It happens but four times a year, a change of season.

The two most obvious changes in season are usually the change from winter to spring and summer to autumn, the change of season we currently find ourselves in. The Southern Hemisphere is enjoying slightly longer days and markedly warmer temperatures whilst the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing the complete opposite – the daylight hours are now on a noticeable decline along with the temperature.

It’s interesting to note the changes we make in response to the change in season. Most deliberate would be our choice of clothing to accommodate the change in temperature. Often, however, we’ll also see changes in the time we find ourselves naturally waking in the mornings, the food we eat, the activities we gravitate toward and sometimes even our mood that coincides with the changes occurring in nature.

Whether it be consciously or subconsciously, we think it does.

We find our curiosity is piqued by the colours that are associated with the season in which we find ourselves – think bright spring, cool summer, warm autumn and dark winter hues. What about the fibres we choose to work with? Somehow it seems silks and cottons are our fibre of choice in spring and summer while autumn and winter find us reaching for wool. Sometimes even the length of our projects may be inversely dictated by the number of daylight hours in each day – longer days seem to call for smaller projects that allow us the time to enjoy the outdoors. Whilst the shorter, cooler and often wet days of winter encourage us to spend more time inside embarking on a project that requires many an hour of our time with needle and thread.

At the end of the day, if so much of our lives are dictated by the seasons, why shouldn’t our stitching be also? It is, after all, one of the most important parts of who we are and how we spend our time!

What about you, does your stitching change with the seasons? We’d love to know if the change in season changes what you put your needles and threads to. Let us know by emailing news@inspirationsstudios.com

How long would you devote to a single embroidery project? We all know that needlework is not a quick process. From the moment we first thread the needle through to putting in the final stitch, we can expect tens, or even hundreds of hours of meditative activity. Add in the inevitable unpicking and it is pretty certain that some projects are going to take up weeks or even years of our lives.

For some stitchers, this level of devotion is just par for the course. They wouldn’t bat an eyelid at the thought of the years ahead. Take Brother Martin Sneller for example. Brother Martin is a retired chemistry teacher and practicing Lasallian brother now living in the Philippines.

After starting the piece in 2000 as he was recovering from a back injury, this labour of love has been a part of his life ever since.

Or take the delightful 86-year-old lady who hand stitched this exquisite chair. As well as designing the piece and using samples from nature to get her colours absolutely correct, she devoted 25 years of her life to its completion. It is little wonder that sitting in it is absolutely forbidden.

Probably the first question many stitchers might ask is ‘didn’t you get bored?’ Brother Martin admitted that he did ‘get tired of the same project.’ As such, he started and completed others in the meantime – some 20 or 30 altogether which he gave away as gifts. But even with these distractions, he always returned to his opus, adding stitch after stitch in the knowledge that each one brought him one step closer to his ultimate goal.

There are many ideas around the value of dedication to a project or a cause. The benefits include a sense of purpose, continuous satisfaction and, depending on how you mentally frame the project, plenty of micro-achievements leading ultimately to the final, wonderful macro-achievement.

However, as with many things, there are also downsides which many of us will recognize in a trail of once started and now abandoned (or perhaps we should say ‘postponed’) projects. These include boredom, a feeling of being stuck or bogged down, and the complete loss of focus or motivation that arises from the inexorable tug of that new and shiny thing just crying out to be started.

Although both of the dedicated stitchers referenced in this article are in their 80s, lifelong commitment to a project shouldn’t just be something exclusive to the older members of our community. It is true that there are many laments bandied around today about how younger people can’t focus thanks to screens, digital technology and the frenetic pace of life they are forced to keep up.

Perhaps some projects we begin today need to be approached with a mindset that it could take a decade or two for their completion.

When something takes that amount of time, the fruits of people’s labour are rare and precious fruits indeed.

For this we can all look to Brother Martin for inspiration. He openly admits to the tedium he faced stitching the border of his piece, but says that during those periods, he would keep his motivation going with other projects.

Perhaps the lesson is that no matter how frustrated we feel, we should never label any project as ‘completely abandoned’. In time, we may pick it up again and continue on, always holding that ultimate goal in our minds.

Whether you have spent hours, days, weeks or even years on a project, what we can all agree on is it’s the journey which is important. The journey takes time, it demands love, brings ups and downs, joys and frustrations. The journey is both the thing that drives us, and the thing that paralyses us.

In the end, once the time has been spent and we finally view our achievement framed on a wall, it will act, above everything else, as the reminder of that journey. Or, as Brother Martin says, it serves as ‘something to admire’ and to remind him of ‘all of the various stages’ of his life that it preserved in each and every stitch.

There is a saying that suggests that to find your handsome prince, you need to kiss a lot of frogs. Well, if all of the frogs were like Victoria Laine’s ‘Frog Prince’ from Inspirations issue #98, we don’t think anyone would object!

‘Frog Prince’ which features as the October Calendar project, is a pattern for two gorgeous, three-dimensional frogs worked in needlelace with gold purl highlights and a throat lined in silk.

