V & S stripey monogram (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
There were no hand made church biscuits at the weekend because of London babysitting on Saturday morning and the village Cricket Club Quiz on the Saturday night. I thought I might manage a bit of baking but in the end it was as much as I could do to rifle through the cupboards and dig out a couple of packets of custard creams. My next church biscuit will be number 50, so perhaps I shall have to try to produce something special. As you’re no doubt dying to know, our quiz team finished south of middling, let down as usual by our lack of knowledge of TV shows and pop music. Once again all that listening to opera and German Lieder has gone untapped and reluctantly I realise it’s about time I learned the names of all 7 of the Dwarfs from the Disney film which have come up at least twice in recent quizzes (Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy and Sleepy, just so you know).
V & S stripey monogram (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
Embroidering light colours in winter is quite challenging, even with the right sort of artificial light (which keeps me awake at night if I use it all evening) so you would think all this lovely daylight would have me doing nothing but whitework. The trouble – well scarcely trouble – is that bright light, a bit of sun and the odd spring flower has made me long to have coloured threads running through my needle and my fingers twitch irresistibly towards electric blues, lime greens, scarlets, etc. and veer right away from off whites and pastel shades. My monograms are usually more complicated in design with filigree backgrounds or trailing flowers but I think this one makes the right statement for an elegant and strong minded recipient.
V & S stripey monogram (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
Enthused by the colours used in the embroidery I went round the house snapping brightly coloured things that took my fancy – just for the fun of it…
A line of Fortnum and Mason biscuit tins
A row of wooden dancing toys
Embroidered honeysuckle on kimono silk
Painting ‘The Blue Vase’ by David Addison
A row of Noddy books
Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt
Stained glass star
20 Comments
Love that monogram – it’s really striking. I have the same problem with daylight lamps, so I entirely sympathise..
Thank you Rachel.
That monogram is so striking, I am sure the recipient will be thrilled! I have very fond memories of those nodding animal toys, we always received one in our Christmas stockings as children. X
I’m glad you like the monogram, Penny. Good too that my little line of wooden toys brought back happy memories.
Oh I love all of your little collections. You have an eye for colour. The monogran is great. Bx
Thanks, Becky for saying such nice things.
Your embroidery always gives me pleasure, but I simply love this one. A simple design(compared to the usual!) but your use of colour- wonderful! A lovely post, thank you! Penny L in Dorset
It is funny how this monogram has hit a nerve with people and yet it was so simple – and quick – to do.
Thank you for commenting, Penny.
Mary, you have a plethora of Penny fans! I agree with them all that this is a stunning post: your designs have a timeless though contemporary style, and your love of colour, balance and elegance in words and deeds infuses everything with vitality and stylish vibrancy.
I laughed out loud at your self-deprecatory ignorance in quizzes. Our last night in Cornwall on Sunday was spent in a pub taking part in their quiz where we, too, woefully under performed in the “Celebrity” and ” Sports” categories having misspent too many decades reading far too much good stuff while listening to Radio 3. Must do better.
How wonderful to have so many Pennys (what is the plural of Penny? what is their collective name?) and all of you saying such lovely, encouraging things. Thank you.
I fear it is now too late to catch up on popular culture – and I don’t think I really want to anyway. Perhaps you should always make sure you have a teenager on your quiz team instead. (Just as every new TV/computer/electric toothbrush should come with a seven year old boy in the package!)
A Plethora of Pennys. I like it! Thank you for bringing us all together Mary! X
How wonderful to be the collecting dish for so many Pennys and each of you with a clear distinctive voice. Penny is a lovely name – sophisticated yet approachable and with a hint of the classical tapestry maker.
What a jolly monogram!
I was for some very strange reason trying to remember the names of the Seven Dwarfs the other day. I couldn’t get past Bashful, Doc and Sleepy and now I know.
Your house must be full of wonderful things Mary, those books and little wooden wobbly legged toys. I remember them too from years ago….
Me again – I rather think that you must have another Artist in the family too…..
My husband has at least three heads – artist, art historian and priest and has managed to pursue all three vocations for most of his life – majoring in one and minoring in another at one time and then swapping round at another. It is true, though, that he hasn’t spent as much time painting as he would have liked.
Glad you like the monogram and my other photographs, Lydia. What useless things we expect ourselves to remember! Suddenly I feel I must check the names of Father Christmas’s reindeer – in April!!!! Oh dear.
lovely post. Really like the embroidery, great colours and strength.
Thank you, Jane. All these kind comments give me hope the recipient will like it too.
I love the font used in this monogram – did you design it or does it have a name?
I’m glad you like the lettering, Mary. I think I probably found an image that I liked and based it on that. I usually keep a record of images I’ve used but at the moment can’t lay my hands – either virtual or real – on it. I have a feeling it may have been carved in stone, but I’m not sure. This is the same lettering. http://www.addisonembroideryatthevicarage.co.uk/2015/04/25/v-s-whitework-monogram/
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[…] with my second SV monogram. You may remember, a couple of weeks ago, I did a brightly coloured stripey SV (Christian name and surname) for one person and I enjoyed the letters so much (especially the S […]