Easter is upon us, Spring is in the air - and not a day too soon - and we are getting into gear for our first workshop, experimenting with new recipes and tidying up the garden after the Big Freeze.
Meanwhile, photos of the beautiful stitch work inherited by some of our "followers" continue to trickle in, and as Julie Arkell won't be able to chose a winner until she arrives down here at the beginning of July to lead her workshop for us, we have decided to extend the deadline for the competition (the winner will be offered a free place on one of our courses). Not that it's entirely unselfish of us - we get enormous pleasure looking at the entries and reading the fascinating stories that go with them. So please keep them coming......
Rebecka Ryberg Skott's Grandmother's cutlery roll, Sweden
"This was made by my dear
grandmother and it now belongs to me.
This little lovely memory of
her somehow symbolizes my background.
I grew up in a family who were
abstainers. My very personal theory is that they had to compensate a quite
boring life by drinking huge amounts of strong black coffee and eating various
delicious homemade cakes. They had to amuse themselves somehow, right!? A
family dinner ended always, with a huge table of different cakes set with the
finest china and silver spoons. This tradition affects me still, I can´t
imagine a life without great coffee and tasty cakes, it is the essence of life
if you ask me."
Carol Pietrasanta' paternal Grandmother's crochet and pulled stitchwork.
"My grandmother emigrated from
Italy as a young girl and lived in Erie, PA. Although she lived through
the depression and probably did not have an easy time, she said that she and
her family were happy. She had a sewing machine that I would used, when
we went back to visit, that was operated by the knee. When she died, my
dad brought back a box of her crochet work that was a complete surprise.
I wished she had shown this to me when she was still alive, but she probably
thought it was not a big deal. To me it is...I have sewn my whole life
and became a patternmaker 25 years ago. With computers aiding a lot of
the creative work today (I use the computer, too, for my work), I value the
idea of handwork and what our hands/minds can create."
Our photographic enthusiasts will soon be packing their sunglasses and filling their suitcases for the five day workshop with Jasprit Singh at the beginning of next month.
And then there will be all those big knitting ideas with Patricia Roberts in June to look forward to. Can't wait!
