Proms in the park Last night we celebrated the Last night of the proms at Proms in the Park - a concert in Hyde park. As we got there early we got a great plot for our picnic (another good P!) and enjoyed a great afternoon/evening of music, rounding off with some patriotic singing!

Pirates of Penzance The first G&S show I did with Duncan. Due to the lack of men in the company at that time, I got to play a pirate! It was great fun - I had facial hair and everything! Unfortunately it was before digital cameras and we don’t have a means of scanning them in - I have been told I look better with the facial hair, so it’s an option for the wedding!

Peony A beautiful flower, one I’m planning on including in my wedding bouquet. My mum is busy making the flowers for my cake out of icing - I think she has finished the peony already (I’ll try and get a photo when I go visit in October) and is busy making lavender and rose buds..

I owe my mum a lot for introducing me to crafting - she has been cake decorating, flower arranging and sewing for years and growing up she was always going to classes for one thing or another. I’m hoping she’ll be able to come down in October to join me at the knitting and stitching show.

Owls When I helped out at my local Brownies I was known as Little Owl, which was fine in the church hall on a Monday night - but not so fun when accosted on a Saturday afternoon out shopping with my mates! When the farm down the road from my parents converted the barns into houses, my Dad put what looks like a big dog kennel up a tree behind the house to give the owls somewhere to go. After quite a few years it has finally paid off and there are now owls up there! I can’t wait to go visit and see!!

Neuroendocrinology The subject of my PhD. People are always a little surprised that after 4 years of research, long hours and little holiday, I now want to sew. But to me it kind of makes sense apart from the lots of effort for very little reward aspect sewing also involves:

concept project design gathering materials execution of the project producing a final product (research/conference paper or brooch/card…)

A bit tenuous maybe but you get the idea..

The map that changed the world This is a long term project that I haven’t really planned out yet.. My Dad has requested - more than once - that I do a copy of William Smith’s geological map of England. I haven’t really worked out what will be involved yet. I believe its under copyright at the Geological Society.. It’s on the list of things to do - but so are two wedding samplers!

Morris My surname to be! Today we finally confirmed that we’re having a BBQ for our wedding breakfast - I’m very excited about it

Leaf

This leaf is my first stumpwork leaf. I put together a tutorial when my wrist’s a bit better. This was something we did at the guild and being mainly buttonhole stitch it was really quick to pick up. The leaf can be detached from the calico now and then I still have to decide what to do with it - suggestions would be good!

I’ve been a bit erratic with blog posts this week as we’ve had a friend from Uni visiting from the states. We’ve been having loads of fun entertaining her! On Saturday night we ended up in a Burlesque themed bar in Soho. We had a lovely BBQ on Sunday and yesterday we went for afternoon tea at Clarridge’s. I can’t recommend the experience highly enough! Not only were we treated to amazing tea, sandwiches, scones and cake - such amazing food - we also saw a host of celebrities on their way out for various parties. We followed the tea with a champagne cocktail in Selfridge’s and sat on the next table to Cat Deeley and Edith Bowman .. so a celebrity packed day with just the best food, drink and surroundings!

Kingfisher In the woods by my parents house there’s the River Dove. My Dad has seen numerous kingfishers down there over the years and I don’t think my Mum has seen a single one (in about 30 years!). I love the colours of these birds and it’s one of the reasons I want to learn silk painting!

Jacobean crewel work - Rather specific I know, but this is the pieces I started earlier in the summer at a 3 day Jacobean course with the Royal School of Needlework.

My mum and I have taken courses there for the last two summers and they have both been excellent! The design for this was done by Helen Stevens - unfortunately I haven’t been able to track down a blog/website for her, but as well as being an RSN apprenticeship graduate she also makes stunning jewelry! and gets to do it all as a day job!

I’m hoping to finish this in the next few weeks! - My arm has been steadily improving all week and I’m typing this with both hands and no pain relief