RSN and Henry VIII

Henry VIII is celebrating his 500th anniversary of his reign and was walking all around Hampton Court Palace. He was telling stories around the palace, we had the opportunity to visit with him and his servants one day and take pictures.

We told them that we were taking a class at the Royal School of Needlework. They showed us the blackwork that someone had done for the sleeves of their shirts. They were proud that one of the ladies had taken the time to do the stitching for them.

And now for the reason I was at the Royal School of Needlework. I took the last of the four certificate classes.

The pumpkin was drawn by our daughter for my birthday with the idea that I would use the design for my gold work project. I loved the design and am happy with the way it turned out. I haven't had a lot of experience with Gold Work, took a one day class and that is all before taking the two week intensive certificate class.

I am happy with my overall score for the four classes and can now look forward to the diploma classes beginning next year.

Hope you have all enjoyed following my journey to complete these classes . . . . . more when I take the next class or complete something exciting.

Now for a little advertising - The Royal School of Needlework is offering classes in San Francisco in the spring and the fall.

You can check here for more information about the dates and class offerings: http://www.royal-needlework.co.uk/

Thanks for checking back.

RSN

Nothing new to show today, I have been knitting. I have finished one sock for my husband and almost done with the second one.

I need to start packing to go to England to take the last class, Gold Work, to finish the certificate classes at the Royal School of Needlework. I have to say I am getting excited about returning to England to take the class and see friends again. There will be a Get Together with the Sampler Guild too. Lots of fun things to look forward too and a lot of work to complete my project in the two weeks.

Pictures when I return.

Happy Summer! Hope your weather is a little cooler than ours, it has been way too hot here.

Wedding Sampler

Our daughter got married last Saturday, so now I can post a picture of the sampler that I made for them. It is similar to the sampler tree I made for the alphabet sampler challenge. I put their names in the tree, our new son-in-law has two little boys so their names are there too plus the wedding date and couldn't forget Kitty.

Anyway the wedding was so much fun - the ceremony was on the South Lake Union Streetcar, reception lunch at Daniels and then everyone went for a ride on the Duck.

Lots of memories and everyone had a good time.

Wedding Things . . . . . . . . . . .

Here pictures of a few of the things I have been working on for our youngest daughter's wedding next month.

I need to make the garter, which she will not see until their wedding day and finish the place cards.

This is the bracelet and earrings. They are not perfect, this is the first time I have made a bracelet and earrings using sterling silver wire. with twists. A new experience and I did enjoy making them.

The colors for the wedding are red, black and white, this is the box for the cards, if anyone brings them to the reception.

I covered the box with cotton fabric by using paper backed fusible iron on interfacing and ironed the fabric on the box when it was flat, used the paper backed fusible iron on interfacing to attach the ribbon at each end. The ribbons are not straight in the picture, but can be straighten by gently moving them.

We will be putting the place cards on this bulletin board, there will be two cards, one with the person's name and the second one with the name of the table where they will be seated for lunch. The fabric was stapled to the bulletin board, then I covered the back with the red fabric. I used the mounting method that I learned at the Royal School of Needlework, it is a great technique.

Hope everyone is enjoying a little summer weather, we have our rain back today.

Wedding and no blogging!

I haven't posted anything lately, our youngest daughter is getting married so I have been working on several things for the wedding. Bracelet, earrings, bulletin board, garter, card box, etc. And a gift for them too, can't post a picture yet.

We are enjoying nice weather, no rain for the last 27 days, although it has been nice not to have rain we do need a little to clean up the air.

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Embroidery Books

I just found a bookstore with a huge selection of embroidery books, the store belongs to a friend's niece. The name of the store is "Booksmith" in San Francisco, California.

The link is under "Favorite Shops" on the right- you can do a search for embroidery and find many pages of books.

Too many books and so little time to do the stitching.

Silk Shading at RSN

Just returned from San Francisco, I was there for two weeks taking the silk shading certificate class from the Royal School of Needlework. The above picture is the first day getting ready to stitch. I love the sweet pea!

Lucy, a graduate of the school, lives in San Francisco and is the USA Education Coordinator. They will be offering the Certificate classes in April/May and September/October each year. They offered day classes this time too and will offer day classes next spring and maybe this fall, check the website for the RSN http://www.royal-needlework.co.uk/or contact jessica.aldred@royal-needlework.org.uk for more information on the classes and the new Foundation Degree beginning this fall in England.

There were 11 students from all over the country in two class rooms doing silk shading, gold work, Jacobean crewel for the certificate class and two working on advanced classes in gold work and stumpwork. It was fun to watch all the projects and learn more about each technique. Everyone worked very hard to complete their projects in two weeks.

Here is a picture of my project, I am looking forward to it arriving in the mail after the assessment, hope I pass the class. Keeping my fingers crossed!

MS Walk Today!!

Thank you to all the people who made donations on my behave, I know the money will help someone with MS and maybe they will find the cause and a cure.


We completed the 4 mile walk today. We had beautiful weather and had a great time walking, watching the other walkers and talking. I think everyone enjoyed the walk because there was sunshine for a change.

Here are a few pictures:


Thanks again for your help!

MS Walk April 5th

Our daughter was diagnosed with MS last May. Her and I have registered to do the MS Walk on April 5th. We will be walking about 4 miles, I am thinking dry weather for the day.

