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Welcome to Embroidery News Issue 22

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! November is upon us and it’s about now that, regardless of where in the world you live or what type of weather you are experiencing, all of us, in unison, are either enduring or enjoying our local retail stores transforming into a seasonal wonderland. With only 7 weeks of stitching left, it also means some of us need to find a project for that special gift and get stitching, or put our skates on and finish what we’ve started. Where ever you are in your Christmas count down, take a break and enjoy this week’s Embroidery News as we explore the world of ‘Three-dimensional Embroidery’, offer up some delightful trimming suggestions for your Christmas tree, embrace a 17th century sonnet as our theme for ‘What Are You Stitching?’, and learn how to rid our lives of rust and keep it out!

‘Christmas Bouquet’ by Julie Kniedl Inspiration issue #88

Coming up next week we have our Christmas themed ‘What Are You Stitching?’ and we have received some sensational projects already to share.

If you have a Christmas project you’re currently working and need some encouragement to finish, have photos of your all-time favourite Christmas piece, or even a stitched gift you created or received that you can share, we’d love to see them.

Email us at embroiderynews@inspirationsmagazine.com.au

As Inspirations issue 88 continues to razzle and dazzle with its gorgeous festive projects, this week we take a behind the scenes look at the beautiful project ‘Christmas Bouquet’ by Julie Kniedl.

When one admires yet another stunning ‘real life’ embroidered piece by this talented needlework artisan, you begin to ponder the question – is there anything beyond her ability to re-create in thread?

A follow up question might also be – who is this Julie Kniedl and where did she come from?

We featured a little about Julie in Embroidery News issue 12, and her impressive body of work continues to expand and increase in wonderment, with yet another project slated for inclusion in Inspirations issue 90, along with a biography we’ve been working on. One of the remarkable aspects of Julie’s work is that she has almost single handedly carved out a brand new stitching technique we are now referring to as ‘Three-dimensional Embroidery’.

How does three-dimensional embroidery differ to Stumpwork or Raised Embroidery?

Firstly back in the 17th century, the needlework fraternity used the term ‘Raised Embroidery’ and it wasn’t until the 18th century the term ‘Stumpwork’ became widely used to refer to the same technique – the creation of additional elements using textured stitches, padding and rigid materials to achieve a raised or layered effect. These additional elements are then secured to the rest of the project itself.

Three-dimensional Embroidery is different however because it is not anchored to any fabric, allowing it to be a completely standalone piece. In this way, needlework has been freed from the usual restraints and becomes far more versatile in its application.

Christmas Bouquet is a great example of this, where the piece is completely standalone, with Julie deciding to cleverly attach it to a glass bauble, making it even more spectacular.

Capturing the magic of the Christmas Bouquet on set

If you would like to enjoy more of Julie’s amazing creations, below is a list of her projects featured in Inspirations to date and a link to purchase the relevant issue/project:

Nature’s Bounty: Inspirations issue #75 Purchased Printed Magazine Here Purchase Digital Download Here

Succulent Spool: Inspirations issue #85 Purchased Printed Magazine Here

Briar Rose: Inspirations Issue #87 Purchased Printed Magazine Here

Christmas Bouquet: Inspirations Issue #88 Purchased Printed Magazine Here

This week Sue has decided to bring on some Christmas Cheer with the project ‘Rejoice’ from Inspirations issue 47.

‘I remember when this project first came out because, I’m not sure if it was the name of it or the fact the project is so shiny and bright, but everyone would have a big smile on their face whenever they talked about ‘Rejoice’ by Carolyn Pearce from issue 47. This is one of those projects I refer to as an ‘heirloom piece’ because people like to make it with the intention of passing it down through the generations and leaving behind a legacy of their needlework for people to enjoy each Christmas.

‘Rejoice’ is one of those great projects that looks quick and simple to do, which it is, yet also has just enough complexity to make it technical in nature, as it features a great mix of familiar and not so familiar stitches.

