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ISSUE 353, 21 OCTOBER, 2022
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INSPIRATIONS. ALL Stitched Up!
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Hi There,
Can we let you in on a little secret?

Whilst Inspirations HQ is housed in a magnificent, old, two-story house that looks over green parklands in picturesque North Adelaide in South Australia, sometimes our offices are a little more function over form than perhaps we’d like to admit!

Although the products we produce are incredibly beautiful and creative, the process used to get there is mostly administrative and detailed. Hence, most of our days are spent in meeting rooms or at our computers.

Even the room used to assemble our kits is incredibly functional. As soon as supplies arrive, they’re stored in labelled project boxes. Somewhat out of sight, out of mind until all the components are gathered together. Then, myriad gorgeous fabrics, threads and notions are taken from their project box and assembled into a kit box, barely seeing the light of day.

Sometimes it’s easy for the beauty of the stitched art we’re celebrating to get lost in the surrounds of our office.

Enter The Bobbin Tree by Inspirations.

We hadn’t realised just how much we’d missed being surrounded by all things needle and thread until we started spending time in the shop.
When we’re at The Bobbin Tree, we’re in a space that’s all about form and it turns out it’s a welcome contrast to the function of Inspirations HQ.
Not only are the furniture and fixtures that Ron and Jenny selected for the shop reminiscent of a haberdashery store from a bygone era, but carefully selected glass cabinets also now house some of the projects from our current publications for all to see. The chatter that fills the shop when a class is in progress adds to the ambience already present.

There are countless threads in an astounding array of colour and texture. Fabrics housed together in almost every shade imaginable beg us to stitch, whilst a curated selection of gift wares has us thinking about buying presents in a whole new light.

The inspiration and delight that has come from being surrounded by all things needle and thread has made us realise just how much our surroundings contribute to our sense of wellbeing and joy. Now we’re just trying to work out how to take The Bobbin Tree by Inspirations with us wherever we work or stitch!

When you pick up needle and thread, are you surrounded by form or function? We’d love to hear about where you stitch and what makes your stitching environment ‘perfect’.
 
Have Your Say
Spring Cleaning Part 2
After embarking on a little Spring Cleaning of the emails we’ve received from the Inspirations Community in last week’s All Stitched Up! , we’ve done a little more dusting and decluttering so we can continue to share some of the many ideas, thoughts and words of wisdom we’re so privileged to receive from you each week. After all, it wouldn’t be fair to keep them to ourselves!

In response to our Welcome entitled ‘Valuable’ from All Stitched Up! issue #345, Ann took the opportunity to join in on the conversation. It turns out the title alone got Ann thinking!

When considering how valuable her time spent stitching is, Ann couldn’t help but think of a commission she undertook to create a felt painting of someone’s house.

With the time it took her to photograph the house, sketch the design for approval, prepare the background and put her needle and thread to completing the felting and embroidery, Ann had recorded more than 140 hours work before she gave up logging her time.

Whilst Ann can’t recall what the minimum wage was in the UK when she completed the project, she estimates the cost to cover her time alone would have been £1,120, so the £200 she charged for the piece didn’t come close to covering it.
‘Whilst doing it was enjoyable, I’m not sure it was £920 worth of enjoyable!’
After contemplating the word valuable from the title of our welcome, Ann read on only to find herself pondering another of her ‘problems’ in her time with needle and thread!
As we went on to write in the same issue of ASU, time spent stitching allows many of the prisoners who benefit from the work of Fine Cell Work to escape their everyday as they focus on the meditative push and pull of the needle and thread before them. Ann, however, finds the exact opposite to be true.
‘Although my hands are occupied my mind is not.’
Whilst Ann is paying attention to what she’s doing on one level, on another she finds herself getting bored. Her solution? Listening to audio books whilst stitching. Although that presents another problem for Ann as she gets so lost in the story and whatever craft she’s doing at the time, she ends up locked in one position for hours at a time and as many of us know, that’s anything but good for our ageing bodies!

