So ...... I have been gone a while.
Granted.
But you know, it was nothing you did.
Honestly, you were nothing but supportive.
It was me, I needed space.
Space to - well - just follow my whims, blow with the wind, to bob about on the tides of life.
But I've done all that now - so here I am.
Actually, out of the blue I got a comment on my blog about a piece I had completed which sent me scurrying back there to have a look. I read through some previous postings and I was reminded of all kinds of trivial happenings and pictures of my dogs and some stitching that I had completely forgotten about.
It was a pleasant experience.
So I decided to have another try to document my stitching in particular but maybe a little of my life too.
I thought I might include some pieces I have completed in the interim and show progress (ha!) on work currently in the work basket.
Actually I use a plastic box with a lid to store my work, baskets are pretty and homely and rustic but do not withstand the hurricane of incoming large wet dogs.
Do you remember Bronte and Cassie? My two Irish setters? Well Cassie is all grown up now and is the most loving dog you could hope to meet. After the trials and tribulations of puppyhood, she and Bronte love each other.
They do.
They greet each other every morning, look out for each other throughout the day, sleep together and cry if they are accidentally separated. They are amazing creatures.
Here they are mid-adventure, Cassie at the front, Bronte behind her, obviously they didn't know you would be around so they are not perfectly groomed. They are NEVER perfectly groomed.
But back to stitching.
So, for this first-after-a-long-time post I thought I would show .......
......... this Quaker box designed by Manni de Donna. It was fun to stitch and I did it as a SAL with my friend Anne who stitches here with me on a Thursday night. If I remember correctly, the thread winder and the tag for lifting the lid were available separately. The colours are not good ( I know, nothing changes), it looks quite grey here, but it is definitely a variegated blue. We changed the little pin pillow slightly by making it a mattress finish rather than the flatter charted design.
Anne and I are so into Quaker at the moment. Our current SAL is A Quaker Pattern Book by With My Needle. If you don't know it, it is a small concertina book with five double sided pages of traditional Quaker patterns.
I am stitching mine with a Threadworx colour and I am just not sure. I think it might be too modern a choice for this design, but I tried others and I was not happy with any that I had in sufficient quantity. So, I will keep going.
It is charted for Crescent Colours 'Milady's Teal' and mine is quite teal, she said convincingly.
So there you go. First post in ages finished.
Thank you if you remembered who I was and came back to have a look.
Just don't ask me about Milkmaid. No - don't!
Oh now you've asked, I suppose I need to tell you.
Next time.
Bye for now
Irene xxx
PS This post was easy to write, but a nightmare to publish. I am sorry the photos are tiny, I have forgotten so much since I last posted, but I will try to do better next time.