Perfect for this time of year, I’m sure everyone will love ‘Rejoice’ as much today as they did when it was first published and, if nothing else, I always remember it fondly because it just made everyone feel so happy.’

Great pick Sue, thank you. For all the Carolyn Pearce fans out there, you will be excited to know Carolyn is working on a special project for an upcoming issue of the magazine, so we’ll let you know more about that one closer to time.

Rejoice by Carolyn Pearce – issue #47

In the meantime, to get your Carolyn Pearce fix for this week, you can purchase printed copies of Inspirations issue 47 featuring ‘Rejoice’ from our Stitch.ology website, details are below.

Purchase your printed copy of Inspirations issue #47 today. This fabulous issue includes the following projects:

Inspirations issue #47 Order online now by clicking here.

Heart’s Desire – Cosy shell pink blanket adorned with plump roses Filigree – Beautifully tatted bookmark Special Occasion – Gorgeous pinafore dress with embroidered yoke Buttercup – Stumpwork scissor case and fob (ideal for beginners) Far Horizons – Prize winning galahs perched on a blackbutt tree Rare Vintage – Exquisite beaded evening bag Portraits Of Fruit – Two amazing fruit botanical studies Rejoice – A perfect festive season decoration Hanako’s Dream – Vibrant portrait featuring beading and embroidery

In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous sonnet, she endeavours to answer the question ‘How do I love thee?’ and due to the vastness of her reply she simply begins with ‘Let me count the ways’.

Her answer is also relevant when one ponders how many different applications there are for one’s needlework skills. ‘Let me count the ways’ of the seemingly endless variety of project types from practical to ornamental and beyond that we have to choose from when selecting our next stitching masterpiece.

‘How Do I Love Thee Embroidery Pattern’ from www.seamstresserin.com

As testament to this, we begin ‘What Are You Stitching’ this week with some delightful work from Janet Granger in Staffordshire UK, which is not what at first it may seem…

‘I've attached an image of a needlepoint firescreen and pole screen from a set called 'Spring Flowers' that I have recently finished.

This is actually for a set of furniture used in a dolls house. The pole screen is stitched on 40 count ecru silk gauze, and the firescreen is stitched on 32 count silk gauze. To give you an idea of the scale, the usual ratio collectors use for doll's houses to reduce everything in size, is one inch to one foot. So the pole screen is five inches high, to represent a five foot high 'real' pole screen. They're both available as kits (which include the components for the wooden pole screen/metal frame for the firescreen) from my website www.janetgranger.co.uk Best wishes, Janet Janet Granger Designs’

Thank you for sending this in Janet, what an inventive idea, we love it! For any stitchers out there who have had their fill of scissor fobs, pin cushions and needlebooks, this is a great way of extending your craft into creating gifts for anyone with a dolls house in your life – young or old!

Another application for the term ‘Let me count the ways’ would be when asking the question ‘how popular is Mary Corbett?’. Mary’s website and daily blogs are legendary throughout the needlework community and she has ardent fans the world over, including here at Embroidery News and Inspirations. We first met one of Mary’s fan, Peggy Miltier, in Embroidery News #9 and this week Peggy is back with a Mary’s Corbett project to show us:

‘How I love the ‘Embroidery News’ newsletter! I also receive Mary Corbett’s daily newsletter and it was from there I drew out her little ‘Three-Stitch Bloomin’ Tree’ and stitched it out. The results are above. I love embroidery of all kinds and feel "naked" without a needle in my hand.

Thank you again for your beautiful Inspirations Magazine and your wonderful and informative newsletter.

Happy stitching! Peggy Miltier - Portsmouth, VA USA’

Thank you for your kind words and for sending in your gorgeous tree Peggy – everyone loves a tree in bloom and your beautiful piece is no exception. If you would like to make your own Bloomin’ Tree, check out Mary’s website here.

