The evenings are growing colder, the cats are growing snugglier and we are getting very near to lighting evening fires here in Toowoomba, Qld.  The rain has been coming in a steady patter all day and I have delighted in the simplicity of sipping rosehip tea, pencil in hand, sketching out my next medieval embroidery design these past two evenings.

The 14th century manuscript I am working from is quite small, and I am only taking a border of it for my design.  So I am often pausing to gaze through my magnifying glass to see if I can get that leaf, or twist, or bird’s beak, just right.  What a joy it is to look at the marvellous medieval illumination through a magnifying glass.  I can see ink smears and oddly enough, found a duck amongst the vines I had not noticed at first glance.  Each bird is doing something unique, one is preening, one is pecking at one of the decorations on the vine.  I never cease to be mesmerised by medieval design.

I am surrounded by my glad-mess, bits of music, empty cup, a bowl of pine cones, a tin jug of drooping flowers, paper, books, and all the bits of mess that accompany drawing.  I have taken over the kitchen table and the family will probably not get it back until I have finished sketching out!  It is wonderful to be designing again and will track the progress of this new project on the current works tab of this website.