Hi <<First Name>>,

Welcome to Embroidery News Issue 10 and an extra special welcome to all our new readers who have joined in recent weeks.  We’re so glad you can be part of the World’s Most Beautiful Embroidery Newsletter. This week we have a BIG project to share in What Are You Stitching, Susan O’Connor gives us a clue as to a BIG announcement coming up, and it is with BIG fanfare we reveal for the first time the cover of Inspirations Issue #87. With all these BIG things happening, is there someone in your stitching community that would enjoy receiving Embroidery News?  Every week we receive emails affirming the fact our community gets motivated by what they see and read, which in turn inspires them to action.

Is there someone you can encourage by getting them to join Embroidery News this week?  To sign up they simply use the form at the bottom of the Inspirations website: www.inspirationsmagazine.com.au

In the meantime, tell us about you – email us your story!
at embroiderynews@inspirationsmagazine.com.au we’d love to hear from you.

Susan O’Connor is the chief editor of Inspirations Magazine and we think it’s much more interesting keeping up with her, rather than the Kardashians.  So while it’s been a few weeks since checking in with Susan, we can tell you she has been writing, drawing and stitching up a storm! 

After returning from teaching in the USA last week, Susan arrived back to the Inspirations office just in time to put the finishing touches on Inspirations #88 – our Christmas issue due out in November.

With that deadline met, she’s now working on a very special project that has been a long time coming, a big announcement which will be made very soon.  In the meantime here a little picture above for a clue…

This is it. Your last chance.  Or did you think it was already too late?

On September the 20th, the ridiculously luxurious cruise ship RV Mekong Navigator is setting sail with two extraordinary embroidery tutors, Susan O’Connor and Jenny McWhinney, for an embroidery tour of a lifetime. A number of lucky stitchers have already booked for the Masterclass on the Mekong 2015 tour – there are still a handful of places available.

ARE YOU ONE OF THE LUCKY STITCHERS?

If not – this really is your last chance….  there is still time to join this fabulous cruise if you BOOK NOW! To book contact Penny Furseman bookings@pennyfursemantravel.co.uk Phone +44 1271 373724

For more details about the trip including itineraries and prices, check out our website by clicking here.

We’re introducing a new segment this week as recently we have received a few emails from our community asking for our help.  This is a great opportunity for us to rally together and collectively offer up advice, information and encouragement to our fellow stitchers.

Peggy Sturdy, Southern California, USA asks: ‘I plan to take an extended vacation to the southern part of France, and would love to see some of their embroidery shops and take some classes.  I am looking for shops and/or contacts primarily in the areas around Nice, Monaco, and Montpellier, and wondered if you could assist.  I am hoping you would be kind enough to guide me to some sources or contacts.  Even if the information is in French, I would be able to ‘muddle through’,  I believe.’

Joan Lessard from Alaska asks:

‘I am in Ester, Alaska. How can I connect with other stitching people?’

Over to you Inspirations Community – you have your challenge for this week… if you can help with any of these answers, please email us at embroiderynews@inspirationsmagazine.com.au and we’ll pass them on.

This week we have a real treat for you.  We all know the saying ‘everything’s bigger in Texas’, well Mary Alice Sinton from Houston in Texas has had quite a few BIG things happening in her life recently.  Firstly her son was getting married which is excitement in itself, but Mary Alice decided to take her role as the groom’s mother to a whole new level and offered to make all the Bridesmaids formal purses to match their gowns.  The catch was this was a BIG wedding, with SEVEN bridesmaids which meant that, including the bride, Mary Alice had to make 8 purses in 6 months!  Here is the story as told by Mary Alice:

‘I designed and beaded 8 Sweetheart Minaudieres for the Bride and 7 bridesmaids for my son's June 13, 2015 wedding.  I was a bit stressed for time and several of my Japanese Bead Embroidery students pitched in and had a three-day stitch-in at my home/classroom and helped me get them done.  I started in Dec 2014 and completed them in May. I could not have made the deadline without my devoted students/friends! Even my husband joined in and helped do the finishing - gluing them into the purse shells’

When we viewed the photos Mary Alice sent us, all we could say was WOW! and WOW again!  The bead embroidery is just stunning and we congratulate Mary Alice for her exquisite needlework and for having the courage to take on such a large project with a tight and immovable deadline.  Brilliant!

The heart shaped Minaudière also appeared on the cover of Inspirations Issue 80 as featured in the elegant Minaudière Pansies project by Susan O’Connor worked in Au ver a Soie threads.  Here is an extract from the issue which enlightens us as to the origins of the Minaudière:

"The Minaudière (mē-nōd-'ye). This is a small, hinged, rigid bag or case often bearing more resemblance to a piece of jewellery than to an evening bag. The glamour of the roaring twenties was the backdrop for the creation of the Minaudiére.  These elaborate little bags were the invention of Charles Arpels of Van Cleef & Arpels. Charles got the idea to create a luxurious case with compartments to hold a lady’s personal items after seeing his friend, socialite Florence Jay Gould, toss her lipstick, powder case and cigarettes into a Lucky Strike cigarette tin. “With its combination of grace and ingenuity, the Minaudière® precious case pays homage to the essence of femininity.”

You can read more about the beauty and story of Van Cleef & Arpels Here

If you are interested in designing or stitching your own Minaudière, the supplier both Susan and Mary Alice sourced their purse shells from is Ellen Medlock’s website: Here

To see more of Mary Alice’s amazing work, check out her website and maybe even book in for some of her classes: Here

And now back to our regular ‘What Are You Stitching’ program….

