I’ve not done much stitching this week, too many other things to do getting ready for Christmas, but managed some more feather stitching on my Christmas tree from last week’s challenge at Seata. It’s still in the forest and undecorated at the moment!
I’ve enjoyed the stitching, and am just assessing where another branch or two need to go. I can still see a couple of sparse bits before I add the baubles and decorations, some of which I found yesterday when moving things while tidying up.
I just want to wish all my blog followers and readers a Merry Christmas 2023, hope it’s a good one. Thank you all for reading.
Walks in “our” Wood always fill me with joy. Last Sunday I managed two in one day, with two different friends that I’d not caught up with for several weeks (the morning one) and several months (the afternoon one). Not only are they both good company, but the colours in the Woods are stunning at the moment.
It was a bit foggy and damp in the morning, but the greyness just made the yellows, golds and oranges glow and pop.
The leaves had made carpets under some of the trees. Unfortunately, they were much too damp to scrunch through.
However, we did manage quite a long walk and saw lots of colours. Although it wasn’t actually raining, the grass was very wet and I realised my left boot was letting in the wet. Shame, as they are really comfy boots, I’ll just have to save them for dry days.
My favourite beech trees are so beautiful at the moment. I’m never sure whether these or the spring colours are the best.
In the afternoon we went first into the Woods on the other side of the village, and did a big loop. We nearly had blue sky for a while.
A different pair of boots kept my feet dry, but not so comfortable. I will have to break them in a little and I’m sure they will soften and become good friends.
The Beck was running well at last, after all the very dry weather we had over the summer. And in a few places the leaves had dried enough to have a good scrunch through. They will be around for a while, so hopefully lots of chances to scrunch through them.
This week at the Allsorts group Gill, one of our members, shared a little of her calligraphy knowledge with us. She had prepared us all a piece of fabric with the word “Joy” written out to stitch over, and the “Y” was drawn like a little sprig of mistletoe. Gill gave us the suggestion of using reverse chain stitch, easier to get even than ordinary chain stitch I always find. I decided to use bigger chain stitches, getting smaller and smaller to fill in the top of the “Y”. Then I added a tiny pearly bead in the centre where the leaves meet, and little groups of beads on the “J” and the”O”: very simple, but effective.
Gill had also brought lots of beautiful examples of cards that she had done and received over the years. It made me want to have another go at calligraphy, which was the first night class I went to after having Miles thirty years ago. I made coasters for Christmas for everyone except myself, but kept the one I did for Nanna (Colin’s Mum – Doreen) when we emptied her house. The “ebbie” is superimposed on it in PhotoShop for a project I did as part of my degree. It now sits on my bedside cabinet with a glass of water on it every night.
I’m well out of practice, so took up Gill’s offer to write “Merry Xmas” on my piece of fabric. I’ve started stitching it in stem stitch. Another work in progress.
debbidipity 