From audio books to paperbacks…
After requesting ‘The Gown’ by Jennifer Robson from her local library, Thuy collected the book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Not so much from the point of view of an avid reader, but rather from the aspect of how the garment within the story was created.

If anyone is familiar with the ‘The Gown’, there is a section where they explain how the sampling motif was created. Although Thuy read that portion of text over and over again, she wasn’t able to decipher the process and was hoping someone from the Inspirations Community may be able to point her in the right direction.
‘I would be grateful if anyone could shed some light on whether the technique is indeed non-fictional and if so, how the motif was created. Also, does anyone know whether step-by-step instructions have been created?’
Thuy closed her email by thanking us in advance for all the replies she’s hoping to receive from her call for help!
After reading about the lengths some people are willing to go to, not only to store their threads, but store them neatly in ASU #342, another Ann from the Inspirations Community couldn’t help but be amazed!
‘It’s only now that I have realised just how many people do enjoy sitting and sorting out messes!’
After coming to this realisation, Ann recalled fondly how her late sister enjoyed sorting thread bundles, and a friend’s husband happily sorts the buttons she gets from charity shops.

Ann, it sounds like we could all use a little of their help ourselves!
We close this week’s Have Your Say with Ruth’s thoughts that we know echo many a reader who learnt with much excitement that we’re now including printed fabric in as many Inspirations’ Ready-to-Stitch Kits as possible.
‘I'm so glad you will be offering printed fabrics. I know that I am much more likely to take on a new embroidery project if I don't have to struggle with the slow process of transferring the design. Way to go!’
We appreciate your enthusiasm Ruth and, like you, appreciate that printed fabric ensures we get to our ‘actual’ time with needle and thread just that much faster!

If you’re not sure whether an Inspirations Ready-to-Stitch kit includes printed fabric, simply scroll down to the Contents section of the product on our website and look for ‘Fabric with Pre-Printed Design’.
The conversations that are had through All Stitched Up! have become a part of our weekly rhythm at Inspirations HQ. Not only do we love receiving your emails but relish the opportunity we have to share them with the Inspirations Community.

If you have a conversation you’d like to start or continue, it takes all but a simple email to join in on the conversation. We can’t wait to converse with you!
 
Needlework News
Be Charmed with the Most Charming of Charms
Within the needlework ecosystem, we are immensely blessed to have manufacturers and suppliers the world over, who create the finest of materials for us to work with.
The flow on effect of this means, as any chef will attest, the better the ingredients, the better the end result. And as our books and magazines attest, there are some stunning needlework designs birthed from the use of some amazing materials.
When it comes to charms, Susan Clarke Originals are the best of the best.
Based in California, Susan Clarke is an artist, designer and painter of uncommon charms.

It’s by no coincidence that whenever we publish an embroidery project that features charms, inevitably the needlework designer has specially sought out and used a Susan Clarke Original.
Be it part of the story telling, a cheeky hidden surprise, or an embellishment akin to the icing on a cake, Susan Clarke Original charms have been enhancing embroidery designs for over 35 years.
With a selection of these gorgeous charms now available on our website, we challenge you to do your best and only buy one!
Stitched Portrait of Your Pet
Do you remember back in the day when pets used to live outside, roam the neighbourhoods at large, ate pet food and were, well… just regular pets?

Then a curious revolution took place, a silent take over, a shift in power if you will.
Today, pets have managed to elevate their status to a position almost on par with royalty. And it happened seemingly overnight! They now live inside our houses, they share our couches, watch our TV shows and sleep in our beds.

