Hello everyone

just a quickie to let you know that Threads in Bloom in USA also stock cotton satin fabric by the metre.  You can find it here:

THREADS IN BLOOM.

Till next time.  Trish.

Hello everyone

Hope the start of the New Year has begun well for you, and that you are re-energized after the Christmas break?  The year has certainly taken off with a bang here and I have two exciting things to share with you this week!

CLASSES

Firstly I am thrilled to let you know that I have managed to secure a venue, dates and times for the London Classes in July 2015.  My family and I are visiting my daughter in London for 9 days and I have had to fit the workshops into this limited time, so unfortunately am only able to offer 2 days of classes on this occasion.   See info below or click here for a PDF including full details.

Westminster Abbey

There are 2 x one day classes on offer, Class one on Wed 1st July and Class two on 2nd July.  Class two is a repeat of class one which is Needle painting and we will be working on the Nuthatch In Spring as shown below.  Full details of the class are included in the PDF.

Class One & Two  Nuthatch In Spring

The classes will be held in the light, airy and spacious Trevelyan Hall at St Matthews Conference Centre in Westminster, close to Westminster Abbey, St James Park and several other London Landmarks.

The classes will begin at 9.30am and end at 4pm.  Tea & lunches are provided and a full kit included.  There are numerous hotels in the area should you want to stay overnight.  The centre is easily accessible from 3 main underground stations, St James Park, Victoria and Westminster and taxis are easy to obtain from outside.  Have I covered everything?  Any questions please contact me by email or via the contact form on this site.

Online registration will open in the Etsy store on Monday 26th January 2015 at 8am UK time.  Places are limited to available class numbers and when the class is sold out will no longer be viewable in the Etsy store.  Payment of the class fee is required at time of registration, the kit and tea/lunch fee can be paid on the day.  Please note that as I have had to pay for the hire fees in advance the registration fee is not refundable if you are unable to attend.

BOOK

I am DELIGHTED to let you know that advanced copies of the book Miniature Needle Painting Embroidery, are on their way and will be available for sale in the ETSY shop shortly!  I can’t give you a definate date but keep an eye out in the next few days.  You can read all about it here.  I am very excited as this will be the first time I have seen a copy.  If you prefer to wait and order a copy from Amazon they will be available in Australia and UK in February and thereafter in USA/rest of the world in March.

Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

Hope you had a great weekend.  At long last the new Miniature book has arrived and is available for sale in the Etsy shop here!

South African customers can pay either online through the shop (it will convert the price to SA Rand when you are billed) or you can email me for eft details.  The price is R375 plus postage.

Have a wonderful week.  Trish

Hello everyone

Hope you have had a wonderful week and sure you are looking forward to the weekend?  Thank you for the wonderful response to the the London classes, they are now fully booked and registration is closed.  If you would like to put your name down on a waiting list please contact me.  If you have registered you will be receiving further class details and the agenda shortly – can’t wait to meet you all in July!

Advanced copies of the new book Miniature Needle Painting arrived last week and are available in the Etsy store.  I have received some lovely feedback – thank you to those of you who took the trouble to let me know what you think it is much appreciated!  South African customers can purchase a copy online, or contact me for eft details.

Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello Everyone

How are you?  This week I would like to introduce someone who has become a  great source of inspiration for my Whitework designs but before we start there are three things I need to chat to you about:

1.  New Whitework Kits

Firstly please accept my apologies for the delay in the release of the new whitework kits.  We have been having recurrent load shedding (power cuts) here in South Africa and this has resulted in the printers and screen printers having to work around these power cuts so everything has been delayed.  This also applies to re-stocking kits that have sold out in the Etsy shop, so please bear with me they should be back in stock by next week.  As a side note I have found a new use for my battery operated Purelite magnifying lamp – it is good for standing on the kitchen counter and lighting up the area when cooking chicken on a two plate gas stove!  Who says us embroiderers aren’t resourceful?

2.  Book Review

Secondly Mary Corbet kindly did a review on the new book Miniature Needle Painting yesterday. You can read about it here:   In the acknowledgement section I asked her to “be nice to me Mary” and she was very nice, so thanks for that Mary!  One of the concerns that came up from readers in the USA is that the Gutermann polyester sewing thread that I use for outlining on miniatures seems to have a different numbering system in the USA to the European ones.  Rest assured that we are working on a solution and Mary Corbet has kindly offered to take my list with her to the shops this week and find substitute colours.  I will share these with you in a future blog post but they will also be listed next to the Gutermann threads available for sale in the Etsy shop.  More on this later.

