I am lazing on my bed with a nice cooling fan blowing over me . My visitors have gone to the beach and I have a little time to myself to do some embroidery .
So I spent a little time perfecting the mermaid's hands .
I think I started this towards the end of February 2023 . I had come to a halt with it .
I wasn't sure if it was finished or if should I do more with it .
I decided to put it away and come back to it at a later date .
Well , I took it out of my needlework basket again today and straight away I could see a couple of things that I needed to modify .
I don't like the way I have underlined her face . . I think it was a sixteenth or seventeenth century woodcut , so my thinking had been that I still wanted to capture the feel of the woodcut .
I had re-stitched that "underline" several times ..black then pink and then this purply pink .
It just didn't work .
So today I pulled it all out .......
........ aah .....that feels so much better !
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Almost ran out of black crewel wool . Had to order some more and this time it was very hard to find .
I decided to fill in the rose leaves .
Nancy suggested we stitch in the flag ...which I had to look up .
I was hoping it would be the nice and easy to stitch the Cornish flag of St Piran , but it was probably the Red Ensign . Were they using this flag in 1912 ? We have earlier photos of her but it's difficult to make out the flag .
Oh well , let me know in the comments section below .
Anyway ......
So the Red Ensign with a teeny tiny Union Jack in the corner was very very fiddly ; but when I look at some of the real old antique sailor's ship woolies , they don't look much better , so please don't be too hard on me ! Just don't don't look too close lol !
So then I decided to make the whole thing wider . More stitching of sea and sky . It goes on forever !
I am no good at measuring things . I had no idea how this was going to turn out .
I still have to embroider the ship's lanterns . They were sailing through the night . That fateful cold November night.
Here it is at the beginning when I pencil sketched it out on the linen .
I have made it up as I went along and have seen it unfold before my eyes , just as you have , if you have been following along with me .
This is not going to be framed , it is not a sampler of lovely fancy embroidery stitches , but is simply part of a family history project to pass down the story to my grandchildren ...a sort of family history rag book .
It is a story that has to be told !
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I want to do another one of her sailing along in sunny and happier times ..... but I want to take another look at the mermaid that I was doing before this . Return to that one with fresh eyes and see what needs to be done to finish it ....maybe it is finished ....we'll see .
Have a great week all !
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In the tradition of British Maritime Woolies , I fancied a little decoration around the edge .
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It was a dark and cold November night .
The year being 1912 .
Great Grandpa Captain Joseph had not gone on this trip , he was back home in Flushing , fast asleep in his bed .
One of his three sons Captain Stanley and four other men were on this trip . In her last years the Flower of the Fal was carrying coal and general cargo .
This night , they were just off the Isle of Wight . They were on their way , we think , from Hartlepool to Devonport Plymouth and then on to the coal yard in Flushing Cornwall .
Great Grandpa's three sons often went on board along with other men .
On this night , I am told , there were just a crew of five .
💐Great Aunt May said that she went with them on a trip to Antwerp when she was a young girl . We wish she was still here to tell us more of her happy sea stories .💐
Anyway .... The men were fast asleep in their bunks . One of the crew would have been on watch .
It was a very cold ....... dark , but calm night ......
So sorry ! I had to stop off and mend those Flora Day Gloves. 💐
....and so we set sail again ! ⚓
She holds a red rose to her breast .
There is much folklore and superstition surrounding ships figureheads . She was said to be the spirit of the ship and was there to give the ship and the men sailing in her protection , safety and good luck .
Later on she crossed the Atlantic to collect salted cod from New Foundland . That's one hell of a long and wild journey !
A very quick update , much to be done in the garden ! But I did manage to find a little time to embroider our pretty schooner sails .
I had hoped to finish the sails over the weekend .
More fiddly than I had at first thought . It doesn't have to be perfect , but it does have to be fairly accurate .
Maybe I can find some time to sit and stitch today .
I didn't tell you her name ! She is Great Grandpa's Schooner - The Flower of the Fal ⚓
She was a two masted top sail fruit schooner .
Built for speed , on account of her perishable cargo .
" ....and as she came in to port , "T'was said "You could smell 'er coming in "
🍊🍋 Oranges and lemons from the Azores . 🍊🍋
I think I have already said that I am stitching this with crewel wool and for those who want to know , I am now working the sails in long and short stitch .
