This week I’ve been having a getting-things-finished campaign. I’ve been plodding on with the tapestry for the old piano stool which I started several years ago (when Small was smaller) and stalled with twenty rows of background to go and sixteen rows of border all the way around; there are four rows left to do now so I’ll show you that soon. The painting is all done on the landing and we put the doodah rails back up at the weekend (that is what they’re called, isn’t it?) so it looks a lot more finished. I thought it was a bit bare though, it is a big wall and I was having a tidy up and I remembered that my grandma gave me these a while ago:

They are embroidery which was done by my great-grandma at least fifty years ago (according to my mum who has been racking her brain) and the frames had disintegrated. I never met her and don’t know much about her except she did a lot of knitting and sewing and when she got a bit older she used to go down to the greenhouse to drink sherry and sleep (which doesn’t sound like a bad idea some days). Grandma gave them to me ages ago (being the only person in our family who does very much with pointed sticks and string and who would appreciate them) and I think she said they would ‘go with our house’.

They took longer to reframe than I expected – they looked like they were just taped to a piece of card but once I got the tape off I realised they were sewn to the card which must have been a tough job. I cautiously gave them a wash, stretched them round some new card and found some frames which are near enough the right size and they are finally up on the wall by our stairs. I don’t think they are looking too shabby. Now I wonder if I have any sherry…