Hi <<First Name>>,

Welcome to Embroidery News Issue 28.

And so it is, today we send out our final Embroidery News for 2015. Did we save the best until last? Well actually every week we endeavour to bring you the best, in fact the world’s best and most beautiful embroidery and needlework, right here in your inbox and this week is no exception. This coming Friday Dec 18th is our last day in the office until we return Tuesday Jan 5th. If you email or call and leave a message for us during the break, we’ll get back to you as soon as possible upon our return. Also please remember any products you purchase from our websites will not be shipped during this time and we’ll process your order when we’re back. Digital Downloads can still be purchased per usual. Embroidery News will be back on January 29th next year, just in time to count down the release of Inspirations issue #89 due out late February. (For those of you having a meltdown wondering how you’ll survive without your weekly fix of EN, we’ve included a segment below offering survival tips and tricks to hopefully tide you over!) Until then may you and your family be blessed this festive season, may there be laughter and joy in your homes, and may your needlework be abundant.

THANK YOU Inspirations Community for your support in 2015, we really appreciate it...

While we may be too late to help Rachael with her ‘Destination Singapore’ travels, for those of you in the Embroidery News Community who are compiling your own ‘destination needlework’ scrapbooks, Chris Munge has something to add to what is becoming a very popular needlework destination:

Arab Street in Singapore is a narrow street where every shop is full of fabric and everyone has ‘a deal for you’. Chris suggests wandering the street in length before making a purchase. Although Chris’s son tried to keep a tight rein on her while she was there, she still managed to have a lovely shopping spree!

Thank you for all your questions, suggestions, answers and advice this year and while we may be taking a break over Christmas, please continue to email with your ponderings and crises so we’re all ready to start up a new conversation, wherever it may take us, when Embroidery News returns in 2016! Email us at embroiderynews@inspirationsmagazine.com.au.

At Embroidery News, we love making winning easy. Our friends at Sally Milner Publishing have generously donated three copies of Jane’s fabulous new book for you to win simply by correctly answering the following question:

‘What year was Jane Nicholas awarded a Churchill Fellowship?’

Send your answers via email with the subject heading ‘Shakespeare’s Flower Competition’ to susan@inspirationsmagazine.com.au

Winners will be randomly drawn and announced in Inspirations issue 90. Good Luck!

First up this week, we have a follow up story from last week’s ‘What Are You Stitching’ when Nan from Lavington in Australia sent in her crochet Crinoline Lady with just the crochet skirt finished. This week Nan sent in a photo of it all completed for us to enjoy:

That is beautiful Nan – job well done and thanks for sharing the finished piece with us all.

Another beautiful project we received recently is from Carmo Afonso, who you may remember sent in the gorgeous ‘Prancer’ table runner we included in Embroidery News 25. This week she shares with us a special project she made for a special someone:

‘My granddaughter, Dior, asked me if I could make her a blanket of her choice and she wanted something with a bird on it. This is what she chose and I have to tell you, working from just the photo she gave me, proved to be a little challenging when choosing the threads. In the end I used Paterna and she just loves it.’

Stunning Carmo, very contemporary with shades of William Morris and Nicola Jarvis, we love, love, love it.

And what’s not to love, love, love about a jolly snowman? Elina Brown from Gig Harbor, Washington in the USA continues our festive celebration with this smiley guy:

‘Look what I just made! Isn't he happy? I found this snowman on the internet several years ago. I think he might be an image from an ink stamp or something. Anyway every time I saw him, I had an incredible urge to stitch him, but I had never done a project where I needed to do the actual design work myself. However, somehow the courage came. I enlarged the image and printed it from my computer onto a sheet of Solvy. I used a piece of linen twill and cotton floche and metallic threads, plus a few beads I had sitting around. Then I started doodling, as the design just lent itself to play. I tried lots of new stitches and did lots of layering. I finished the edges with Palestrina knots, which I also love. My sewing machine and I do not get along well at all, so I loved being able to do this pillow without encountering that conflict. I had so much fun. I feel like imitating my snowman and throwing my arms out to shout, "let me sew!"

