Embroidered letter D (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
The small people and their parents have come and gone, enjoyed playing in the tent and happily suffered no bombardment from falling apples. Great fun was had with the old Playmobil Farm and the dolls’ house, a £10 charity shop find which I filled with Sylvanian family inhabitants (crammed a family of four to three of its four rooms). It’s a real pleasure seeing another generation enjoying toys as much as their parents did (and makes worthwhile our carting them around with us in our 4 moves in 10 years). How children prize memories of such things was brought home to me the previous week when my husband’s 15 year old grandson expressed the hope that we hadn’t got rid of my son’s box of Micromachines he used to play with when they came to visit. (We still have them.) It reminded me of how one of my own children’s grannies always had a few rather good toys stashed away in one of her three splendid oak dressers. The singing frogs satisfied the youngest children while the battery operated marching penguins which laboriously climbed a moving stair before swooshing down round a figure of 8 circuit just about had us all entranced. (That particular granny was even more impressive as she would stand by, watching unflinchingly while one of the little ones emptied china from one of the other cupboards -” no child has ever broken anything before and I doubt this one will now”. Such enviable confidence, though they never did break anything now I come to think about it!)
Embroidered letter E (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)
This calligraphic F has been embroidered in stem stitch and was inspired by the handwork of Maricor/Maricar, a pair of Sydney based embroidering sisters who are bringing hand embroidery, both design and execution, bang up to the minute.
Various letter Es – sketched from online examples
6 Comments
I love the colour shading in that F – it looks like watercolours!
I used to enjoy playing with ancestral toys too. I’ve never met a child that didn’t!
Don’t feel I’ve managed as crisp as edge as I would have liked with the changing of colour – must practice.
There’s something so satisfying about producing a somewhat worn but intact boxed toy, let alone actually playing with it.
Lucky it happened for you too, Rachel.
I just discovered your blog last week searching for some embroidery guidance and am enjoying reading the archives! So true about grandchildren and toys – our grandson has had a lot of disruptions and has asked us if we are going to keep various things for him when he visits – we certainly are!
ceci
So glad to hear you’ve enjoyed my blog, Ceci. Thank you for being so kind as to leave a comment.
Children love knowing that there are toys available for them, don’t they, and they are also seem quite happy for them to stay here when they go?
I have just caught up with your last three posts – all of which are, as usual, enjoyable. Each monogram so very different but delightful.
The remark you made in the post on the “C” has made me realize that what some of my embroidery on the quilt is missing is underpadding to make the satin stitch more prominent. I think you mentioned it in a long ago post but my aging brain had forgotten. Thank you.
I like a bit of padding on initials. If I’m organised I use a bit of white felt (which washes perfectly well I’ve found when covered by stitches); if I’m feeling lazy and happy in front of the television, I’ll just do a lot of loose chain stitch which tends to make the final initial a bit less plump than felt. Best of luck with the quilt, Anne.