Janice Conners

‘I just finished this crewel project that will be mounted on a fire screen. This crewel piece is my interpretation of an 18th Century embroidery from the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, Scotland.

I have long been interested in historic embroideries and decided to stitch this one after finding a beautiful fireplace screen at an estate sale that needed a piece of period embroidery. It is stitched on blue linen in crewel wools.’

‘After taking several classes in 17th century raised embroidery through Thistle Threads, I had also completed an embroidered casket and wanted to try my hand at designing a new project using the scroll designs from embroidered jackets and coifs.’

‘The piece is embroidered on duchess silk satin in silk incorporating raised elements in leaves, acorns, pea pods and insect wings, padded insects, owl and squirrel raised above the surface of the embroidery with scrolls stitched in metallic gold thread. Glass beads, pearls and fine glove leather were used as accents as well.’

‘This final piece is another crewel project I have finished as a pillow. I have always loved hand embroidery and started with cross stitch projects learned in elementary school.

It wasn't until I retired that I taught myself crewel embroidery and spent countless hours searching museum databases for my next inspiration.

Embroidery calms me, challenges me and provides me with an outlet for my creativity.

As long as my fingers can manage it, I will always have an embroidery project in the works.’

Janice, these are all incredibly intricate, detailed and engaging pieces. Your source of inspiration is fascinating, and the quality of your work is outstanding. We can certainly all relate to your sentiment of finding calm, creativity and a challenge from embroidery! Well done.

Susan Sherman

‘I really enjoy reading your newsletters and am often inspired by what others are creating so I decided to respond with my own projects.

I learned to embroider at age 14. I was inspired and taught by my sister-in-law Rose. I stopped embroidering at some point after having children and didn’t go back to it until about 6 years ago and have been exploring all types of embroidery since.

I am currently creating a botanical theme in our spare bedroom. I have completed sewing the valances and ironed on the stencils and am working on embroidering one valance.’

‘The framed works are complete. For the frames, I wanted distressed and understated so I found picture frames, removed the glass, mixed 2 different green model paints and painted just enough for contrast. I used DMC regular floss, silk ribbon 4mm and 7mm, and legacy linens. Each framed piece was embroidered on a different count legacy linen that I purchased in a sampler pack.’

‘I have also begun embroidering on a jean jacket recently when I feel inspired. I used DMC pearl cotton #3. The green chevrons on the cuffs represent birds flying through the sky, connecting the spirit world and earth.

The gold spirals on the cuff are a representation of the cyclical nature of life with its ever-expanding potential and the necessity for evolution in these cycles, as it illustrates the movement of creative forces spinning inward and outward.’

‘The main attraction on the back ‘Love Flows Freely’ is a talisman ‘for assistance in relaxing enough to fully feel your emotions.’

The chalice, flowing water, droplet, lotus and coral represent relationships and connectedness to ourselves and others, grace through change and movement, release and nurturing, beauty, human potential, and harmonious group energy.

Thank you for your wonderful newsletter and to all who contribute as I am continually inspired.’Thank you for your wonderful newsletter and to all who contribute as I am continually inspired.’

Your spare room is coming along beautifully (maybe we could come stay sometime?!) and your jean jacket is vibrant, unique and has incredible meaning behind it. We are thrilled you’ve re-entered the world of embroidery after a small hiatus, Susan, and love how you’ve used embroidery to embellish your every-day life. We have no doubt others will now find inspiration from you; thank you for sharing this with us.

Sue Cork

‘I do many kinds of embroidery and I'm always dabbling in a new technique, but often go back to needle-painting birds or animals, as the more loose stitching of threads that can be stitched over each other to represent fur or feathers (rather than long and short stitch) is the same as working in watercolour with a fine paint brush.

I find this natural as I used to do watercolour pet portraits.’

‘This is a needle painting of a Red Kite (UK) all in single strands of stranded cotton, DMC or Anchor, on quilting cotton fabric.

I always start with the eye and say I would not continue if I could not get the eye right, but so far that has not happened.

I use single strands of DMC or Anchor stranded cottons on quilting, quality cotton fabric or sometimes dyed linen. I normally start with the dark colours and work to the lighter highlights.’

Not only did you get the eye just right here, but you’ve also perfected the whole piece, Sue; it’s incredibly striking and eye-catching. While your stitching is excellent, you also have a terrific understanding of colour selection thanks to your background in watercolour paintings, as your shading and highlighting is spot on. What a terrific piece.

Do you get inspiration for your embroidery from historic pieces? Do you enjoy creating pieces to embellish your home or your clothes? Or have you embarked on an animal recreation project?

Whatever you are stitching, we’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com