Three-Stitch Bloomin’ Tree by Mary Corbett

In Embroidery News #18 we talked about how butterflies are a very popular subject matter for artists and designers in all forms of media. This prompted Sharon Gray from Canada to send in her enchanting butterfly piece:

'This butterfly is from the project ‘Serenade’ by Gisele Carrieres and Kathryn Borel, both of Canada as featured in Inspirations Issue 62. The original design was for a chair back, I have taken just the butterfly element and adapted it into a framed piece. It is worked on dupioni silk with DMC floss and some metallic thread. Kathryn and Gisele, I thank you for this work.

My latest passion has been needlepainting and this pattern is a good way to enhance these skills. I thoroughly enjoyed stitching, mounting, and lacing this work.

I very much enjoy 'Inspirations' and am looking forward to receiving my copy of 'Monograms'. It looks like this will be a new passion I will whole heartedly embrace.

Regards, Sharon Gray'

That’s amazing Sharon, well done. When you look at the original project, it was very creative of you to pick out this single element and turn it into a standalone piece.

As Sharon mentioned the project ‘Serenade’ by Gisele Carrieres and Kathryn Borel is from Inspirations issue #62 which not only includes ‘Serenade’, it was also featured in last week’s ‘Something Special With Sue’ (click here if you missed it) and has her pick ‘Constance’ by June Godwin in it. If you are interested in any of these projects or one of the other 9 included in this issue, printed copies of Inspirations #62 are now available for purchase on our website here.

Inspirations issue #62

‘Constance’ and ‘Serenade’ – from Inspirations #62

To conclude ‘What Are You Stitching?’ for this edition, in keeping with this week’s theme ‘Let me count the ways’ Kate Teesdale from Spain has sent in too many projects to count, but we loved them all so here they are for your enjoyment… ‘The Teesdale Collection’.

‘I am originally from the north of England but now live in Barcelona, Spain. I LOVE Inspirations magazine and would like to try more designs, but I am not a patient person, so I have to know that I can finish something relatively quickly, otherwise it will never get finished.

Above is a rose tree taken from an Inspirations Magazine project. It was part of a patchwork blanket but I modified the design into a picture to give to a friend for Christmas who asked me to embroider something for her. The teapot and cup next to it is adapted from the project ‘The Good Book’ by Nancy Lee in Inspirations #81, to make a Mother’s Day card.

The baby blanket is a project from Inspirations issue 54 called ‘The Magic Carousel’ by Kris Richards. I can’t get wool blanketing here in Spain so it’s embroidered on cotton flannelette. While the finished result is perhaps not the same as it would have been using wool, it’s not too bad!

This butterfly is a design I found on the internet and made for my cousin’s little girl, Isabella. She loves butterflies and these particular colours. It is a very simple design of lazy daisy, stem and chain stitches (used for the centre of the flowers instead of French knots). The beads and sequins came from Isabella’s great-grandmother who was an amazing needlewoman and is whom Isabella is named after. While Isabella never really knew her grandmother, this was a really nice way of having a part of her grandmother with her.

The mother and child is extremely simple embroidery but so full of love in the design. Again, I found it on the web and framed it to make this year’s Mother’s Day card.

As I am working full time my embroidery hours are limited, but I keep promising myself that when I am no longer working, then I will start the needle painting and stump work which has me in awe when I see the photos in the magazine. Maybe one of these days I can join one of your stitching trips and get-togethers. It would be so great! All the best, Kate.'

Wow Kate – so many beautiful pieces, we love how fun and vivid each piece is. Based on what you are accomplishing when still working full time, perhaps when you retire you’ll have your own gallery? Thank you for sending everything in, no doubt everyone has enjoyed ‘The Teesdale Collection’.

