Well worth seeing....

Made a trip down to Portsmouth to take in a few sights last week, namely the Overlord Embroidery and HMS Victory. For anyone who likes embroidery (and indeed even those who don't particularly!), the Overlord is well worth a visit. Designed By Sandra Lawrence and made by the Royal School of Needlework, it tells the story of Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings of Normandy by the Allied forces in 1944.

The embroidery measures 83 metres in length and is split into 34 panels (it is longer than the famous Bayeux Tapestry). Techniques include applique, couching, shading, goldwork and surface stitching. I had seen many images of this embroidery (and indeed a practice sample of it in the collection of the RSN) and was still more than impressed by this piece of embroidery. If you are in the South East of England, stop by!

The Embroidery is housed in the D-day museum in Portsmouth, follow the link below for more information:

D-Day museum and Overlord Embroidery

We also went to see HMS Victory:

It was comforting to see Admiral Lord Nelson's bed was covered in hand embroidered hangings to give him some privacy! Especially surreal on a ship thats only purpose is too fight..

Visiting this historic ship is fabulous, you can see every deck and go right down into the bowels of the ship. There is a piece of the original mast complete with shot damage and a plaque marking where Nelson fell and where he died. You spend most of the visit bent double as the decks are low so don't go if you are claustophobic or have a bad back! For more info click on the link below:

HMS Victory