Some pets have become famous, with their own social media accounts and YouTube channels, and there is a booming industry in pet services such as pet day care centres, pet grooming and spas, pet sitting services. Let alone all the health and wellbeing treatments and the never-ending medical expenses we incur!
What does all this mean?
It means we may as well embrace the culture of pet adoration by immortalising our furry friends with their own stitched portrait!
That way, forever and a day, we can enjoy the memories of these fluffy creatures that somehow came in, stole our hearts, food and money, and now live as one of us.
Pet Portrait Embroidery by Michelle Staub is a step-by-step instructional book with 20 sample patterns to customise, so you can easily recreate any breed of cat or dog.

How much do we love our pets? How long is a skein of thread? That long!

Have some fun and enjoy stitching a portrait of your fur baby with stitched portraits of your pet.
Thread Packs – A Journey of Discovery
Imagine if you picked up your needle and meticulously went about piercing a piece of fabric, back and forth, over and over, then realised you hadn’t attached any thread!
As silly as that sounds, it gives you somewhat of an appreciation of how important the thread you use is.
After all, that’s what stitching is - laying threads, not pricking fabric!
So, if threads are that important, how do you know which are the best ones to use? We’re glad you asked!
While no-one can answer that question for you definitively due to the never-ending applications, different purposes and different outcomes each thread type and brand can achieve, we can provide some holistic assistance.
In our opinion, the best way to find the best thread, is to try as many as you can and become familiar with as many as you can.
To this end, we have a wide range of thread packs you can sample to help begin your journey of discovery.
From silks, metallics, cottons and wools, to DMC, Au Ver à Soie, Appletons and more, we have a little something from a wide range of almost everything.
Step out of your comfort zone and expand your repertoire of thread knowledge by trying something new. Click below to browse our range of thread packs.
The Last Straw?
Have you ever picked up an embroidery thread you haven’t used before and, upon first thought, believed it too coarse to use? Now, imagine stitching with straw.
Natalia Lashko, an artist hailing from Ukraine, has done more than just imagine so, she’s crafted a successful embroidery career using it!
It is believed that straw was first used in Russia during the 16th Century in place of gold embroidery threads. The technique, however, had been lost over time and few resources were available to guide those wanting to take up their needle and straw. Through a process of trial and error, however, Natalia came to create her own technique for stitching with it.
‘Straw is a flexible material. Working with it is difficult, but at the same time enjoyable.’
Natalia’s pieces have taken as long as five years to complete, with some measuring 1.5m (5’) in length. Such is the success of her work, many of her designs can be found in private collections throughout France, Israel, Poland and Russia.
You can read more about Natalia Lashko and her amazing work HERE.

We have to thank Cristina Casoli who pointed us in the direction of Natalia’s work, for without her we may never have thought to add straw to our stitching repertoire!
This Now In...
From wares to kits and all kinds of tricks, if it has recently come back in stock, you’ll discover it below.
 
READY-TO-STITCH KIT
Bumblebee (Back in Stock)
 
 
READY-TO-STITCH KIT
Balthazar (Available to Order)
 
 
READY-TO-STITCH KIT
Little Birds - Red (Available to Order)
 
 
Featured Project
Balthazar by Tania Cohen
There are not many historical events that are celebrated with as much enthusiasm and pageantry as Christmas.
Based on celebrating the birth of God’s son, Jesus Christ the Messiah here on earth, the event is highly significant for the Christian faith. Accordingly, Christmas is celebrated with all the glitz and glamour one can muster for such an occasion. This even includes beetles getting in on the act!

For anyone not familiar with the Christmas beetle, they are commonly found in parts of Australia around December and belong to the genus Anoplognathus. Quite large in size (up to 4cm or 1.5 inches) and able to fly, albeit clumsily, these beetles are most famous for their attractive colours with some species adorned in a green-yellow iridescence.
Needlework designer Tania Cohen has created her own version of the Christmas beetle, a majestic fellow named Balthazar, who is absolutely befitting of celebrating the birth of Jesus.

