New Embroidery Designs

This is what I have been busy with this last month ... TREE Cushion Kit and GARDEN Cushion Kit

They are now ready and up on the new website to order for Christmas. I am so pleased with how they have turned out that I am keen to do some more kits on the same theme, though many cry out for more CATS! I will get round to it ... I promise. But then there's all the fish, flowers, birds etc flying around in my head! I just need to go with the flow right now and flowers seem to be what is in my mind. No, not Christmasy, but those who know me also know I am not a huge fan of sticking to seasonal things particularly ... but now I am going to try to blog more when I have worked out how to use the new blog which goes with the website. So much to learn and Christmas does get in the way so! Apologies to those who can cope with all the added stress!

These two new kits, as you can see have been designed to be framed or made into cushion panels. In making the samples I found I really loved playing with the colours and not being too restricted by the stitch map. Have fun playing with your own colour combinations and stitches. That is what they are for after all, to experiment and make them individual to you. 

GARDEN Cushion Kit

GARDEN Cushion Kit framed as a sampler

Detail of GARDEN Cushion kit

TREE cushion Kit 

TREE cushion Kit as a framed sampler

TREE cushion Kit Detail

Christmas Pockets

Here's something to get stuck into for Christmas ... all a little late but it has been a very busy month, Here I have tried to design something simple to make, three little Christmas pockets which can be made singly or in multiples to make an advent garland. You can download here 

News coming up of new kits and NEW WEBSITE with the invaluable help of Kirsty from SOSWEB! Any day now ... Lovely new photos too by my chum Vanessa at Pixel Kitchen and last week (Feels a lot longer we moved the studio to a proper premises away from the cottage ... so I have my living room back and a very much more efficient work space int which to pack orders and keep the ever increasing stock levels from overwhelming my home. Now I come home to relax a bit (still no internet at the studio so office and admin have clung on at home). More in a day or so ...

Modern Folk Embroidery

At Last it's done!

It has taken a few months but at last the book is in production and will be out November 16th this year. Thanks to all at David and Charles for being so patient with me! You can pre-order the book NOW here to get your copy as soon as it is available.

I have also been designing some new cards to add to the collection I have done for The Art Group, (below) available here ... The 5 new designs include these two, which may also become kits in the near future! I am already finding myself thinking bizarrely about Christmas, which is like brushing my hair the wrong way, while the dog is panting in the heat and the sun beckons me to come into the garden and hack down the brambles ... so we can venture to the jungle at the back of the garden.
We recently also began supplying John Lewis for Autumn Winter so yesterday stuck on 800 barcodes to the kits they have ordered.
But some new kits are on the way!

FISH SHOAL

MULTI CAT card

CHRISTMAS 2015 BAUBLES TO DOWNLOAD!

Here are my 2015 Christmas Baubles! Go to the website for instant download! They will also be in the Country Living feature I believe ... They are very addictive to make and the variations are endless. In the download there is a pattern and, stitch library, and stitchmap to show you where to place the stitches, I am quite proud of it. I just love doing the downloads, it is hugely satisfying and appeals to my sense of order, though I am in truth constantly struggling with organisation!

Anyway I hope you will enjoy them!

NEW KITS!

BIRD DANCE CUSHION made up into a cushion 40 x 40 cm square 

I have finally finished the long process of designing, experimenting, having prototypes printed, and embroidering three new kits. There are two more coming but time is running out to complete other things, (like the new website) before the craziness that is Christmas is upon us again. 

So here we have Bird Dance, Cuckoo, Bluebird, and  ... all can be either made into cushions or framed and admired once you have embroidered them. Or if you are not an embroiderer then they make great pictures anyway! 

We had a great time at Thread in Farnham Maltings at the end of September and loved meeting so many like minded people, the bacon butties, and danish pastries which kept us going for two days!

The Bird Dance cushion proved a wonderful success and it was so good to show after so long in development ...

Now we are getting ready for Christmas and a piece in Country Living Christmas Issue. (out end of October) ...

Please do follow me on INSTAGRAM as there are sneaky peaks at work and ideas in the raw plus many things which inspire me and also Biddy of course... 

BIRD DANCE flat panel

The great thing with Bird Dance is it is so achievable, as all the birds are simple and quick to do in an evening so before you know it it is completed!

BLUEBIRD CUSHION made into panel 30 x 50 cm

BLUEBIRD CUSHION flat panel

 

BLUEBIRD CUSHION Detail

CUCKOO CUSHION PANEL

CUCKOO CUSHION PANEL Detail

The New cushion design featured at Thread

Our stand at Thread 2015

Our stand at Thread 2015

Needlework Development Scheme Leaflets

A while ago I gave a small talk with slides to the Embroiderer's Guild in Tunbridge Wells. It was a gentle talk about my mother's life's work with textiles and embroidery and her influence on my own work. She did work with the NDS during the early part of her career as a designer and author. Some of my audience had brought along their own copies of some of her books which was so heart warming ... I was also approached by a lady I have met a few times at exhibitions in the past who said she still had her mother's NDS leaflets used while teaching and would love me to have them. Shortly afterwards she and another friend and I had a lovely morning embroidering samples and looking through these fabulous leaflets. I also have the book And Sew to Embroider, also a NDS book which has my mother's designs in ... I have scanned them all inside and out and am sharing the covers here and thinking about best way to share all in time ... and there are more to come!

The first (below) is a complete four page leaflet and following are just the covers. The colours alone are lovely ... TREASURE indeed.

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 26B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 28B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 36"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 10B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 11B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 12B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 17B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 19B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 21B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 23B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 24B"

Needlework Development leaflet "Bulletin 25B"

Embroidered Butterflies and France!

it's amazing how many blogs I read start posts with an apology for not writing for a while ... I am joining that throng here but I have an excuse, as do the others but it has been very busy here and writing the blog though very necessary has been a luxury of time I simply have not had ... and there is so much to post too. 

Firstly, the latest fluster is getting ready for Pour l'Amour du fil" which is "An International Show of the Arts of the Thread" Embroidery, Quilting, Knitting and Sewing in Nantes, yes that's France ... so off we go on 20th April with all our good and chattles ... driving in my dirty old Clio all the way to conquer France with the kits! It's all quite exciting. 

See here a short video of last year's event 

IF you are in Nantes to come to this wonderful happening please do find me and come and say HELLO! I speak maybe five words in French and I won't tell you what they are, and I am running two workshops so that will be interesting. There will be a lot of smiling and gesticulating. 

Then below are the latest downloadable designs of which there are going to be 10 this year ... The three below are Set 1 click here and the one at the bottom is one of two for Set 2 which will be ready in a couple of weeks.

Use these butterflies on a garment or as a sampler or singly as a small framed gift

Here is one I made for friend's birthday ...

Here I have stitched them on a coloured background