It’s still that time of the year - the time of fresh starts, new dreams and seemingly endless possibilities!

Last week, in All Stitched Up! #170 HERE, we looked at three tips suggested by The Do Lectures that would help point us in the direction of success for each of the goals we’d set for 2019. The challenge, however, is how we choose the goals to focus on, after all there’s only so many hours in each day!

At the beginning of 2018 in All Stitched Up! #122 HERE we suggested the idea of choosing three words that would act as guideposts for the coming year, words that would help shepherd you towards the lasting results you wanted to experience.

For those of you who chose your three words this time last year, it may be that the same words continue for 2019 as you enjoyed the fruit of your focus or are hoping to make a little more progress toward them over the next 12 months. For those of us, however, who are choosing three new words for 2019 or may be going through the process for the first time, choosing only three words can seem a little daunting, if not near impossible! How do you even begin to narrow the possibilities?!

Well, we’ve found just the place to start. Grit & Virtue came up with a fun exercise HERE to begin the process of focusing our thoughts towards choosing our words for the year. Maybe the exercise finalises your decision making or maybe it’s just a springboard to get you started, whichever it turns out to be, it’s a worth a shot if nothing else!

As 2019 continues to unfold, we hope you’ll be able to narrow the seemingly endless possibilities and fresh starts that lie before you and that they’ll help you to achieve exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond anything you ever thought possible.

If February really is the month of love, then it’s only fitting that the Inspirations calendar features one of the most loved needlework projects ever to appear in Inspirations Magazine.

‘Strawberry Fayre’ by Carolyn Pearce from Inspirations #95 almost needs no introduction, but for anyone who is yet to gaze upon its beauty, this fabulous heart-shaped necessaire is all things to all embroiderers.

Beautiful, complex, practical and just one of those projects that brings joy – joy to stitch, joy to behold and joy to use.

Printed copies of issue #95 are almost all sold out, but don’t worry - we won’t leave you abandoned at the alter like a jilted lover! Strawberry Fayre is now available to purchase from our website as a digital pattern, so go ahead and give yourself some Strawberry Fayre love this February.

Silver Threads from Inspirations #45 by June Goodwin is an elegant needlecase featuring a Jacobean-style motif stitched using crewel embroidery.

Silver Threads is part of a set by June which also includes a gorgeous pin wheel called Golden Needles also from issue #45, with both now available as individual digital patterns.

If you are yet to visit the wares page on our website, it’s most definitely worth checking out. It’s where we sell lots of fun and cool needlework centric supplies from the every-day practical items to the ‘it’s so cute I could die’ type stuff.

To check it out click HERE. Oh, and if you’re looking for something in particular and wish we sold it, drop us an email telling us about it – you never know, we might just be able to source what you’re looking for!

Following on from the huge popularity of this book and coupled with a passion for all things Elizabethan, Susan has chosen a selection of motifs from the blanket to create a series of stunning pinwheels. Each pinwheel features one of the large motifs on the front and one of the small designs on the back.

With a total of 4 in the series, the first 2 pinwheels were Strawberry and Cornflower plus Rose and Heartsease, both of which were released under the name ‘Serendipity’ and featured in the original A Passion for Needlework book.

Peas and English Daisies is now the third project of the series to be released and is included in Inspirations issue #100 as a free digital pattern, or you can purchase it separately with a Ready-to-Stitch kit also available.

To adapt the motifs from their original application on the blanket for use on the smaller pinwheels, Susan reduced them all in size and stitched them in silk using Au Ver à Soie, soie d’Alger threads on latté silk duchess satin fabric, instead of wool on wool.

The end result is the same beautiful designs we fell in love on the blanket, only now in a more refined, more petite finish.

Oh, and if you’ve ever wondered how the pins end up so evenly spaced around the outside of the wheel, the trick is to insert a pin through every second stitch, and depending on the size of your finished wheel, you’ll end up with around 40 pins all safely and beautifully stored.

Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Peas and English Daisies by Susan O’Connor is a delightful embroidered pinwheel with Elizabethan inspired botanicals.