To help put everything in context, Balthazar is the name of one of the three wise kings who visited Jesus in Bethlehem, presenting Joseph and Mary with a gift of myrrh.
So, we have Balthazar the wise king and now Balthazar the spectacular beetle. This stunning goldwork brooch is Tania Cohen’s debut piece for the magazine and appears in Inspirations issue #116.

We recently caught up with Tania to find out more of the back story behind her glorious Christmas beetle including how she chose his name…
‘The name Balthazar has always been so evocative of Christmas and all that it means. So, while I was designing and stitching my Christmas beetle, I just knew he’d have to be Balthazar, just as I knew he’d have to be clothed in green, red and gold as befits a royal.’

Your work is of such a high standard and beautifully intricate, can you tell us a little about the design process you work through?
‘I start with some rough sketches to get a feel for shapes and sizes. I then spend quite a bit of time refining those sketches to make sure the various parts will fit together neatly before drafting and transferring my final design outlines.

At the same time, I’m already thinking about, and making notes of stitches and techniques that I think will suit the project. Invariably that changes as I stitch my design, figuring out what best suits the space and the design, as a whole, as I go.
Then the real fun starts with me working my way through my rather extensive stash of threads, cords, wires and beads.
I spend many wonderful hours testing and discarding most of what I’ve chosen until I find the combination of stitches and threads that makes my heart sing.’

Well Tania you’ve certainly made our hearts sing with this design, so all your hours of testing and experimenting have definitely paid off!
How long have you been stitching for and what originally drew you to needlework?

‘I have been an embroiderer since I picked up a needle almost 30 years ago. I have always found the progression of a piece as I stitch almost irresistible, I keep wondering what it will look like if I can just fill in that next colour or master that new stitch (I also admit to having a rather serious obsession with thread). I still have that same sense of accomplishment and joy when I finish a piece of embroidery.’

It’s so inspiring to hear that it’s 30 years in and you still have the same joy and passion, such is the powerful enduring quality of stitching.
In regard to inspiration for new projects, what are your favourite techniques or design styles?

‘I’m not sure that I have a single favourite design style or technique as I always seem to find something I’d love to learn from most design styles.
There’s nothing I like better than mastering a new technique and finding a way to use it in an unusual way.
However, if forced to choose I’d have to say my favourite would be surface embroidery, goldwork and raised embroidery.

Everywhere I go I notice shades and combinations of colour, most especially how perfectly nature blends colours and textures. For me it’s always been the colours and textures of various threads that gives me the most pleasure and provides inspiration. Finding a thread in just the right shade and texture that I need for a particular stitch is a fascinating process to me.’
‘I am also constantly delighted by the endless creativity of my favourite embroidery artists, and that is a huge source of inspiration to me. The beauty of our art form is that the possibilities of what you can create with a thread and needle are only limited by your imagination and willingness to expand your knowledge and skill as an embroiderer.’

Well said Tania, we whole-heartedly concur! In fact, Balthazar is destined to become a huge source of inspiration for stitchers all over the world, as they too are beguiled by your stunning work.
Thank you for sharing your story and dedicating yourself to the process of combining inspiration with imagination and skill. You have indeed elevated all our aspirations by demonstrating just what is possible with needle and thread.
Make Your Own Balthazar
Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Balthazar by Tania Cohen is an irresistible goldwork Christmas beetle brooch with superb details.
 
PRINTED MAGAZINE
Inspirations Issue 116
 
 
DIGITAL PATTERN
Balthazar
 
Step 2 – Purchase Ready-To-Stitch Kit

The Inspirations Ready-To-Stitch kit for Balthazar includes everything* you need to re-create this goldwork Christmas beetle: Fabrics (unprinted), wool felts, baize, leathers, fusible webbing, wires, brooch pin, sewing thread, embroidery threads, beads, sequins, paillettes and needles.
 
READY-TO-STITCH KIT
Balthazar
 
*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.
Looking for More Beetles?
Beetlemania
Beetlemania by Jane Nicholas from Inspirations issue #88 is a stunning goldwork diving beetle.
 
