Cruel and unusual ??

At long last I feel as if the end is in sight on my piece of cruel crewel work.

There will be more satisfaction in crossing this item off my "60 things to do before I 'm 60" list than there has been in the stitching of this piece.   At age 13 I fell in love with a piece of Jacobean Crewel work in an ancient copy of Stitch magazine my Grandmother had.   Then in 1997 I bought my copy of The Anchor Book of Crewelwork Embroidery Stitches in order to fulfil that ambition but alas fulfilment has not brought about a passionate love affair.   Still, a little more turquoise satin stitch and two rows of 'knots' in that pineapple looking fruit and this will be considered complete.   Blemishes and all!

Last weekend my nephew came to visit.   His long arm and rock steady trigger finger produced this shot of the three of us.   I'm ashamed to say I don't know how the self-timer works on my camera so Drew performed the honours. (Can you catch a glimpse of his right arm -  that's the one holding the camera!)   He kindly explained, "they call them  a 'selfie' Aunty Margaret".  Thank you Drew. As a reward let me introduce you to Drew - the HD3QBEM and moi, you already know.