3.  Whitework Book

Thirdly further to my announcement that I would be working on a book Needle Painting Birds Of The World – it has been decided by the publishers that this will require more time to produce as the projects are slightly larger and more time consuming and so will be delayed slightly and follow on from a book on “Shades Of Whitework.  I call it this to distinguish from pure white on white embroidery as I add touches of colour.   I am very excited about this one, it is quite diverse to needle painting but very freeing and the projects are great fun to work on.  This will hopefully be released late 2016.  To those of you who have written with requests for birds, your suggestions have been noted, thank you.

Which brings me to Jill Buckley.  Jill is a Canadian quilter, designer and artist you can read all about her here and in an interview for the Canadian Quilters Blog.  Jill designs the most stunning doodles, some of which have been built into the library of Janome Embroidery machines, and published in books to name a few of her achievements.  Like me she came into her own later in life and finally found her niche so we have a lot in common.  Her artwork has a lovely flowing composition which caught my eye whilst browsing for ideas on Pinterest and I soon got in touch with her to request the use of some of her designs for whitework projects.

Now you are probably not aware of the potential battle that goes on to gain permission from artists/photographers to use their artwork?  Not all artists are forthcoming some just say a flat NO, some ask for unrealistic licensing fees, and in one case I received this reply from the agent of a prominent nature artist in the USA:   “We are not interested its just too small a deal…”  there was no dear Trish or yours sincerely, just that, then of course there are those lovely, generous artists who are only too willing to share their work and Jill was one of those.  When I first approached Jill she was a little apprehensive but eventually agreed to let me use the outline of her cat, the result of which you can see below.

Having seen the completed embroidery of Katarina The Cat she agreed to let me use more of her designs and since then has actually been designing exclusive doodles for me to use in the new book, how lucky am I?  Of course I have to re-draw and adapt the original to make it suitable for whitework embroidery but the idea source is there and it allows me to spend more time on the designing and stitching, and less time on sourcing images.  I am in heaven!   I wish I could share them with you but of necessity they have to remain secret till the book release, but I am sure you are going to love them – there are lots of different, gorgeous designs, which have inspired me with all sorts of wonderful ideas for the final projects.

If you have a specific idea that you would like to see in shades of whitework let me know and I will certainly consider it.  Next time I hope to share with you how to overcome some challenges that people experience with needle painting, specifically long & short stitch.  Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

How are you?  Hope your week is going well.  Am thrilled to let you know that at last the 3 new Shades Of Whitework kits are available for sale in the Etsy Shop.  Katarina The Cat, Chickadee and the long awaited Complete Lesson in Whitework – flower mandala.  This is the ideal design for learning the technique as it features several shapes that are repeated in the design therefore good for practice.   All 3 techniques, Needlepainting, Miniature Needlepainting and Whitework are now available as Complete lessons, which means you can learn the technique in the comfort of your own home.

Kits with or without thread.

All the whitework kits are now available with or without thread.  Due to the fact that I have to import the threads into South Africa, it is much simpler for you to purchase the DMC stranded cotton in your own country and the only other threads which these projects use are DMC Cotton Floche.

Threads & DMC Cotton Floche

Floche is a lovely soft cotton thread that is ideal for surface embroidery and very forgiving for satin stitch.  One skein of floche has approx 150m of thread on it which will cover approx 4 whitework projects.   Floche is imported from France and it is not always easy to obtain so I have decided to make the two colours that I use most in these designs, available in the shop you can find them here.  You will find a list of the threads needed next to the product description – there are approx 6 shades of DMC stranded cotton and 2 colours of Floche, for each project.   If you purchase the kit only without thread you can purchase the threads from your local Needlework shop or online and one skein will do a couple of projects, so really it is far more cost effective. But should you require the full thread pack this is also available as an option, however stocks will be limited to availability.  Some of the thread packs are not available right now I am awaiting stock.

DMC Cotton Floche

Kit contents

The whitework kits all include a generous size of beautiful, high quality Irish Linen cambric fabric with a pre-printed outline, so no tracing required, an full colour printed instruction booklet and 2 sharps needles size 10.

Gutermann Threads

The Gutermann threads used for outlining in the miniature projects and also in the new book Miniature Needle Painting are available for sale in the Etsy shop.  Those of you residing in the USA may find these difficult to source as the numbering system is different to that of Europe & Africa so Mary Corbet of Needle N Thread kindly offered to source US substitutes for me and these are now listed next to the Gutermann threads in the shop.  You can read her article here, and the previous post here, thank you Mary!

