Yesterday I travelled into Leeds city centre for my monthly Stitch Art group, getting there to find the Art Gallery emptying out as a fire alarm was ringing loudly. They've got the builders in, so maybe one of 'em inadvertently set it off. Anyway, after a short delay we settled into the Drawing Room, where these stitchy get-togethers happen, and learnt about our topic for the day. Lichen! Yes, we were looking at moss & lichen, and how to represent it in stitch, specifically using water soluble paper and freehand machine embroidery. We were shown various examples, including the amazing work of Amanda Cobbett , and her website's definitely worth a browse. We began with embroidery hoops and calico, and learnt Turkey stitch, which I can now add to my small repertoire of stitches. Then it was on to the sewing machines and my first try at using the water soluble paper and at freehand machine embroidery. Ooooh, I liked doin...