Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree!

Finally some pictures of the festival of trees! Firstly an example of the majority of trees, very tastefully done. This one is for the in independant shoe shop in town, and is decorated with little gold shoes.
Next is our handmade tree. I realised the day of decorating that I had nothing for the top of the tree so ferreted out a gorgeous mohair bear that Mum had made me a few years back. She was dressed in a pretty liberty print frock and bloomers but I hastily put together a fairy outfit for her and she looks so happy!
The pink tree was the winner in the adult category and was in tribute to a teenage girl who had been struck by cancer. I particularly like the way the ribbons have been run down from the top of the tree. It was very obvious how much thought, time and love had gone onto this tree.
There was a separate section for the children's trees, the brownies had festooned their tree in paper chains which was very effective.
The winner in the children's category was this hand print tree from Anna an Wills nursery. The hands had been printed in thick paint, sprinkled with glitter and laminated. These really do shine and I have Anna's on ourtree at home, it is a lovely keepsake of how little her paw is!

Looking at the photos I'm not sure I've done our handmade tree justice it was much fuller than it looks in this picture. It was the kind of tree where you have to stand and look and discover the little treasures.

I mentioned that our last Embroiderers Guild meeting had a speaker from the textiles department of a local school. Well it was a total inspiration, two students came along and bought their A level work with them. I realised how much I have missed not having some direction in my 'work' and came home determined to find some structured course which I could complete. I made a phone call and had a call back on Monday to tell me more about a distance learning City and Guilds Embroidery course. I am so excited because it looks perfect. There was the opportunity to start in January but I want to give this my all and produce work of which I can be really proud. I will be starting in September 2010 so have a few months to clear my 'stock' and finish off some projects. I feel like I have been searching for the right direction for my work since I began this blog and I have learned so much, had so many joys and a few disappointments but I am now sure that this course is my next step forward.