Again if you purchase one small cop of this sewing thread it will probably last you a lifetime or certainly numerous projects.

Fabric for Miniature Needlepainting

Southern belle 200 count muslin is used for all the miniature needlepainting projects.  This is available from the Etsy store, and I am pleased to let you know that it is now also available in the UK from Mace & Nairn.  Cotton satin which is used for needlepainting embroidery is also available from Mace & Nairn in the UK and can be purchased from Threads In Bloom in the USA.

That’s all for this week. Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello Everyone

Hope you are having a good week?  We are experiencing a heat wave here in Cape Town 40 degrees today, so am shut up in my office with the air con on!

As promised to those of you who requested the digital downloads for Katarina The Cat and Chickadee, they are now available in the Etsy shop. 

I have received numerous emails asking when the fabric packs with pre-printed outlines for the projects in the new book Miniature Needlepainting Embroidery would be available.  I did promise these in the book for those of you who are nervous about tracing your own outlines onto fabric, and yes they are currently at the screen printers and will be available in the Etsy shop very soon.  The book has now been released in USA and the rest of the world and is available on Amazon or any good online bookshop.  Thanks to your support and lovely reviews it has reached the No 1 bestseller in embroidery this week!  (thankyou).

Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

How is your week going – the weekend is here!  Last night we watched the 2014 Annie movie and afterwards by youngest daughter showed me a video clip that was made in New York You are never full dressed without a smile.  It was enchanting – and made me think of how if we gave everyone we met a smile how it would lift not only others spirits but also our own?  Watch the video clip here and you will see what I mean.  It really made me smile!

You may also like to watch the Cape Town version here.

Of course what really makes most of us smile is sitting down with our embroidery – how it takes us into another realm away from all the stresses and routine of every day life.  When I was at BATB convention in Australia last year I often used to look around me at the 150 + people who were attending the convention, the non stop chatter, laughter and interaction between like minded people and get a little thrill.  People who don’t stitch could never understand the joy that we get from creating something beautiful?

I am often asked how I find the time to do so many projects – it is no secret I make time.  I am a master at taking shortcuts for anything involving housework, cooking chores, homework etc – if there is a way to save time doing this I will find it.  For example getting a ready made lasagne for supper and putting it into my own dish so it looks home made.  The time saved by these little deceptions can add up to an extra hour or two for stitching!  The other thing I have learned to do is delegate wherever possible – if someone offers to help with packing kits or cutting fabric say YES, and of course say NO to any non essentials like volunteering to cover books at the school library!  Where possible I arrange my day mentally in advance – for instance if I have to pick my daughter up from school at 2pm and need to get groceries or get to the shops I will leave half an hour earlier, do the shopping en route and then pick her up, one trip does it all.

Of course if your husband offers to cook the supper never, never say no.  Even if you don’t particularly like the way he cooks the chicken schnitzel – pretend to like it.  If he thinks he is a good cook he will be encouraged to do it again!

Thinking of saving time, in the new book Miniature Needle Painting Embroidery, I made a promise to save you time by providing ready traced outlines on fabric for each section in the book.  These are now available in the Etsy shop.  There are 5 pieces of cotton muslin fabric in each pack, with the outline for each project in that section, i.e. Portraits, Flowers, Birds and 3 for the Victorian Pansies.  You can find them under Fabric & Supplies here.

You may notice that I have made changes to my website, it has a cleaner, simpler interface which I hope you will find easier to navigate.

Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

This week I am pleased to let you know that I have been invited as a guest tutor to teach at the Royal School Of Needlework, at Hampton Court Palace in London in June 2015.  This necessitated changing my flights to include an extra two days on the trip so am only able to offer a one day class – if you are interested in registering please see details here – Royal School Of Needlework.

To learn more about the RSN, history and present day you can read an article here, The Studio.

The photo below is courtesy of Sew Graceful Blogspot.

Royal School Of Needlework courtesy Sew Graceful Blogspot

Hampton Court Palace

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to teach at such a renowned establishment, and of course to see the Palace first hand and indulge my love of all things King Henry V111 and his many wives!

That’s all for this week. Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

How are you, hope your week is going well?  This week I want to chat to you about linen fabric for embroidery.  For more information on linen fabric you can download the PDF here.

