Hello Everyone
Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2015 brings health, happiness and peace to you and your loved ones. With a new year come resolutions, renewal and new ideas, I have plenty so lets start by sharing some of the ideas and plans in store for 2015!
New Whitework Projects
As you know my “whitework” projects are named “Shades Of Whitework” to distinguish them from pure white on white embroidery as it is traditionally known. The designs are stitched using touches of monochrome shades of grey and black to give them a fresh contemporary feel. However, we can never be limited with colour choices and these could easily be substituted with other shades to achieve your own unique preference – I have been experimenting and will discuss this in more depth in a future post.
Despite the normal chaotic Christmas activities I did manage to sneak in a bit of stitching and have completed three new projects the first two of which will be added to the shop this month: the first is “Katarina” The Cat – with thanks to Jill Buckley of The Quilt Rat who kindly gave me permission to use the outline of her charming & elegant cat doodle. You can see more of her beautiful work here.
The second is “Chickadee”. This is the third in a series of A Complete Lesson in Whitework Embroidery – the other two are complete lessons in Needlepainting and Miniature Needlepainting.
Lessons
The Complete lessons allow you to learn the technique in the comfort of your own home, at your own pace. If you are a beginner it is a good place to start and if you have some experience but want to brush up on the technique then this is also for you. If your new year’s resolution is to learn needlepainting there are two other starting points: The DVD The Long & The Short of It, and the book Needlepainting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas For Beginners.
Each lesson kit is accompanied by information on materials, stitches, hints and step by step photos. The kit includes an instruction booklet, fabric with pre-printed outlines and needles. The whitework kits also include all the threads as these are not always easy to obtain but the needlepainting kits do not include thread – there is a DMC/Anchor stranded thread list in the kit and as mentioned before it is more cost effective to purchase these at your local needlework store or online in your own Country.
UK Workshop
If your preference is to learn a skill by attending a workshop then you will be pleased to know that I will be running a workshop (or two) in London, UK, in July this year. Details, dates and venue to be confirmed. Many of you have emailed requesting the opportunity to attend a workshop in the UK, so if there is anything specific you would like to learn i.e. needlepainting, miniature or whitework let me know and I will do my best to make this possible.
New Book On Miniature Needlepainting
This is the long awaited new book which is due for release in Jan/Feb this year. It is available for pre order – you can read all about it here. Not long to go – I am still waiting for my advanced copy to be delivered in the post and getting very impatient! I plan to offer packs of pre-printed fabric to go with the projects which will be added to the shop once the book has been released.
New Fabric Packs
Embroidery fabric is now available in new pack sizes and has been given a fresh look with new packaging. I gave this some thought and realized that when one cuts pieces out of a half metre you are left with small pieces that are of no use, so have re-calculated the sizes so that you can obtain a certain number of pieces out of each pack, without wastage. I have spent the last few days exercising every muscle (and some I did not know I had!!) cutting pieces from bolts and packing them. They are now available for sale in the shop.
The first is Irish Cambric linen which is now available as a piece 75 x 75cm (30 x 30 inches) which means you can cut 4 large pieces for needlepainting or whitework embroidery. The second is Southern Belle 100% 200 count cotton which is available as a piece 60 x 110cm (23 x 43inches) – you can cut 8 small pieces for miniature embroidery. Cotton satin an old favorite is currently available in pieces 30 x 35cm but if you are looking to order it by the metre you can find it at Mace & Nairn in the UK
Bird Book
There is another new book on the horizon, I am about to start work on it and hopefully it will be released late 2016 or early 2017. Birds Of The World In Needlepainting. You asked for it so now you shall receive! If you have any special requests for bird projects please let me know and will do my best to include them.
My new saying for this year will be meantime, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!” Keep smiling and happy stitching! Trish