Stiching, wanting to stitch, planning to stitch and growing stuff!

I used to do a lot of crazy quilt type embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery and Victorianish designs, mainly for crazy quilts and dolls.  I have been wanting to try some embroidery for a Saxon tunic, but kept getting distracted.  Finally, I just grabbed the box of supplies and went at it.   This is the start of a set of cuffs for a tunic, using the Bayeux stitch. I've played around with the stitches from the Bayeux tapestry but never actually created something useful.   I've always loved the look of the Bayeux laid work stitch and the Bayeux tapestry itself.  Regardless of the limited colour palette, it is an amazing piece of work.   I'm working on the second cuff now.

I've been promising the make my sweetie a new doublet for several years.   I finally started on the project.   I wasn't able to find either of the previous doublet patterns that I'd drafted and fitted so decided to use a commercial one.   What a horror that was!  Pattern pieces didn't fit, the instructions were vague, the pattern pieces have no markings and it's just such an odd shape that fitting it was obviously going to be a nightmare.   I dragged out the drafting tools, took the roll of paper from my loom and started fresh.   I still have to do the toile or mockup but it shouldn't take too much work to get it to fit.   I'll wait until I've the neckline corrected before I draft the collar though.

The Sheep to Shawl team, which is really 2 teams who work together interchangeably under the name Sheep Thrills.. hehehe... met and we had a donation of fibre for a warp.  One of the competitions requires us to handspin the warp. While the competition isn't until September, we thought we'd get a head start.  Free fibre is always a good starting point in deciding what fibre to use.  It's a lovely purple colour, blended with a little bit of grey.  It's sticky unfortunately, like it wasn't washed properly or has too much oil in it.   I'm pretty sure will wash out.  The rest of the warp will be a merino/silk blend filled in with some grey.

The Amaryllis I planted in the fall is flowering.  It's supposed to be pink.   I thought it would be a bit more pinky in colour, but it is still pretty.  I've never grown them before and was amazed at the flower size.  It's huge.  The two blooms are both bigger than my hand!

The pot of pink tulips I purchased while still in bud form are pretty but they aren't pink.   Yes, I have a fondness for pink flowers :)





Other than that, for the first time in ages, I went shopping for fabric to be used for regular clothes!  I can't remember the last time I did that.  I purchased fabric for two garden aprons and a skirt.  I got tired of finding only very short skirts in stores and nothing suitable in thrift stores.  When denim went on sale for half price, I bought a skirt length.  I don't care if it isn't horribly fashionable to have a longer denim skirt, it's very practical!

Leek seed is planted.  Onion seed will be planted next week.   I wanted to spread out the fun a little bit ;)