A visit to Kelmscott Manor

poppy Kelmscott manor 05 2011, a photo by mudandmiscellany on Flickr.

Last week I went to Kelmscott Manor, which was William Morris’ home in the Cotswolds. It is full to the brim with wonderful textiles and objects, which is a dream for someone like me who is interested in textile arts and making things by hand. Unfortunately you can’t take photos in the house, but the garden has also been filled with plants that Morris might have had, and been inspired by.  For more detail of the contents of the house, do click on the link to its website as they’ve got lots of photos and videos of it.

The things I found most incredible were the embroideries done by May Morris (William’s daughter) and Jane Morris (his wife, and May’s mother). I have been inspired to do some stitching of my own in homage to the pieces I saw at Kelmscott, but will share it later as it’s still very much in the design phase at the moment!

A little bit of embroidery

I had hoped to feature embroidery here on a more regular basis, but time seems to slip away while I’m not looking!  However, I did squeeze in some embroidery the other day for our first wedding anniversary, as I made Mark a little present to keep on his bedside table.  I won’t show you the finished article (how annoying of me, I know!) but took a couple of sneak peek photos…

As it was our ‘paper’ anniversary, I decided to stitch a message from me as if I’d written a note in pencil on a sheet of notebook paper.  The effect was quite cool, although it took me a little while to figure out how to stitch the letters so they actually looked like my handwriting.

He was very pleased with it.  Next time I stitch something I’ll show you what it looks like when it’s finished…