You may have noticed that the Irish cambric linen in the Etsy shop has been out of stock for some time.  As you know the good quality finely woven linen that our great Grandmother’s used has become scarce if not impossible to find.  Not all Irish linen is manufactured in Ireland but mainly now produced in USA and China.  There are still some weavers in Europe –  Belgium, France and Switzerland but it is impossible to source them without getting on a flight and doing some serious research.  There are many fine “church” linens still produced for ecclesiastical embroidery, and some surface linens such as legacy which are lovely for crewel embroidery/goldwork but none of them have that fine, very close weave that we require for needlepainting and whitework.  Below is an example of what I mean.

fine linen cambric

A few years ago I was fortunate to source a cambric Irish linen from a company in the USA and this is what we have been using up till now but unfortunately they have discontinued it.  The company informed me that “the last piece has arrived from our mill – unfortunately fine linen yarns are hard to get for this and there is not a great demand”.  (no demand what about us embroiderers!!)   I then got in touch with my friend Wollman Bastian of Zweigart Linens to see if he could help and his reply was: I am really sorry I cannot help since there are less and less weavers here in Europe, I would not have any idea where to get it.”

So began a search for a similar linen fabric.  For the last few months I have been in touch with every manufacturer I could find worldwide, including the luxury linen bed sheet producers to see if they could supply a similar linen.  I received numerous samples by post but the fabric was just not the same quality – too heavy and the weave too loose.  But this week I received a sample from Belgium that made my heart sing – it is just beautiful.  It is a Belgium linen known as batiste linen – you can read a definition of it here.  I mounted a piece into a hoop and tried stitching several bits on it and it is gorgeous!

The bad news is that it is pricey, notably more expensive then the previous linen which I used, which means that when the current linen stocks are depleted there is going to be a 5 – 10% increase in the cost of the whitework kits, this will happen gradually in the next few months.  My apologies but this is totally out of my control and I feel strongly about using good quality materials for our embroidery.  There seems no point in putting all that work into something of inferior quality.  I am sure you agree?

The good news is that the new fabric is an absolute joy to stitch on – and the company has assured me that it will be available on an ongoing basis.   The weft and warp are evenly woven and the weave is nice and tight so there is plenty of placement options for your needle and no holes.  Being 100% linen it springs back into shape when removed from the hoop and can be washed and ironed with a very hot iron without any damage whatsoever.  It is perfect for fine whitework embroidery but also sturdy enough to use alone without a backing fabric for needlepainting.  Below is a picture of the previous linen and the new linen.  I have blown these up 150% so that you can see the difference in the weave.  If you click on each picture you will get an even larger zoom.

The new linen fabric will be available by the metre/pieces as before in about May 2015, in the meantime I have managed to procure a 1300wt Irish Cambric linen which is a little finer than the previous 14HC and limited stocks of this will be available in the Etsy shop shortly.

Meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello Everyone

Can’t believe Easter is here already haven’t we just celebrated Christmas?  I am always looking for a way to give back to you – my readers, students and customers.  To say thank you for your continued support, the encouraging emails and kind thoughts you send my way – YOU ARE MY INSPIRATION!

Here is a little gift for you, Bluetit & Pansies project.  You can stitch it for a friend or yourself,  share it, copy it or do whatever you want with it – the project is yours.   The complete pattern can be downloaded here: BLUETIT & PANSIES.  Be patient it is quite a big file so will take time to download.

Bluetit & Pansies

Linen & Muslin fabric are back in stock.  Please note that any orders placed in the Etsy Shop will not be shipped till after Easter on 7th April.  Sorry for the inconvenience but the Post Office will be closed for Easter Friday & Monday.

Happy Easter to you all and till next time wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello Everyone

Hope you had a good Easter and that you are enjoying the warmer weather overseas?  We are approaching winter so it is getting a little chilly which I love because it means more stitching time!  Funny how we always discuss the weather –  as my husband once pointed out it is only the difference between a warm jacket and a drink in the pub or a pair of summer shorts and a live game of rugby!  Men can be so simple??

This week it is my great pleasure to introduce to you Mical Aloni.  I have mentioned her in a previous post here –  but as I said at the time I was unable to make contact with her – she seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth, but lo and behold she emailed a few weeks ago, to say that she had had twins and been busy for a while but is now back in circulation.  Mical is without a doubt an embroidery artist of the highest degree – she does the most exquisite miniature needlepainting embroideries, approx 2.5 – 6 inches in size, really quite unique.

Last week I interviewed Mical – and found her story absolutely fascinating.  It is one of empowerment and inspiration for all of us embroiderers, proving that humble beginnings can lead to great things.  Her innate style of embroidery has blossomed from simple dabblings as a young girl in a Kibbutz in Israel,  and grown into what is now recognized by the world as “Fine Art”.

