchange piece but cannot show you that yet, however since I had lots of stitching time in Spain I am also part way through a piece for me.

As you know I love snowflakes (but not too much real snow!) and came across this poem a while ago and have finally got around to stitching it so thought I would show you my progress. It is called Snow Poem by Erynne Chard from Red House Crafts. I have just checked on the web site and can’t find it so it must have been an old design.

It is stitched on sparkly Aida (to give my poor old eyes a rest from the small count evenweave I have been using for the exchange piece!) and done with my favourite Silk Mill thread again.

 The Silk Mill  are having another sale giving 30% off so I have treated myself to a set of green silks this time which will arrive soon! The sale is still on so if you fancy stocking up head on over there. I do love a bargain. Wendy who runs the Silk Mill very kindly sent me a little note on my last order saying she liked the blog and I was really touched – thanks Wendy, I really love your silks!

I have a number of different themed seasonal stitched ornies thanks to my exchanges but am very short on Winter ones so am going to spend a couple of months stitching just stuff for me on a Winter theme so that I can have another lovely seasonal display.

I do hope that you have had time for some therapy this week and thank you very much for visiting.Stay warm!