Phew!!

Needle lace is not for the faint hearted - fifteen hours of stitching to produce this tiny corsage ( just less than 4"across).

Because I chose a fine thread and worked it in the basic needlelace stitch (corded brussels) it looks almost like it's made from a woven fabric. To make it appear lacier a more open stitch would have been required.  This will be another technique to use for making components for my mixed media work. I finished making the leaves on Tuesday at a social stitching day at  Beecrafty.  It was good to leave the workroom and be among like minded people, it gave me the inspiration to finish off one or two pieces that were languishing due to my lack if motivation. I shall do this a  more often, obviously the peer group shamed me into action !

I'm stitching like blazes on my 'vessel' piece - I've bumped up the highlights,shadows and colour on this pic so that you can see all the layers. I intend to 'knock back' the couched lines with the felter once the main stitching is finished and then it will be randomly beaded and then ready to form into the final shape. I was beginning to get quite bored with this piece but as the stitching progresses I can't wait to see the final result so I will concentrate on this until completion.

We bought another water butt on Sunday and John added it to our existing set up on Monday - how timely - as if to order it then rained for 36 hours leaving us with 600 litres of rain water stored!

I'm worried that by being so organised we have precipitateded (pun intended) the wettest summer on record.