Hi Everyone,
It’s rainy, wet and windy here. I’ve got the heating and my warmest socks on and a cup of tea on the go.
I have spent the morning searching for some inspiration. It hasn’t gone well…
My mind was a blank and I was feeling gloomy.
I looked through my old sketch books and then got out piles of vintage linens that I have gathered over the years…
Such lovely textures and colors ought to ignite a spark…
And then I found what I had been looking for…tucked inside an old pillow case, this little booklet fluttered to the floor…
When my Great Aunt Peggy died, she left me this little treasure and I hadn’t laid eyes on it since we landed here in the U. S. of A. ten years ago. I opened it and took a peak…
As I hadn’t done her any justice at all with the piano she also left me, I managed to unburden myself of a small percentage of the hefty amount of guilt I had been feeling by having a go..
The back-stitch looked the easiest by a mile so I plumped for that and drew my favorite seed head design onto a natural linen pillow and got out my biggest needle and went for it. This is how it turned out.
I sat in a big armchair for a whole hour, stitching away, listening to the wind and the rain. I don’t think I had sat down in the daylight hours for that long in a good decade. It was so relaxing.
My mind was able to wander off into all sorts of places. I tortured myself for a while remembering why I had felt so guilty about my Great Aunt Peggy and the piano.
She was a piano teacher, she loved the piano and she loved music.
My mum asked her if she wanted to teach me and my sister – big mistake. I have no doubt whatsoever that we were her worst pupils by a country mile.
We would smear the keys with marmalade before our lessons and push the little homework book behind the back of the piano and then blunt the pencil that she would use to write the homework.
Cunning delaying tactics that didn’t hide the fact that we had no natural talent or desire to learn.
And then, just as I was about to move to this new continent as a grown woman, my Great Aunt Peggy died quite suddenly. She had just moved from the home she had spent her life into an old people’s home and three days later, just died.
And she left me her piano. Me, the most unworthy recipient of all.
I kept on stitching. This time with a different color.
I think I will be stitching for quite some time. With every stab of the needle and pull of the thread, I feel a little less guilty and a little less gloomy.
See you all soon.
Ros
p.s. And welcome to those of you who have hopped over from the very lovely Beach Cottage – I am a big fan. Hope you stop by again. Bye for now.
A lovely nostalgic read Ros! And a little dose of creative inspiration for me on a very grey Saturday morning in Hamburg x
Lovely memories and if your great aunt in heaven has access to the internet – who knows? then surely she will be touched and pleased. I’m sure she has long forgiven you the marmalade keys.
That’s a very lovely recollection and makes me think of my aged aunt too. x
i so agree with the therapuetic effect of stitching:) and your efforts turned out so cute, love the spring green on muslin!
I love the image of you embroidering and thinking about your auntie. It reminds me that I am so happy when I am knitting or doing something crafty (but not messy!). And those fabrics!!!! I loved this post.
Thanks Alice. There is much to be said for sitting still and doing something repetitive and creative – I am planning on doing it a lot more. Maybe even some knitting, although I am rubbish!
Thanks Lucy – I agree, so therapeutic.
I bet they were quite similar…
So shameful to think of now – I can’t believe that I didn’t take advantage of those lessons…
Hi Harriet, it’s a very grey and rainy morning here too- definitely more sewing on the agenda.
Ros, you are not only a very inspired, talented designer, but also a most worthy photographer, and an extremely satisfying read!!
I think your new calling is to publish!
Your friend up north
Renata
Thanks Renata, my friend up north – can’t wait to head up in your directionxx
Hey Ros,
Lots of work-related websites on my RSS feed at work, and yours thrown in there for a little therapeutic sunshine and niceness. I have similar started with the stitching, though has been a little more random! – http://www.sublimestitching.com/
Hope all well. xx
Hi Roisin, thanks for that link – looks like some good stuffxx
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I don’t embroider sp? (can’t even spell it!) or play piano…but, I will show this to Edie, who has gone thru a stage of doing the former and the seedheads look very inspirational to me!
and in the trickery blog, the flowers made me miss england very much! lovely, lovely, as ever! xx And don’t y’all have family out East? I need gardening help badly! xBecky
I wish you could see my garden right now – those pictures were taken a while back – and at a cunning angle – I have so much to do out there – knee deep in weeds.xx