Step 2 – Purchase Ready-To-Stitch Kit

The Inspirations Ready-To-Stitch kit for Peas and English Daisies includes everything you need to re-create this delightful pinwheel: Fabric (unprinted), wadding, embroidery threads, paillettes, pins and needles.

It’s Susan O’Connor’s project ‘Peas & English Daisies’, an embroidered pinwheel with Elizabethan inspired botanicals, that’s set the scene for this week’s What Are You Stitching? Enjoy the elegant florals and carefully constructed pinwheels that have been created with needle and thread by the Inspirations Community…

‘I have truly enjoyed your newsletters and magazines over the years. Issue #157 of the newsletter that focused on passion HERE, I found so enlightening and true. How lucky I am to have found my passion in life! I am attaching pictures of a project that took me some time to complete, maybe 5 years, but who is counting when you’re having so much fun?!’

‘I discovered this French Botanical Alphabet designed by Benedicte Reveilhac on The French Needle’s website and purchased a few of the kits and before I knew it, I had to have all 26!’

‘Each of the letters incorporates a flower into its design - for example the B is designed with a Bleuet. The kits included the design printed on white linen, instructions and the recommended DMC thread colours. Although the stitches are all very simple - Stem, Chain, Long, Short and French Knots - their effect is really pleasing and just so much fun to do. I loved each and every one!’

‘My last and final letters D, M, and I are yet to be framed and although they may not be expertly stitched, I really enjoyed this project. Now to the set of Botanical Letters for which I have all 26… oh boy!’

Joan, what a fabulous project to pour your time and talent into! We look forward to seeing your Botanical Letters and hope they provide as many hours of stitching joy.

‘This is a silhouette I stitched of my first and only grandchild. She is 19 months old and the light of my life! My daughter drew her profile and I stitched whatever flowers came to mind. This was an absolute labor of love! Your beautiful magazine has been such an inspiration for me and I thank you for all of your hard work.’

Peggy, what a labour of love indeed! What an incredibly timeless and unique way to commemorate your granddaughter.

After asking how your house reflects your love of textile rich pieces in All Stitched Up! #154 HERE, we heard from Phyllis Harrie who shared a unique and inspired piece of furniture from her home… ‘This is an example of my inclusion of textiles in my home. The chair seat was a kit from the 1980's. The designer suggested it be a pillow top or simply framed, but when I realized it would fit this chair seat perfectly, I ordered more linen and wool threads and adapted the design for the back and the back of the back as well!’

‘What fun! I always look forward to your weekly newsletter and of course, to the arrival of Inspirations Magazine.’

Phyllis, your colourful and lush florals instantly provide a sense of delight and joy! We love that you were able to adapt the original kit in such a unique way and have been able to incorporate textiles into your home from the work of your own needles and threads.

‘I have been busy making wee gifts for my friends who have shared my passion for embroidery over the years. The larger pinwheels are 3 inches (7.5cm) in diameter, and the smaller ones, well there’s a story behind them!’

‘Supplies of pins are not readily available in my small town so a good friend went looking for pins in the big city and found some, including one box which contained much smaller pins and although they’re not so useful for needlework, they were perfect for smaller pinwheels which measure just 1 3/4 inches (4.5cm) in diameter.’

Peggy, the saying ‘waste not, want not’ came to mind when we saw your stitching - we love your resourcefulness to make a smaller pinwheel to suit the size of the pins your friend found! As always, it’s an absolute joy to be able to continually share in your needlework journey.

If your needles and threads have stitched a botanic inspired piece or a pinwheel, or two, we’d love to see them! Email photos of what you’ve stitched along with a few details about 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!

Monet, Hugo et les Poissons d'Or (Monet, Hugo and the Golden Fish) by Jenny McWhinney features a new adventure for Monet Mouse in this charming stitched storybook.

Red Currants by Julie Kniedl is a spectacular stem of luscious three-dimensional berries and leaves worked with fine, wool threads.

Copies of our brand-new book celebrating the incredible talent and legacy of Julie Kniedl are now available.

Botanica | The Three-Dimensional Embroidery of Julie Kniedl teaches you step by step how to re-create nature using your needle and thread with such realism, the art and the original are almost identical.

~ Meister Eckhart ~

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.