I found the fact that she uses a “long skinny needle” and “cheap white bed sheets” so interesting – proving that we don’t need the finest materials to produce a beautiful piece of art, the desire to stitch and create overcomes all limitations?

I am sure you will love Mical’s relaxed and informal chatter – I did have a giggle at the way she sometimes described things!  While you sit in your comfortable living room stitching away you can pause to consider the odds she overcame to fulfill a great need to create things of beauty with needle and thread.  You can read the interview below and see more examples of her work here:  Mical Aloni.

Till next time wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

 Mical I know that you started to embroider whilst at an agricultural Kibbutz in northern central Israel, please tell us more about this, what inspired you to create such a unique style of embroidery contrary to what others at the Kibbutz were doing – I believe the norm was cross stitch?

 Ever since I can remember myself, my hands where occupied in creating something. As a girl growing up in a Kibbutz I was introduced to embroidery early on, and though I proved to be a complete failure in decorating table clothes and napkins with cross stitching, I found that I can use thread as paint and in an environment where art supplies where scares, that was a discovery indeed!

Cyclamen For My Father – Mical Aloni embroidery

How did your embroidery help escape the intensity of military life whilst serving your mandatory two-year military service? Can you tell us of any experiences during this time?

During my 2 years’ service in the Israeli army I had an ongoing piece of embroidery; in the end I think it measured 1×1 foot. It was filled with colourful magical creatures and help me withdrew from the toil of military life to a wonderful world all of my own. Unfortunately this piece is lost.

I believe that at the age of 25 you moved to the US where you earned culinary distinction at the Academe de Cuisine in Maryland, and then went on to own a successful restaurant, Franzi and Nells, located in Stony Brook on Long Island, New York? You must have been fully occupied running your restaurant, did you still have time for embroidery?

As during my army service, embroidery provided me with a necessary respite from my busy days of a chef and restaurant owner. At that point I gifted them to my friends.

Close up of embroidery

In 1994 you moved to Taos, New Mexico – presumably this was when you began to embroider full time. What was it that inspired you to start creating these miniature pieces? Approx what size are your pieces of embroidery?

When I got to Taos there was not many job for a chef, all I could find was a part time job as a baker at a cookie company. I could barely pay rent and feed myself, I wasn’t very happy until a friend asked me if there was something else I could do and my answer was: “ I can embroider like nobody business”. Instead of paying my quarters at the laundromat that week I spend my meagre earning on thread…

I entered the “Taos Open” show in the spring of 1997 and got myself a ribbon and the attention of the late and wonderful Steve Parks owner of the Parks Gallery, and the rest is history.

Your embroidery pieces have attained phenomenal success, being exhibited and sold by art galleries in New York and Taos and now housed as a permanent collection of the Harwood Museum in Taos and the American Craft Museum in New York. What a wonderful progression and certainly a great achievement – from humble beginnings come great things!  It is unusual for thread painted pieces to be acknowledged as “fine art” how was your work first recognized at this level?

I always thought about my work as fine art and was rather surprised to find myself in the art versus craft debate. When I crate a piece my primary concern is line, shape, balance, colour, form, space, texture, etc. The fact that I’m most comfortable using embroidery to create those pieces is almost incidental.

I have noticed that most thread artist emphasise their use of thread, I infact try to make it disappear: when one listen to a great violinist play, one does not think about the difficulties of playing the violin (which is very hard indeed), but instead hear the beautiful music. I want my audience to forget the technical challenges of embroidery and just enjoy, be inspired and be moved by the art work.   I do find the distinction between the art and craft redundant.

The day the anemone raised her head – embroidery Mical Aloni

Where does the inspiration for your unique ideas come from? Are they mainly photographs and if so are these photographs that you take yourself and then decide to stitch or do you have a source of photography?

My latest body of work is called Fragile: Sparks of a Dream. Here is something I wrote about it (even if it’s written in a third person manner).
Mical Aloni’s most recent collection is inspired by memories and dreams from her childhood on a kibbutz in Israel and features her twin daughters Maya and Rumi in contexts that highlight the fragile beauty of childhood in a changing and sometimes dangerous world. These embroideries lend themselves to a magical realism style. This is a collection that has allowed Aloni the opportunity to present the most authentic and honest work she’d ever created, as she has chosen to step outside of the preconceived notions and restrictions she had once placed on her work and taken the steps to express her true self through her work. She is excited to unveil it to the public after having taken almost a decade off to raise her girls and to gain the inspiration that can only come from motherhood.

