In a recent email, David Hieatt asked ‘What is the best time to have ideas?’

Whilst he acknowledged that this time would differ for everyone, he’d come across a practice that he thought just might work for him - Brahma Muhurta.

Although representing a period of just 48 minutes, Brahma Muhurta translates as ‘The Creator’s Hour’. A practice that originated in Ancient India, Brahma Muhurta starts 96 minutes before sunrise and lasts for 48 minutes, with the wise declaring it the best time for meditation, yoga, reading and prayer.

The belief was held that, as this was the penultimate phase of the night, it was considered a favourable period of the day and therefore the time spent performing spiritual activities in the early morning would have a greater effect than at any other time during the day.

David closed his email by stating, ‘As to whether it works or not, I feel in this ever-pacier world we are living in, we need all the help we can get. So I, for one, am going to try it.’

To needing all the help we can get, we responded with a resounding ‘yes’! There are times the hustle and bustle of life seem to get in the way of not only our time with needle and thread, but also the time to make a space where the busyness stops and we’re able to simply create, even if for just 48 minutes a day.

Is there a specific time of the day that you’re at your creative best? Perhaps for you it’s more about environment rather than a specific time. Whenever or wherever you find your creative best, we’d love to hear about it because as we said, we need all the help we can get! Email news@inspirationsstudios.com, we can’t wait to hear when and/or where you find your Brahma Muhurta.

It seems that not only do we have a huge group of talented stitchers out there in our community, but we also have a number of very knowledgeable historians as well! We received several responses to our article on the rare blue dye which was so prized by ancient Jewish cultures and the classical civilizations of the Mediterranean.

Nik Ravenscroft mentioned woad, a plant that also produces a blue dye and, according to Nik, resulted in the Tudors seeing blue as the colour of poverty! Nik told us about a video she’d seen that showed the dyes that Vikings had available and specifically pointed out the intense dark blue from woad. As to why the early Jewish dyers and the Romans didn’t use it… there may be other readers with historical knowledge who may be able to provide more detail?

In fact, Eva-Maria Mair also told us about woad and has even had a try at dyeing using the plant herself. Woad, or Isatis tinctoria, grows in the colder climates of Europe according to Eva-Maria. Could this account for it not being used so frequently in the warmer parts of the continent?

As with indigo, skill and knowledge are required to achieve an even result.

If you want to know more about colour, Kathryn Molitor recommends a book on the subject called ‘Colour: A Natural History of the Colour Palette’ by Victoria Findlay. The book is filled with fascinating information about colours and dyes that the author has gathered throughout her travels. We have been lucky enough to read this book ourselves and can confirm that it is a very enjoyable and enlightening read.

Many of our readers were inspired by the welcome in All Stitched Up! issue #290 titled ‘Beginning Again’. Lana Lipsett shared a very personal story where she had to ‘begin again’ after she was tragically involved in a near fatal car-accident and spent five long months in hospital. Lana had to cope with excruciating pain, particularly when she had to be moved. One day, two new nurses came to her ward to help move Lana with an orthopaedic sling. Neither nurse had done the procedure before, so Lana prepared herself for the process to be very painful. However, both nurses took the time to read the directions and slowly work through the procedure, which resulted in Lana being moved with almost no pain at all. As Lana observes:

This certainly should be a lesson for us all.

Orna Yehudai simply wanted to share a thought – she reminded us that we have an opportunity to start again every living moment. This is true about everything in life and thank goodness it is. We are very appreciative of the reminder, Orna.

Finally, we are still getting some great responses regarding using up our stash supplies. Carol Meadows likes to quilt with her stash. She doesn’t just create geometrically patterned quilts, but often makes quilts using long sashes of left-over fabric, which she then embroiders over and adds leaves, flowers, appliqué birds and butterflies. She’s made quilts out of old placemats, doilies, cotton fabric and even silk fabric. Her grandmother always used to remind her to:

However, as she wryly observes, no matter how much stash she uses up, there is always something that she just has to buy in order to turn that stash into something she likes!

Finally, Joan Lessard shared a stash challenge and asked whether anyone else had some solutions. She lives in an RV as she and her husband travel constantly. It means she has almost no storage space, and although her husband tolerates it, she has thread, beads and fabric stuffed into every possible space. If she places everything carefully back after she’s used it, things generally work out OK. However, if she does a ‘stuff and store’ job using plastic bags (not an uncommon thing it seems!) then she’s in trouble. But she wondered whether anyone else had experience keeping track of their materials in an RV, caravan or any other small space?

