It’s Good Friday today and we have a whole collection of good things for you to enjoy.

Two new rabbit-inspired products including a brand-new design from Jenny McWhinney, a feature project to enchant, a sneak peek into April, some social connection and Easter delights stitched by our very own needlework community.

May your friends and families be blessed this Easter and may your needle and threads spring forth with stitches!

Here is a very special Easter treat for you, courtesy of the Queen of Embroidered Characters, Jenny McWhinney.

Jenny has created this brand-new project to be an innovative travelling needlework companion.

Not only is this an incredibly versatile and compact travelling companion, it features a cute red rabbit tending to his garden on the front, with one of his lovely plants happily growing in a pot on the back.

Worked in surface embroidery and embellished with a smattering of red beads, this brilliant little workstation measures 15cm x 7.5cm x 2cm deep (6” x 3” x ¾”).

The Red Rabbit kit includes instructions, pre-printed fabric and all the required materials.

We’ll keep this short, sharp and shiny for you:

This is a book featuring the widest range of Hardanger filling stitches ever compiled, written by an undisputed expert, for a technique that is behind some of the most elegant projects we’ve ever published.

Sounds like a must have! Click below to have…

Project: Nandina & Cicada
Publication: A Passion for Needlework 4 | The Whitehouse Daylesford
Designer: Jane Nicholas

Enjoy some of the most detailed and intricate embroidery you’ll ever see from one of the most talented artisans of our generation.

Nandina & Cicada is an exquisite study of an adult cicada resting on a stem of flowering and fruiting nandina.

This week, for the first time ever, Nandina & Cicada from the book A Passion for Needlework 4, is being released as an individual project.

Now you can enjoy this remarkable design in a printed copy of the book and as an individual digital pattern.

Have you ever seen a tin so cute?

On one side of this green ouse is Peter Rabbit, checking over his shoulder lest he get caught. On the opposite side is Mr McGregor with a look that confirms that you know, that he knows, that Peter Rabbit is up to no-good somewhere nearby.

Then on one end is Benjamin Bunny cradling two stolen carrots, just standing there waiting patiently for Peter to finish his shenanigans.

This delightful tin with a removable lid measures 13.5cm x 12cm x 7.5cm deep (5 1/4" x 4 3/4" x 3") and would make a wonderful vessel to store some needlework supplies, special treasures or (our personal favourite) a secret stash of little Easter eggs to enjoy long after the hunt is over.

PS – When you get your tin, check out the squirrel on the roof of the greenhouse standing above Mr McGregor… he might just be more mischievous than Peter himself!

Every month, we highlight some amazing work created with needle and thread that we’ve come across on social media. Here are the March highlights:

Don’t forget to follow Inspirations on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to receive your daily dose of the world’s most beautiful needlework from all over the world wide web.

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

Your Easter ornaments are beautiful, Jenni, we hope you are enjoying another year of stitching joy this weekend! We bet your grandchildren love their money laying birds too!

‘I took him home, and with a bit of appliqué and some fun surface stitching he was 'renewed'.’ The best dressed award goes to… Cathy, your bunny is very worthy of his award. We love the colour combination of thread you have used, and your stitches are magnificent.

‘I started stitching spontaneously in 2019. Each project has a theme and was stitched without plan, using only 1-3 words as inspiration.’

‘They are called, ‘Planning a Garden’ (this one was featured in Fiber Art Now Magazine), ‘Spring Nest’, ‘In the Garden’ and ‘In this Together’.’ Gwen, your projects are bright, delightful and seem to have a natural flow to them. It just goes to show, however much time we could spend designing and planning sometimes just getting to the stitching will create triumph. Do you have seasonal projects to put on display? Have you ‘upcycled’ a second-hand purchase? Have you ever tried spontaneous stitching?

Whatever you are stitching, we’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com

Enchanted is such a beautiful word. It is primarily used as an adjective to describe something that is filled with, or characterised by, a magical quality or charm.

The project Enchanted by Margaret Lee from her new book The Art of Bead Embroidery Japanese-Style 2, is indeed both filled with, and characterised by, a magical quality and charm.

If Enchanted feels a little familiar to you, it’s probably because you’ve seen it’s antecedent, Treasure, which was released as part of our Handpicked Collection in February 2023.

You can read all about Margaret’s first card file wallet design and how she sourced a premium quality insert and zip in the review of Treasure HERE.

These design and colour choices result in a piece that really pops against a dramatic, dark background.

This is a fun piece with simple stitches and cheerful colours, not to mention the benefit of being compact in size. As the finished wallet measures only 8.5cm x 12cm wide (3 3⁄8" x 4 3⁄4"), it’s entirely possible to complete over a weekend or two.

To help further demonstrate the impact an alternate colourway can make to a design, in the book The Art of Bead Embroidery Japanese-Style 2, Margaret has also included a case study where she stitches an identical version of Enchanted using completely different coloured beads.

Ready-to-Stitch kits for Enchanted are now available and include the premium quality card insert and luxury designer zip that makes re-creating this piece even more of a pleasure when all the hard work of sourcing each element is done for you.

Or perhaps you want to learn all the design and colour principles Margaret teaches in her book The Art of Bead Embroidery Japanese-Style 2, and then, armed with your new-found confidence, blaze your own trail and invent a brand-new colourway for Enchanted.

Either way, this is one project that is sure to delight all who stitch it and all who use it.

All the materials you need to re-create this project have been sourced for you in our Ready-to-Stitch kit, with the instructions available separately in the book The Art of Bead Embroidery Japanese-Style 2.

Enchanted Moments by Helen Eriksson from Inspirations issue #35 is a graceful cushion decorated with ribbon roses.

Enchanted Forest by Zinaida Kazban from Inspirations issue #95 features the stumpwork world of a curious bunny.

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Stunning projects showcasing the principles and techniques of Japanese-style bead embroidery, with designs featuring traditional and contemporary patterns and motifs.

Jewels by Margaret Lee is a glasses case embellished with a mandala-inspired design in jewel and metallic colours.

~ John 3:16 ~

For a list of upcoming needlework events, click HERE.