Home again

Sorry I've been gone so long. It's been quite a hectic summer and I just got back from two weeks in beautiful Scotland. The first week was spent on Rannoch Moor - and, ok, it may not be to everyone's taste, but to me it seems like a little piece of heaven.

 This was my third stay on the moor and this is where I stay - the hotel is literally at the end of the road, just across the way from the railway station.

And then there is nothing for miles around.

 When you walk down to the loch the only sounds you can hear are the singing of the birds and the buzzing of the insects.

I spent the second week in Glasgow - home of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the main proponent of the Art Nouveau movement in the UK.

 This is inside one of the two Willow Tearooms, for which he designed the furniture. Obviously I sampled both!

These are the kind of designs for which he is famous -- beautiful elongated figures and flowing lines ...
 

and of course, the stylised Mackintosh rose.

So, inevitably, I had to do a little stitching in homage - a bookmark (though more may follow).

 I've also  been making a canvaswork bag - this is the front, the back will just be stripes. The idea was to use up a large percentage of my stash of tapestry wools - hence the odd selection of colours, though actually I think they work surprisingly well together.

 And finally a piece of free embroidery - alliums this time which are one of my favourite flowers.