Laying the Front Lawn and the Blood Moon Eclipse

 
Hello everyone... I haven't been posting for a while , this is due to our little dog being poorly , a bit of a worrying time . She's 16 years old ..maybe a bit more..but a good age for a Jack Russel....she hasn't been well over Christmas and New Year and last week had a couple of seizures ... she seems to have stabilised again now although maybe a little bit confused .
  We're taking one day at a time and every day is a precious and happy day .

   I have still been doing my few stitches every day though . It would be very boring for you if I put my progress on every day though wouldn't it ?
 I will be showing you some other things I,m working on along the way .

 The roof was a bit gruelling , since I felt that I had to do every single roof tile !

There are still a few tiles to do !  So much easier to stitch a thatch roof ...I will show you another embroidery that I did years ago of another cottage where we lived in Mullion .

                 An Grouse Cottage as it looked while my family lived there .
                                 An Grouse - Cornish for - The Cross
It was Grade 2 listed and the windows also had a separate listing, anyway we had to replace some of them and had to have them specially made by a carpenter expert in making these historical windows ....it was months before the windows were finished and given there final coat of paint because of a pair of very beautiful but cheeky Magpies who kept coming and pecking out the putty in the frames !!
 Anyway , as I was saying , thatch is much easier to embroider .

                 So now I,m laying the front lawn ....long and short stitch .
I was up very early this morning to see the Blood Moon Eclipse 4am ....it was a lovely clear sky and beautiful thing to have seen . I,m so glad I managed to get myself up and out to see it . Sadly my camera didn't pick up the red . While I was watching a huge meteorite fell below the moon , I wonder if anyone else saw or captured that on camera ?..No it happened too fast for my poor old camera , zooming in and out trying to focus !

The Censing Angel - Church of St Peter and St Paul - Cattistock - Dorset

This was one of the first things I stitched using silk thread .
 The Censing Angel from the William Morris and Sir Edward  Burne-Jones  stained glass window  c.1882.The Church of St Peter and St  Paul Cattistock in Dorset .  I so love Pre-Raphaelite paintings and was just inspired to have a go at embroidering this .
 My mother had given me a small collection of reels of the most beautiful  Japanese silk ....so fine but slippery and very difficult to work with ...I used it for the Angel's silken robe . I then embroidered the floral pattern over it .

 I used DMC cotton for the background and some tiny seed beads for the stars .
I,m uncomfortable with using beads in my embroidery . Maybe I should  have worked French knots .

               Some glittery gold thread for the thurible or incense burner .
 

My next piece of silk embroidery is going to take some time to do , I wont be putting it on here for a long while yet ...I prefer to go slowly . This is not a piece that I can easily carry around in my work bag .

 I love to embroider Angels . When I embroidered my medieval Steeple Aston Cope Angel..time travelling back to C.1320 .. I used DMC embroidery cotton for no other reason than I have so much of it , having been much obsessed with cross stitch at the time !
  I prefer surface hand embroidery now and mostly with crewel wool .
 Anyway ... so now I,m dabbling with silk again .....and I also have another crewel project in mind ..well ... I have to have something to work on , that I can take out with me in my bag !  It is very calming for me .
 Well , Winter has returned here in Mullion , although we did enjoy an ice cream down at the  Poldhu beach cafe this afternoon , we were all wrapped up . The sun was shining but there was a cold easterly breeze blowing ....we might have a touch more snow this week  . I,ve been dashing around the garden wrapping up my more tender plants ..and carrying in more logs for the fire ..not good for hands that want to stitch silk !  Keep warm all !

Medieval Cog Ship Crewel

 

 New lovable  Kelmscott scissors ! Tied with colourful cheerfulness from Yarn Yarn .
A scrap of linen from my hoard  .
A Chenille needle with a golden eye  .  
Appleton's beautiful Crewel Wool.... the colours chosen as I progress .

           I'm still back in medieval times .  This time sailing on a medieval Cog ship .

  

                 The design is from the Seal of Stralsund and the date is 1329 .
                I want to bring it to life with lots of medieval colour .

                    I embroidered his little face first , to bring him to life .
              He can keep me company and tell me his tales of the sea whilst I stitch .

Elsa Williams Woodland Animals Crewel Kit

A lightly frosty morning here in Mullion , but worth noting since we dont very often see this .

We took the dog for a walk along the cliffs and I thought you might like to see a little of where I live .This was just an hour ago or so...not a cloud in the sky  .

 This is looking towards Gunwalloe  Church Cove , there's my shadow waving to you ! :)

                  A beautiful morning we enjoyed our walk and flask of coffee .

After lunch and having a little rest now . Time to do a little of my new , vintage unopened  Elsa Williams crewel  kit and quite a rare find here in the UK .
 I always begin with the most tedious parts first , in this case all the stem stitched stems , tree trunk , satin stitch and long and short stitched leaves . After working all this I reward myself with the prettier things like the more intricate trellis stitched leaves . I am nearly there ; then I will  allow myself to dip into the more colourful threads for the flowers and finally , the woodland creatures .

This kit doesn't actually have a name as such on the picture on the packet it says "Crewel Embroidery Picture or Pillow Kit" by Elsa Williams Needlecraft Creations. It does have a number which is 00078 and it also says  "made in USA"West Townsend , Mass . 01474 .
  I have been told that this one is known as the Woodland Animals Kit ....but if anyone knows otherwise , I would be really interested to hear from you .I would also like to know the name of the designer and the date ?
 On the instruction card , it talks about a book  - Heritage Embroidery by Elsa S.Williams  published by Van Nostrand Reinhold ....which I have and can recommend if you are interested in crewel embroidery . This book can still be quite easily found on the usual used books websites and for a sensible price if you look around .
  I,m not parting with mine !
Time to go , things to do , shopping and looking after grandchildren this afternoon :)