SECRET OFFER

When we saw Kate’s ‘The Magic Carousel’ blanket from Inspirations #54 above, we thought that would be a great issue to add to the Stitch.ology website for this week. After checking in with our warehouse team though, they alerted us to the fact we only have 8 copies left, not enough to offer for sale. So we have decided to have a sneaky secret offer and anyone interested in purhasing one of these very last 8 copies, should email us at embroiderynews@inspirationsmagazine.com.au and we’ll send the first 8 requests we receive a special link to purchase a copy online.

Inspirations Issue #54

Just don’t let our warehouse staff know we’re doing this!

Looking for some fun projects to stitch? Here is this week’s collection of digital patterns for you to browse with many more available at www.stitchology.com.au:

Kokeshi by Jenny McWhinney Issue 71 – Wool Embroidery Purchase Digital Download here

Paper Dolls by Bruna Scagnetti Issue 69 – Black Work Purchase Digital Download here

‘The Good Book’ by Nancy Lee is a cute e-reader or tablet/iPad cover from issue #81

If you liked the ‘The Good Book’ design featured in Kate Teesdale Mother’s Day card project above, printed copies of Inspirations issue #81 are available for purchase online here.

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

Again Embroidery News Community, we’ve been overwhelmed by the number of you who have joined in on the conversation over the last week - not only do we thank you, but we know Carol will thank you as well! You may remember in last week’s issue of Embroidery News, we shared a ‘rust dilemma’ Carol was experiencing on a cross stitch that she had been working on for 9 years.

Chris, whose great grandfather was a needle maker and put the points on to needles in Redditch in the UK confirmed that the rust stains are from ‘parking’ the needle when not in use, as Carol had thought. The rust stains are caused as a result of the reaction between perspiration and the steel of the needle. These stains can be avoided by using gold plated needles, or simply parking your needle in something other than the project itself.

In addition to Chris’ sage advice, there was no shortage of suggestions for Carol to try & restore her fabric to as good as new!

By far the most popular suggestion from the Embroidery News Community was to place the work on a clean towel out in full sun before covering the rust stains with white table salt and enough lemon juice to completely wet the salt. Once wet, the salt needs to be allowed to dry completely and can then be brushed off. Stain still there? Just repeat the process until it disappears!

Judy, from Bribie Island in Australia, was one of the many who suggested the salt and lemon juice method and her story touched those of us in the Inspirations office . . . Judy’s grandmother passed on this method of removing rust stains from pieces of neglected embroidery many years ago. Little did Judy know that she would use this method to restore a cross stitch piece her eldest daughter had left a needle in many years later.

The restored cross stitch now hangs with pride on Judy’s dining room wall and is a beautiful reminder of the daughter who completed it but has now passed away. Whilst we were incredibly sorry to hear of your daughter’s passing Judy, we were touched by the very tangible reminder you have of her and were reminded of the connections our needlework can offer to those around us for many years after their completion.

We also heard of innovative products available for such dilemmas as Carol’s including: • Retro Clean – a gentle soaking agent designed to safely remove stains from vintage quilts and all washable fabrics • Dr Beckmann’s Stain Devils No. 9 • It Works! - available from TV Shopping Network It’s over to you now Carol – we wish you every success with your restoration process and look forward to hearing which method worked for you!

With so many people joining in on Carol’s and other conversations, we’ll have to leave it here for this week, but we’ll be back with more of your ‘Can You Help?’ responses in the next issue of Embroidery News!

Do you have a problem that needs solving? Email us
embroiderynews@inspirationsmagazine.com.au.

ISSUE #88 | IT’S ON THE WAY… STILL!
While the majority of our subscribers have now received issue #88, we are aware some people in New Zealand, North America and the UK are still waiting. The magazines are in transit and are expected to arrive any day now. Again, THANK YOU for your patience.

ISSUE #88 KITS | COMING SOON
We’re currently making some changes to our kits and the projects featured in Issue #88 will be available online for purchase next week – stay tuned to Embroidery News for updates. In the meantime for the Inspirations #88 projects by Jane Nicholas ‘Lacewing and Dogwood’ and ‘Beetlemania’, Jane is selling her kits direct and you can purchase them online now at www.janenicholas.com

NEW TO INSPIRATIONS?

