As always a busy summer schedule included work and play! Our usual month away in Spanish hideaways, wonderful landscapes for inspiration, staying with friends who are like family, was swiftly followed by a flight to Glasgow to teach for the Scottish Region of the Embroiderers Guild on the stunning campus at Stirling University. You can see some of my drawings here, plus examples from the summer school, an amazingly responsive group of students who played and worked hard in equal measure! The first images are from Spain, followed by a selection of work from Stirling summer school.

Sunflowers near Sepulveda, sketch book drawing. I hope to use this and the second drawing as starting points for embroideries this autumn.

Carol Naylor drawing

This is the wonderful Posada de San Millan in Sepulveda where we stay with our delightful friend Pilar.

Lavender and sunflowers growing in fields side by side on the tiny road between Santo Domingo de Silos, and Lerma inspired this memory drawing as there was nowhere to stop the car safely!

Carol Naylor drawing

And now for Scotland. The wonderful campus at Stirling University

Here are some if the wonderful pieces made by my students. The theme was The Land we Know so nearly all had images from the wonderful landscapes of Scotland. Many of them had only done basic machine embroidery before. It shows what you can achieve in under 4 days. Maybe the late evening wine helped! There were 15 students so I can’t really show all the work here, but I felt so proud of their achievements.

, By Ruth Blakey, taught by Carol Naylor

by Isobel Shaw, taught by Carol Naylor

by Maureen Griffiths, taught by Carol Naylor

by Susan Gray, taught by Carol Naylor

I think these give an idea of what is possible if you are brave enough to fly on your sewing machine!