Merry Christmas! Elina’

Elina just reading your email made us all smile and get happy like you and your snowman. We’re so pleased to hear about the exciting journey you went on to bring this project to life, and good on you for being brave and stepping out to try new things. The final result is really wonderful.

Rita Mifsud has been busy getting her house ready for Christmas day, and shares this project with us:

‘Dear Embroidery News, I am enclosing a project that I made for Christmas, it is a runner to be placed in the middle of the table. This is my own design and I hope you like it!’

Thank you Rita, what a lovely table runner you have created there, we’re certain your guests will be very impressed.

Crazy Quilting and Steampunk are both trends that have continued to increase in popularity this year, and Kathleen Klein is becoming a regular fixture in Embroidery News with her extremely creative and innovative designs. Here is her take on a reindeer you might have heard of, going by the name Rudolf…

‘Since it is Christmas time, I decided to combine my crazy quilting and steampunk into a deer block. The tall tree is made up of yarns, the small one is two layers of sequins and pearls, bells hang from his antlers, and his nose glows with a red crystal. Kathleen Klein’

Nice one Kathleen, as always a great selection of elements and materials combined to tell a story in a very unique way.

Wendy Osborne from Murray Bridge in South Australia has sent in a couple of projects for us to enjoy, one of which is from the very first issue of Inspirations. ‘Wool Embroidered Bear’ by Jenny Saladine has the honour of being the inaugural bear to feature in Inspirations.

Inspirations issue 01

Wendy has done an amazing job re-creating ‘Wool Embroidered Bear’ as you can see; it’s practically identical to the original. Wendy shares her story with us below…

My bear has been two + years in the making and its finally finished. He/she was started in Hobart Tasmania and completed in Murray Bridge. I have been stitching for nearly 50 years, first starting with petit point graduating to cross stich when the eyes deteriorated.

I then found Country Bumpkin and Inspirations and I was hooked on embroidery and especially stump work. With my bear I expanded into a new area of wool embroidery which I also fell in love with. I love roses so I would love to make a knee rug. As it is Christmas time I have also included the stocking I completed last year. I do hope you can find a little space in the embroidery news for a photo. Regards, Wendy

Thank you Wendy for sending these in – the super observant among us might also recognise that Wendy’s stocking is the project ‘Snowflake’ from issue #67. Again Wendy has done a terrific job re-creating an Inspirations classic.

Mary Cornelius has re-created not only the project ‘Prancer’ from issue #88, she also picked up on the graphic design elements we created and turned the whole thing into a delightful piece:

‘Dear Susan and Team, I wanted to say how much I enjoy Inspirations, especially the Reindeer of the Year embroidery in Issue 88. I am attaching a picture of my interpretation of this delightful fellow. Last year I did the small robin embroideries as Christmas cards and I would very much like to see more embroideries like Prancer, please.

Thank you for a lovely, inspiring magazine. Yours sincerely Mary Cornelius
(Biddulph, Staffordshire, England)’

That’s fantastic Mary, very clever of you to re-create the entire page of the magazine, not just the actual project. Lynton our graphic designer is honoured you converted his design into a needlework piece!

Our final ‘What Are You Stitching’ project for 2015 is again from issue #88 and we couldn’t believe that Christiane Paris has finished ‘Christmas Bouquet’ by Julie Kniedl already!

Christiane’s beautiful pieces have been featured in Embroidery News issues 14 and 23 and we are really impressed with both her skill and speed demonstrated here.

‘Merci à “ Inspiration Magazine “ pour l’ inspiration . Cela a été un plaisir de réaliser ce beau décor de Noël . Merci à vous. Christiane Paris.

Translation - Thank you to " Inspiration Magazine" for inspiration. It was a pleasure to make this beautiful Christmas decoration. Thank you.’

Christiane the pleasure is all ours – thank you for sharing with us your gorgeous needlework and we look forward to seeing more of it in 2016.

WHAT ARE YOU STITCHING SUBMISSIONS

With a bit of luck, everyone will find time to complete some more amazing, stunning and fabulous needlework projects over the Christmas / New Year break and WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE THEM!