Both frogs are actually little coin purses, inspired by the whimsical and fantastic embroidered bags worked during the 16th and 17th Centuries.

Although traditionally these little purses would have been worn hung by a cord from the waist, Victoria’s frogs work just as well seated on a surface, all ready to spring into action. Constructed so that they can still hold several coins, they would make a perfect and magical gift for any prince or princess in your life.

The current issue of Inspirations magazine has been more popular than we could ever have anticipated, but like all good things, it must soon come to an end to make way for the joys of Inspirations issue #108.

As we’re sure you can imagine, sourcing materials for kits has proved extremely challenging this year, however we’ve done our best to help everyone get the kits they requested.

While kits for some projects are still available, this week we’re announcing the final boarding call. It’s time to grab your hand-luggage, head to the gate and order the last of your Inspirations issue #107 kits.

We’d hate for you to miss your flight and miss out on that kit you’ve been dreaming of, but now is the time - once they’re gone, they’re gone! Use the link below to place your order today.

There are so many benefits to chunky yarn. Known variously as ‘Super Chunky’ in the UK, ‘Super Bulky’ in the USA and 16-ply yarn in Australia, it is big, soft, delicious to work with and really quick to knit up.

If you thought that yarn this size was really only good for beanies, scarves or oversized cardigans, think again. When you see the 17 adorable toys in Claire Gelder’s new book ‘Robyn Octopus and Friends’ you’ll wonder why you’d never thought of it before.

All worked in Super Chunky yarn, each of these gorgeous animals, from Claire’s iconic Mabel Bunny through to Joan the colourful Seahorse, sit at a huge 70cm tall. They are just the right size and softness to keep a child comforted at night or to give you something perfect to cuddle in front of the TV.

It’s time to get your big needles out and cast on one of these adorable creatures. We’re pretty sure it won’t be long before your house is overflowing with super-sized and super cuddly, animal friends.

It would be nice to stitch every moment of every day, but sometimes even we stitchers have to put our needles down. So, if you can’t stitch, what is the next best thing? How about creating a digital embroidery in the style of your very own, personalised Bayeux Tapestry?

Using the fonts, images and styles from the original Bayeux tapestry, the Historic Tale Construction Kit allows you to quickly put together a digital ‘stitched’ image, using your own words and borrowing some of the quirky beasts and figures from the original embroidery.

Here’s what we came up with, but we’re sure you could do better. If only actual stitching was as quick as this!

If you would like to read more about the app, there is information at My Modern Met, or you can have a go yourself for free at the Historic Tale Construction Kit website.

Hedebo is a style of embroidery originating in Denmark, which was first developed in the seventeenth century. It had humble beginnings, imagined and perfected by farmers from the area of Zealand known as the ‘Heath’ between Copenhagen and Roskilde.

Although the technique was originally used on domestic items which were on display within the household, by the 19th Century, Hedebo embroidery began to grow in popularity. First it extended from the countryside to the wealthy and middle classes of Copenhagen and soon after it started spreading to the rest of Europe and the world.

What isn’t always acknowledged is that the term ‘Hedebo embroidery’ refers to seven different techniques which have evolved over time.

Hedebo includes early counted and drawn thread work, as well as square cut work which was popular until the end of the 19th Century. Needlelace, inspired by Italian Reticella started to appear around 1840. Around 1850, the style known locally as ‘Udklipshedebo’ appeared.

Udklipshedebo included cutwork across the warp and weft of the fabric, with holes being filled with intricate needlelace patterns. Incorporating both scallop stitch and buttonhole stitch, the pieces were adorned with curves, points and Hedebo rings or wheels as well as leaves and petals worked in satin stitch.

By the end of the 19th Century, this style of embroidery could be found in almost every middle-class home in Denmark, in the form of table linen, tea cosies, collars and cuffs. It is this style of Hedebo embroidery that Christine P. Bishop brings to us in her exquisite table mat, Tulipan from our new book ‘A Passion for Needlework | Blakiston Creamery’.

Worked on fine, 45-count cutwork linen, this piece is a delicate riot of buttonhole bars, needleweaving and the unique, Hedebo buttonhole edging which is so characteristic of the style.

Success in this project comes from careful placement and the wonderful pleasure that arises from slowing right down and taking your time with your stitching. Although there is repetition in the stitches, it is so important to get each detached element even.

For much of the detail inside the cut areas, a template is essential to ensure that each arch, picot and point matches all of the others perfectly. The result is an heirloom piece, so lacy in appearance that it almost defies belief. To hold it is to hold air, and to see it is to understand what true beauty really is.

When the early creators of Hedebo sat in a shaft of sunlight or in the cone of light from a sputtering candle, delicately cutting their threads and working their stitches, we can easily imagine that they wanted their efforts in perfecting this technique to go down in history.

We can now be thankful that we have such a dedicated and skilled designer as Christine, who through her work, encourages us to carry on the Hedebo tradition. She is the bridge to ensure that these skills can continue on for generations to come.