DIGITAL PATTERN
Beetlemania
 
The Egyptian Beetle
The Egyptian Beetle by Wendy Innes from Inspirations issue #40 is a stunning, three-dimensional masterpiece featuring three Egyptian icons – the scarab beetle, Ra, the sun, and the lotus blossom.
 
PRINTED MAGAZINE
Inspirations Issue 40
 
Birds, Butterflies and Little Beasts
Birds, Butterflies and Little Beasts to Knit and Crochet is a delightful book featuring a menagerie of miniature bugs and beasts.
 
PRINTED BOOK
Birds, Butterflies and Little Beasts to Knit and Crochet
 
What Are You Stitching?
Insects. Do you love the way they creep or do they make your skin crawl?! No matter how you feel when Mother Nature offers you the opportunity to get a little up close and personal with a creepy crawly, we think this week’s Featured Project presents the insect kingdom in what could only be considered it’s finest and most resplendent glory!

From the beauty of Balthazar to the intrigue of insects in general, this week we’re sharing the ways in which the needles of the Inspiration Community have been put to interpreting insects.
Anne Hefford
‘I was very taken with the Jarrah and Grass Blue Butterfly in Inspirations issue #114. However, as I live in the UK, I wanted to stitch something more local. Having decided against the more commonly seen Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies, which seemed too much of a challenge, I settled on stitching a Brimstone butterfly on Buckthorn.’
‘Digging through my bookshelves I found my aged Reader's Digest books on Butterflies and Trees and came up trumps! With input from well renowned embroiderers Kay Dennis, Jane Matthews and Kay Leech who helped with the layout and design, along with many happy hours stitching the various components, my piece has come together.’
Image Credit | Reader’s Digest
Anne, your piece has come together beautifully! We love that you took inspiration from a project in the magazine and found a way to truly make it your own. One of the sayings that’s often heard at Inspirations HQ is ‘none of us are as smart as all of us’ and your piece is evidence of that concept.

Inspiration from Denise Mackey, reference images from Reader’s Digest, help from Kay, Jane and Kay and the work of your needle and thread have all come together to create something that’s not only personal, but thoughtfully designed and skilfully executed.
Bunny Goodman
After reading about the passing of Peggy Kimble in All Stitched Up! issue #344, Bunny wrote in with her very personal connection to Peggy’s work:

‘Peggy was very skilled and knowledgeable in embroidery. I only met her a few times at the Island Stitchery Guild in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada when I first joined the Guild in the mid-1990s. I instantly recognized her passion and proficiency in embroidery and her kind and helpful spirit.’
‘In 2016 I was digging around in a donation bin in an embroidery shop and came across a piece of crewel embroidery that Peggy had taught years go. Unfortunately, it didn't have a date on the instructions but you could see it had been typed out on a typewriter and had notes here and there in handwriting before being photocopied so I knew it to be old, maybe late 1980s to early 1990s?’
‘The fabric was a nice twill and because it had been a class of maybe only one or two days, not much of the embroidery had been completed, just a spot here and a spot there to try out different stitches. I removed the stitches and started fresh.’
‘The butterfly and the floor of this crewel piece needed a bit of fixing in the design department so I did that too! I kept the colour scheme Peggy had intended but changed up some of the recipe of stitches in the instructions. That's me, I can never stick with the intended instructions - gotta change things!’
Bunny, what a treat to find a kit from one of Peggy Kimble’s classes! It was always our honour to hear from Peggy and share her work through the pages of All Stitched Up! She was a skilled and prolific embroiderer whose absolute joy was to pass on her passion and knowledge of needle and thread to all who knew her.

