Castles in the Air

Come closer - I want to whisper.
There's a new Long Dog out today and if I say it any
louder tens of thousands of people might get injured
in the ensuing panic buying that is sure to occur.

It's called Castles in the Air.

Why?  Because there's loads of castles and they're

all in an elevated position.

But it's not exclusively about castles.  There's flowers,
grassy knolls, tiny flowers, butterflies and even an
ickle wickle spider too.

Now we're starting to get the bigger picture even if it is a bit

crumpled because I never bother to iron anything.

The stag was a bit camera shy but I managed to capture

most of him before he leaped out of view.

And here's little Bill again.  Some of you may remember

his last adventure when he was bobbing about in a rowing boat

all at sea.  This time he and his brother Alan (who's in a

castle on the other side of this piece) are standing their ground

against hostile crested woodpeckers which are far worse than

aphids, fighting off giant squirrels who are after his nuts and

keeping an eye on a blackwork elephant which has mysteriously

appeared on the scene.  It's all happening.

But I've kept you waiting quite long enough and this is what the

glorious Castles in the Air looks like when all stitched up and

ready for a trip to the framers.

This major work of art, which is much praised in woodworking

circles, is 209 x 285 stitches in circumference and is priced at

£16.20 so hurry and get a copy before the pound sterling begins

to rally again.  

Paper copies are available at all good LNS's globally and far across

the galaxy too and if you're an impatient little imp downloadable

pdf copies are available simply by writing a nice email to:

jools@longdogsampler.com

I

I shall be hanging about waiting for you to drop by

just like the aforementioned ickle wickle spider

but with more legs and much scarier.

Liquorice Allsorts

It's been a while since I've written anything on the blog

for which I am characteristically impenitent but today I do have

something worth my while to tell you about - so here I am with

details of a brand new design which should particularly please all you

OCD lovers of symmetry out there.

This is a "pop up" post.  Well if restaurants and hairdressers can do it

all over the place willy nilly - then so can Long Dog.

The palette is autumnal which is about right for September although

for some reason this photo doesn't seem to be doing the colours justice.

The style is Celt meets the Flying Dutchman and their resulting offspring

is called Liquorice Allsorts because it reminds me of the sweeties

of the same name.  

But please don't eat them while you're stitching because

liquorice stains something awful and one sneeze could ruin everything.

This must have new addition to the Long Dog stable measures a

modest 251 x 251 stitches and is priced at £12.75.  To obtain a

pdf version of the chart simply contact me at:

jools@longdogsampler.com

Or for a paper version go to your local needlework shop and

shout through the letter box "I want a bag of liquorice allsorts please."

but don't leave it too long or someone else will scoff the lot.

This is the moment you've all been waiting for .......

...... so please all sing together, and in tune if at all possible:

"Happy twentieth anniversary to you,

Happy twentieth anniversary to you,

Happy twentieth anniversary dear Long Dog

Please get on with it do!"

And so with no further delay that moment has finally come

for you to meet your nemesis - DEATH BY CROSS STITCH!

This is the first design in the whole history of Long Dog

Samplers which runs to 16 pages of chart.

It's vital statistics are 363 x 447 stitches and it can be

stitched in any colour of the rainbow your little heart

desires, including black.

I would advise you to take a seat before I reveal the

price - £22.50 and worth every penny.  It's available direct

from me as a pdf download via the following link:

jools@longdogsampler.com

or by simply banging on the door of your LNS and shouting

loudly through the letter box "Get me a copy of Death by

Cross Stitch lest I turn into a frog from sheer frustration.

My life will never be complete without it!"

So, you've all seen this eighth wonder of the world,

you all know how to get a copy which leaves me to ask

"What are you waiting for?"

One week to go!

The countdown starts now to the biggest ever

Long Dog Sampler due to be released

in seven days time on Saturday 18th June 2016

to mark my twenty glorious years of cross stitch design.

This snippet represents barely a quarter of the actual design.

So make a note in your diary, finish off what you're working

on and be prepared to be captivated.  This one's got everything

you'd look for in a Long Dog - bright eyes, a bushy tail,

will take you a lifetime and, what's more, it doesn't shed.