I set a low goal and made my goal! If anyone feels they could help, the donation would be much appreciated and will help someone with MS. I know the medication our daughter takes would cost $2,000.00 a month, if she didn't have insurance.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Think sunshine for Sunday!

Royal School of Needlework - San Francisco, California

Here is the link to see the classes the Royal School of Needlework are offering in San Francisco, California in April and May, 2009.

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=e85d7377c1&view=att&th=11fb716d950309b3&attid=0.1&disp=vah&zw

I will be taking the Silk Shading Certificate Class. Two of the tutors are coming from England and the third one is from England and now living in California. I have taken classes from both Owen Davies and Helen McCook, I am looking forward to seeing them again.

The classes will be wonderful even though they aren't at Hampton Court Palace, I love the palace and the gardens around it.

If you are interested in taking classes you can visit the RNS website for the person to contact.

http://www.royal-needlework.co.uk/

I am looking forward to my class!!

Witch, Handwarmers & Biscornu

This was my Christmas gift from my friend. Isn't she lovely?

Here are the hand warmers I made, while another friend made hers. I learned that I needed to pay attention when I was knitting these.

This is the project my cousin and I worked on while she was here last week. She finished her's after she went home, now we just have to wait to get a picture of hers to join mine.

Sampler Challenge

While we were in England, the Sampler Guild received an invitation to join in the Alphabet Sampler Challenge with the Northwest Sampler Guild.

The only requirements were that the sampler had to have an alphabet. There is a tree in front of Hampton Court Palace that has mistletoe growing on the branches, I decided to make my sampler using the tree as my inspiration. Added a few flowers around the bottom and the rabbit ran into his hole at the bottom of the tree.

The following is a list of the stitches I used:

Fly stitch

Chain stitch

Cross stitch

Lazy daisy

French knots

Satin stitch

Turkey stitch

Straight stitch

This was a really fun project to do, might even do another one in the future!

Alphabet Sampler Challenge

While we were in England, the Sampler Guild received an invitation to join in the Alphabet Sampler Challenge with the Northwest Sampler Guild.

The only requirements were that the sampler had to have an alphabet. There is a tree in front of Hampton Court Palace that has mistletoe growing on the branches, I decided to make my sampler using the tree as my inspiration. Added a few flowers around the bottom and the rabbit ran into his hole at the bottom of the tree.

The following is a list of the stitches I used:

Fly stitch

Chain stitch

Cross stitch

Lazy daisy

French knots

Satin stitch

Turkey stitch

Straight stitch

This was a really fun project to do, might even do another one in the future!

Surprise from Lyon, France & a Road Trip to Austin, Texas

We took a road trip, drove to Austin, Texas and almost three weeks later we returned home to find a wonderful surprise in the mail. My friend who lives in Lyon, France sent me these wonderful treasures.

She made the ATC in memory of her cat who recently went to cat heaven and is missed very much, they lost two cats in a very short time. That is so sad, but the good news is they now have a new cat to love. She and her husband made the calendar, we have it sitting by the TV in the kitchen, we didn't have a calendar near the table so this is really appreciated. And the kit will be fun to make, now I just need to get busy.

As for other projects, I did a little knitting while we were traveling, knitting is a great project to work on in the car. Now I just need my husband to try on his sock so I can finish making them.

I visited Needle Works in Austin, what a wonderful needlepoint store. (http://www.theneedleworks.com/) They have fibers that I have never seen before and very helpful too. I had seen the Evertite Strencher Bars, but had never touched them or seen how they work. Well, now I wish I had all the sizes, they are great for needlepoint because you can tighten them up to keep the canvas tight while stitching. Needle Works don't have a picture on their website, but there is a picture on Tristan Brooks Designs (http://www.needleartworks.com/dsgnr/tbd/tbd10.htm) I have to say they are not cheap, well worth the money. Needle Works is a great place to spend a day and there is a good restaurant in the same mall Santa Rita Cantina (http://www.santaritacantina.com/) the Chilli Relleno with Spinach, mushrooms & ranchero sauce is the BEST. In fact Santa Rita was so good we ate there three times. Actually all the food was good in Austin!

We had a great trip, just very long, 5,000 miles round trip. It is nice to be home again!

Needlework Finishing

I am so excited my cousin is starting a finishing business and needed something to finish, so I sorted through my box of completed projects and found something to get her started. Here are pictures of what she has done for me.

If anyone needs something finished, you can contact her at pamacj@gmail.com Please use the subject: Needlework Finishing

The Needle Index & Isn't She Lovely??

This is the gift I received from my cousin, she asked me what I got for Christmas that was stitching related, I said nothing and this arrived in the mail a few days later. It is a wonderful place to keep needles! Now all my needles will be organized. There are pictures of all the different kinds of needles, what they are used for, wool to keep the needles in and a chart with the types of threads that you would stitch with each needle.

Saturday my friend came over and we exchanged Christmas gifts. And I must say "Mine is wonderful!" Isn't she lovely?

I have looked at her every time I went to Threadneedle Street and said "I love her" and now she is mine to stitch. I am going to have so much fun with her, just need to finish her before Halloween.

After we opened presents we went to Threadneedle Street and I bought the fibers I didn't have to stitch my new project. A little glow in the dark thread here and there and a wort of two will make her wonderful. Of course I may change my mind on a few of the fibers when I get started, but not the glow in the dark.