New Beginnings
I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year - I hate the fact that summer is coming to an end and cooler weather and then winter is approaching, but I love the fact that this time of year is when new things often start and we have exciting things to look forward to.  I have always loved using something new for the first time, a new outfit, a fresh loaf of bread to cut into, a new exercise book at school.  This year I am excited as this week I start a new course with the Royal School of Needlework and I will be realising a dream to train to produce beautiful, high quality (I hope) embroidery.  I start on Wednesday in Rugby on the certificate course and will begin by learning how to produce Jacobean crewel work which uses a variety of embroidery stitches.  I have done a wide variety of embroidery over the years including cross stitch, needlepoint, canvas work, contemporary work but never crewel work, so I shall be very interested to see how working with wool on a firm twill background differs from the other forms of embroidery.  The RSN are very flexible in how you attend and I plan to go to Rugby about once every 3 weeks for tuition, this will give me time in between the sessions to enjoy the work I am doing and not feel as if I am rushing through the modules.  Once I have finished the crewel work module I shall then move onto canvaswork, goldwork then finish with long and short silk shading.  More details about the certificate can be found on the RSN website here.