Peggy has left an incredible legacy that you’ve been fortunate enough to be a direct beneficiary of Bunny. Your piece will always be a fitting reminder of her.
Carolee Fields Withee
‘I like to use samples of vintage handmade needlework in my wall hangings. I'm always pleased to obtain an old, crocheted doily, but it's even better when I discover a crocheted heart, butterfly or six crocheted birds - such fun to design a scene around those shapes!

I love how colonial knots make realistic Golden Rod and Queen Anne’s Lace blossoms and have added pieces of vintage tatting and my tatted dragonfly, all stitched into a Crazy Quilt.’
Carolee, your dragonfly has the most delicate of wings, and is that a caterpillar we spy making his way up the stem of a flower?! Your piece has a delightful whimsy about it, and we love the richness myriad fabrics and stitches have brought to it.
Cristina Casoli
‘I remember as a child, the basket without a lid that my mother used for sewing. I also remember the story of how, as a little girl, it had come into her possession. It was a rectangular basket that had once contained dried fruit that was given to her once the contents were exhausted. On the outside of the base ‘Japan’ was stamped and it was from an era when products of oriental origin were exotic and not as common as nowadays.

The lid, which I have never seen, was attached to the base by means of two brass hinges of which only a fragment remained. She told me that with much use it had broken and had been thrown out.’
‘The basket is linked to the memory of my mother, who from an early age always sewed what she needed for us children and for the house. Inside are kept scissors, a tape measure that has aged by its years of use, a thimble without which, unlike me, she could not work, needles and the ‘pirone’ - the spool of thread to baste fabric.

Upon her death in 2009, the basket passed into my custody and in 2020 I decided to pay homage to her many works, carried out for us with love, patience and sacrifice, by creating a lid to replace the one that was lost.
I have a lot to be grateful for, but a special thought goes to my mother, when I embroider each stitch it is like a prayer for her.
My mother's favourite colour was pink, so I made a design with roses and her initials for the outside of the lid and a bouquet of violets, her favourite flower, linked to her name, year of birth and that of her passing inside.’
Cristina, when gathering projects for this week’s What Are You Stitching? it was the tiny butterfly on the lid of your sewing box that caught our attention. However, it’s the story behind your stitching that will remain with us.

Your stitching is an incredible labour of love that pays tribute to your mother in the most fitting of ways. She would be so incredibly proud of your work with needle and thread.

If Mother Nature’s creepy crawlies make your skin crawl, we think today’s All Stitched Up! might just help you find them a little more endearing than perhaps you once did! Whether you love the Insect Kingdom, including them in your stitching each time you pick up needle and thread or loathe them to the extent they’d never be seen in your work, we’d love to see what you’ve created.
Simply email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com
 
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Winter’s Frost by Wendy Innes is a sparkling Christmas bouquet of poinsettia and mistletoe.
 
PRINTED PATTERN
Winter's Frost
 
 
DIGITAL PATTERN
Winter's Frost
 
 
READY-TO-STITCH KIT
Winter's Frost
 
Snowdrop
Snowdrop by Jenny Adin-Christie from Inspirations issue #76 perfectly captures the ethereal beauty of the true European snowdrop in this delightful stumpwork embroidery.
 
PRINTED MAGAZINE
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DIGITAL PATTERN
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Rustle of Winter
Rustle of Winter by June Godwin from Inspirations issue #37 features a tiny field mouse sitting amongst ragged winter leaves.
 
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Prancer
Prancer by Trish Burr from Inspirations issue #88 is a contemporary whitework portrait of a stylish reindeer.
 
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This Week on Social
 
Whimsical animal scene by Yuki Kusan.
 
@maripo_embroidery stitches incredibly life like pets.
 
Quote
‘I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.’

~ William Shakespeare ~

What's On
Stay informed of upcoming needlework events taking place all around the world in our What’s On page on the Inspirations Studios Website HERE.
If you’re holding an event or would like to suggest one to be added, we’d love to hear about it. Email us the details at news@inspirationsstudios.com
INSPIRATIONS
© 2022 Inspirations Studios

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