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

While you’re waiting for Embroidery News to return on January 29th, here are some ways you can still enjoy some of the world’s most beautiful needlework:

Firstly, we had our Stitch.ology website minions working overtime to upload as many new digital patterns as they could before they left for their Christmas break. The good news is there are now over 10 new patterns available.

A simple way to view all the newly added patterns is to click here.

Then click on ‘Default sorting’ and select ‘Sort by Newness’. Now you will see all the patterns displayed according to when they were added, with the first 10 being the patterns added this week.

Secondly, if you missed any issues of Embroidery News throughout the year, or would simply like to go back and re-read some of them, you can view them all online, by clicking here

Finally, for those of you who have a collection of Inspirations or AS&E magazines, during the holidays we encourage you to pull out some of the past issues and rediscover projects that you have forgotten about or maybe even missed the first time around. At the Embroidery News office, we are always going back through old issues and it’s hard to get any work done because we find so much joy in going on a treasure hunt through the world most beautiful embroidery and smocking magazines.

With so many new patterns added for you to browse through this week, here are four of our favourites as chosen by the Inspirations Team:

‘Woodland Berries’ by Barbara Jackson from Inspirations issue 67. Divine Needlecase and Pin Cushion adorned with ripe red berries, creamy blossoms and fresh green leaves. Available here.

‘Make Believe’ by Jenny Crowe from Inspirations issue 21. Gorgeous soft wool blanket with a little bear sleeping near the centre, cradled inside a circular wreath. Available here.

Cherubim by Denise Bakes from Australian Smocking & Embroidery issue 85. Smart little summer romper in crisp white cotton piqué teams with a matching tailored jacket. Available here.

Warm Embrace by Jenny McWhinney from Inspirations issue 52. Enter the magical world of this rosy cheeked rabbit and his busy friends when you snuggle up under this delightful cream wool cashmere blanket. Available here.

SHIPPING NOTE – Any orders purchased online which require shipping, will be processed and dispatched the week of January 4th 2016.

This week we sent out billing notification reminders for those who have a subscription direct with us know that payments for the next issue of Inspirations, #89 will be debited on January 5th. Issue #89 will be sent to subscribers throughout the month of February with the official release date Feb 25th. If you pay via PayPal, we are currently in the process of issuing invoices for #89, so please check your emails/PayPal account and ensure payment is made by January 5th to avoid delivery delays.

NOT A SUBSCRIBER?

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 the news, here are some of the most popular projects we have featured in Embroidery News in recent weeks:

Something Special With Sue  featured ‘Spellbound’ by Carolyn Pearce which was featured in Inspirations issue #18 and has just been added to the Stitch.ology website last week as an instant digital download. This gorgeous lavender bag is adorned with ribbon embroidery and would make a beautiful gift for someone, or just a touch of luxury for yourself. Click here to purchase online.

‘Rejoice’ by Carolyn Pearce from Inspirations issue 47. Featured in ‘Something Special With Sue’ in Embroidery News 23, this dazzling Christmas decoration by Carolyn Pearce has been extremely popular. Printed copies of Issue 47 are available for sale here.

Inspirations issue 60 includes two projects recently featured in ‘Something Special With Sue’, ‘Natures Larder’ by Jane Nicholas and ‘Jingle Bells’ by Jenny McWhinney. Both these designers and their projects are always crowd favourites.

To purchase a printed copy of Inspirations #60, click here.

More of Jane’s Nicholas projects and kits are available from her website here. Jenny McWhinney also has a great range of products including kits and her latest book ‘The Redwork Circus’ all available here

Download a free copy of the Beating Around The Bush 2016 Catalogue here or order a printed copy here. Bookings open Feb 29th 2016.

You can now order single issues of Inspirations in print, both current and a selected range of back copies, from us direct.

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

Browse our range of back copies still available in print by clicking here.

For those who prefer digital copies, Zinio have Inspirations issues as far back as #76 through to current available for purchase online here.

What: Slipstitch
Where: Swan Hill Regional Galley, Victoria Australia
When: 1 Dec to 26 Jan
Details: Click here

KAFFE FASSETT LECTURES – ADELAIDE & CANBERRA

Tickets selling fast – great Christmas gift for a friend or family member, or even yourself! Book online now - http://events.stitchology.com.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