I do work from photographs; I take them all the time and keep them for later use. When I have an idea for a piece I usually rent a real photography studio and take my subjects (at this point mostly my girl) there and torcher them…. Haha. I compose my images in Photoshop and create something that resembles my final project.

Close up of Mical’s stitching.

For the benefit of our readers I would like to ask you a few questions on the actual embroidery process I know that you find it difficult to explain your technique as it is not in essence the traditional style of long & short stitch, more like a series of staggered satin stitches? You mentioned lately that you gave a talk at a Woman’s Institute and found it challenging to answer their questions,( I can empathise with this as am self- taught and don’t necessarily follow the formal method of long & short stitch ) so I will go easy on you!

I appreciate that!

Can you explain a bit about how you stitch? Do you work one shade of colour at a time and blend this in with the next or do you place stitches randomly as if you were colouring with pencil crayons? About how long are your stitches?

I work on one little area at the time: be it an eye or a nose or a shoe. The artistic challenge is that I work “against’’ white, so I have to compensate for that, and plan my colours carefully in advance. I usually don’t attempt to do more then 1/4-1/2 inch square at a time. I might be working with 5-20 colours at a time. Depending on what I work on, I might do 1 stitch or 10 at a time and then go to another colour, it really depend on what I try to achieve. I usually start with the very dark hue and very light hue and then fill with the medium hues. The stitch size varies from a dot to a straight stitch no larger than 3/8 of an inch length. Long stitches tend to be able to move and therefore not accurate enough.
I really do not limit myself to any specific way. I stay open to whatever is the best approach to a specific colour or texture. After almost 40 years of embroidery I still find new challenges in each piece and have to figure the right way to approach it.

close up of Mical’s stitching

What fabric do you use and do you trace an outline onto your fabric before stitching or do you have some other method?

I use a cheap white bed sheet, not the ones that have a million thread count but the ones that do not. One sheet goes a long way….  I use a pencil for the outline, I press it with very hot iron to set it.

Do you use a hoop to stretch the fabric or do you stitch with the fabric loose in the hand.

Yes I do. I use the plastic light blue ones. I can’t do anything that’s bigger then what fits in a 10 inch hoop. Does anybody know if they make 9 inch hoop? I could never find one. 

The tree that fell in the night embroidery by Mical Aloni

Do you have a specific type of needle and thread that you use?

I use a very long and skinny needle… the longest and skinniest I’m happiest. 

I use mainly Anchor cotton thread, the stuff that come in a strand of 6. I use a single strand at a time. I also use Spendor 12-ply silk, again 1 strand at a time. Its a very beautiful thread and has great coverage but the color range is not that great..
I use the gray scale of DMC because its offers a good color range, however the DMC thread tends to fray quickly and become dull with use.

Thanks so much for agreeing to do this interview with us Mical, I have had the opportunity to get to know you a bit recently and know that you are a very humble, down to earth person that any of us can easily relate to! I am a great admirer of your work and wish you continued success and many happy hours growing and creating your beautiful pieces of embroidery.

Thank you very much!

Hello Everyone

Hope your week is going well?  I am busy as a bee preparing for the UK workshops lots to do and also working on a few new Shades Of Whitework designs which I am excited about as am trying out different shades of colour and also some very special silk thread!  Hope to be able to share these ideas with you soon.

Subsequent to my post on obtaining good quality linen for needlepainting and whitework, many of you kindly emailed me with suggestions and I was finally led by Jessica Grimm in Germany to a fantastic manufacturer of the old style embroidery linen.  The Company is a family run business who still endeavor to weave their linen on the old style looms thus are able to achieve the beautiful fine weave that I was looking for.  It is 100% fine linen that is sturdy enough to be used alone, without a backing fabric,  for either whitework or needlepainting and lovely to stitch on, am thrilled to have found this wonderful source, thank you Jessica!  I have just received my first shipment and it will be used in the whitework kits in future and also available for sale in the shop shortly.

Lilac Breasted Roller

The Lilac Breasted Roller Kit from the Colour Confidence book is back in stock by popular demand.  You can find it in the Etsy shop here.  The miniature autumn pansy kit and others that were out of stock are now also back in stock.

Autumn pansy miniature

Enjoy the rest of your week and till next time wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

Hope your week is going well and that you are enjoying the warmer weather overseas – we are currently experiencing cold, rainy weather perfect for cosying up in a chair with stitching!