DID YOU KNOW?

The gorgeous tulip pattern featured in ‘Tulipan’ is the same pattern Christine used in her project ‘Tulip’ from Inspirations issue #90.

The Tulip sachet is a wonderful way of practising the tulip pattern before re-creating the table mat. It’s also a gorgeous compendium piece to Tulipan.

Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Tulipan by Christine P. Bishop from the book A Passion for Needlework | Blakiston Creamery is a superb table mat worked using Hedebo cutwork and needlelace techniques.

Step 2 – Purchase Ready-To-Stitch Kit

The Inspirations Ready-To-Stitch kit for Tulipan includes everything* you need to re-create this elegant mat: Fabric (unprinted), embroidery threads and needles.

*Please Note: To cater for flexibility of purchase, instructions are not included with our kits. For step-by-step directions on how to create this project, please refer to the book.

Tulip by Christine P. Bishop from Inspirations issue #90 is an exquisite white linen sachet featuring an elegant, single tulip motif filled with delicate Hedebo needlelace and finished with eyelets and satin stitch.

Simplicity by Christine P. Bishop from Inspirations issue #88 is superb linen table mat, perfect for trying Hedebo embroidery.

Petit Bouquet by Christine P. Bishop from Inspirations issue #79 is a dainty counted thread pincushion in shades of yellow-green and cranberry.

Sollerösöm by Christine P. Bishop from Inspirations issue #101 a pretty pincushion and pouch worked in a Swedish counted technique.

Be it by necessity or choice, stitching together one’s own face mask has suddenly risen in prevalence. The fact that elastic is often in short supply, and that good, strong, cotton fabric is flying off the shelves stands testimony to that.

Those within our very own needlework community have not just been making your ordinary everyday masks however; they’ve been making them with all of the skill, talent and flair that comes with being a needle artisan. Here are a few examples to enjoy.

‘I've hesitated about sending the attached photo several times, showing how I've turned the sensible necessity of homemade face masks into fun.’

‘Am I making the most of a crafty opportunity, or am I daft?’

No, Ann, you aren’t daft at all! In fact, you are using your talents to create something truly beautiful out of something so utilitarian and necessary. You should be rightly proud.

‘My EGA chapter enjoyed a Zoom class about making and decorating protective face masks. Velma Williford taught us about different mask patterns and their differing advantages.’

‘We were challenged to embellish either a home-made or commercial mask for showing at the next meeting.

I chose to start with a ready-made mask from www.tiebar.com after a friend lauded its comfort, excellent fabric and elimination of eyeglass fogging.’

‘My embellishing included hand-dyed lace, Swarovski crystals, natural freshwater pearls, a metal bee charm, vintage heart buttons and pressed glass leaves. Being careful to only pierce the outer fabric, not the lining or filter pocket made the stitching slow and laborious. I was happy with the result.’

We could only imagine how proud the wearer of this beautiful mask would be Sara. What a great idea for decorating an already excellent design.

‘I thought you might like to see the mask I made in April. The mask is made of leftover Japanese Lawn fabric from a child’s dress. The lining has a large pleat so it stretches nicely and fits to the face very well. It was so time consuming, I only produced one!’

‘I use it to cover another mask, or alone. When our mask season ends, I plan on hanging it on my sewing room Christmas tree as a reminder of these difficult times.’

Both practical and lovely, Joyce. Smocking was always designed to give a good fit, so you’ve adapted the technique very well.

‘I recently found a piece of pleated fabric left from a previous smocking project. My smocking group were talking about making masks so I thought I would smock mine.’

‘Vertical smocking was perfect for the sides and left a comfortable area across the mouth and nose. A narrow band of regular smocking made for a comfortable upper and lower edge.’

Waste not, want not – you’ve found a fabulous use for a previously pleated piece of fabric, Sara. Well done!

Have you ever turned your embroidery skills and passion for decorating towards making practical items? Or have you ever made yourself stand out from the crowd by putting your needle and thread to good use? Perhaps you’re a whizz at finding practical uses for leftover bits and pieces? Whatever it is that you love and whatever occasion you rise to, we’d love to hear about it. Send us pictures of your work and a bit of information about the project and your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com

Become part of the Inspirations family by subscribing to the magazine... we'd love to have you join us!

Starlight by Taetia McEwen from our Handpicked range is an enchanting lampshade with garden friends wishing on the first star.

The Woolly Sheep by Libby Vater from Inspirations issue #18 is a cosy cot quilt featuring three woolly rams in a meadow of field flowers, framed by words from the favourite nursery rhyme ‘Baa, Baa, Black Sheep’.

Hey, Diddle Diddle by Heather Scott from Inspirations issue #22 is a delightful sheet set featuring the old favourite nursery rhyme ‘Hey, Diddle Diddle’.

~ Bronnie Ware ~

Stay informed of upcoming needlework events taking place all around the world in our new What’s On page on the Inspirations Studios Website HERE.