I love walking, exercise, seeing the sight and sounds of open country side, it can’t help but inspire, but the most rewarding part is to walk into a remote village in the middle of what seems like nowhere and finding a perfect Norman church with amazing museum standard embroidery inside, this makes a good walk better, this is a blog of our finds and experiences along the way mostly pictorial with close up’s to help with stitch study and inspire your own projects, we will be updating when we come across a new treasure.
First on our list Hammoon Parish Church on 22rd Oct 2017.
Altar frontal with laid work Crewel Embroidery worked in silk threads and Gold work finishing with a tassel edging braid.
Stourpaine Parish Church, 4th Feb 2018
Altar Frontal with predominantly Gold Work with Silk floss long and short. Many delightful kneelers like this Peewit worked in Ten Stitch.
Fontmell Magna Parish Church, 5th April 2018 with my Brother Garry and his Girlfriend Sam.
Lots of Kneelers worked in Ten Stitch, many of the examples we see in village churches has natural subjects like local wildlife such as British birds often worked by local embroidery groups. This was a exciting visit because a caretaker gave us a guided tour of the Belfry and we climbed up to the roof, though not for the faint hearted.
Bloxworth Parish Church, Dorset 8th April 2018
Very sweet collection of kneelers depicting British wildlife in close detail, worked in Tent Stitch.
Mere Parish Church, 11th April 2018
So many Kneelers, some of them have such a lot of detail, here are our favorites from the visit, I wrote a separate blog for this visit to celebrate the achievements of the local stitching group. See, Embroidery with Divine Inspirations
Arne Parish Church, Dorset, 6th June 2018
We went to Arne nature reserve to get ideas for a new kit which went on to be 'Halcyon Day' we found in the local church a nautical theme to the embroidery and very different to the works we've seen before, the Altar Frontals was worked in Applique with silver kid leather, the chair was a 17th century replica with Tent Stitch canvas work upholstered on it.
Sherborne, Abbey, Dorset, 21st July 2018
This was a day trip to Sherborne to look at the Abbey I had a hunch there might be some lovely embroidery. There seemed to be a theme to the colour scheme, dusky pink being the order of the day. The Altar Frontal was modern with applique, heavy raised with gold kid leather, must of been professionally worked. Lot's of kneelers worked in the same colour scheme that run's throughout the whole Abbey, very well worked with interesting themes running through.
Witchampton Parish Church, Dorset, 16th Sept 2018
This was for me a lovely find, the green damask really sets off the Victorian Embroidery which is beautiful in gold and silk shading, It looked like the background fabric was modern, changed at some point but the colours worked beautifully together.
Wimborne Saint Giles, 16th Sept 2018
We did well on this walk we saw two churches with gems, this church had the most adorable kneelers depicting British Birds, my favourite, worked in Tent Stitch.
Sturminster Marshell 2rd March 2019
This church was a treat as we thought it was locked but delighted to find the embroidery inside, also special because my brother Garry was walking with us, the Altar frontal was amazing, looked Victorian possibly worked by a group lead by a professional embroiderer. Long and Short was worked in floss silk, not easy work, it spits and frays when worked, couched gold threads, laid work with a background of velvet. A wall hanging with a combination of silk painting and surface embroidery lovely details in the faces.
St Catherine-by-the-sea, Halworth, The Perbecks, 30th March 2019
This little Church was a complete surprise, made of wood, it looked to me not much more then a boat shed but when I popped my head in I could see a number of tent stitch embroidery's with a nautical theme and colour scheme, I couldn't appreciate them for long, we were with our walking chums who had go on ahead, but a lovely treat.
To be continued.
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Donna in Kentucky
March 19, 2019
I love reading your blog, and I always learn something from your postings, but I think this particular post is the best so far. More, please, of the incredible pieces you are discovering!