This week I am excited to introduce to you a new Shades Of Whitework design – Gentle Heart.  The design is stitched using soft shades of pink and mint with white, ecru and taupe accents.  The design size is approx 11,5 x 11,5cm (4,5 X 4,5 inches).  It is stitched using DMC stranded cotton with a DMC floche in white.

The design is now available as a kit in the Etsy store.  The kit includes beautiful 1300 wt Irish cambric linen with pre-printed outline, a full step by step colour booklet and needles.  Threads not included but they are very easy to source in your country of origin.  If you need white floche it is available in the Etsy store.

Gentle Heart

The good news for all you lovers of silk floss, is that I have teamed up with Silk Mill in France to incorporate their silk threads into the Shades Of Whitework designs.  I have done intensive research into the various types of silk thread available and this one ticks all the boxes – in that it is colourfast, high quality, gorgeous, easy to use and has a fantastic array of 700 shades soon to be increased to 800 shades. Oh my goodness colour heaven!   I hope in the future to be able to offer thread packs of silk with the kits but for the present you will find a substitute list from DMC to Silk Mill so that you have the option of using either cotton or silk in the design.

The silks creates a lovely contrast in texture with the matt finish of the Floche.  Silk Mill threads can be purchased direct from their online shop in France.  They ship worldwide and offer a wonderful personable customer service.  Read all about it here.

I leave for the UK in 2 1/2 weeks time and whilst I am away the Etsy store will be closed for business till my return on 10th July.  My apologies for the inconvenience but when I return there are some new ideas in the pipeline which I will share with you and also I will be able to report back on my class at the Royal School Of Needlework which is exciting!

Meantime, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

How are you?  I am back in Cape Town after 2 weeks in London and another week in Edinburgh, Scotland.  It was wonderful to see my daughter again and spend time with her –  she made sure that we saw many of the sights, having lived in Edinburgh and now in London.  Not being used to all the walking (despite my numerous trips up the flight of stairs up to my office)  I did suffer with sore feet!  During this time I taught a class at the Royal School of Needlework and later two days of classes in Westminster.  This week I would like to share with you the Royal School Of Needlework experience and will follow with a post on Westminster later.

As you probably know the RSN is housed in the old “Grace & Favour” apartments at Hampton Court Palace, in Surrey England.  It is a fascinating story you can read more about the Grace & Favour apartments here.  The RSN run hand embroidery classes from beginner to BA degree and have an embroidery studio where works of restoration and conservation of historical textiles are commissioned.  You can read more about the origins and history of the RSN here.  and get info on current events on the facebook Page.

Hampton Court Palace

Royal School Of Needlework

Hampton Court Palace

Gardens at Hampton Court

Tues 23rd June.  The day before I was due to teach at the RSN my daughter, Stacey and I boarded a train from Waterloo station to Hampton Court, a journey of about 45 mins.  When we came out of the station and crossed the bridge I was taken aback by the immensity of Hampton Court Palace and it’s beautifully manicured gardens.  The sun was shining on the river Thames which runs along its banks and ducks and boats bobbed along on the water, making it picture perfect.   I felt a little thrill at the prospect of entering such a grand establishment and not a little nervous!

Entrance To Hampton Court Palace

Stacey and I were warmly welcomed by two members of the RSN,  Noleen Wyatt-Jones the Classes Coordinator & Administrator and Anne Butcher the Programme Director.  We were led through tight security along some back passages of the Palace into the RSN apartments.  Finally we arrived in the courtyard of the RSN,  and made our way up the lifts to the top floor where I was shown my classroom.  I was hosted in the degree room with its stunning views of the formal gardens below and had to pinch myself occasionally to remind myself I was really there!

View From My Classroom Window

The day was spent being shown around the various classrooms, meeting some of the degree students, tutors and a tour of the studio, where we saw some restoration work being carried out.  I was fortunate enough to see some of the collection including a beautiful display of whitework and some lovely examples of 18th – 19th century silk shading and crewel work.  One would normally have to pre-book a tour to view this so I was in my element!  The RSN library is filled with a plethora of books on embroidery, design, textiles and history, some of these rare, out of print books which if time had allowed I would love to have delved into.

Later I was taken to the RSN gift store on the ground level which opens onto some of the gardens to allow access to visitors and students alike.  I signed copies of my book for the store and had a good browse through some of their lovely sales items such as bookmarks, greeting cards, books and kits all of which are available from the RSN online shop here.