The Poorly Finger

It's not until you lose the use of something, albeit temporarily,

that you realise just how much you need it.  In this instance it's only

the index finger of my right hand but it's day two without his help and 

I already have a very long list of things that are totally out of the question 

or extremely difficult to achieve.

It all happened in seconds.  One minute I was simply trying to open a

door with a rather stiff handle and the next there was blood gushing

out of my finger and a slicing cut right down to the bone of my

knuckle and I still can't fathom exactly how I managed to do it.

So, what to do about all the runner bean plants that need to go in this

weekend; how am I meant to prepare carrots without

causing myself a further mischief; why is it so difficult to wipe your

bum with the left hand; squeeze and twist bottle caps you can forget;

picking coins out of my purse requires patience and even texting is

currently something of a challenge.

But do you know what is the hardest thing to put up with -

I CAN'T HOLD A NEEDLE.

I   C A N   N O T   SEW!

Painted knitting?

Some people embroider, others quilt; some knit, others paint

but Pamela Swainson likes to mix her artistic metaphors

- Pamela paints knitting (but not exclusively)!

Pamela Swainson

Like so many creative people her heart lies in the countryside

as does her source of inspiration.  Her mantra for life is

"local livng and sustainability" all built upon a bedrock of the

quiet growing of the trees, sunrise, sunset and a menagerie of

furred and feathered creatures.

Pamela's free range chooks

Pamela lives with her partner on a small farm in the Cobequid Mountains

of Nova Scotia, Canada although originally from Manitoba where she

was born to second generation Icelandic immigrant parents.

Her work has been exhibited in a number of local shows in the region

including Tatamagouche and Truro both solo and alongside other 

artists.  Her portfolio is certainly eclectic and she has in her time

painted everything from figurative work to landscapes, streetscapes

and, of course, knitting.

A knitted landscape painting?

To see more of Pamela's work visit pamelaswainson.ca/

This one's my favourite - do you knit in bare feet?

I wonder if my LNS has a pattern for a waterfall?

This and that ......

Where to begin, what to tell you - today I really have no idea.

I've been writing this blog since 2012 during which time I have
written 527 separate offerings ranging in subject from my flight
from France, life with my much missed long dogs Geordie and
Mouche, strange French customs and new designs to
English churches, talented craftsmen and women and life's
general buggerations which visit themselves upon me with
boring regularity.

This is the "lock-up" and the place which I currently call home.

Admittedly not so grand as Chateau Long Dog but sometimes small

can be good - less housework, less room to lose things and a good

reason to only keep those things that you truly treasure.

The countryside around here is beautiful and very varied.
Within fifteen minutes you can go from walking beside the sea
on a pebble beach, to wandering the marshes in all their
windswept desolation, to dappled bluebell woods full of
heady perfume and the hum of insects.  Not to mention the
odd midge bite or two as well.

My allotment is my pride and joy and as you can see

from the photo I have already put my mange tout peas to bed.

I even tucked them in and have promised to read them the tale

of the Princess and the Pea when they get a little older.

Fairhaven Water Gardens are just ten minutes down the

road from the Lock-Up and are where I take myself off to

when I want to daydream and forget about the world.

They're Norfolk's answer to the Everglades without the crocs.

This is Astrid my friends black lab and just one of the many

local dogs I have come to rely upon when in desperate need

of a big wet kiss and a bit of a cuddle.

Mr & Mrs Mallard who trashed my pond last year popped back

to say hello recently but thankfully they didn't stay for long and

they seem to have learned some garden manners since their last visit.

And that's about it really.

I shall try to come up with something rather more cerebral for

my next offering and - don't forget - there's an enormous

new 20th anniversary Long Dog getting itself ready for rehoming next month.

I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Step away from that cake

I will personally disown the first Long Dog stitcher I catch

attempting to ice a giant tray bake with motifs from Mouline Rouge

because things are moving on apace in the sticky, edible world

that is cake craft.

