17 November 2016

The Mellerstain Firescreen

Way back in 2012 before I started my weekly embroidery classes, I attended a beginner's day class in crewelwork at the RSN (Royal School of Needlework). We had to go down to the shop to pay for our class kit at lunchtime, and of course I had to buy a few things!

I picked up the incredible Mellerstain Crewelwork kit by Philippa Turnbull of The Crewelwork Company as I knew it would make a perfect firescreen for our open fire in the sitting room. I got home, took one look at the size of it and put it all back in the bag! One beginner's class and I thought I could stitch something this big!

Fast forward to Sept 2014 and after a few months of classes, one Tipsy Thistle Bag

 and one Robin Cushion later...
 I was finally ready to start. The kit is amazing! Detailed instructions...


 Loads of lovely Appleton's Crewel wool and the design screen printed onto good quality twill

 With Sophie's help I framed up my design and made a start...

 I then came to a complete stop for more than 2 years - I had to move my frame as we were rearranging the room and I no longer had the space for a large frame to be set up permanently.

I have thought about picking it up again several times, but it seemed too much hassle, until I read Mary Corbet's post about this project, in it she describes how Philippa recommends a hoop seat frame. I have one of those and I love it! so today I got my firescreen back out of the box it's been languishing in.
I am really enjoying working on this again


 I love how easy it is to blend the colours when silk shading with wool

I spent about an hour and a half working on it this afternoon
On the plus side, I know I will continue working on this and will finish it using my hoop, it just makes stitching so much easier. I take the hoop off after each session, my hoop is bound with bias tape and I don't seem to damage the parts I have already stitched. The only negative that I can see is that I may get some wrinkles and distortion. Philippa recommends a good wet blocking at the end of the project so I think I will just have to go with that.

The kit is still available from the RSN HERE  however I am shocked that the price is now £140, I know I paid £98 as the price is still on it, Hmmmm


02 November 2016

A Glorious Gallimaufry

Gallimaufry ˌɡalɪˈmɔːfri/ noun 'a confused jumble or medley of things'

That's been me these last few weeks! Jumping around from project to project unable to settle on anything; Is it just me? Is it the weather or something else?

I was going to start posting only when I had something finished to show, but that's not really going to work for me!!

I have started a new book...
worked on baby gift for a friend...

(EDITED - a few people have requested details of this pattern - it is by OGE Knitwear Designs and can be found on Ravelry HERE)

and tried to teach myself Fair Isle knitting...

I have almost finished an embroidery design...
and played with hand quilting another...
I have pricked out a third ready for class next week...
and played around with an idea for EPP...
I signed up for Sarah's 2017 BOM even though I am way behind on this year's...
I have even pulled fabrics from my stash to join in Bonnie's En Provence Mystery

I really need to get my act together and focus on something!