At last! Time to Blog :-)

It is such a shame this is my first opportunity this week to do a blog entry - I have been itching to write all week, but my studies and work have overtaken my time. I just hope people don't forget me or get fed up of visiting here and not finding anything new ....

Today I had to make a presentation at University (which took me 6 weeks to prepare). The subject for the assignment was "Managing Knowledge in commercial organisations", so it deals with how people gain expertise, learn how to improve their skills and thereby make the company more successful.

It makes me reflect on how we develop our expert skills as crafters. What activities do we get involved in to improve our own skills and those of our crafting friends?
- We share our skills with each other, giving each other help on stitching techniques, with mini "teach-in" sessions including photographs and instructions.
- We get together for SAL's and Stitching Evenings to exchange ideas and get help from each other on difficulties we may have with stitching.
- We subscribe to our fave XS magazines and take great delight in putting photos of our WIP's, UFO's and Happy Dance projects on our Blogs. Get the picture?
Unfortunately my presentation at University would have looked strange with these themes, so I had to stick to Organisational learning techniques .. LOL!

Despite lack of time, I am excitedly planning my next Projects. You can compare progress since San took the photo of my Welsh Sampler (see her Blog http://angelsan.free.fr/blog.php?m=200601&paged=5.) The close-up photo shows the double border line detail (in brown-black).

I am now filling in the little dashes of colour in pink and terracotta and the embellishments in green and turquoise. I think I will only have another 3-4 hours to complete it, so there may be a Happy Dance sometime soon!

My next project is going to be The Seed Sampler designed by Lesley Grant, who kindly sent me her own copy of Cross Stitch Collection. This happened because I was unable to get a copy of the magazine, so sent in a 'Wanted' Advert which Lesley noticed, and she sent me her copy with a really kind letter. I am itching to get started as I would like to send a finished photo so that she will see that I used her Chart :-) I was very excited when DH rang me in the week to say that the project threads and Linen I ordered from http://www.sewdiscounted.co.uk/ had arrived!

As a mini project, I am stitching a Springtime Thankyou Card for our friends over in NZ to say thanks for looking after DH when he was over there - that should be a quickie job which I want to complete in the coming week. The evenings are definitely drawing out and that means one great thing .... more daylight for stitching yeah!I ordered a wonderful kit from www.stitchability.co.uk (which arrived today). I swooned when I saw a photo of it on the back of my recent Cross Stitch Collection magazine. I just knew I HAD to buy it, even I will not be able to start working on it until I have finished The Seed Sampler and Springtime Card, otherwise I will be overwhelmed and do not want to risk UFO's! Also, it is £10 cheaper on Stitchability's website as they are running a promotion - how lucky is that!

See the haziness of the trees in the background? That effect is created by very soft green tones worked in half stitch - its totally gorgeous and makes me dream of long summer days. There is a field on a hill about 4 miles away from our house that looks very similar to this, so I think it will be a rather lovely project to work on later in the year.

FIELD OF POPPIES
(Anchor - Premier Collection)