Day 9 : house and garden

There was a slight frost this morning - enough to look attractive. The couple of participants who went for an early walk seemed to find it clear and crisp.

There was a lovely reflection on the lake.

By 9am we were at work on the various parts of Dove Cottage on our sampler. - a whitewashed brick pattern on the walls, a tile pattern on the roof and a trellis pattern on the leadlight windows.

It was a lot of fun - precise, structural work in fairly familiar stitches, creating texture and bringing the print to life.

When we returned to our stitching after lunch, there were deer on the green outside our room.



It misted over and rained a little.














We tightened our slate frames and Nicola managed to plug our lamps in as it grew gradually gloomier and gloomier and the battery lights were inadequate.












We moved on to the leaves,





experimenting with variegated thread.




At 4pm, when formal teaching finished, Paul Martyn, who makes bespoke furniture in Bowness-on-Windermere, showed us some of his timbers and talked to us about the writing box he made for Nicola to display her sampler. It is a lovely bespoke oak piece that complements and enhances the sampler.

I was not as tired today as yesterday and kept working until just before dinner. My ort pot got plenty of use today. I was pleased with where I got to today. There's a lot more to do, but it is not difficult - and a great deal of fun. Tomorrow we cover the rest of the stitches before taking the samplers, in whatever stage of progress, to the Wordsworth Museum for their display

There was plenty of conversation and we lingered long over dinner, talking of our lives, our friends, embroidery, embroiderers - our sorrows and joys. It is such a  pleasure and privilege to be in comfortable surroundings in the company of like-minded people who share our passion.

Day 8: Project 2 begins

Today we swapped projects. We are working in two groups and today my group moved to Nicola Jarvis's Dorothy Wordsworth sampler project. Nicola designed this project after our visit last year to the Dove cottage, using as her inspiration the cottage itself, an embroidery of a bird by Dora Wordsworth and the various textiles used in the house, especially the bedspread made by Dorothy.
When Nicola said she was working on a sampler, the image that came to my mind was nothing like the rich, symbolic and interesting work she designed.

After sketching and painting it, Nicola had it printed on half Panama cotton. We each received a print of the fabric mounted on a roller frame and our kit of threads, instructions and embellishments.

The stitches are relatively simple. We began with a lesson from Nicola of how to stitch one of the background daisies.



I love the effect of these daisies on Nicola's finished example. the stitches give a strong sense of a net background.



We were soon right into it.

From the daisies we moved on to the bird, with its variety of stitches.  We mostly got the breast, the branch and the wing done.

My trellis is rather smaller than most other people, but there is plenty of scope for difference.


This is my piece at the end of today's sessions. I'm itching to do more.

We were packing up as the sun went down over the Lake.



This is great project - so inspirational and well designed. Nicola gave a talk tonight on how she conceived and developed it. It's a story well worth hearing or reading.

We have another day of stitching on this project tomorrow, and our14 works-in-progress will be exhibited at the Wordsworth Museum from Friday. It will be most interesting to see progression and individuality.

It is such a privilege to be part of this project. It is, I think, ground-breaking.

Day 6: all in white

This morning’s vision from my bedroom window  at 6.30 am was joy to an Australian- when she is in a warm hostelry with no need to go outside, great company and an embroidery project to look forward to.

I made myself a coffee with the excellent, ingenious in-room provision and settled down to read Murder in School, the third one of Bruce Beckham’s DI Skelgill series set in the Lakes District that I have on my Kindle for reading this trip.

The coffee sachets sit on a cup to form a filter and make very decent coffee. As far as I can see, the sachets biodegrade.

After breakfast we got going on our harp. Today is our last day on this project. Most of the day we worked on the finial, beginning by covering a wooden ball in silk and decorating it with gold thread


adding beads







and then a needlelace framework.

After lunch we worked on the rod for the finial.




This required wrapping metal rods with silk thread. I had trouble making my rod fit into the knob but Jenny says it will work and is giving me a hand.


Lunch included salads and a variety of seafood - some smoked. 






There were brown shrimp - apparently from the North Sea, a bit darker than pink prawns. The taste was not very strong, but I have no idea whether they had been frozen.

Around 4pm we had some instructions and a demonstration in construction. This is going to be fiddly and time-consuming but is relatively straightforward. I'm hoping to have my front panel embroidered by Thursday when Jenny has offered to help further in our free time. That would enable a partial construction. It is a lovely project -very precise in its requirements and processes - and beautiful. Jenny is endlessly generous with her knowledge and assistance.





By 4pm much of the snow had melted. It was still cold.




Tonight we went to the Wild Boar for dinner. There was a lot of interesting conversation and laughter. I love the wide-ranging discussion, the cultural similarities and differences.

It has been a long and intense day of work - but full of learning and camaraderie. I am too tired to elaborate on the many discussions we had today and the issues that occupied us.

Tomorrow we are off to Cockermouth to the Wordsworth Trust building. On Tuesday we swap tutors and projects. I'm hoping I can get both projects finished when I get home.

Day 3 To Windermere

I slept a bit better last night - a couple of wake-ups, but little trouble returning to sleep. I woke finally around 6.30am.                             
I was able, therefore, to shower, pack and breakfast in a leisurely fashion - even following my friend  Christine’s advice to have a Full English Breakfast.

I had plenty of time to ensure all my various devices were fully charged for the journey. My phone, of course, had been charging all night,






It had rained during the night. The streets were wet and there was still a light drizzle. It is an easy walk to Euston to catch my train to Oxenholme in the Lakes District. There was no platform information so I settled into the Virgin lounge to stitch.


 We were off on time - a fairly full train.

I thought of Christine as we whizzed through Watford.











Our first stop was what I had assumed, from announcements, was Warrington. Banky!

Then Wigan.
Then Wigan


and lovely Preston station where our train passes under the panelled glass ceiling.

At Lancaster I couldn’t help wondering if the brick retaining wall kept the bears at bay. My maternal grandmother was a Bearcraft - a name given by the Duke of Lancaster to the keepers of the bears he imported and kept in his bear park.

Andre, the same taxi driver who picked me up last year, was waiting at Oxenholme and filled me in on his friends, family and business on the scenic drive to Windermere.

The Ryebeck has changed little. I accepted the first floor room they had allocated me. I had requested a ground floor room, but my knee is no longer preventing me mounting stairs . Ground floor rooms are smaller, and the young women on duty carried my luggage, so here I am, in comfort with a view!  My only disappointment is a shower over the bath.







It is peaceful - although even here there is the occasional beeping of reversing vehicles!

The wifi hasn’t improved - only effective in the bar and lounge, but they are working on it! The good news is that I have quite good phone reception - not the case last year- and, as my room is above the lounge, the wifi has intermitent reach here.

There were 6 of us here tonight at the beginning of dinner. Genevieve arrived soon after. We had a lot to catch up on - and a lot of laughter. I won't post a photo of dinner until I have sought permission from those present.

The Retreat begins tomorrow afternoon.