Summer school 2016

After a glorious week of sunshine , I was keeping my fingers crossed for the same for our weekend. I was not disappointed. My journey over to our new venue Waddow Hall was lovely. The trees were in full blossom and the fields full of crops. Sue and I met and we awaited our two tutors, Lynda Monk who was creating surfaces and Maggie Hickman Smith was painting gardens in stitch. It worked well as Sue had chosen the former and I was with Maggie. We helped our tutors to bring in their amazing amount of display and then awaited our fellow students.
It was good to meet up with old friends but this year we also welcomed quite a few new faces. The bar opened at 6.00pm and then dinner at 6.30. A really tasty hotpot which was spoken about for ages.
Maggie began her evening session with a slide show of embroiderers who had inspired her. Although we were going to be stitching very traditional pieces she does far more, having written the Get Plastered and Get Stuffed books. We then watched a demo and began our sample pieces. I began with Holbein stitch and then one single strand of thread to try dainty French knots. That was enough for the evening so we then adjourned to the bar,
After breakfast the work began. We painted our calico and continued to learn and practise a variety of stitches suited to certain flowers. This continued all day, interrupted by morning coffee, lunch afternoon tea and dinner. By about 9.30 pm , I had a fairly reasonable wisteria so my trip to the bar went without guilt.
We needed to pack our personal stuff on Sunday morning so our class started at 9.45. I worked on Cretan stitch to use in a sunflower and saw an oyster stitch, never seen before. Morning coffee and a roast dinner then a little more before we set up our show and tell. We visited each others rooms and then came back for a final few words. There was masses to see in Lyndas class and so little in ours but we really had worked hard and was was totally happy with my choice. Afternoon tea and our raffle finished the day. Well almost, we had another very special raffle, those who had worn the name badges provided put them into a hat and a lucky name was drawn, winning a free place to next years summer school. How? Why? As this was a new venture, venue ,time  etc we worked our figures on a minimum number but were able to fill all the bedrooms and therefore had some spare cash. Rather than dividing this amongst

What we could achieve!!!

A demo by Maggie

I wish this was mine!!!!

Another stitch to learn.

Above Lynda and below our class

 Samples from Lyndas students

My work for  the whole weekend!!!!

Our final de brief

Our Home for three days

members we thought this raffle would be {and was } very popular. Almost all students left assuring Sue and I that they would be back next year so do keep your eyes and ears open for more information.