A Beautiful Fall Day and Cream Tea

 

Today was absolutely gorgeous. Cool fall day, utterly clear blue sky, warm sunshine, and the beautiful grounds of Petworth house to see. After walking through Petworth house, which felt like a miny art museum, we walked through the grounds and I was able to sketch the house. And…afterwards we went to a tea shop! It was a little place with little chairs and tables and we had a cream tea, which is tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. It was delicious. They served you with tea cups that weren't matching, very cute! Even driving home down narrow country lanes with the autumn sun filtering through the leaves was a treat.

Here are pictures of todays adventure...

                     

Fall Sunshine and Canvaswork

Fall has finally arrived here after a week of 80 degree weather. I'm loving it! The other day I was stitching and happened to look up to see dark clouds rolling in out of one of the classroom windows and warm fall sunshine out of another. It rained for a couple minutes and then suddenly became sunny again and I could see a vibrant rainbow. The rainbow came down in front of a tree in the gardens, it's the second rainbow I've seen touch the ground! I didn't have my camera with me but this is the view out of one of the classroom windows. 

I've started my second technique, canvaswork. The inspiration for the design came from the American folk artist, Mattie Lou OKelley's work. Her paintings are wonderful, we have a book full of them at home. So I mixed her style with a picture of our homestead and came up with this. I started stitching yesterday! 

I'll be posting more pictures of my canvaswork as it progresses.

Love,

Abby

England and Needlework

Three weeks ago I arrived in England to study at the Royal School of Needlework for three months. As Dad and I flew over London at 6:00 am and the sky began to lighten, we could see from the plane windows a beautiful sunrise. Since that morning, I've been on an adventure. The Royal School of Needlework is actually in Hampton Court Palace. So each morning, I take a red bus to a palace, walk up a gravel drive, through dark corridors, past a fountain surrounded by baroque walls,  up a winding staircase to arrive at my classroom. And when I'm not too busy, I eat lunch in the gardens. It's good fun. 

The teaching is wonderful. I will be learning four embroidery techniques to get a Certificate Degree. The first, which I'm finishing today, is Jacobean Crewelwork. Crewelwork is embroidery worked in wool threads and Jacobean is the style of the embroidery. I'll be starting Canvaswork next, then Silk Shading, and Goldwork. While designing my piece I tried to think of flowers and animals that reminded me of home. At home there is a sunflower that keeps coming back every year next to one of our maple trees, which I actually didn't remember until after I had finished the design! So I thought the sunflower with maple leaves was very fitting and they're two things I love. 

Below are lots of photos of Hampton Court, my embroidery, and a couple other things. :)

I'll be taking more photos and updating! 

Love,

Abby

The sunset out the plane window

 Part of the front of Hampton Court Palace    

        The rose garden            

 

         The back of the Palace

The last two windows are the windows of my classroom 

The fountain I pass on my way to class

The door I go through to get to class

My crewelwork!

The stitch plan for my embroidery

Notes :)

The color plan