Surely it can't be Sunday already?

Don't the weeks roll by at speed?  It only seems like five minutes ago we were at the start of 2024, making New Year resolutions and eating the last of the Christmas sweet treats.  It's a grey rainy morning in Yorkshire and I slept particularly badly last night, so I'm intending to have a cat nap this afternoon.  But in the meantime, I'll do some half-hearted cleaning & tidying, and write a blog post.  Yesterday was an embroidery workshop based at Leeds Art Gallery.  I've decided that this year's the one where I learn basic embroidery skills, so I happily signed up for this two hour beginners class.  It was run by Hayley Mills-Styles, and attended mainly - as is always the way - by middle aged women.  Plus one solitary man.  Bless him!  We learnt how to 'hoop up', about different needle sizes, what fabric to embroider on to, and several beginner-friendly stitches.  I knew a few already (running stitch, chain and lazy daisies, back stitch, seed stitch and blanket stitch).  But I wasn't confident about French knots or stem stitch.  There really is nothing like someone sitting next to you and patiently explaining and demonstrating.  I can now do both! 

We sewed our own design on to unbleached calico, and even received a free hoop as part of the £10 class fee.  I'd already popped into Hobbycraft before the class and actually bought a same sized hoop, but never mind, it's always good to have a spare.  I also treated myself - slap on the wrist for me, shouldn't be frittering away money on yet more crafty supplies - to squares of felt and a couple of reels of beautifully shiny coloured wire in copper and emerald green.

The wire's to be used for when I make boho style beads, and also because I've make beaded stars every so often and the coloured wire will look nicer than the silver I've previously used.   Here are a couple of the beaded stars I made ages ago, and keep intending to make more.  

The felt squares I mentioned are for making a felt bird, from this book by Corinne Lapierre which I bought but haven't yet got stuck into.

Anyway, I meander ... back to the embroidery class.  I'm not the fastest stitcher, so I continued adding to my piece in the evening.  I did a whipped running stitch on the tulip shaped flower, and was wondering whether to use the Inktense paints to carefully add colour to the background.  I don't want the embroidery thread to take on the paint though, so I'm still wavering about that.  

One more thing to mention about yesterday's class.  Hayley recommended something that I think will prove really useful.  The needle manufacturers John James produce a free guide to the different types of sewing needles, their uses and sizes.  You can print the guide off and place any of your needles directly on it, to identify the size and type of it.  So if you've randomly come across a needle stuck in your pincushion that feels the perfect fit, you can identify it and know what to purchase next time you're buying needles.  The link's here if you want to save/print your own copy.  

SOME HOURS LATER .... it's late in the afternoon and I haven't managed a cat nap, but I did a little pottering about in the garden, clearing mossy paths and pulling up weeds.  I've also finished my embroidery.  It's sort of bonkers, but what the heck!  I had fun, and I've definitely caught the embroidery bug.  Let's see what other weird & wonderful-ish creations I can conjure up, using my newly learnt French knots and stem stitch.  Bye for now.