Day 9: Last Day of Nicola's Herdwick

I have been sleeping well since my arrival in the UK.  Although I do wake 3-4 times a night, I can get myself back to sleep fairly quickly. Last night on my third awakening, around 3am, I checked my email - as I do most nights. There was an email from my Strata Management to say that my request to add a Vergola cover to my back balcony had been granted. I began this process in October last year. My apartment is on the third floor of a three storey building, and while all lower level balconies are shaded by the floor of the balcony above, third floor balconies have no roof cover. Consequently they get very hot in Summer.

Because this is an exterior change that will affect the look of the building, it required a vote of all Strata members. Our building has four sub-sections, and the change required a majority of voters in a majority of sub-sections. I seriously doubted this could be achieved. Each subsection of the strata has a representative, and at least three of the four spent a lot of time explaining to their groups why my proposal should be supported.

At 3am this morning I learned that the votes were in my favour. It feels like a miracle - very good news indeed - for me and others who may wish to do something similar. I immediately emailed the Vergola rep tasking him to set the wheels in motion - and to provide me with an invoice. As yet I have not receive a reply - but my sleep was pretty intermittent after that! I'm so grateful to the people in my Strata who made this happen.

When I eventually woke again, the smog had cleared and the Lake was visible

We got stuck in to our morning of stitching. We only had a half day of teaching left on our first project, and Nicola needed the class to be 'pacey' to get through demonstrations of  all our project components.

We worked our way through it. I really love this project and could easily have stitched all day. Just about lunchtime the rain bucketed down. There was not any point in venturing outside in the light of the weather, so we continued  with our embroidery after lunch.
We worked on some of the flowers after we had done one of each item on the sheep.

In the evening we had a market day - the chance to buy from the three tutors. 

I also saw the new Crewelwork  cushion the Crewel Work Company is about to release. I thought is was lovely - and would look terrific as the last panel on my embroidered chair panel. So I'll wait.

I bought four of Nicola's birds, a book and a piece of linen twill.





The market generated a lot of interest

A few worked steadily through it

I did go to the Market, but I also went back and worked some more of my sheep. I'd really like to get most of the sheep done.

I was pleased with my progress. I'd like to get a bit more done before I move on to Jenny's project.

I still love and enjoy the technique and design.


 The rain has eased a little. There  is snow on the high fells and dripping trees.






Tomorrow we have an excursion to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's home. We are all, I think, looking forward to it.

The forecast is still for rain.

I am very tired. My day of intense stitching and early morning excitement is catching up with me.

Post 8

This really was taken today, although it looks pretty much the same as the view looked yesterday - it was overcast and cool, but not misty. There were showers throughout the morning, but for the most part it was good to be inside.









This is our group working away in our space - photo courtesy of The Crewel Work Company.



We spent the day in our respective groups progressing our projects. We began the morning by putting in the facial features of our sheep. Nicola was very explicit in her instructions about the eyes, mouth and nose - ensuring we produced a happy sheep. From there we worked some of the face,  before moving on to the leaves on the garlands of flowers surrounding the sheep.


Once again we laughed a lot - and ate rather too much. There was warm orange cake for morning tea, freshly baked biscuits for afternoon tea and potatoes in their jackets with various kinds of salads for a main course.

I finished the day with quite a bit of stitching done - but quite a long way to go. I am so enjoying this. There are no stitches that I don't know, but a number of them demand precision and care.The magnifiers and lights we are using are very good. By the end of the afternoon, as a storm rolled in and the sky darkened, we really needed them.

I am sorry tto have so many unfinished components but I do understand the logic. We need to have covered all components of the work to a level that enables us to move on.

I really love the design and working it is a pleasure. Today I ordered a shaker box with a 10" x 7" oval display panel to mount my finished piece. I have asked for it to be held until I return to Australia. Hopefully it is in stock. I think it is going to work well.

photo from Nicola's slides

At 6pm we gathered for a talk by Nicola on how she came to the design of her Herdwick Sheep. She has been visiting the Lakes District for 8 years. In that time she has photographed sheep and local flora.  A number of these have contributed to her design, as have the distinctive foxgloves growing wild.

