Hello Everyone

Hope this finds you well?

Continuing on with my recent overseas trip, this week I would love to share with you a rare and wonderful opportunity that presented itself on a stopver in Paris, on our return trip to Cape Town from Italy.

As you all probably know, my first book was “Redoute’s Finest Flowers In Embroidery”, published in 2001.  It is almost out of print now but still holds a very special place in my heart.

The botanical paintings of the artist Pierre Joseph Redoute have always held a fascination for me and unbelievably, for the first time in France, Musée de la Vie Romantique (the Museum of Romantics) and the Museum of Natural History were holding an exhibition of 250 of his rare, original, watercolours.  I was beyond excited!

Pierre-Joseph Redouté, (1759 – 1840) was a painter and botanist from Belgium, known for his watercolours of roses, lilies and other flowers at Malmaison. He was nicknamed “the Raphael of flowers” and has been called the greatest botanical illustrator of all time.

It was an absolute thrill for me to see his original works firsthand and so it was that I left my husband and teenage daughter to the charms of Paris, whilst I traveled across Paris to the  Musée de la Vie Romantique at the foot of Montmartre.  Ah Paris!

I was not disappointed – the originals were breathtaking!  I desperately wanted to share my delight with someone, but unfortunately most of the visitors were French, and not too keen to chat to some deranged stranger from South Africa, so I shared my enthusiasm with the Security lady at the door in a combination of broken French interspersed with English.

Here are some close ups of the paintings I saw – oh my goodness what can I say.

Some of his sketch book watercolors, the paper was old and marked they were the real thing.

Some of his sketches that have never been seen before by the public.

And some rare illustrations in Poetry books.

You can see more of his work and the collection on my PINTEREST BOARD.

Seeing Redoute’s art has inspired me to create a new botanical needle painting design, his Morning Glories.

I am working on the stitching now and it will shortly be available as a kit  in THE SHOP so keep a look out.  Other Redoute patterns are the Sweet Peas pattern kit here.

 

and the Anemones pattern here.

Till next time, wherever you are in the world, keep smiling and happy stitching.

Trish

 

Hello everyone

Hope this finds you well and enjoying your week?

Just to let you know that we are having a SPRING SALE  in the shop.  Some of the kits are being discontinued to make way for new designs, so they will no longer be available, but not to worry as all discontinued designs are available as digital downloads in the DIGITAL STORE.

Till next time, wherever you are in the world,  have a wonderful weekend and happy stitching!

Trish

 

Hello Everyone in Australia, New Zealand & South America

I thought I should clarify that if you live in a remote area or outside of  the city limits additional shipping costs are incurred.  The rates are specified by all major courier companies and unfortunately are outside of my control.

There are two rates available for your country at checkout:

Express Courier 1 – choose this option if you reside within city limits

Express Courier 2 – choose this option if you reside outside of city limits.

Please be kind enough to choose the correct option for your area so that I don’t have to email you and request additional funds for payment of your shipping.  Thanks so much!

FREE SHIPPING SPECIAL

The Free shipping special this week (17 – 24 Sep) applies to any orders over $20 for everyone who resides within city limits, however those residing outside of city limits will only have to pay a flat rate of $10.

To clarify here are the options you will see at checkout:

Free Shipping Special within city limits – $0.00

Shipping Special outside city limits – $10.00

Hope this is clear?  Enjoy your weekend and happy stitching.

Trish

Hello everyone

Hope you are well and that those of you in Florida USA are safe and secure after hurricane Irma  – I know that many of you are without power and hope that things return to normal very soon.

This week it is my 290th blog post and I think that deserves a little celebration, don’t you?  So for this week only from Sunday 17th  to Sunday 24th September I am offering free shipping on all sales items in the shop:

SHOP HERE

This is my way of saying thank you for supporting me all these years – my first blog post went out in June 2010.  I shyly reached out to the world and was blown over by your enthusiastic response which encouraged me to go on and I am so glad I did!

Looking back over the last 7 years we have approached many different facets of embroidery and I did have to giggle at how much things have changed and of course we are all a little older and wiser, are we not?

Here are some of the highlights:

The opening of my first online shop

Interviews with featured designers –

Cayce Zavaglia

Mical Aloni

I have shared some of my holidays and let you have a laugh at my expense!

and my overseas teaching trips:

Beating around the Bush in Australia

and The Royal School Of Needlework

Tutorials and articles:

Designing An Embroidery Project – the series.

and Needles under discussion

and more recently the first video tutorials were launched on YOutube:

Lastly there have been many new products launched – the project instructions have changed over time and I hope they have got better?  One of the more innovative products that I was most excited about, was the launch of the iron on transfers:

and of course the controversial new idea of WHITEWORK WITH COLOUR?

Lets take this opportunity to celebrate the diversity and awesomeness of our shared love of embroidery!   Till next time wherever you are in the world, keep smiling and happy stitching.  Trish

Hello everyone

This week I would love to share with you a little something that I think you will love,  to show you that I care and in the hopes that it inspires you to do something similar.  Embroidery on clothing is big news at present – you will see it in selected shops and on the runway.  My daughters asked me if I would do some embroidery on a shirt for them and I must admit I was not very keen, thinking it would be a lot of work!  However, a few weeks ago I saw a pin on Pinterest of some embroidery done on the collar of a shirt and thought “what a great idea”.  So I did a little trial run and this is the result.  Rather pleased with it and plan to show it off at my next meeting with the stitching group:))  Hopefully they notice!

