A couple of books and some Saturday night stitching...

The Hand Stitched Home - Caroline Zoob

Celtic, Viking & Anglo-Saxon Embroidery -  The Art & Embroidery of Jan Messent - Jan Messent

Le Jardin - Daisy

As the post header implies, a couple of new books have made their way into my stitching library and I spent Saturday night doing some stitching...Nothing out of the ordinary for me really... As I have gotten older Saturday nights - especially winter Saturday nights are best in front of the heater with my stitching and the telly for company - bliss. As close as I can get to my kind of winter hibernation :)

I have looked and looked at the Jan Messent title for ages... The link I've included is the only information I could find out about Jan -while it is old it gives you some idea of her 'history'. This book isn't available in Australia so and even though it is against the grain to buy overseas when our own book industry is flailing  I didn't want to lose the chance of getting my own copy so I 'bit the bullet' so to speak and ordered one on-line. It is the kind of book that every time you open it the eye catches onto something previously unseen. I just love it.

The other title - The Hand-Stitched Home by Caroline Zoob is a new release and I liked it presentation - clear, crisp and fresh with some appealing ideas to introduce embroidery detail into our homes. It is available from all good books stores including our own Dymocks Doncaster.

The Le Jardin Daisy block has moved on just a little... I was annoyed with myself to discover that I have used a slightly different thread shade across the top of the curve where the scalloped edge is. I must have picked up the wrong thread and in the night light I didn't realise until I gave it a closer look after I finished it. My Virgo nature won't let me leave it like that so before I can move forward I have to step back and re stitch it....

Yesterday I has an enjoyable afternoon with my friend "I"... In her cosy lounge room there wasn't a lot of stitching  happening - more like coffee drinking and conversation making. I look forward to my once a month afternoon catch up we both have lots to talk about, the books we have read, stash 'show and tell' and in her case stitching accomplished... Currently "I" is stitching and amazing piece based on the Egyptian cat statue Baset the gold stitching alone would weaken my resolve - let alone the rest of the stitching it involves. She is stitching it for an exhibition in Oct and she is making steady progress towards that goal. She however helped me out with a stitching dilemma of my own with my peacock SAL... I hadn't been completely happy with the solid colour I had chosen for the motifs - my gut feeling that it was too dark . I had originally leaned more to a blue but had worried that it might be too blue... I gave "I" a choice of the five threads I had chosen and lo and be hold she chose my original blue...I think that I had become 'too close' and needed a fresh pair of eyes to 'see' for me... "I's" work is both beautiful and extensive and she is very adept at making changes when she thinks that they will enhance the quality of the overall project. So I shall chase the Peacocks back into the hoop and stitch some more. "I" showed me a peacock pattern from her own stash and we agreed that it could make a good pair for the one I am doing... But that is only an idle thought - I'll wait until I have 'tamed' this one...

It is a long weekend here in Melbourne and I am making the most of it.. Some reading, some stitching, some DVD watching and some sleeping - bliss

Take care and until next time keep those needles threaded...

Sharon x