Stitching fever has broken out in Grays Essex, UK with a new Embroidery Group just formed a few months ago going by the name 'Creative Stitching'.  Susan Burns fills us in on the details:

‘We are a small group with mixed abilities and we love Inspirations magazine.  We wanted to share one the projects we’re working on, where everyone stitches a simple leaf shape. The idea is to encourage people to try new stitches.  It has been a great success and these leaves will be used for a future project.   We have only just discovered Inspirations and fell in love with it…. our fingers itch as to the ideas and new inspirations it gives us.’

Keep up the stitching frenzy ladies, we look forward to checking in with you later on to see how the leaf project ends up.  In the meantime if you are in the Grays Essex area and are interested in joining the 'Creative Stitching' group, or just want to contact Susan, you can check out her Facebook page - Here

Elina Brown from Gig Harbor, Washington USA has created a beautifully lush version of the Nicola Jarvis Wild Strawberry cushion design from Inspirations Issue 84.  Elina shares her story of how the project came together:

‘I just finished working this strawberry pillow... it was kind of fun! I had never done gold work before, so it was a treat to try something new.  As is always the case with me, the embroidery was the "easy" part and finishing the item was the challenge.  Finding the trim and the silk brocade was a lot of work!  Sewing those pom poms on was not easy either.  But, I love how it looks. I am going to enter it in the fair next month. Thank you for all the good ideas! – Elina’

Well Elina we love the pom poms you used for the edging, it’s a wonderful enhancement to the original.  All the best for the fair – we look forward to hearing how you go.

If you have missed out on Inspirations Issue #80 or #84 as featured in the projects above, back copies are still available.  Email us at info@inspirationsmagazine.com.au and let us know which issues you are interested in and we’d love to help you out.

What are you stitching?

Send us your photos, details about your project, where you live and a little about yourself to: embroiderynews@inspirationsmagazine.com.au

Inspirations Issue #87 is starting to ship to subscribers this week… so if your subscription is current, you will receive your magazine between now and August 28th.

KEEP YOUR FLY SHEET!

Inspirations Subscribers enjoy shopping coupons which are available with each new issue

When you receive a subscriber copy of Inspirations, we include a coupon at the bottom of each fly sheet as shown here.  The coupons have a promotional code which you enter online to save 15% on the purchase of any Inspirations Kit, plus there is also a one off coupon to save 10% off everything else on the Create In Stitch website.

Zinio Subscribers – don’t miss out! 

If you are a Zinio subscriber and would like to benefit from these coupons, please email us at subs@inspriationsmagazine.com.au and we’ll email them to you.

PAY PAL REMINDER

If you use PayPal for your Inspiration Subscription, please check to ensure you have paid the invoice for issue #87, otherwise your magazine will not arrive and we don’t want you to miss out! 

NEW TO INSPIRATIONS OR SUBSCRIPTION NOT CURRENT?

If you haven’t received the current issue of Inspirations #86 pictured below, either your subscription has expired or you might be new!  Join or Renew today!

> Option 1 - RENEW ONLINE Simply fill in our secure online form with your updated details. It’s so easy and quick, you’ll be done in 5 mins! Click Here > Option 2 – RENEW BY PHONE Renew your subscription over the phone by calling us within Australia on 08 8293 8600 or from outside Australia +61 8 8293 8600. You can call us anytime, if the office is unattended, please leave a message and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

Otherwise please email us at subs@inspirationsmagazine.com.au

With all of the packages, boxes and letters that arrive at our office week in and week out, other than the advance copies of each new magazine, it’s not often that a delivery gets everyone in the office excited.  So when a crowd gathers around what appears to be two seemingly plain packages, one’s curiosity is quickly piqued.

What’s in the box?

Complete collection of Inspirations Magazines issue 01 - 86

A few months ago, out of the blue, Chris Leslie from Gladesville in NSW Australia, called our office with an extraordinarily generous offer – she was willing to donate her entire collection of Inspirations Magazines from Issue 01 to 86.  We were so taken back by this rare gesture it took us some time to compose ourselves, after which we graciously accepted Chris’ gift and arranged to have all 86 magazines collected and shipped to our office.

When they arrived it was just like walking through the corridors of time and reminiscing through the 20+ years Inspirations has been in continuous print.  While we have our own collections of the magazines in our office for reference, by now they are well used and show signs of wear.  This collection donated from Chris was in pristine condition and to our great delight it even still had all the mini-booklets attached which were shipped on the front of Issues 16, 51, 52, 55 among others.

Sue Forrest our Subscription Manager was explaining to some of us newbies about how Issue 09 was the first ‘rare’ issue on account of it selling out not long after it was released and prices for that issue alone can fetch hundreds of dollars on eBay.

Thank you Chris Leslie for doing such a great job of looking after your collection for all this time and for your incredibly generous gift – we will certainly put it to good use and will talk more about our plans for this collection in the coming months.

Over the past few weeks we have provided a sneak peak of the projects coming up in Inspirations #87 and today it is with great excitement we reveal for the first time, the front cover image of Issue #87 for everyone to enjoy.

The official release date for Issue #87 is September 2nd.

What: Threads Of Power Exhibition – Rare 16th century tapestries
When: Now – 20 September
Where: The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria
Details: Click Here
Additional Info: Check out this blog for a detailed review of the exhibition: Click Here

What: Shoreham Art Gallery Textile Week
When: 25 August to 1 September
Where: Shoreham Art Gallery, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, UK.
Details: Click Here

What: MAIWA Textile Symposium
Where: Vancouver, BC Canada
When: Sep | Oct | Nov
Details: Click Here

What Else Is On??

Send us details about events, exhibitions and celebrations happening in your place of stitch and we’ll include them in Embroidery News. Contact us at embroiderynews@inspirationsmagazine.com.au

Happy Stitching
The Embroidery News Team