Introducing my dear son Justin and his very beautiful bride, AnnMarie, who married on Saturday. Congratulations to you both. It was a wonderful day, warm but not too hot and the sun made an appearance at the appropriate time. There will be more pictures to show, obviously much better than my effort, but I thought you would like a 'preview'. Justin's son, Thomas (aged 12 years), was his best man and he did an excellent job and enjoyed his dance with the Chief Bridesmaid! There were three pretty bridesmaids Rachel, Megan and Alex and one adorable little flower girl, Georgia. More to come later!

I stitched a bit on my Dutch Band Sampler over the weekend plus a little 'secret' stitching. I love the colours of DBS - quite soothing! I need to pick up Beatrix again but I feel like a new start - maybe a Christmas ornament? We are six months into the year already and I can see, yet again, a last minute panic in December!

I was surfing around on ebay last week and discovered a 1934 copy of Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches for sale. I made the initial bid of 85p and promptly forgot about it until I received an email saying I had won. I had already seen this book on someone's blog (sorry I cannot remember who) and knew that it contained the most delightful illustrations.

Tell me some of your favourite stitches and I will post the accompanying illustration if there is one.

On the inside cover of the book there is a label marked the Wolverhampton Education Committee showing that it was awarded as a school prize on Speech Day, January 25, 1935 to Vida Griffiths of Form Va for Senior Needlecraft. It's old and a bit musty but what a find!

Thanks for visiting