It’s all festivals, parties and conversations this week.

Whether you join us for the Flowers for Elizabeth Festival and enjoy our flash kit sale, come to the Inspirations issue #121 party and grab yourself a souvenir on the way out, or get stuck into a conversation or two as you whip up a spectacular Schwalm piece, there’s a lot to feel good about.

Cue the disco tunes…

We’re holding our own mini Flowers for Elizabeth festival this week with two exciting announcements.

1/. - Flowers for Elizabeth Blanket Kits Are Back in Stock

If you, like the rest of the needlework world, have fallen in love with Susan O’Connor’s incredibly beautiful blanket from her book Flowers for Elizabeth, we have some exciting news.

We know many of you have this project on your ‘bucket stitch list’ and to help make your dream come true sooner than later, we now have complete kits back in stock.

This is a magnificent heirloom project with quite the requirements list, as you would expect from piece of this scale, so to have all the threads and the blanketing sourced and cut to size for you, is a huge time saver.

2/. – Susan O’Connor Pinwheel Kits 20% off!

To celebrate the blanket kits being back in stock, we’re making the festival even more festive with a flash kit sale.

Choose from 10 different gorgeous silk embroidered designs, add as many to your cart as you like and then enter and apply the code FESTIVAL20 at checkout.

20% will be deducted from the price of any Flowers for Elizabeth Pinwheel Kits in your cart.

Inspirations magazine subscribers can save a further 15% by also entering your normal subscriber discount code, in addition to the special promo code above.

Just a reminder that the step-by-step instructions you need for the pinwheel and blanket kits are available separately in the book Flowers for Elizabeth.

Happy Flowers for Elizabeth Festival!

If you ever find yourself straining to see what you’re working on, we’d like to suggest you go bigger and brighter…

That’s why most stitchers have a magnifying lamp handy while they work, and the Triumph Zoom LED Desktop Lamp has been specifically designed for that exact task – it makes everything bigger and brighter!

You want big? It’s got it… three times as big in fact, with a quality built-in 3x magnifier and cover.

You need bright? It’s got it… with 56 powerful LED’s of bright and three colour temperature settings.

Not only does the Triumph Zoom Lamp help you go bigger and brighter, it also helps you go anywhere, with a traveller friendly power supply that is compatible with the voltage in just about any country.*

Click below to make your needlework bigger and brighter.

After falling in love with our Milward cantilever storage box here at the Inspirations office, we decided to do some research into the word cantilever. Here is one description we found on the internet:

Cantilevers are designed to withstand bending moments and shear forces. Engineers carefully calculate the dimensions and materials of a cantilevered structure to ensure it can support the anticipated loads safely.

Hmmm… that got us pondering what ‘bending moments’, ‘shear forces’ and ‘anticipated loads’ our Milward storage box was subjected to during its manufacturing process.

We’re not sure what stitching looks like in your household (high intensity needlework anyone?), or how large and heavy your stash is, but it sounds like the Milward cantilever storage box is up for the challenge.

Click below to order your engineering and needlework storage marvel today.

You know that gratifying feeling you get when you’re hosting a party or event and you pause, see all the revellers enjoying the festivities, and you think to yourself, 'It's nice that everything has worked out and everyone is happy?’

That’s how we feel about Inspirations issue #121.

Just before we pack up all the streamers, pop the ballons and straighten up the place ready for the arrival of issue #122, if you’re quick, there’s still time to pick up a memento of issue #121 before the party ends.

We have a handful of kits remaining, including some of the most popular projects from this issue, printed copies of the magazine are still in stock and, thanks to the marvel of modern technology, digital patterns that never run out!

Links provided below for your convenience…

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

‘I just love to receive Inspirations magazine in the mail and decide what my next project will be.’ Your Field of Flowers is divine, Carla. We love that Inspirations can play a part in your stitching journey, and we look forward to seeing which project you choose to stitch next!

‘When Inspirations magazine arrives, everything stops, so I can go through the pages, it is so beautiful. I was a bit scared when I decided to make the Elysium bag from Inspirations issue #118 but I enjoyed it and am very proud of the final result.’ Thank you for being a part of the Inspirations family, Marie, we’re so glad to have you! Your stitching is glorious and proud you should be of both the embroidery and construction. The finished result you have achieved is stunning.

‘Another one of my recent projects, is this lantern made of Richelieu embroidery. I used it to decorate our 2024 New Year's table.’ Paulina, we’re so glad we were able to inspire such a beautiful box! And what a wonderful New Year’s table lantern, we hope it has set you up for a wonderful year of stitching! Have you finished a project from the pages of Inspirations? Have you challenged yourself with a project? Or have you stitched a Richelieu project?

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

Everyone loves a good chat, right?

The power of social interaction has been a hot topic the world over for the past several years. It started with the rise and rise of social media and its claim to offer us unparalleled connection to one another, the likes of which has never been seen before in the history of the world.

This seismic shift in culture arrived just in time to somehow try and help us navigate through, and ease the impact of, an unprecedented period of global isolation.

Now, in our present-day era, as we’re still working our way through the scars of a post-COVID era, we’re also learning about a surge in loneliness that is affecting a huge number of different groups.

How can we be so lonely, yet better connected than ever before? What can we do to try and alleviate loneliness?

Sometimes the best answers to big questions are the simplest.

Our feature project this week from Inspirations magazine issue #121, will certainly provide the needlework for your conversation, and the design itself is also very topical.

Conversations by Deborah Love is a wonderfully challenging sampler. This charming Schwalm design incorporates 13 different filling stitches, each one producing a delicate, lace-like surface.

The embroidery is completed with 17 additional stitch techniques, all worked with various weights of broder spécial onto white linen.

Within the design we have five different birds, who have gathered to have a bit of a natter. What might they all be saying to one another you may ask?

They’ll also be marvelling to one another about the delightful flowers and foliage that Deb has created, all creating opportunities to apply a plethora of different techniques.

When finished, Conversations will hang proudly on your wall as a testament to the diverse number of Schwalm stitches you were able to master, along with a reminder that people who have conversations with one another, are far less likely to feel lonely. Now that is a project worth stitching!

We have all the materials you need to re-create this project yourself, from easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions to a Ready-to-Stitch kit with everything sourced for you.

Perfect Match by Fumie Suzuki from the book A Passion for Needlework 4 | The Whitehouse Daylesford showcases a beautiful combination of Schwalm and Reticella embroidery.

From the Heart by Luzine Happel from Inspirations issue #117 is a large cushion showcasing beautiful Schwalm whitework on natural linen.

Hidden Delights by Deborah Love from Inspirations issue #93 is an enchanting Schwalm embroidery featuring a songbird framed by a heart.

Field of Flowers by Deborah Love from Inspirations issue #106 is a whitework mat with flowers worked using a compelling variety of traditional Schwalm fillings.

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

Enchanted by Margaret Lee is a twelve-card zipped wallet with a design of jewel-coloured flowers on a dark chocolate background.

~ Tom Haak ~

For a list of upcoming needlework events, click HERE.