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.

Day 5: Retreat Begins

I was awake at 4.30 am this morning, having forgotten to take my melatonin the night before. Still, 6 hours sleep overnight is in the right path. I got to breakfast by 7.40am, met up with some mates and was ready in the lobby for our 9am start.

There are 36 students and six tutors. I’m doing Nicola Jarvis’s beautiful insect pillow. We are set up in the guest lounge, overseen by the bard himself (peering over the board) as well as a few actors.

It was quite a sunny day and the light is good in our room (photo taken late in the day doesn’t do justice).

Our goody bags were waiting for us - new bag design this year.

I make good use of my Crewel Work Company bags. I was overjoyed to find a pair of decent scissors inside. My little aeroplane- friendly ones are fit-for-purpose but have their limits.

Our intimate group had a really lovely time.  Each insect in Nicola’s design is named for a Shakespearean character. The dominant one is Titania, the butterfly. The elements are tiny  (we all used magnification) but varied in both stitch and thread. The threads are lovely - silk, cotton and wool, sourced, as always, with care to achieve exactly the effect the design demands. We began on the carnation. I found the points tricky, but got a nice plumpness.

We had made a lot of progress by 5pm when eyes and backs called a halt.

Along the way we had long silences and great discussions. I have gained in confidence about the embroidery I’m considering for the Guild Exhibition later this year. Members of the group reinforced some of my thinking and gave me some great suggestions for elements I’d been puzzling over.  They just get it! 

Lunch was a buffet. The vegetarian lasagna was fabulous.

This year, with Laura's permission, I brought with me some of the Embroiderers’ Guild of SA's Ort Pot kits. I always have one with me and, in the past, retreaters have asked me for the pattern, which I can’t provide, as it is copyright.  Gay Sanderson, who prepares the kits for the Guild, gave me 20 kits to bring, and 20 finished pots. I sold my first - a finished pot- to Nicola!

Before dinner we had a presentation of the program from Phillipa. There are some very promising visits tomorrow evening and on Wednesday.

Dinner was abuzz with conversation and the food was good.

I’m itching to continue Titania!

Day 4: Along the river

Melody and I set off this morning around 9.30 to find a watch repairer, a genuine horologist, to look at a couple of antique watches she owns. We found him in his tiny shop, full of watches of all sorts, eager to talk about watches, show his collection of US railway watches and to tell tales of places he has visited in his pursuit of rare, interesting and profitable watches.

He didn't recommend fixing the watch Melody showed him, but winding, watching (sorry) and waiting. The watch in question did, in fact, keep good time from that point on!

We came back to the hotel along the side of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to the hotel. It was windy, chilly and a little showery.


There is a bit of  a bustle around the hotel, guests leaving and booking in - some for the retreat (the frames and hoops on their laps in the lounge give them away). 

Around midday, Melody and I set off for the church and the pub, in that order.

It is a lovely walk along the river. The sun had come out (though the wind had not dropped). There was a steady flow of cars along the narrow road. It's Saturday, and people are out adventuring.

Holy Trinity Church is right on the river. You see the substantial church hall from the path before you come to the church entrance, which is clearly marked. The path through the churchyard  functions as a footpath connection the river walk to the roadway. There were lots of people walking the path, some with dogs. Shakespeare's grave is an attraction for some.

It's an impressive tree-lined pathway through the graveyard to the church.

There are numerous interesting and beautiful trees of all shapes and sizes. The ground was very mossy and wet. and yes, there were daffodils.

We arrived at the church door as it was being shut for a wedding. We will need to return some other time to look at the interior.

From the river side the Western wall appears to be full of stained glass windows which must be at their best late in the day.













There's a crumbing stone arch and what could be a free-standing crypt with a particularly ferocious gargoyle.

It was very wet and spongy underfoot. The violets appreciated the conditions and it made for some picturesque remains of fallen stonework.


















Then there is the river. From this angle the river leads to the theatre.































and, of course, to the swans.



Speaking of which, our destination on the walk was  The Black Swan - or, as Martha Grimes disguised it in her 1984 book, The Dirty Duck. It's a long time since I read it, but, like Melody, I'm a Martha Grimes fan.

The Black Swan was very crowded, but we managed to find a table tucked away in a corner. I went for the breaded scampi with a glass of Prosecco.









By the time we returned to the Arden, the sky was bright enough to show the theatre to advantage.

We found Jean and Kathleen in the lounge. Much joy all around.


The blue sky didn't last. It was overcast, showery  and windy before the sun went down.




Finally, eight of us from past Spring Retreats at the Ryebeck in Windermere gathered for dinner. We had a lot to catch up on but we still managed to laugh a lot. We share a great deal in interests, values and attitudes.

This year we make up about 25% of the group. Tomorrow the work begins.

Day 3: Around Stratford-on-Avon

I spend several hours in this guest lounge yesterday, waiting for my room to be available. It was a fine thing to do - stitching my owl, reading and trying not to listen to the conversations between a hotel function organiser and clients wanting birthday lunches or weddings.









By 12.30 my room was ready. Rooms at the Arden do not have numbers. They are named for trees. Mine is Fir. In spite of that, it is roomy and quite light with a generously sized bathroom and, joy of joy, a walk in shower.


As I was finishing my very early dinner, Melody arrived. It was so great to see her and to catch up briefly. I was beginning to flake but managed to stay more or less awake, watching an old episode of Lewis. until 10 pm. I woke three times during the night but managed to get myself back to sleep. At 6.30am I read emails and news but drifted off again until around 9. Melody and I overlapped at breakfast, then set off to do a little shopping.

It was cold and raining, but every now and then some blue showed through.

















We found a Boots Chemist that carried several things Melody wanted and the Optrex Eye Wash I needed.



We then hit the Antiques shops to find a number of things Melody had on her shopping list. There is no shortage of Antique shops in Stratford and Melody knew where to look. She found several treasures on her wish list.













I was very content watching and keeping my distance from any likely bargains. Diane of the very pink tea room in the Antiques Centre never did open.
















The weather did not improve, but we got back to the Arden in our coats and hats
without getting too wet.




It is a long time since I walked anywhere in the rain!


Our route back took us past the Mercure Shakespeare Hotel, where I will be staying for 9 days after the retreat.

Back at the Arden we had plates of sandwiches as we stitched and talked in the guest lounge. There is a lot to catch up on.
A few others who are clearly retreaters have arrived.


As we were reaching the end of our dinner this evening, Genevieve arrived in the dining room. It was a most joyful reunion! Again, so much to catch up on.

So here I am, in my old routine of blogging before bed.
Tomorrow, if I can be up in time, I'm accompanying Melody to find a watch repairer. It looks as if there is a proper horologist in Stratford.

It depends, of course, on whether I can wake up in time. Tomorrow most of the tutors, organisers and fellow students will arrive.  The weather is not showing any improvement - but it doesn't matter.