We’ll be back with more Have Your Say next week as we start to share some of the stories we’re received about your own close encounters with the third kind… well the unfinished project kind in this case! In the meantime, we’d love to hear from anyone who may have more thoughts about blue dyes, starting again or storage in small spaces or, indeed, any other topic that takes your fancy. Just email us at news@inspirationsstudios.com

Inspirations issue #107 was memorable for many reasons, one of which was the stunning project ‘Caterina’ by Maria Rita Faleri. This gorgeous table mat introduced the Catherine de’ Medici stitch, a fascinating counted technique that is challenging yet relaxing, and featured a crisp white pattern worked on a deliciously coarse natural linen.

Everyone loved the design and new technique so much we sold out of kits in a very short space of time. Fans of Maria’s work and the technique, Catherine de’ Medici, will be thrilled to know she has a brand-new project featured in Inspiration issue #111 called Natural Wonder, which you can read more about in this issue of All Stitched Up! below.

As this new project by Maria picks up where her original design left off, we’re expecting a resurgence of interest in all things Catherine de’ Medici and Maria Rita Faleri. In anticipation, our amazing kit team have put together a new batch of Caterina kits.

As always, our Ready-to-Stitch Kits come complete with fabric and all the thread you need, however we are now also offering the added option of buying the linen fabric by the metre.

A half a metre of fabric is adequate for either of the two Catherine de’ Medici projects, so you can stock up in anticipation of all of the requests to make this project you are bound to receive.

For anyone who needs the instructions for Caterina, you are spoiled for choice. Printed copies of Inspirations #107 are still available plus you can purchase both a digital pattern and a printed pattern.

Whether you have fallen in love with Maria Rita Faleri’s designs or the technique Catherine de’ Medici, you now have all you need to keep your needles busy.

Instructions for Caterina:

As we sit here at Inspirations HQ in the midst of a cold winter, it is hard to imagine that it will ever be warm enough again to get back to the beach. But summer will eventually come back yet again and with it, warm weather and glorious evenings playing on the shore with the children or the grandchildren.

Anticipating those wonderful long days and thinking about smocking something gorgeous for a beloved little princess, there isn’t a more appropriate project than Kaleidoscope by Debbie Shepherd that first appeared in Australian Smocking & Embroidery issue #71. When a reader wrote to us to ask whether we could release it as a digital pattern, we knew it was the perfect choice.

This adorable little sleeveless dress is festooned with colourful smocking and adorable embroidered flowers. The rainbow colours set off the crisp white fabric and the style of the dress is so versatile; the lucky wearer would look just as good at a special party as she would running down the beach to catch the waves.

Kaleidoscope is now available as a digital pattern and is the perfect project to create a beautiful little dress ready for those glorious summer days.

For anyone who thought that needlework is a solitary pursuit, it’s worth checking out the work of Liz Kueneke. Contrary to the solitary narrative, Liz views embroidery as a community activity and has spent years connecting people with their local area through community needlework projects.

Liz takes large, embroidered maps of local areas out into that particular community and then recruits everyday people to embellish the embroideries with their own stitches. They can add anything that represents their own experiences, memories and ideas about their area. This encourages individuals to think deeply about what their local space means to them as well as getting involved in making something that represents everyone.

If you would like to see more of Liz’s projects, you can follow her on Instagram @liz.kueneke, read about her HERE or go to her website. Perhaps seeing her work might encourage others to get out into the community and bring people together through the medium of stitch?

From wares to kits and all kinds of tricks, if it has recently come back in stock, you’ll discover it below.

When we first introduced the beautifully named Catherine de’ Medici stitch in Inspirations issue #107, we were taken aback by how popular it was. Maria Rita Faleri of Italy designed a project entitled Caterina; a lovely table mat that introduced stitchers to this traditional counted technique.

With the release of Inspirations issue #111 we are thrilled to bring you the next step in the journey to master this particular style of embroidery with Maria’s new project Natural Wonder.

Maria Rita Faleri is originally from Fermi, a small city in the Marche region of central Italy. She had always loved embroidery and lace making, spending all of her free time, in between working and bringing up a family, studying and perfecting some of the traditional techniques from her local area.

Over the past decades, she has devoted her life to mastering them and then setting up a school to teach others. Maria has also written prodigiously, producing a number of books and manuals specifically focusing on lace making, tassel making, and such needlework styles as punto antico, Assisi embroidery, Deruta embroidery and Catherine de’ Medici stitch.

It is this latter stitch that features in Natural Wonder, a beautifully rustic cushion worked entirely in this fascinating stitch. Catherine de’ Medici stitch is a form of double running stitch that requires a very particular path in order to achieve the effect. Stitchers were first instructed how to do the technique in Inspirations issue #107.

