The Silk Mill - Silk threads arrived !

Yippee ! My order of silk embroidery threads from The Silk Mill arrived today !
 They have a special offer on at the moment and I got a free packet of  embroidery silk threads in these gorgeous Christmas colours .
  I am gradually building a collection of them ..I want to do something special with them ..but it's not the right time yet .
 However I might do the Anglo Saxon brooch again , which is why I have chosen this selection called "Lovely Lisboa" I,m thinking of doing it again ,but in these colours .
  Go and have a look at their website at www.thesilkmill.com   .
 I might show you some more tomorrow ....
              ...... so now please excuse me , while I go and play with them !

Mullion Cove Cornwall - Anchor needlepoint kit

 While I am waiting to hear from the museum about the Anglo Saxon brooch ...I am taking a look at my friend's needlepoint kit for her .
  It is an Anchor Needlepoint kit of Mullion Cove Cornwall .

 Jen and her daughter Dawn have both had a go and done the above bit of the sky .. .. .. .. and I think ,maybe , hit the tapestry brick wall . So now I,ve said  I,ll do a bit .

So I sorted out the wool colour code which is on a separate piece of canvas, it is missing one skein of red tapestry wool...which I should be able to replace or send off for from Anchor I hope . Most of my wool is crewel wool ,which is very very fine wool ....tapestry wool is much thicker..but I could probably match the colour and double the thread if I cant get the tapestry wool .
Also missing is the picture of the completed needlepoint picture , the one that would have gone on the front of the kit packet .
 The other thing I,m a bit worried about is that has been cut very close to the edge of the picture.....
        ....but should be alright if I,m very careful.  See the top picture .  I,m looking for some masking tape to cover it and strengthen it , to stop it unravelling .
 I have made a little start with it , the colours are lovely . I would love to see the original painting by Robin Davidson .

Gold !

           I,m finding this hard to put down..and now I,m thinking gold !
 I,m waiting to hear from the museum ...to tell me what metal the brooch is made from ... I,m sure it's not gold ..but maybe copper or bronze .

                                            Or should I leave it as it is ?

 The back . Not too untidy after starting and ending on the front of the piece .
The brooch has a very satisfying heavy weight to it ,with all these little embroidered stitches . I,m not aiming for it to look the same on the back as on the front...I,m happy with it .
 I didn't use a hoop /frame . The linen around is nice , flat and unpuckered .
 I may use a hoop for this little bit of gold-work though .

         So now I,m enjoying looking through my box of golden threads  .

Anglo-Saxon Brooch crewel continued ....

 My friend and I  ( and the dogs ) enjoyed a hearty lunch of sausages and bubble,n,squeak , followed by a beautiful Autumnal walk over at Trelissick Gardens yesterday . We both agreed that it did us so much good !
 It was so nice . I just wish that I,d remembered to bring my camera !
 She treated me to this sweet little cast iron mouse !  He is already being very helpful !

I have finished the main embroidery part of this now and am trying to find all the bits and bobs that I will need , to make this up into a useful little needle-case/brooch .
This has mostly been needle-painting and I have tried to stay true to the brooch as it is today , with all the knocks it's taken over the centuries .
   It must have been truly beautiful before the copper oxidised ....although I do love the green too .
   I really need to turn my thoughts to Christmas now ,with Advent fast approaching and finish this in the New Year .
   

 

Whittling Wooden Needles - Cornish Hedgerow Craft

 Aah ....a beautiful sunny morning , my laundry hanging out on the washing line and we have our little dog back home . She is much better , three pots of tablets to be disguised and given with her food ..there will be another check up next week...but she has stopped being sick and stopped trembling ..the tail is wagging again !
  So I,ve been out walking , climbing and scrabbling through our beautiful Cornish hedgerows . Looking for some nice long sharp thorns to have a go at making my own sewing needles .

I managed to collect a good handful of thorns mainly from the Hawthorn or May Tree and a few from the Sloe bushes .
 I found a beautiful nest which must have blown down in the recent storm .

"Was it your nest little Robin ?"

 I spent a very relaxing and therapeutic evening , peeling the bark  and cutting the eye into the top of the needle .

             This is my first attempt . I am waiting for a needle file to arrive in the post , to just smooth it off....but am quite pleased with it as it is already .
Yes , it is only the eye of the needle that needs to be smoothed and perfected a little bit more , but it is already quite useable  .
 I made a few more , the thorn wood is quite hard and I think it will dry out even stronger still . The tip of this needle is very sharp , perfect for my crewel embroidery .  Just for fun , I will try it out and let you know how it goes .

The lost Skein of Wool

 
We're having a worrying time at the moment with our poorly little  dog, she has not been very well and is having some treatment over in the animal hospital in Falmouth..we are waiting for the vet to ring and tell us that we can come and collect her later today hopefully .
 So I,m finding it very hard to concentrate on anything today .

 While we were out I lost a skein of crewel wool and with only a tiny morsel of the thread left , I have been sorting through all my hoard of wool to see if I have another one , not even sure which number it is and  Appletons have a wonderful selection of shade sets in various colours..I,m just glad I have these colour cards to compare and match the colours with !

  With the colour cards  I very quickly narrowed it down to the Brown Olive range .

                                      Then it was between these two ....

                                                      Found it !

Anglo-Saxon Needles

  I bought these gorgeous repro Anglo-Saxon/viking needles , handmade at the forge of Dennis Riley of Daegrad Tools . Makers of all sorts of things for Living  History and re-enactment .

                They are beautifully made , sharp , fully functional needles .
  I,m still not sure if my project will become a needlecase or a brooch  .
Maybe it could be both . Maybe I could make a larger needlework bag that it could be tied into .
   What else do I need ?  Scissors ? Well no, but they would  have used snips..like tiny sheep sheering sheers . ..or a knife in a leather sheath .
 I have a beautiful pair of Japanese snips , but they wouldn't look right ..I wonder if Dennis makes Anglo-Saxon snips ?
 I would love to go back in time , just for a short time , to meet the craftsmen and see how they did things .
They did a kind of crochet stitch with a large wooden needle , called nalbinding , I have already made some of these , but tomorrow I am going to have a go at making some sewing needles out of Hawthorn thorns from my hedgerow .
  It is very therapeutic whittling things out of wood , it will be raining tomorrow , so that will be a nice thing to do beside the fire .