Tast Cheat! and some retro stitching....

First of all, thank you so much to all those lovely people who took the time and trouble  to respond to my last post with  such kind  and positive comments and e-mails, I really appreciated all your kindness and support.  It means  a great  deal to  me.
I was really  pleased that my last tutorial  on making the slip got picked up by the nice folk at Craft Gossip again bringing  new visitors and followers - hello and welcome to you all!
I am  feeling a lot more positive and optimistic,  and I am  going to carry on wandering about on my Adventure, seeing where things lead us!

Now,  a confession - I have completely cheated on TAST this week,  I've had a horrible cold all week and have not felt very  creative! So here is a very old example of how I used herring bone to make the tiny wing feathers on my long tailed tits design. You'll  have to peer hard!

 

This is the actual  picture, sorry it's  poor quality, but it was designed for a friend's engagement and had been up on  her wall for quite a while before it was photographed.

I promised ages ago to share some old work. Looking through my keepsake box I found a couple of embroideries I did for my mum's birthday cards. I always made her a handmade card. She absolutely loved pretty, old fashioned cottages and flowers - as you see!

The first design  was a transfer from the UK 'Woman's Weekly' magazine! Any British readers remember that one? Is it still going? It was always full of cooking, gardening and crafts.I  remember there were 4 cottages and this one I think  was called 'Cornish Poppies'. It's from the early 80's.

This tiny card is the first real embroidery design I ever created -in about 1983 or 4 I think! I'd quite forgotten about it, it was based on an old tumbledown Tudor cottage. It had my first ever Ghiordes Knot (turkey) work!

 

Finally,  here is some needlework news  Needleprint ; a really  interesting site full of information about historic and heirloom needlework, is running 'A Mirror To my Art' competition. The objective is to design and stitch a cover for a handheld mirror - the sort of mirror that's a size you might pop in a handbag. Pop over and take a look!