The tutorial came from the site of the lovely Bev of Flamingo Toes who freely shares her ideas with the world.  You can see the full tutorial here.

I purchased a floral graphics bundle from Creative Market the designer was Delagrafica and adapted one of the floral posies for my shirt. Creative Market is a wonderful source of graphics done by freelance graphic designers and artists – it is worth having a look at what they have to offer and know they would appreciate the support, as many of these talented designers make a living from their craft.

You can find my tracing outline done in 2 reverse options to put on either side of the collar here.

You will need:

1.  A plain white cotton blouse/shirt
2. Stranded cotton Threads in colours of your choice (recommend you use colourfast threads so can be washed)
3. A small hoop – I used size 5.
4. Sharps needle size 10.

Here is my process.

1. Trace the outline using a transfer pen, then iron each one carefully onto the collar.
2. Mount the collar into the hoop – it wont fit properly but will keep it taut whilst stitching.
3. Stitch the design.
4. Remove from hoop – iron on wrong side of embroidery and hey presto you have a beautiful blouse that is totally unique to you.

Tips

1. Match the colours to a favorite skirt, pants or sweater – Shirt can be worn under a sweater for winter with collar peeping out, or on its own in summer.
2. Use the design to embroider on almost anything – a t shirt, sweater, jeans – you could also embroider on the pocket of the shirt ……..  IT WILL BE ONE OF A KIND!

Hope you have fun with this – till next time keep smiling and happy stitching.

Trish

Hello Everyone

I have had numerous requests asking if I would sell my original pieces of embroidery.  I tend to be a bit reluctant to let go of my originals, but after much consideration I have decided that it is time to let some of them go.  I am pleased to let you know that all 15 of the original embroideries from the book WHITEWORK WITH COLOUR are now available for sale in the shop here.

Each one has been stretched and mounted onto padded card ready for framing.  They are packed in a beautiful box with tissue paper and signed by moi!  Each one comes with love from me to you and I know that it will find a special place in your home.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Trish

Hello Everyone

Hope you are all well and enjoying your summer holidays.

This week I would like to share with you part 3 of the Italy trip, the class in Verona.  As you probably know Verona is the home of the Shakespeare play Romeo & Juliet, and a visit to the lovely town of Verona would not be complete without a visit to the famous Juliet’s balcony.

A few years ago I received an email from Manuela Scarpin, a teacher of embroidery, from the Friuli region of Italy, asking if I would come over and do a class. I agreed that since we were travelling to Italy on holiday this year I would include a one day class in Verona. Manuela collaborated with  Elisabetta Ricami, a teacher and designer of beautiful embroidery and together they arranged the class and venue. The workshop was held at the stunning La Borina Agriturismo, an eco friendly farm about an hour from Verona nestled amidst the vineyards and countryside.

The class of 20 was made up by Manuela and her ladies who travelled by bus to Verona, 2 hours away,  and Elisabetta and her ladies who came from various parts of Italy.

Valentina, the owner of La Borina, kindly made all the preparations, arranged the classroom layout, set up the projector and organized all the teas and lunches.  With the help of Manuela translating we managed to achieve a morning of stitching up until lunch.

I was warned by Manuela not to give the students more than an hour for lunch as the Italians tend to linger over their meals, enjoying every mouthful and savouring every sip of the compulsory wine that graces every Italian’s table:), and would spend 3 hours if allowed!  This proved to be true…….. After a leisurely lunch, there was an hour of photographs and then more photographs (because someone was left out the first time (:) and before we knew it was tea time.  I loved how relaxed they all were!  Needless to say they are very proficient embroiderers and did not need a lot of teaching as they are experts in their own right, so it was more about the experience and the sharing of our love of embroidery.

I should mention the lunch which was mind-blowingly, delicious and so beautifully displayed.  La Borina grows all their own vegetables and have their own livestock so all the dishes were prepared from fresh ingredients on the farm.  There seemed to be platter after platter of food, each one more delightful then the next. Thank you again for the amazing lunch and hospitality, Valentina.

I was delighted to be shown some of their work which included several projects from my books.

Two lovely ladies from the gorgeous, glossy Italian magazine Giuliana Ricama joined us for the day, took photos and observed  the proceedings so as to write an article on the event.  I believe the article will be published in the next edition – if interested   You can subcsribe here.  The students were all treated to a wonderful gift hamper full of stitching goodies compliments of the magazine.

I was also delighted to meet the renowned Italian, master embroiderer, author and designer, Giuliana Buonpadre who attended the class.  She has written several books and runs classes in Italy – for more on her work see her website here.

I was overwhelmed by the hospitality of these charming Italian ladies, the interest in my work and the red carpet treatment I received.  A big thank you to Manuela for arranging the event and for patiently translating every word,  and to Elisabetta for organizing the venue.  It was a wonderful, happy,  day and each one of you which will always hold a special place in my heart.

Till next time, keep smiling, happy stitching and Arrivederci!

Trish