Rabbits!

I am booked on a tour of the Scottish Highlands with The Crewel Work Company in June and a kit arrived as part of my package to prepare for the tour. I have been so busy trying to finish off some of my existing projects that I only began the Rabbits! kit ten days ago - and I am now on my way to London. 

The piece is beautifully printed on Z twist linen twill especially grown and woven for The Crewel Work Company.

The threads - Appleby wools - are beautifully packaged so they can be drawn and cut very easily - the best I have experienced in a kit.

It is decades since I did crewel work so I followed the instructions! These come in a booklet - very detailed and full of tips. There is a teacher's brain at work here!

After working on a few projects this year which have been free- wheeling, I had to adjust to the routine of consulting instructions - a very different discipline. It paid off, however, in re-orienting my brain to the techniques and effects of crewel work.

Even my stem stitch required a bit of adjustment, but I got into the swing of it. The test came of course, with long and short stitch. The instructions were very helpful and explicit. I did quite well, stitching into the night. The daylight, however, revealed less blending than I had thought I achieved. Still, learning is the purpose and I can adjust it.    I did manage to finish this, less than half an hour before I left for the airport this afternoon -  but the finish will have to be a later post!