Have Your Say

In ASU #411, Jane shared her story about travelling to Canada with her folding scissors in her hand luggage. Cathy was amused by this and wanted to share that when she travels, she takes her inexpensive scissors in a little cross stitch case. 

‘Never once in my travels, domestically or to the US, UK and Europe have I had my scissors questioned or confiscated. But in November, before boarding the plane from Melbourne to Auckland, the border security agent confiscated my folding scissors. I had to act quickly because he was going to throw out my scissor case as well. I insisted that he allow me to undo the case from the ribbon. He was hesitant at first but then he realised I wasn’t trying to take the scissors back.

As it turns out, he did me a favour as those scissors weren’t cutting well anymore, I didn’t have the heart to part with them though. Since the decision to throw them out was taken out of my hands, I was happy to start using a reserve pair that are sharp and cut like a dream!’

Helen was compelled to write in after seeing the article about the RSN International Summer School 2024. Particularly, she was interested to see that Helen McCook is to teach a re-creation of the iconic 1953 Coronation Sampler.

She wanted to share the extremely well-worn version her late mother made at the time. ‘I was fortunate enough a few years ago to track down an unused transfer. Unfortunately, I do not have the instructions to go with it, but I have every intention of trying to re-create it. I see that the original colours were much more vivid – I am sure the embroidery has faded substantially.’

We were sent a link by Robin, who thought we might find an 18th Century needlework kit interesting. Robin was right, we did! The kit is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and online HERE.

‘I love the idea of the difficult parts – the hands and faces – being worked professionally and then sold to the user who could have fun completing the less challenging portions!’

Jackie, a self-confessed compulsive needlewoman, wanted to draw everyone’s attention to World Embroidery Day on 30th July, 2024. She reminds us that July may seem a long way off, but when it comes to needlework, as we know, time can fly by and events need time to be planned as well as executed. 

‘I hope our readers can give time and thought to this, perhaps in memory of a member of their own congregation/family. Let it be a day of celebration!’ 

And a recipe from Jane…

Easy Beaded Image Recipe

‘Have you admired beaded images but thought they must be very challenging? They can be easy to construct and hard to stop making using this recipe.’

Materials

• Beads
• Beading thread
• Fabric backed with a medium weight iron on interfacing
• Marking pen
• Hoop
• Stencil or coloured picture of the image you are beading
• Light box or bright window to trace
• Watercolour paints

Method

1. Trace your image on the right side of your fabric (you will be covering all the drawn lines). Outline different coloured areas after the main outline is traced.
2. Bead the smaller coloured areas first. Larger coloured areas second. Often for larger areas you can thread six or more beads on at a time and couch the beads around the area.
3. If the piece won’t be laundered, you can use water colours to paint the fabric as this will not colour the beads.

‘I hope that you feel you can bead interesting images now that you see how easy the process can be. I find it difficult to stop. Every stencil I see I think about how I would bead it.’