Natural Wonder is worked on the same coarse natural linen as the project Caterina, but this time it features a series of stylised birds in a gorgeous geometric shape. The cushion is edged in a delicate blanket stitch with a picot detail. Each corner of the cushion is adorned with one of Maria’s characteristic handmade tassels that set the entire piece off beautifully.

Although Catherine de’ Medici stitch is deceptively simple, in order to achieve an even finish without the open weave linen distorting, the path direction needs to be followed carefully and tension is very important.

Included in issue #111 are our usual detailed, step by step instructions so even if you haven’t worked the earlier project, you won’t have any difficulty in picking up the skills. When complete, Natural Wonder will form the focal point of any chair, sofa or even a bed.

One of the beautiful things about needlework is the seemingly endless number of techniques to try out and master. What could be better than discovering something new and giving it a go? The satisfaction that comes from succeeding with something like Catherine de’ Medici stitch is immense.

We are so grateful to designers like Maria who have devoted their lives to preserving and passing on traditional embroidery techniques. If it’s time to add something new to your repertoire, Natural Wonder most definitely fits the bill.

Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Natural Wonder by Maria Rita Faleri is a Catherine de’ Medici cushion cover featuring enchanting bird motifs and finished with hand-knotted tassels.

Step 2 – Purchase Ready-To-Stitch Kit

The Inspirations Ready-To-Stitch kit for Natural Wonder includes everything* you need to re-create this stunning cushion cover: Fabric (unprinted), sewing thread and needle.

*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 magazine/digital pattern. Kit does not include cushion insert.

Chanticleer by Patricia Girolami from Inspirations issue #82 is a delightful punto antico linen sachet.

Bellissimo by Paola Matteucci from Inspirations issue #102 is a beautiful cushion topper in Italian tulle embroidery with a flowing design of roses and leaves.

Stitches from the Heart by Maria Elide Melani from Inspirations issue #97 is a charming little sachet, in shades of blue and white - the perfect introduction to the technique of Deruta Sfilato, drawn thread work from the heart of Italy.

Tuscan Lace by Maria Elide Melani from Inspirations issue #103 is a cushion cover worked with Deruta Sfilato embroidery, perfect for a contemporary setting.

We wondered what that noise was in our cupboard of projects, and we realised it was the sound of animals! It’s been several months since we’ve featured animal projects in What Are You Stitching? and they’ve been building up. It is no wonder all of the different creatures are getting restless, so in order to release a few, here are some wonderful animal projects for you to enjoy.

‘I was on holidays down the South Coast of NSW in Australia and discovered a glorious shop called Sew and Tell (that has unfortunately closed now). Inside I came across a Jenny McWhinney kit and completed this little mouse. This was my first attempt at embroidery.’

What an amazing job for a first attempt, Roslyn! And it is such an adorable project too. Well done. We hope you’ve continued with your stitching after this initial triumph.

‘I bought these animals as kits from Jenny McWhinney and turned the elephants into a cushion for my daughter and the cheetahs and giraffes into a blanket. They are stitched using wool embroidery which as a technique is really fast to work up.’

They’re fabulous, Kathryn. We love wool embroidery too as it produces such a lovely result. We’re sure the recipients of these amazing pieces were thrilled and Jenny herself will be delighted to see her designs given such love.

‘I love taking designs from colouring books and applying my own stitches to the project. I must add, this has only been possible due to the inspiration from Hazel Blomkamp's books and a very patient embroidery teacher, Sarie Webster. Hazel's books have helped me to work outside of my comfort zone, by using stitches in many different ways. This has also given me a lot of self-confidence when tackling a new design.’

‘These cats have been embroidered using DMC cottons. This has become a cushion, which sits on my bed.’

How creative, Amanda! You’ve clearly mastered some fantastic skills and applied them to your stitching beautifully, your finished piece is brilliant. Hazel will be delighted to see what you have accomplished.

Do you love stitching animals? Are you inspired by your pets or other creatures of the four-legged variety? Or do you prefer plants and flowers to fauna wild or tame? Whatever it is you like to stitch, we’d love to see it. Send a picture of your project along with a bit of information about it 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!

Macaron Magic by Merrilyn Whittle showcases Japanese-style bead embroidery with these cute macaron purses in four colourways.

The Frog Prince by Victoria Laine from Inspirations issue #98 is two fun, frog purses created with embellished needlelace, inspired by historical designs.

Small Change by Hazel Blomkamp from Inspirations issue #90 is a charming coin purse with a vibrant Jacobean design.

Sakura by Margaret Lee from Inspirations issue #105 is a delightful, beaded purse featuring a cherry blossom.

~ Dieter F Uchtdorf ~

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.