We learned a good deal about Beatrix Potter. Most of her books were written when she was in London as a young woman. In the Lakes District she farmed, becoming a passionate advocate for the local herdwick sheep, bought up farmland to prevent it falling into the hands of developer and eventually left it to the nation in the form of national parks.

photo from Nicola's slides.

Photo from Nicola's slides

She was a remarkable woman, rescuing land that had been marshy and flocks of diseased sheep and restoring both the land and the sheep to health.

After Nicola's talk we had dinner - for me a prawn cocktail, salmon and a really lovely dessert. Our dinner discussion ranged over embroidery, family, business, community, marriage, cancer - and loads more. There are debates, discussions, stories, - and cultural comparisons. We are with our tribe.

Tomorrow is our last day working on this project. I'm hoping to get quite a bit more done in the day.

Right now,however, I am falling asleep!

The Big Reveal - and we're off!

 It was a little clearer this morning although still overcast. Windermere was visible.


The daffodils in the garden bed outside the room I occupied in 2017 showed their colours.

We had breakfast from 7.45 and gathered in the lounge for our first briefing at 9.00. There are, I think, 18 students.

Finally, after the preliminary information and introductions, Nicola and Jenny came in with the two projects we are to work on.

They are both extraordinary.

We were split into two groups. I am beginning in Nicola's group. Her project is a crewel work one based on Beatrix Potter's interest in and breeding of Herdwick sheep as well as her efforts in the ecology of the Lakes District, and the land that now forms the National Parks.T
Nicola's sample piece is larger than the version we are working on (meaning ours is manageable!)

Some of the sheep is worked in Herdwick wool, as well as Appleton's and some specialist threads.

The piece is named for Queenie, one of Beatrix Potter's actual sheep. Some of the design echoes ceramics found in Hill Top, her Cumbrian home.

Our classes this year are set up at either end of the dining room,  Jenny's  at the Southern end, shown here and Nicola's at the Northern end shown below.

Meals are set up in between.





We each have a floor lamp with magnifier as well as our 10" hoops.

It is a great set-up, giving us good light and a comfortable space in which to work.

We got started straight away, beginning with the sheep, and using the Herdwick wool to begin. I really love this kind of work. Nicola is an engaged, attentive, relaxed teacher. The group is also relaxed, not afraid to ask questions, considerate of each other are sharing of expertise.


We laughed a lot. I realised that one of the things I so enjoy about these retreats is the laughter. We have so much in common. It is our shared values and common interest that enable us to be so relaxed.

Towards the end of the afternoon it began to rain quite heavily and the we lost some of our natural light. The lights then really came into their own.

We had worked small parts of a number of sections of the sheep by the end of the afternoon. We are, naturally, working a little of each section to make sure we know what to do so we can finish the piece when we get home.

As a finisher I still find this a little frustrating, but I concede it is the only way to work.


At 6pm we gathered in the lounge where Richard interviewed Nicola and Jenny about their design process. It was a really, really interesting session. Both immerse themselves in the physical environment of their subject, as well as reading. There was discussion of the role of instinct or zen, of cultural and historical understanding, of knowledge of tone and colour, of recurring motif. Both spoke of habits of quick sketching, capturing the moment and impression rather than planned perfection.

It occurred to me that both Nicola and Jenny seem to be embedded in  English landscape and environment. It set me thinking. When asked, they both agreed they could only create, for example, a French design by immersion. This has set me thinking about Australian embroidery design, what it is, and the role played by heritage. I am still thinking about recent discussions I have had at the Embroiderers' Guild of SA about the now defunct British Embroidery Study Group, or about Moroccan Embroidery as studied by some Guild members on a recent trip. This is, for me, a really important discussion about identity, history and culture - important to my own embroidery and how I study it.

The discussion continued over what proved to be quite a long dinner. We  discussed the way composers draw on traditions outside their own country but still produce music recognisably of that country. We also discussed the importance of any visual work drawing the viewer in from a distance as well as engaging at close quarters.

It has been a terrific day for me. It is the first day of the retreat and we have surfaced issues of great importance and are discussing things that matter. I am among kindred spirits.

