Day 6: Solid stitching & Hall’s Croft

Today was a day of solid stitching. The weather was pretty pleasant.

I enjoy breakfast at the Arden. The meusli is good, there's plenty of fruit and a decent selection of hot food cooked to order.  I got there soon after 7.30. People drift in over the next hour and catch up. By 8.20 I was in our work room and stitching.

Our room gets good sunlight. By mid-afternoon there are shadows and I used a light. I also swapped my barrel clamp for a seat frame, which was an improvement. It means I can sit back and sit straight. Nevertheless, my body protested a bit today.  I needed to stretch my back and eyes several times.

I  progressed Titania and we moved on to Moonbeam the dragonfly.






That had numerous challenging components. We are all progressing at roughly the same pace. We get very personalised attention and the conversation is relaxed, considerate and reflective.  We have known each other for a while and there is a level of trust.


I made a few errors today, and undid small amounts. It is a really lovely design to work on - and I just want to keep on with it.








My body however, called a halt today after six and a half hours of stitching.

I began on Oberon - but didn't get very far. I was feeling very physically tired.

We were scheduled to have canapes at the Shakespeare Trust at 5.30, then dinner at Hall's Croft - some distance apart. I  begged off the canapes but planned to walk the 400 yards or so to Hall's Croft to join the group for dinner. I had not seen Hall's Croft in the daylight and walked past it in the dark.


When I retraced my steps I couldn't work out how to get inside. There may be a carpark entrance off another street, but I couldn't find it. Rather than hang around in the dark and hope some of the group were not already inside,






I walked back to the Arden, retrieved my embroidery from our workroom, sent Laura a text message explaining my absence,

ate the fruit in my room and progressed my Midsummer Pillowe while watching Poirot. I had, after all, had rather a lot to eat at both breakfast and lunch.









I have progressed Moonbeam - might finish it before I go to bed.

From my point of view, a very satisfactory day.