I passed!
I received my assessment from the Royal School of Needlework today and I am over the moon! It’s been a long, long time since I’ve earned a grade for anything and, although I know it’s the learning that counts, I was still interested to see what the professionals had to say about my stitching. But [...]
Sampler Museum in Celle, Germany
Years ago I did cross stitch. My daughters each have their own Christmas stocking with a cross stitch border along the top. I had always thought of cross stitch as a very North American form of stitching. Well, I now know I was W.R.O.N.G. My first peek into the wider world of cross stitch happened [...]
RSN Crewelwork Course Day 8 – Mounting
The RSN allows an entire day for mounting your finished project. Having mounted a few pieces before, I was skeptical that we would really need that much time. Well, it was close and I was still working into the evening to get my crewelwork piece mounted the RSN way. We started with a piece of [...]
When I wasn’t stitching, here’s what I saw!
Least you think all I did while in lovely England was stitch, I thought I would take you on a short holiday via photographs of some of the wonderful places we visited. Sudeley Castle was a surprise – we’d never heard of it and certainly didn’t know anything about the house, the people, the gardens, [...]
RSN Crewelwork Course Day 3 – Color Questions
Color choices are one of the most important decision we make when planning an embroidery piece. Often we like the design in a kit but wish to use different colors. Sometimes we want to add punch to a color palette and want to know what colors will liven up a piece? What are some tips [...]
Sudeley Castle Threads of Time
The weekend between the first and second weeks of the course we planned a break to drive west into the beautiful Cotswolds. We met John Cunningham and Carol Frieze of Pearsall’s Embroidery for lunch and I needed to stop at Burford Needlecraft to purchase twill for the first panel of my screen. It was a [...]
RSN Crewelwrok Course Day 2 – Stitching and tea
The day we started stitching was a “great day” at the RSN Rugby. We’d spent a day and a half designing, framing and transferring the design (all very important to get right for a good result) and our fingers were itching for a needle. Before we began, we needed to decide which stitches would go [...]
RSN Crewelwork Course – Glimpse of my work
There has been so much going on and so much to write about that I haven’t posted anything about what I’ve been working on. So today I’m going to remedy that. The design I’m using is very similar to my original design with some slight shifts. The element that was the most problematic was the [...]
RSN Crewelwork Course Day 2 – transferring the design
After our first day of designing on paper and framing up, all of us were more than ready to begin stitching. Our fingers were itching and our needles calling to us but first we had to transfer the design. I’ll be honest, this was the part I was most nervous about. I have good dexterity [...]
RSN Crewelwork Course Day 1 – framing
We’ve all been told or have read somewhere that the twill fabric must be “as tight as a drum” to ensure the best results. Until I used a slate frame, I’d never really experienced just how tight “as tight as a drum” could be! It takes time ( a lot!) and effort (you’ll need to [...]
RSN Crewelwork Course Day 1 – design
At the end of the first day my head was full to overflowing! So much new information, new skills, new ideas…I needed to sit someplace and just absorb everything. It was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l! Since the days are so packed, I’ll be writing about each topic separately rather than telling you about each day. The articles would [...]
Do I have everything?
In only 6 days we leave home to drive most of the way across Germany on the way to England. We’ll spend the night at the same hotel we sleep in every time we travel to the UK in a small town called Werne. It’s a family run hotel, with big, comfortable beds, clean tiled [...]
Benton and Johnson 3 – Purls and bullions
Pearl purl, check purl and bullion are all made from the drawn wire that is spun onto needles at high speed. These machines really fascinated me – they are so clever and produce the wires so quickly!
Benton and Johnson 2: Drawing the wire
I’ve always been interested in how things are made. The ingenuity of the human mind is wonderful. I love seeing how we have invented ways to make what we need or want. So getting to see how the different kinds of gold thread are made was pretty exciting!
Benton and Johnson
When my husband and I set out for the Benton and Johnson ‘factory’ we knew it would be an interesting morning. It seemed to be the perfect combination of industry and art for us both to enjoy. But we never guessed we’d spend over two and a half hours learning about metal thread production without [...]
Fowlers Yard & Tracy A. Franklin – Inspirational!
It’s a quiet little corner. Just steps away from the bustling high street in Durham, UK is a place called Fowler’s Yard. Here you will find Tracy Franklin’s workshop. It’s an historical group of buildings overlooking the River Wear in the center of Durham that have been refurbished into unique, creative work spaces for professional [...]
