R-kade

Well I seem to have gone all long and sideways on you

with this new design which makes a pleasant change

from portrait and gives a chance to use up some of those

odd shaped pieces of material that we all tend to

hang on to in case they might come in use one day.

That day has come!

This proud, trembling beauty (either that or I've got the

shakes again) rejoices in the name of R-kade.

It's at this point that I shall cut you off at the pass

so to speak if you just happen to be in a Western film

with John Wayne et al, and if you don't then I'll

just explain the title thus avoiding small outbursts of

emails demanding an explanation.

You'll need to put on your wet weather gear and take

yourself off into the middle of a field somewhere so that

you can view the picture from a distance.  

Can you still hear me?  Good then I'm going to shout out

to you the dictionary definition of the word "arcade" and

then the penny should drop.  "A series of arches supported

by columns, piers or pillars, either freestanding or attached

to a wall to form a gallery."  I should like to think that everyone,

with the possible exception of Alice, now knows where

I'm coming from and even she should twig when she's

stitched the first few pages of the chart.

Now I must face the music because that's bound to be the next

question I get asked.  The words come from 

one of my favourite songs - Come by the Hills.  The lyrics

were written by Gordon Smith to be sung to the great Irish

air Buachaill On Eirne.  The are several versions on YouTube

if you want to hear it for yourself and if you already know it

sing along now with me:

Come by the hills to the land where fancy is free

And stand where the peaks meet the sky and the lochs meet the sea,

Where the rivers run clear and the bracken is gold in the sun

Ah, the cares of tomorrow can wait 'til this day is done.

Now enough fannying about.  This incredibly, wonderfully,

georgous, irresistable piece measures 433 x 208, will cost

you a modest £18.00 (or an immodest 18 nude pounds sterling)

is called R-kade, as already mentioned, and can be obtained

direct from me as a pdf download or from all good

local needlework shops globally and throughout the cosmos

with the exception of Neptune where no one is into cross stitch!

jools@longdogsampler.com 

Phew - after all that I hope you like it.