Heidi's Hannah Gilpin Begins to Bloom

The community of stitchers is a wonderful one. Where would we farflung stitchers be without guilds, retreats and stitchalongs to share our common love of needle and thread? Every so often I pop into the Needleprint Stitchalongs to see how the stitching is coming along and today I had the lovely surprise of seeing Heidi's work. I love the shades of Hannah Gilpin's Ackworth School Sampler - in a busy and sometimes stressful life, there is a great calmness to be found there. There is also something of the ceremony to be seen here, which again in a life which rushes to get on with the main event is becoming a rarer and rarer sight. How often do we put fresh linen cloth on a tea tray? Add a flower stem or two to the supper table? Here we can see carefully edged linen, a cleanly bound frame, careful basting - how long did that take? Heidi tells us that she is using the original colors in the pattern, and a lovely linen that she's used before that is 14 threads per centimeter. She says it's been a bit busy with birthdays and back to school, but as soon as the "new year" has settled, she'll be stitching away on this one in the evenings...and looking forward to seeing what the rest of you are doing! Thank you for this motivation, Heidi. You can join the Hannah Gilpin Stitchalong at any time - you just need a chart, a needle, some thread and linen...and good cheer.

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