I seem to have spent most of this week at Hampton Court – not that I am complaining. Today I was back to working on my Jacobean crewel work. I have become very frustrated with this piece and have not been sure what direction to take it in. I was particularly worried about the lack of progress with the large flower at the top right of the design. I think the main problem is my lack of knowledge of the way that different stitches will fill the spaces.
A smaller room, in a different part of the building.
However after a day with Sara Meanwell as tutor – I feel that I have finally made some progress. With only three students to the one tutor, it meant that we were able to spend a lot of time sorting out problems and making stitch choices.
Although I didn’t manage to do that much in the way of stitching, I did make a start on the flowers and am now more confident about what to do next. I have chosen to keep the flowers more open and use a number of different decorative edging stitches.
For the smaller flower I outlined in scroll stitch (a), filled the centre with fly stitch (b) and now only need to complete the long and short stitching in the leaves (c). For the larger flower I stitched a centre of trellis which I then bordered in raised button hole and stem stitch (d), a combination I particularly liked, the second outline is heavy chain stitch (e) and finally coral stitch (f). I think I will then fill with French knots and seeding. We have also decided on a number of stitches for the flower sepals – which means more long and short (not my favourite!).
Meanwhile, back home in the garden, it is all about the lilies, They seem to have flowered early and all at the same time. I whizzed out between thunder showers to picture them before they are ruined. I love lilies, particularly their scent which fills the air on warm days.
sweetfallenangels 
It really does start to grow quickly once you have decided what’s going where.
I do hope so, I only have two days of tutoring left!
Remember 8 lessons is a guide, it is up to you if you need an extra lesson.
I know that I could take more time and I do want to make sure that I do the best I can , but I am terribly impatient in nature and always want to get onto the next project!
It’s coming along nicely and you have a lovely design. It sounds like this was a productive class for you, even if you didn’t stitch a great deal.
It made me feel a lot more positive about the piece – although I have realised just how conservative the design is.
I think it’s looking really great. I can’t stop looking at that tree branch with the vine winding around it. It looks amazing.
Thank you, just wish I could have been a little braver at the start. But it is all a learning journey.