Just when you thought that the genteel art of cake decoration couldn't

possibly take a new turn along comes a bend in the road and a whole

new horizon opens up to greet you.

No further need for piping bags and a box full of nozzles to create impossible

swirls, drooping swags or thin precise lines.  Forget the edible glitter,

ditch the sprinkles and give those Disney cake toppers the elbow.  No more

sugar work flowers or squiggly chocolate writing; simply get yourself a brush,

some food paints and a plain iced cake and what you have the potential to

create will be limited only by your imagination.  How exciting is that?

No need to start big, take your time until you get your eye in.  This one looks remarkably like a Van Gogh.

Perhaps the artist was having a bad paint day.

A stained glass effect looks very stunning but I'd hate to have been

the person who had to finally cut it.

Now this is a cake that looks like a stack of beautiful cake tins bought

as a souvenir from Monet's Garden or perhaps it is cake tins

sitting patiently in a stack trying to fool everyone.

I think this one takes the biscuit so to speak.  It's my favourite

so far - but I'm still looking.

Ludham

"Town centre" watch out for horse and carts.

It was a rare and lovely afternoon, much too hot to work on the

allotment, so I decided to skive off to Ludham, a village just eight miles

or so from Acle and only ten minutes away by car down windy country lanes.

The hammer beamed roof in all it's glory.

It stands at the end of a dyke leading to Womack Water and, although small

in size, it has a history dating back over a thousand years to the days of

King Canute (the one who wanted to control the tide - and failed) circa 1016.

The hanging - zoom in, the detail is quite something.

The first place to begin any exploration is the church.  St Catherines is

full of wonderful, historical stuff - a fifteenth century font, an oak

hammer beam roof with the wheel of St Catherine carved into every

second spandrel, a magnificent painted rood screen and a rather special

crucifixion painting above the nave.

All very standard fayre for one of the hundreds of mediaeval churches

scattered across the region but what did if for me was the Ludham hanging

- a map of the village recently made from a patchwork of scraps of material,

wools, felt, sparkles and the love of the present day villagers who

stitched it all together.

Look - there's the windmill

They even remembered the cows

The detail is quite amazing - fields and pastures, woods and waterways,

tiny cottages exact in every detail, there's even a three dimensional

windmill that stands out at a jaunty angle in gravity-defying majesty.

Milk and two sugars please

Then just a quick hop and a skip saw me over the road and into the

Alfresco Tea Room with it's bone china cups and saucers, sugar tongs,

tea strainers (which I forgot to use), dainty table cloths and best of all

- home made cakes and scones.  

The perfect end to a delightful afternoon playing hookey!

Matthew 19:24

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of

a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

Breathe in - Willard Wigan MBE knows the camel trick .........

Willard was born in Birmingham in 1957 and almost from birth he had a

penchant for creating tiny things.  When he was five he entered the property

market building affordable homes for ants.  But did he stop there?

No of course not - he made them all hats and shoes too.  Well he would,

wouldn't he?

The four seasons

Things have moved on just a tad from those days and now this fully

fledged micro-sculptor has gone beyond visibility with the naked eye and

has entered the realms of microscopy.  To enable him to work at this

intense magnification Willard slows his heartbeat through meditation

thus reducing hand tremors then with the aid of tweezers he

sculpts between heart beats.

Thank goodness Alice survived

During a recent appearance on The One Show he admitted to accidentally

inhaling Alice in Wonderland when he got too close to his work and

breathed in at the wrong moment.  I bet Alice thought 

"Here we go again ......"

Willard's work has been described at the eighth wonder of the world

and his patrons include HRH Prince Charles, Sir Elton John, Mike Tyson

and Simon Cowell.

Probably Willard's most prestigeous commission to date is the minute

Coronation Crown requested by HRH Queen Elizabeth II to mark her

Diamond Jubilee.  However no mention was ever officially made

of a teeny tiny pack of Welsh Corgis!

Bird on a wire

Now I must get on with my sewing if I can ever manage to thread my

needle.  It seems to be blocked by something.

How wonderful if it was a tiny wee Long Dog.

He does pinheads for a change