If you are new to Embroidery News or Inspirations – welcome! Inspirations truly is the World’s Most Beautiful Embroidery magazine with stunning needlework projects depicted through gorgeous photos in premium quality print - this magazine is unlike any other. We’d love for you to enjoy the magazine first-hand yourself so you can see what all the fuss is about. Now purchasing a copy from anywhere in the world has never been easier.

Inspirations issue 88

SINGLE COPY PURCHASES

You can now purchase single copies of Inspirations online in both print and digital formats.

PRINT | To purchase the current issue #88 in print and have it shipped right to your door anywhere in the world, click here

DIGITAL | To purchase digital issues of Inspirations, click here

SUBSCRIPTIONS

If you have been thinking about taking out a subscription to Inspirations, we’d love you to join us. Or if your subscription is no longer current, we’d love to have you back! Join or renew today:

PRINT | For a print subscription simply fill in our secure online form with your details. It’s so easy and quick, you’ll be done in 5 minutes. Click Here.

DIGITAL | For a digital subscription you can purchase it through Zinio direct here or through the Inspirations APP which can be downloaded via the iTunes and Google Play stores, by searching ‘Inspirations Magazine’.

CALL US | If you are not sure what option is best for you, have some questions or just like to talk to someone rather than type, we’d love to hear from you. You can call us from anywhere in the world on +61 8 8293 8600 anytime and if we’re not in, leave a message and we’ll get back to you. For anyone within Australia, call us on 08 8293 8600.

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

In case you missed any of these announcements in recent weeks, here are some reminders:

12 Days Of Christmas Ornaments

Susan O’Connor has created two gorgeous Christmas ornaments to adorn your tree this year. ‘On The Second’ day has just been released in Inspirations #88 and is the second in the 12 Days Of Christmas series she is working on. ‘True Love’ is the first ornament and is now available for purchase as an instant digital download. Purchase ‘True Love’ here. Purchase a printed single issue of #88 here.

Is Your Country Missing?

Our new Stitch.ology website is proving to be very popular, so thank you for your support. It’s all happening so fast we’re receiving enquiries to ship to countries that we hadn’t added to the site yet. We’ve recently added Brazil, France, Italy, Malta and the Netherlands.

If you still can’t see your country of residence and want to make a purchase from www.stitchology.com.au, Just email us at and we’ll get our IT ‘nerds’ right onto it!

Fans of Jenny McWhinney’s stitched children’s story books featuring the adventures of the adorable mouse Monet from Inspirations 39 and 51, can now purchase both projects. ‘Des Fleurs Pour Grandmere’ (Flowers for Grandmother) is available as a Digital Download and Monet et le Papier Jaune’ (Monet and the Yellow Paper) is from issue 51 of which printed copies are still available.

Issue #51

‘Des Fleurs Pour Grandmere’ (Flowers for Grandmother) Purchase Digital Download here

Monet et le Papier Jaune’ (Monet and the Yellow Paper) Purchase printed copy of issue 51 here

Beating around the Bush!

You are invited to a week with the world’s best tutors, teaching the world’s most beautiful projects, hosted by the world’s most beautiful embroidery magazine.

Who could resist such an invitation?

MONOGRAMS – BACK IN PRINT Susan O’Connor’s book ‘Monograms The Art Of Embroidered Letters’ is now back in print. You can order your copy online here. and read Mary Corbett’s review to find out what all the fuss is about here.

What: The Fabric of India
When: 3 Oct to 10 Jan
Where: Victoria & Albert Museum, London UK
Details: Click here

What: The Embroiderers’ Guild of Queensland | Christmas Craft Fair
Where: 149 Brunswick Street Fortitude Valley, Queensland Australia
When: 29 Nov
Details: info@embroiderersguildqld.org.au

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