A bit of snow and working in the studio

 

 It snowed most of the day today and caused a great deal of disruption to town and surrounding countryside where I live. We stayed at home in the warm and admired the views of the garden.

 

I spent the day working in my studio, on my pieces for the forthcoming exhibition by Great Western Embroiderers in Malmesbury next month. 

I used the  cross stitch software from Jane Greenoff to design a Cotswold sheep, Using 28 count linen and 2 strands of embroidery thread ( floss)  and am going to have to work extremely hard to get it finished in time. Nothing like a deadline to get me motivated.

  



Following the Cotswold theme, I have also been making a study of  the Arts and Crafts Movement and William Morris. Kelmscott Manor which is only a few miles up the road has been very inspiring. My sketchbook is developing the ideas on this theme and I have more ideas than time to bring them to fruition

 I have found this theme really fascinating to study... and to this end I have also made a large ( for me) patchwork sampler quilt, using modern fabrics influenced by William Morris. Here is one block.. there are 12 different ones all together. Suspect you will recognise the Strawberry thief fabric.

 

Just waiting for the arrival through the post of a walking foot for my sewing machine to help with the straight quilting I would like to do. If the walking foot does not turn up in the post soon, then I will have to resort to free machine quilting the quilt. I really want to keep the quilting plain and simple and know that If I resort to free machining it will become very fancy, I can never resist .