A cottage in the country

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It seems like an age since I have stitched when it is probably under a week whilst I have been busy making a quilt. Tonight has been spent with Chimneypiece and we now have a little cottage set in rolling hills and with an apple tree bearing fruit.

I was messaged by a stitcher to ask  if I would share a close up of the sun so here it is.

Monday evening found us at a favourite Truro restaurant "Mannings" followed by Haydn's The Creation at Truro Cathedral. The whole evening was superb and thoroughly enjoyed.

The Cathedral was a majestic setting with wonderful acoustics. Rachel Nicholls as Archangel Gabriel was the best soprano I have ever heard live. 

We were both carried away to a special place high up in the Cathedral's vaulted ceiling.

My regular blog readers know that I live on the Lizard Peninsular at Poldhu Cove,

Trewoon Poldhu Cove seasidecottagescornwall.co.uk

A short one minute video has just been produced by I Love Cornwall and everything you see is the area immediately surrounding us including our own beach. I thought you would enjoy watching it https://youtu.be/GyX56BvUiVE

Trewoon Poldhu Cove seasidecottagescornwall.co.uk

If you would like to visit us we have three five star luxury holiday cottages overlooking the beach

seasidecottagescornwall.co.uk

We have a Studio in the gardens which is an ideal retreat to quilt, stitch, paint or write in. I am always happy to spend time with needle workers stitching or sewing and for beginners I can share some tips and tricks.

seasidecottagescornwall.co.uk

The sun is here

It seems to have taken ages to stitch the sun there are zillion small stitches (well it feels like a zillion). In reality I have been spending less time with my needle and more time in my sewing studio quilting and sewing.

We have just returned from visiting family in Wales and on the way home stopped at The Cowslip Studios and bought a copy of Jo Colvill's new book

There are two quilts in the book that I want to stitch and have just kitted up this one.

Whilst we were there there was an exhibition of quilts, there were many beautiful ones.

In Wales we met up with my sister and her daughters for a family meal and our daughter and grandchildren for a theatre trip and Sunday lunch with them and other family members - happy times.

The boys are growing up and are a delight.

An exciting day !!!

B

Guess who was at Mullion Cove today and to think we were approached by the production company for accommodation this week. We couldn't help as we were full. !!!!

It is Aidan Turner but not in his role of Poldark. It is an Agatha Christie film Body on the Island. Aidan Turner is sat at the prow of the boat. Charles Dance, Sam Neill, Douglas Booth and Burn Gorman are also here.

It will be shown on the BBC at Christmas in the UK and in the U.S. later this year.

Last year Kian asked if I would show him how to make a cushion and he spent a whole day with me at Trewoon.

At 13 years old and already familiar with a sewing machine and the basics Kian easily followed me (he was a natural) and soon we had both made our cushions. Kian drew his boxer dog Rosanyos Pocket Rocket and appliquéd her onto his.

Today he entered his cushion at Stithians Show and took first place in his class and best in section, winning himself a cup.

I think another workshop is now being planned - quilting methinks !!!!

Last week I was asked how I stitched the red and pink flowers at the opposite ends of the row in photo one. I promised when I stitched the next one I would demonstrate. The following photos show the stages. I am self taught and my way may be incorrect.

You can use a pencil to mark out the stitch direction or as I have done your thread. Note that the stitch I started with at the bottom was going in the wrong direction when I finished laying out the guide lines. I just laid another stitch over it as it will not show. 

I have not taken the stitches all the way into the centre. I am leaving room for the next passes..

Gradually I am filling the flower moving around as I stitch so that there are no clumps of stitches.

The centre is now filled in but I am parking my thread for now in case I need to add some more stitches after the outer part has been stitched.

I fill in the stamens.

Next I repeat the process on the outer part.

You can use your thread to gauge your stitch direction.

First pass complete.

Start to close up the gaps.

Note that the outer stitches in the bottom left hand corner has caused the inner stitches to gap. Pick up your parked pink thread and fill in the gap.

A new start

My new start is a screen printed sampler from The Scarlet Letter - Chimneypiece. I was apprehensive of working on such a project having had bad memories of trying to cross stich a stamped design on Aida as a teenager.

This is very different and I am loving it.

I was asked on the Facebook group I post on to show how I worked the satin stitch on the circular flower. Here goes in photos:-

Note the entry point on the top right photo above. This is important to avoid overcrowding the inner line of the circle.

It is a beautiful day at Trewoon, we have been having a lovely run of good weather. Here is a photo of Blue and Poppy taken on the weekend. They are trying to stay cool in the long grass.