reading corner

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Another day filled with rain made my reading corner just the place for a relaxing break. It's next to the window so I could listen to the heavy drops cascade into the garden while I started some homework. Next week sweet Amy is hosting an embroidery party, and I decided I need at least to learn some stitch vocabulary.  Plus today I signed up for a Silver Bella embroidery swap hosted by Rebecca.  Such fun ahead!

I found the two paperback books on eBay, and they look so enticing that even as a beginner I'm hooked.  Luckily, they are both filled with diagrams and directions.  Crewel and Surface Embroidery by Trish Burr is a 2008 publication, still available on Amazon, with 17 projects from beginner to advanced levels and lots of tip on techniques.   Monograms, the Art of Embroidered Letters, by Susan O'Connor was published in Australia in 2007, so it's harder to find. Again it's filled with illustrated techniques and two sets of templates.




Beside my carved Victorian reading chair, on the old table bought in Holland in the 80's, are three handblown balls from North Carolina (others have broken in our many moves) in a Coalport china bowl acquired when I worked for Wedgwood in Germany. A hand-carved lion made by the same carver and from the same stone being used to restore columns in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre when I lived in Jerusalem in the 70's sits next to an old iron pedestal stand found long ago in some antique shop.  The silk flowers are leftover from an art event I helped decorate.  This quiet corner, like many others in my home, reminds me of all the countries and houses I've lived in, pursuing my adventures.

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