Autumn is here.


Just back from our 11th trip to Pirapora close to Tropea in Calabria southern  Italy  Robert and I had a great week in Puglia before driving across from the east coast to pick up my stitching friends on the west coast to arrive at Pirapora.
 
Crossing from Puglia, interesting villages, churches and trulli houses but very flat we appreciated just how dramatic and beautiful the Calabria countryside is.  After a very wet summer it was amazingly green – fortunately the weather changed as we arrived and we enjoyed warm sun and blue skies for our whole visit.

On or trips to Tuscany , usually in April/May, we always have a design that everyone works, on this trip people are able to choose what they wish to stitch. Both work well, this year in Tuscany we all stitched the venue’s logo, a pair of pheasants under an olive tree;  in Calabria there was a wide range from a large wall hanging worked in silks on 18 mesh canvas to a hussif and all things in between.   Personally I worked on a group of Butterfly with a mixture of traditional solid stiches and shadow stitchery.

The Pheasants design called for rich metallic threads in basket weave tent ,the Olive Tree leaves in embroidery, and the backgrounds in both Skip Tent and a Patterned Darning with a fine stranded cotton and single ply of a metallic.

A hussif is traditionally a holdall/pouch containing all a soldier in the British Army might require for repairs to his clothing when necessary.  As you can see the needlepoint cover is a good rectangular shape to design for –Vivian, in this case chose  a geometric – it is the interior that can be as ambitious or not as one wishes.

The Scented Garden floral design has been worked previously as a rug on 14  mesh canvas but in this case Connie wanted a wall hanging so silks and floss were suitable for the finer canvas.  A photo of the 14 mesh version is on my 2017 blog ‘The Universal Problem’.

Two women from Belguim have joined us for a number of years and often bring the finished design from the last year.   Last year we enjoyed some Christmas scenes Marie-Louise had done and this year Christine brought her Elderflower panel finished as a fabric covered box top.
 

Fact sheets for both the Tuscany and the Calabria trips are available, the dates in 2019 are Tuscany 28 April – 5 May;   Calabria mid September to be finalised.  www.anna-needlepoint-pearson.com/

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stitching in Italy

Image
We have just returned from a break to Italy, too busy stitching to blog, sorry about that however I am longing to share the news with you now. We had our 8 th visit to Pirapora a family run Agro tourism place that grows all its own fruit and vegetables, even the wine we drink with dinner.    The location is perfect, pleasant shady gardens where we stitch, weather allowing, with stunning views of the sea. Everyone stitched their own design which added to interesting discussions and suggestions.    As before one outing to an interesting place was all I could encourage them to take – this year we went to a Roman/Norman site Catanzaro.    Our English speaking guide who with his knowledge adds a great deal to any of our trips and this time was no exception, we had a visit to an old olive press with the original machinery and an embroiderer’s work studio   and saw her working with the silks produced from the silk worms who enjoy the mulberry leaves grown in abundance in the area – we
Read more

Needlepoint, your passport to a Magic Carpet

Image
  It’s difficult to travel, impossible in some countries, many of us have a  fear of flying - come along with me on a magic carpet ride. For over more than 50 years I have always loved travelling to interesting destinations and seeing buildings, decorative architecture, exciting tiles or mosaic floors and, on my return, have used these memories as inspiration for my needlepoint designs.    Each design has a story, some beautiful and happy others less so.  In fact, in some cases, a terrible event has befallen the area shortly after we had left. However, as I stitch my mind wanders back – on my magic carpet – to the occasion, place and circumstances of when I first was intrigued by the scene.   However, one big regret is that I have not kept a ‘travel diary’ much to my dismay now, so while putting these memories together I have sometimes resorted to Wikipedia or Google for confirmation of some detail.    These sessions together have added to my knowledge and become part of my magic carp
Read more

March Blog

Image
While the days are getting longer, evenings lighter and the Government giving us a list of possible dates for easing our isolation and mixing with friends and relations I fear we still have some way to go.   A friend said that we shall have to ‘relearn normal’ I wonder how long that will take?   Not just a single visit to the hairdresser though I am sure that will help a great deal! Every order, every email and every telephone call, your interest and kind words encourage me to suggest and design needlepoint projects that I hope will appeal to you in this difficult time. The February zoom joined by many of you ‘making up and finishing needlepoint’ demonstrated just what a wonderful range of beautiful (and useful) items could be made. In my last Blog we talked about colour and how, we all have shown a strong preference for happy, cheerful shades and on the other hands' designs that can be purchased without threads so as to use one’s own left-over stash.  One of the saddest thought
Read more