Getting ready for Christmas busy busy busy !

 I know it looks like it's finished , but there's actually quite a lot still to do ..these needlepoint kits get more tricky as you come towards the end . All the larger areas completed but there are lots and lots of odd stitches dotted about , here and there , and all of different colours.
This has to be put aside now as I have so much to do preparing for Christmas . I also have some silk embroidery thread ordered and on it's way from The Silk Mill in France , so that I can get back to doing the Anglo Saxon Brooch ..I also have some other ideas for my crewelwork ...isn't it wonderful when the ideas come flooding in ! So exciting !
 I,m thinking about how I,m going to store and organise these lovely silk threads. I will let you know how it goes .
 The Christmas card in the collage photo below is from a painting done by my dear friend Adrian Mills . He lived in Mullion and was such a gifted artist . I remember this one hanging in his lounge, where we had our Wednesday Prayer Meetings ..he told me that he had painted himself as a younger man as St Joseph ..I love the way the light pours down from above and there are streams of light coming from the baby Jesus right hand . Some of the objects in the foreground were in his lounge too . He sadly died a few years ago , I do miss him  , such a kind and gentle man .

You can click to zoom in...those are some of the pink roses I used at our church for Gaudete Sunday ...sorry I didn't get a photo of it . The basket is full of more flower arranging things , the white flowers we collected from the florist in Helston .  We saw bouquets of flowers in the supermarket  , but I had wanted only the very best for our Christmas flower arrangements . I ordered them weeks ago ..5 large white carnations and two bunches of gypsophila ..and she gave me an extra bunch for free and was so helpful in giving me advise about keeping the flowers and especially the Pittasporum  looking fresh .
 My husband ( who is coming down with a bad cold ) and our little dog sat and kept me company for an hour and a half while I arranged the flowers in our little  church . Once again , I didn't bring my camera...I,ll try and get a picture tomorrow ...but maybe you,ll be there ? !
 Sunday mass will be at the normal time of 11am and then we have been allowed to have Christmas Midnight mass at the earlier time of 6pm on Christmas Eve .
   I know it's confusing , but we are so blessed to have this mass here in St  Michael's  Church Mullion ...I do hope lots of people come !
  I,m praying for someone to come along who can play the organ , so that we can sing a few Christmas carols !

I wish you all a peaceful and love filled Christmas . I wish you a happy and healthy New Year 2018 . ( with lots of time to sit and do your embroidery or crafting lovely things ! )

Mullion Cove Cornwall Anchor needlepoint kit- red wool

No snow here yet in Mullion , but it is very windy . I,m not feeling very well , nothing serious .. Oh ! ..The rain has just begun lashing down ....
 I,ve done a little more of the Mullion Cove needlepoint kit .
If you remember , there was one skein of red wool missing from the kit .. I thought about pulling a similar colour from my hoard of wood under the bed , but couldn't quite find find the correct shade ...well I contacted Atlascraft, who put together these lovely kits for Anchor and was very quickly replied to and advised that that the missing number was 8238 and that I could order it from them on Amazon uk which I promptly did and within a couple of days it is here !

Thanks Michael at Atlascraft !  

It is such a lovely shade of  rusty orange/ red .

I don't usually do needlepoint kits , I get irritated by the way a straight line in the stamped or painted design gets distorted into steps, for example see the above roof line , the bit that is sloping down along next to my scissor blades...well I have stitched it my way.. in a nice straight line !
 I have stitched the windows in the same way and a few other places in the picture . To be honest , I would love to stitch over the whole thing my way .....waiting in the wings I have an antique needlepoint picture , which I might just experiment with..I ,ll show you next time !

Day of Storm Caroline

Busy busy busy now with the run up to Christmas..not much time for my embroidery , but how nice it is to sit in front of the fire at the end of the day sorting out a bag of  jumbled vintage crewel wool . A bargain buy from somewhere . I think I get as much pleasure sorting wool as I do stitching with it !

Very satisfying to sort it all out and such a lovely selection of  colours .
 I, m a firm believer that colours are good for you in the same way that music is .....at the moment I am listening to this .....I must share this with you , do have a listen ..... it is Yasmeena Amina Olya singing  The Field Song ... beautiful !       
              https://youtu.be/wiVZ9mxI7kw

 Here they are all sorted , they are my paints ! My mind is inspired  !

So there was a storm coming ,they said .. Storm Caroline..but for us it wasn't too bad . A windy night . They said there was more bad weather coming in the afternoon so we decided to take the dog for a walk early .
 I wanted to go down to Mullion Cove and take a look at the Harbour ...I have been working on the above needlepoint and was a little bit confused by what appears to be a water-wheel in the picture .
 I was sure that there was no water-wheel down there , so off we went to have a closer look .

                     So here we are down at the harbour at Mullion Cove .

 The tide was just beginning to come in . It is surprising  how fast it surges in .

 Sorry , no dramatic pics of giant waves crashing over the harbour wall today .
Here's a link to another nice piece of music..https://youtu.be/d-IZtSTWEDQ

As we left people were coming down in their cars , all hoping to see the wild waves whipped up by Storm Caroline and the usual commotion of cars all trying to turn around in such a small area ! It's best to park up in the car park and walk down really .

Anyway , here's the needlepoint part of the picture in question . Is that a water-wheel ?

 No , it is not !  Here is the little cottage for real and as you can see .....

                        ........ no water-wheel ....just lots of lobster pots !

 So then we went down to Poldhu to look at the waves rolling in to the beach .

Blue sky and sunshine .

One last thing , Time was made to teach this little lad , my grandson how to sew.

He had asked me if we could make a blanket  for Charlie Bear , his teddy .

He drew a picture of an anchor and said that he would like to sew it ....to use his words.

"Right now !" he added .

So I found an old terry nappy and he drew his own design on to it with a felt tip pen and then we enjoyed a cuddly embroidery lesson stitching it with a fat needle and some thick blue tapestry wool . 

Then he wanted to embroider a ship and a house and a whale....

.....but it was time for bed , so I began the ship and wasn't quite sure how the mast and sails went , so we left it right there to finish another day ..but here is one very happy little boy ..proud of himself ..he embroidered the anchor pretty much all by himself !
 I hope the winter weather isn't too bad where you are ....I,d love to see a bit of snow ! Keep warm and take care !