A BIT MORE NEEDLEPAINTING.

After a while using my sewing machine for needlepainting, I felt the urge to do some hand stitching relaxing on the sofa instead of bent over the machine buzzing away!  We had spent a lovely evening with our friends and Luba gave me a bag full of scraps from her dress designing days.  Michel and Helene were also there and Michel was telling us about his latest photographic exhibition at Caen.  He showed us the catalogue and a light bulb went off in my head, here in one hand I had the exactly right coloured fabrics and wonderful abstract images in the other.  I couldn't wait to get started the next Morning.

Michel takes beautiful pictures of the light shining through stained glass windows as they reflect on ancient stone church walls.  His website is:  www.michel-follorou.fr if you are interested in having a look, I feel sure you will be as bowled over by what you as I am.

I made a collage of blue silks and linens with some black velvet all stitched to a black needlecord base with a selection of cotton knitting yarns which were all I had to hand at the time.  When it was finished I pressed it and backed it with iron on interfacing and then made a frame of the rest of the blue/green shot silk backed with interfacing.  The last touch was to back the whole picture with some plain black lining up-cycled from an old skirt and make a slot along the top so I can hang it on the wall.

I'm very pleased with my first hand stitched abstract piece of work and the second one is already under way.  What do you think?

I'll share the next piece with you and hopefully lots of sketches too when we come back from our summer camping car trip which starts tomorrow morning.

2017 SPRING TRIP TO ENGLAND

 

W have just returned from a lovely but very full time in England visiting the family.  We rented a log chalet on a site in the Surrey hills between Guildford and Dorking.  This is the view from our front window of the wonderful trees that were growing all over the site.

From the side window we has this lovely view over the roof tops across to the distant hills of the North Downs.

On the first Sunday we had a delicious lunch with Mum and Ivor and Janet, Bob's brother and sister-in-law, in a restaurant at Gomshall Mill.

We were really close to some beautiful countryside and one day Justine came to spend the afternoon with me walking through the bluebell woods.  She knows the area very well as she lives nearby and goes cycling with a friend through the lanes every week.

Our next stop was at Whitstable where we spent the night with Jo and the two Jameses.  Young Jimmy was very pleased to see me and show off his brand new trainers as he put them on ready to go out.

We went to a local wine bar for a drink and a joke!

Lovely to see my girls even though we don't have a lot of time together we do make the most of it!

Next stop was the annual garden party at Justine's house near Guildford where she has worked very hard to prepare for this special occasion.  My brother Christopher and sister Juliet make the effort to come despite the distances they have to travel.

I managed to get Justine and Jo together at the end of  a very busy and successful afternoon.

Even the 3 gorgeous granddaughters posed for a few photos!

Here I am with my stall of goodies for sale, I nearly sold out and was able to donate £100 to the Woking Hospice.

All together we raised over £600 on the day and Kevin, Justine's husband added another £200 as a personal donation.

And finally a sketch from my handbag mini moleskine sketchbook by Jimmy of me on the left and himself on the right although I had to help with the logo on his teeshirt!