The first scent of woodsmoke

Busy creating a masterpiece in the Autumn sunshine

The first wisps of woodsmoke, the scent of chill brought indoors in the folds of a coat and Autumn is come upon us. This morning I found this masterpiece half way through production across the gate.

It looks like a little thing across a leafy hedge, but actually MUCH bigger, those leaves in the background are Whitebeam trees standing about 20 yards away (the leaves are each about 10 inches across).

As to the change in seasons, I hate to admit but now it is here, Autumn is welcome. It is kind of a relief to have such a long rain sodden summer behind us, to accept that one's spirit can stand down from hoping for a warm and sunny day!

Autumn sun is still profoundly cheering and I'm trying to make the most of what sunshine comes (usually done by eleven and setting in for rain thereafter). I have some plans for the garden which has got very overgrown, and in theory am starting at the top and working my way down, bed by bed and border by border... should take all winter at this rate!

Country Garden workshop

Country Garden

We had a great time on saturday at the studio in Dorset, with a full house for my new Albion Stitch Country Garden corsage workshop.
I love teaching and sharing my designs with my students, it's a total battery re-charge for me as there is really nothing more flattering that a whole group of people signing up to spend the day with me!
To start the day we had a good discussion about colour, one of my sidebar themes for all the new workshops this year. As a result the range of colour mixes for the show and tell at the end of the day was lovely to behold.  Yeay for blue and mustard coloured flowers how fab do they look! and I am loving the pink and green mix in one flower. It gets my fingers itching to bead some more...

a day of beading, show and share

Another enjoyable aspect of teaching is seeing finished pieces. In this class there were not one, but two 'Enchanter's Tassels' completed from a previous workshop. With the best will in the world there's only really enough time to make samples in  a few colourways and bead variations. Just enough to check that it really works and will be workable for everyone in class or at home.

Two variations of Enchanter's tassel

So when students take the colours or shapes for a walk, then bring in the end results for me to see, it is a brilliant treat. Enchanter's tassel is a fluid, jointed design worked in layers of Albion Stitch. I'm really liking the Herringbone stitch cord, worked in size 15 seeds. It takes an age to stitch, but is so worth the investment of time to get such dainty detail, go girls!