I can hardly believe we’re already at the end of another month. July here in England has been a damp and frankly rather chilly month interspersed with just a few brighter days. It was warm and sunny though at the beginning of the month when we visited London to see Eddie Izzard perform Great Expectations , in fact perhaps a little too warm for comfort amongst the brick, concrete and tarmac of the city. It was an interesting performance although I wasn’t completely won over by it, but still an amazing feat of both stamina and memory to remain on stage solo for over two hours!
Closer to home the chickens have been producing an abundance of eggs with wonderfully golden yolks, perfect for fluffy sponges, omelettes and, our new favourite, clafoutis with all kinds of summer fruits. They also make great subjects for embroidery patterns…..
That’s Primrose (a most friendly and inquisitive little hen) on the right and Poppy on the left – our two Devon Blue chickens who lay – no surprise – lovely blue eggs that Florence particularly likes. The pattern for Primrose is in the new (August) Magazine, whilst Poppy made her appearance in the May edition.
These two hoops really illustrate how difficult I find it when I’m asked if a design is suitable for a beginner. I would say that neither hoop is particularly difficult to stitch as they use just two simple stitches – split stitch and straight stitch. You do have to have an eye for shading though (which is why I’ve included lots of work in progress photos to help the stitcher along).
I don’t think there’s any reason why a confident beginner shouldn’t be able to complete either one but then I don’t really remember much about being a total beginner as I began my stitching journey as a very young (pre-school) child, learning from my mother and grandma. Mine is of course a totally subjective opinion and I really don’t feel qualified to decide on someone else’s behalf. Maybe I’m just overthinking things – I’d love to hear any ideas you may have about grading patterns into levels of difficulty.
As July comes to an end tomorrow so does our Christmas in July sale over on Etsy. Absolutely everything is reduced by 30% so if you haven’t already snagged a bargain, then please don’t miss out – you have just 24 hours left to shop! Just CLICK HERE to visit the sale.
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