Last weekend I had a wonderful two days of stitching with a lovely group of ladies at West Dean College. Our tutor for the weekend was the very talented Charlotte Bailey of Hanging by a Thread. After a very substantial evening meal we attended our first lesson which gave us time to peruse some of Charlotte’s work….. Her grey parrot was particularly clever.
The Saturday and Sunday were spent making a little sampler, exploring different textures, colours, weights of thread… Although I already had a little experience with most of the stitches it was fun just to stitch and not worry about the outcome. The Shisha mirror embroidery was new to me and great fun to stitch. On the Sunday we were able to spend time with Charlotte talking through any projects that we were planning and getting a professional opinion as to how to proceed.
West Dean is a lovely place to spend the weekend and the gardens are wonderful, so I decided to take full advantage of the late summer weather…
On a final note….on my drive to West Dean I pass a house that always makes me smile. The front garden is full of gnomes, statues and soft toys….
Happy stitching everyone!
sweetfallenangels 
Sounds a wonderful place to visit and a great workshop, sometimes it’s lovely just to sit and stitch and get inspired amongst like-minded people.
It was definitely a relaxing time, with good food and surroundings!
Someone definitely has a gnome habit – but as you say, it makes people smile… And it does sound like a good weekend…
The gnomes seem to grow in number each year!
What a wonderful weekend! It sounds like a great way to explore and develop your skills.
It was nice not to have to finish something in a particular way!
I bet! And you now have the skills to make up your own mind!
Do have a few ideas buzzing – just lack of time at the moment.