Sew Meditative

 Until today I was very much of the opinion that embroidery was an activity that was deeply absorbing and relaxing. A pastime that could whisk you away into a world free from stress, anxiety and feeling obliged to shout at all the news reports in a manner that suggests to the onlooker that you are thoroughly p***ed off with incompetence of those who profess to lead us. 

Until today. Until I set about tackling Module 3 of my Stumpwork course - hands, hats, heads and figures -  armed with these ingredients...

... in an attempt to fashion a pair of teeny, tiny and, it turns out, freaky looking hands. Thus:

This was the second attempt. I dare not show you the first attempt because it is imbibed with vibrations of stress, impatience, huffin’ and puffin’, mucho swearing, fiddle faddle and diddly doo, and I fear the photo I took for my portfolio evidence will leak this bad energy into your calm and peaceful evening/ morning/ afternoon/ whenever you are reading this. 

Anyway, by the tenth finger I was getting the hang of the darned technique. I had also earned a splitting headache what with all the squinting and fiddling about. Where are my delicate fairy hands when I need them? Or my third hand, come to that? I am hoping when I set about tackling my next pair tomorrow, I’ll make a better job of them and they won’t look quite like the knobbly desiccated remains of an Egyptian mummy.  

Anyway, I’m back in embroidery mode and I’m hoping to have Module 3 completed by mid-November, and Module 4 by the end of this year. Freaky mummified fingers crossed.

Andy has made sweet chilli jam! Finely crafted from the plethora of chillies we have grown this year, thanks to my foresight of planting the seeds in March rather than May, it is marvellous stuff! Our pickles and preserves cupboard is fit to bursting now. I’m still picking a good amount of raspberries so some jam might be on the horizon, but all the while they are good enough to eat as they are, that is what we shall continue to do. There is something about me that doesn’t like wasting a good, fresh raspberry in jam.

The cold frame is producing a good crop of salad leaves which I shall take a first picking from tomorrow. The final runner beans were picked yesterday, along with the grand total of two squash...sheesh...which will make a bowl of soup if I’m lucky. It’s not been the year for winter squash. Not round these parts anyway. Tomatoes are still coming. Cucumbers and courgettes have gone.

And I am on the second sleeve of the moss stitch jacket I am knitting! Annoyingly, I think I am going to run out of wool, despite buying an extra ball ‘just in case.’ This means I will have to visit the Wool Warehouse website to buy another. Only £2.20 but I get free delivery if I place an order over £25. What’s a girl to do, eh? Perhaps a spot of browsing? Maybe some fat quarters? Embroidery threads? Some more wool for another project? Sigh...it’s a hardship, but it has to be done...