Embroidery hoops

After a few weeks busily stitching away at lunchtimes, I have now finished all of my embroidery hoops ready for the craft fair! They have been neatened and had their ribbon loops attached and are now ready to be priced and packed away ready for the fair in a couple of months time. 

I used beading needles to attach the tiny pewter beads and sequins as they're thin enough to bend around small spaces.

My favourite is definitely the tiny 'Let it snow' snowflake with its sparkly sequins and beads, and I will look forward to adding more beads and sparkly threads to more of my designs.

I finished my little robin by adding a wooden heart button and stitching his eye with a single strand of black thread. I have't done anything as detailed as an eye before, but it was definitely a case of the thinner the thread the better.

I now have four different sized pieces ready to go, and hopefully sitting alongside my white frames pieces, they'll show the range and development of what I have been working on this year.

Delightful Dartmouth

Last week we disappeared down to the West Country for a few days to escape for a little holiday. I last visited Dartmouth with my parents when I was at University, so it was great to go back and explore again, and to take David who had never been.

We had a fantastic few days, and here's a few of my favourite snaps;

Day 1: Ferry up the River Dart to Totnes

We set out up the river at 8.00am in the morning as the only two people on the ferry taking our breakfast croissants with us. Little did we realise that half an hour later it would be so misty we wouldn't be able to see a thing!

We explored the lovely little town, but not before stopping for some tea and a sticky just to warm up! On the plus side on the way back the mist had cleared and we had a great trip complete with commentary from the crew and a few seal sniffs! Unfortunately they were too quick for me to get a picture.

Day 2: Discovering Dartmouth

Ignoring maps and tourist trails, we set out to explore all of Dartmouth that we could, including scrambling up tiny steep steps and finding all of the blue plaques that we could. Dartmouth is a fascinating place for inventors and sailors that pioneered everything from the first steam powered motor cars, Arctic voyages and colonising Newfoundland! The Britannia Royal Naval College looks down on the town from its position on top of the hill, and it's great to see the officers of the future practicing their manoeuvres out on the water from the quay.

After climbing many a flight of steep, stony, overgrown, spiral and slippery stars, we treated ourselves to proper Devon cream tears at The Sloping Deck in the Butterwalk. It is the most delightfully wonky and higgledy-piggledy place I have ever been, do not go if you are a fan of straight lines or even sitting up straight! We had two of the largest scones I have ever seen with clotted cream and jam, which definitely set us up for the afternoon! 

Day Three: Dartmouth Castle and the South West Coastal Path

Thursday was our best day for weather, so we walked out to Dartmouth Castle at the mouth of the estuary. The English Heritage property is a fantastic place to visit and has beautiful views. You can get a boat from the centre of Dartmouth, but we wanted to explore a bit more of the coastal path and enjoy some more of the views.

The start of our walk down to the lovely Sugary Cove.

Best name for a Ferry landing I have ever seen! 

Day Four: Steam train to Greenway

On our last full day in Dartmouth we went back to the golden age of travel and took a steam train to Greenway Halt, then walked through the woods to visit the home of Agatha Christie. We thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous house and gardens, exploring the Battery with its own canon and Boat house where Mrs Christie would sit and edit her manuscripts. 

When in a wood...mess around with a big stick pretending you're Gandalf! 

The perfect holiday bolthole

Whilst we were down in Dartmouth we had the perfect place to stay, called Lily Cottage from Dart Holiday Rentals. Tucked away behind a private barrier, the little blue cottage was a perfect place to stay whilst we explored. I loved coming back to its beautiful quirky decoration and cosy home comforts.

Below are some pictures of my favourite parts of the cottage

I loved the master bedroom in shades of blue and white and painted wooden furniture, but my favourite part was the gorgeous nautical wallpaper. I loved the scenes of boats and fishermen, I may have to get back in contact to see where they got it from.

Mason Ball jars are everywhere, but I have never seen them as light fittings and these were used throughout the cottage and casted a lovely glow.

The second bedroom was half clad and painted in a lovely light aquamarine, set off with a navy and cream geometric mat.

The dresser in the kitchen was styled so prettily in shades of blue and cream with the odd pop of colour, all set off with lovely rustic and lace bunting.

The dining room was up a set of large stone steps from the kitchen and had a high ceiling with Velux windows letting in lots of light. The circular and window mirrors reflected the light around the space and made it feel lots bigger.

I love this trend for drawing, printing and creating pieces of artwork with old books or dictionary pages, and Lily Cottage had a fantastic display of nautical critters in a picture wall over the fireplace in the lounge.

To see the beautiful range of properties available for rent from Dart Valley Cottages, follow this link: https://dartvalleycottages.co.uk

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Christmas embroidery

Now we have a date for our craft fair, I have taken an inventory of all of my current stock, and have decided to make a few more bits and pieces to add a bit of difference to my stand. After the success my other two pieces that I framed in their wooden hoops, I decided to make two others with Christmas designs.

I drew both of these designs in a pub garden in the blazing August Bank Holiday sunshine (that made a change!) which was a very surreal moment! I know how buyers feel now, having christmas songs and carols chase their way around your head in August.

For my 'Let it snow' piece I purchased some DMC metallic threads in silver and gold and for the main body of snowflake I decided to trace around the outside with two strands of silver. I wasn't sure how bright it was going to be but I love the metallic shimmer it has given to my snowflake, it's going to look so cute when it's finished!

For my robin I used a slightly bigger hoop and have used a variety of stitches to give him texture.
I want to use a curved blanket stitch on his front to mimic his feathers and I am in the process of using a seed stitch on the cream parts of his body to add a different texture.

Each piece will be framed in its hoop with a piece of ribbon attached at the top for hanging. I love the thought they could be hung anywhere, but if you had a large enough Christmas tree I really like the thought they could be hung against some dark green foliage to make them stand out.