Summertime...

(originally published 2nd July 2014)

Morning all - remember me? ;)x

I'm that stitching gal that started a blog AGES ago, tried to update it regularly, failed, tried again, failed, so third time lucky!?!?!

I thought I'd start with some suitably summery images, from my glorious wee garden in Bristol, England. Three years ago on a damp, cold (obviously! England!) February day, I planted 6 sticks from David Austen Roses - 3 Generous Gardener, 3 William Morris (oh, the foreshadowing in that choice!). This is their 3rd summer, and I am in luuuuuurve...

Given that my availability to enjoy my garden, and the tendency for the weather to disoblige me with rain, this year I have put up my gazebo (courtesy of the last Love Stitch Summer Exhibition in 2012) in basically ALL of my garden, so that I can sit outside and - er - soak up the great outdoors whatever's in the sky at the moment. Lady Muck (Lucy) has claimed the beanbag as hers, naturally...

Of course, this is England, so rain is no stranger to my days, but the view of the splashes and the sounds of wind, trees and raindrops makes a super soundtrack to my stitching in the Old School House studio, which I moved to in February.

And so here I am, in the storm-lull between end-of-term and Summer Schools - first up is the week-long Illuminated Letter, which is in its 4th year, amazing! I design the project to please myself, and look forward to it all year (already planning next year's design); this year I've been inspired by William Morris, one of my favourite designers, and as I like to include silk shading in the piece, I've gone to his Fox, Hare and Crow tapestry. Hey, it's an excuse to silk-shade a red fox, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I'm updating my Facebook page daily with progress shots, and will amalgamate them here each week (3rd time lucky remember!), so you can see the piece evolve...

Here's your first tempter...