Addison Embroidery
at the
Vicarage

Embroidered letter A (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

This is the second summer since my husband retired from his house for duty post as a priest to 2 Oxfordshire parishes and although I can claim the disruption of two house moves in that time, my lack of progress on the altar frontal for Ipsden church hangs heavily in my thoughts. With my husband’s first cataract operation due at the end of this month and with the grandchildren about to enjoy a  full month of attention from their parents, I’ve realised this is the ideal time to get down to a push to the end on the altar frontal.

Embroidered letter A (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Inspired by American type designer, Jessica Hische  and her “Daily Drop Cap ” project , I decided that, each week until the altar frontal is finished I shall embroider a single letter of the alphabet. (Let’s hope that it gets finished well before I go through all 26 letters of the alphabet, although I shall want to go on embroidering letters whatever happens.)

Various letter As -including beautiful AC monogram – sketched from online examples

I sketched various As I found online – and it’s a sadness that it’s not easy to find the origin of all of them – and settled on a favourite. This was then tweaked to make it work in embroidery and to avoid too slavish copying. This letter ‘A’  was padded out with chain stitch over which I embroidered smooth satin stitch. Each letter minus the flourishes is 3″ (7.5cms).

Polo shirt (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino Bk 3) with Fair Isle banding

I first knitted this little jumper here from a Debbie Bliss pattern. She calls it a polo shirt and though I can see why – collar, placket, knitted rather than woven, it doesn’t seen quite right to so call it when the yarn is wool and a less than fine ply.  Knitted for 12-18 months I thought my granddaughter might be glad of it during summer, especially in the Lake District where her other grandparents live but the weather – even in the Lakes – continues hot, hot, hot and no one’s worn anything like a jumper for almost a couple of months. My previous post shows samples I tried out before deciding on the Fair Isle band.

Polo shirt (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino Bk 3) with Fair Isle banding

I’m in London this week while daughter No 1 is away on an assignment. Friday was my grandson’s last day at nursery school which was oddly affecting as we took stock of how far he’d come from his first days at the school. (Daughter No 1 came back for his concert and lunch with his friends and their families.) When he started school, he just went in the afternoon which unfortunately coincided with his afternoon nap. Usually he’d fall asleep in his buggy minutes before we got to school and I’d have to sit in the corridor for about 15 minutes with him on my knee until he’d suddenly wake up, sit bolt upright, slither off my knee and disappear into his classroom. We had the usual – unnecessary – worries about friendships and about getting out of nappies (oh what a long time ago that now seems!) and we hoped he wouldn’t repeat an unfortunate incident at open day when a rolling pin set  out with the play dough made unfortunate contact with a liitle girl’s head (there was no repeat, nor anything similar – thank goodness..) Now he’s confident, considerate, bright and ready for the next stage in his education, which is all we could wish for. How quickly those 21 months have flown by!

Polo shirt (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino Bk 3) with Fair Isle banding: detail of collar

Polo shirt in action (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino Bk 3) with Fair Isle banding: