Crewel Work

This past January my husband and I drove north to Sacramento to attend our niece's wedding. While there we decided to drive into San Francisco for lunch, and visit a needlework shop along the way. I have purchased some supplies from Needle in a Haystack in Alameda in the past, so decided to visit the brick and mortar shop.  What a great shop! They are soooo helpful - they will serge your fabric for you and go to great lengths to find what you need. Try to visit it if you are in the San Francisco area!

I haven't ever done any crewel work, so while there, I picked up a few kits by Tristan Brooks Designs. The only one I completed so far is the Newbury Small, mostly done while on Jury Duty in February. (I didn't even get called to a case, much less picked).

Cute, isn't it? Just some Long and Short stitches, stem stitches, French knots, herringbone, etc. Nothing too terribly complicated. Theoretically, it was quick and easy to stitch, but I started it in February and just now finished it, in June.

I mounted it in this trivet frame I also bought there, but now I'm not sure I want to I want to put a pot on it. My husband wants to hang it in one of the bathrooms, not too sure about that, either. Maybe a grouping of four or six of them it would look good.

So how was the wedding? Absolutely lovely! It was held in a B&B near Folsom with the ceremony outside in the drizzle. The chuppah was made of a old tablecloth that had belonged to the groom's grandmother, outfitted with new borders.  The bride and groom are both PhD candidates in English Literature, so of the course the theme was books. In fact the centerpieces of the tables consisted of books they bought on eBay. We came home with several table's worth, which we haven't read yet. But as we are great readers, we will get to them eventually. Now I want my daughter and son-in-law to dig up their chuppah, so I can embroider their names and the date of their wedding on it. It's a lovely prayer shawl of cream wool, so will look good with wool embroidery, of course being careful so it looks good on both sides. They plan on emptying out their storage unit this summer, so I should be able to get my hands on it then. It will make a great heirloom, especially if any of the children (1 so far) are married with it.