I don't underestimate the privilege - nor the power.

Post 6 : Mainly Bowness-on-Windermere

I'm still waking 3-4 times a night, but managing to get myself back to sleep. I was finally awake and reading by 6.15 this morning, but did not join the energetic group of my fellow retreaters who met to walk at 6.30. It was a misty-moisty morning with little visibility, even when I joined the group for breakfast just after 8.00 am.

We finally left our breakfast table at 10.10. Three headed off to Ullswater to hike and four of us headed off in Kathleen's car. Melody and I hitched a lift into Bowness-on-Windermere, Melody with a bit of a mission, and me as a hanger-on.






Melody wanted to buy a specific gift from a Beatrix Potter themed shop - of which there was no shortage. We found what she wanted in the second one we visited.
It was next to Herdy- the shop devoted to herdwick sheep souvenirs.




We were less successful with her other goal - finding a skirt. Skirts, it seems, are not in fashion. Not even the Edinburgh Wool Shop had an adult size skirt.

It was, however, a good mission to be on, and took us down interesting streets and lanes

Even the overcast grey skies and occasional showers couldn't hide the signs of Spring.






















Giving up on the skirt, we visited St Martin's - the Windermere Parish Church (located in Bowness-on-Windermere, not in Windermere!). It was been the parish church for Windermere since 1203. An earlier structure was, except for the font, destroyed in a fire in 1480. The basic rectangular structure, and a squat tower was rebuilt in 1483 and has been adapted and added to ever since.










Everywhere there are signs that it has been, and continues to be, a church that serves a continuing, living community.






I loved the prominent celtic crosses in the churchyard, one in memory of soldiers of the Boer War, the other a personal memorial to Jane Isabella Fleming 1808-1902.

Inside, the first thing to impact is the roof with it's painted words - a 16th century declaration of Protestantism.

North Window

There is some fine stained glass in the East window - carefully restored after damage by Cromwell's men, and some later examples depicting local people worshiping. There is a sense of continuous engagement of the community- and care for the church.




There are numerous examples of well maintained kneelers.




There is a  chapel in memory of the 71 men from the parish who died in World War I. At the entrance to the chapel are two extraordinary silk curtains.These were made by craftsmen disabled in WWI and employed by Painted Fabrics Ltd of Sheffield. They were given to the parish in 1932 in appreciation of parish support. They are fragile, and shouldn't be touched. It seems, none the less, admirable that they hang there, doggedly part of the people-focused history of the community of the church.



The altar frontal in place today (following Epiphany and before the Transfiguration) was a lovely, simple green gold-worked one.

I  really liked the central fish medallion.

There are also some lovely floor tiles, and beautiful mosaic panels in the Victorian marble reredos behind the altar.






































There are lovely carved screens - some on  pews, along with a rood that was transferred from St John's Windermere.

The huge etched Curwen Screen with its music theme was installed in 2000 to create an additional enclosed space in the tower room, clearly meeting a contemporary need for parents and children to be part of a service without disturbing others.


St Martin's took me by surprise. It is packed with community life and evidence of current use.







By now it was lunchtime, and Melody and I went in search of the Hole in't Wall - the oldest pub in Bowness,  built in 1612 and named, apparently for the hatch through which ale was served to coaches.

We made our way to the lower level - once a blacksmithy. It is snug and atmospheric- loads of pewter pots, whisky jars and toby jugs, very large bellows, a few trophies and stained glass






The sweet potato soup was very good.








Outside, it was still dull and overcast, but the roof of the pub has begun to show the signs of Spring.


We managed to find a taxi to take us back to the Ryebeck.

While I was putting this post together, most of the other retreat participants  arrived. The gathering for dinner was full of laughter and exuberance.  The meal was excellent. Missing were our three Ullswater hikers from breakfast. Their plans had gone a little awry, resulting in them walking, it seems, about 8 miles to find a taxi to bring them back to Bowness, where they had dinner - at the Hole In'T Wall.  They arrived back in good humour, but in need of baths and bed.

Stitching tomorrow.