The linen is totally the wrong weight , but I,ve started , so now I will finish . To this end I am running in a horizontal stitch first before going over with the long and short stitch . It is helping to make the cloth more stable .
Goodness me , this is a whole lot more difficult to embroider than I , at first thought it would be ! But I need to record this important part of our family history .
That is Great Grandpa's ship at the top of the page too . Scroll back up to the top of the page header .
As a matter of interest , I spun the wool myself for this , from a mixture of sheep fleece and the long fur moulted from our dear old Golden Retriever and the brown fleece from the little brown Soay Sheep that roamed about the cliff tops at Predannack . The flowers embroidered around it , I stitched with wool that I had dyed myself from the flowers growing in my garden .
My kitchen a delightful steaming mess of bubbling cauldron ,bundles of flowers and leaves going into my experimental dye-pots , tumbling fleece of many colours dripping and drying over the hot Aga , baskets of rolags ready to spin , wellie boots and golden retriever at my feet and me happy in my chair spinning away on my old spinning wheel . Aah memories ...happy days .
So here we are . We are not slow stitching either . Nancy and I are fast stitching . Top speed !
Wishing you lots of time to sit and stitch . Have a nice weekend . Love from me and Nancy xxx
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Stormy here in Cornwall today ."Storm Noah" Very windy and many fallen trees .
The advice was not to go out unless really necessary , which unfortunately it was for us , as we had a very important appointment .
I took my needlework to calm my nerves and afterwards we drove to Marazion to have coffee and a croissant and sit and watch the waves and the idiots who were out there in the storm , windsurfing .
I think made a good start on it .
I still have a few finishing touches to go on our mermaid .
Just here and there . Also I need some time to think about the royal blue stitches . I may take these out .
Also I may leave her torso as it is . I am undecided about stitching the background . I am undecided about stitching the waves and the sea .
So I am going to put her aside and begin the next page of my family history project .
I will tell you about her as I stitch .
I really wanted to make a record of my progress on this , but sadly my camera is no longer working properly .
All the photos are now coming out strangely too dark , for some reason .
It is time to get a new camera . . . . but my birthday is still quite a few weeks away and I probably haven't been good enough anyway .
I love my camera ..... I don't want to have to learn how to use another new fangled , updated one with all the latest bells and whistles .
I have been dreading this moment .
I also need new wellies..... I think I need new wellies more than I need a new camera .
Nope . I need them both the same .
I will try again later , but if not , well , that might be it for a while .
Fingers crossed !
Another breezy day. We have had some heavy showers again over night , but the Sun is shining now .
Did you remember to put the clocks forward last night ? I never wear a watch , I don't need one .It doesn't matter one bit to me . I get up just before the Sun rises and go to bed when I feel tired . I no longer have to get people up for school or work . Freedom ! I live and breathe in tune with Mother Earth .
So with better light , I can show you a little more clearly , our mermaid .
It seems that she is now telling me what she wants .
I didn't want to make her hair golden , just greeny browns .
I stitched with a dark brown thread and she looked angry .
In the poor light of my candle I plied my needle with a sandy colour thread .
In the light of day this very morning , I saw that I had used a very bright yellow , such as I would never have chosen . It works !
I'm telling you , she chose it ! And it works !
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Wishing you a peaceful Sunday and a great week ahead .
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Listening to lovely music , I sat stitching quite late into the evening .
I had been working on her tail last weekend and on and off during this week and I know it doesn't look like I,ve done very much of it , but it turns out to be quite tricky . Choosing the many different shades and tones of green and seeing how they work against each other . Like you , I am seeing it unfold for the first time before my eyes .
Making it up as I go along .
So I thought I'd give some attention to her sea weedy hair .
Sorry about these dark pictures but this room is very poorly lit with just one very energy saving candle .
The Music mood I'm in -
Sam Lee - Lay This Body Down
Eivor - Remember Me
Phillipe Jarousky - Ombra mai fu
Sami Yusuf - One (live at the Holland Festival )
Yusuf/Cat Stevens - Take the World Apart ( Official Lyric Video ) ..with the sweetest artwork !
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I'll try and take some better photos later on , when the sun comes out .
Have yourself a beautiful weekend .