Section of a crewel embroidery screen

Silk Shading 18th Century RSN

Later in the afternoon Stacey and I had some lunch in one of the Palace cafes and then did a tour of the Palace.  This is a whole other story but suffice it to say that I have always had a great interest in King Henry viii and his many wives and to see where and how he lived was fascinating.  At the end of the day we made our way back (full of inspiration and a feeling of awe) across the bridge to catch the train back to Waterloo in preparation for the next day’s class.

My daughter & I taking a rest in Palace Garden

Wed 24th June.  Once again bright and early on Wednesday morning, we made our way on the train – I was so grateful to have my daughter’s calming presence and the fact that she remembered the way through security up to the RSN apartments.  She was a huge support helping me set up and spent the day taking photographs of the class and surrounds.  Stacey combines  graphic design with photography and has a gift for capturing the beautiful essence of her subjects –  you can see some of her work here.

Here are some photos of flowers in the Palace Gardens.

Palace Gardens

Palace Gardens

Palace Gardens

When we arrived Noleen and my lovely assistant for the day Becky,  had set up the classroom for me – the kits were laid out and the fabric, hoops and magnifiers in place so all I had to do was set up my projector equipment.  Becky was in total control of the teas, queries from students and all other aspects which left me free to devote my time to the students and teaching, wonderful, thank you so much Noleen and Becky for all your help!

Class activity

The students arrived, most of them from the UK and Europe – one Lady, Paula Wilson came all the way from Hawaii,  and another was from Sydney, Australia!  The ladies were lovely, so appreciative and interested in every aspect of the technique, it was a joy and privilege to teach them.  There was lots of discussion, laughter and of course stitching – all went home having completed a good portion of their bird and I hope having learned something?  I know I learned a lot from them and do hope to be able to take you up on the invitation to teach classes again at some time in the future.

Nuthatch In Spring Class Project

I like to think that traditional met with the new and we embraced each others ideas, so that together we can unite, grow and continue to encourage present and future generations in the art of hand embroidery?

Teaching at the RSN was so much more than a class, it was having the opportunity to participate in an establishment with traditions that go back hundreds of years and I was humbled and grateful for the whole experience, in particular the warmth and welcoming interest of the tutors and staff.  A big thank you to all at the RSN for the opportunity!

I have some exciting ideas to share with you in the upcoming weeks.  Meantime, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

Hope you are all having a good week?  Next week I plan to share with you my teaching experience in Westminster, London but today I wanted to let you know about the new landscape kit that is now available for sale in my Etsy store.

I have received numerous requests for landscape designs over the last few years, but to be honest could not find the right artwork to translate into embroidery.  A few months ago I came across the art of Louise Marion.   Louise is a French Canadian artist who paints vibrant, colourist expressionism art –  just what I was looking for.  You can see some of her artwork on my Pinterest board.   It took a little persuasion but finally Louise gave me permission to use some of her paintings and I got down to designing and stitching.

This was something quite different to what I normally do and it was an absolute joy to stitch – each aspect of the design came alive in front of my eyes, motivating me to keep stitching till complete.   The energy of her work and little details she includes had the effect of lifting one’s spirits whilst stitching – it really was very gratifying!  Thank you Louise for allowing us to use your beautiful art.

Enlarged picture of Provencal

Here is the first of the designs – Provencal. The design is a miniature approx 11 x 11cm and is stitched on our gorgeous new premium linen from Germany which has a very close weave.   It uses numerous thread colours but they are all DMC stranded cotton so you will have no problem sourcing the thread.  I plan to add a second design soon, so that they could be framed as a pair, or individually if wanted.

Premium linen from Germany

LINEN FABRIC

The new German linen is now available for sale in the Etsy store here – after many years of trying to source the right linen I have found it and it is lovely to stitch on.  It is manufactured on the old style looms so has that very close weave that we always look for in a good surface embroidery linen, and therefore  can be used for Needlepainting, Whitework, miniatures or any other type of embroidery.   It is sold by the half metre and is 160cm wide so one piece will cater for at least 4 large embroideries or several smaller ones.

The Southern Belle muslin is also back in stock, although I am having problems sourcing the original quality of the fabric and so it may be discontinued/replaced in the near future.

WHITEWORK THREAD PACKS

If the thread pack for the kit you require is out of stock I recommend that you purchase a skein of white/grey floche together with your kit.  This will suffice for at least two kits.  All other threads used in the Shades of Whitework kits are DMC stranded cotton, in fact the full design can be stitching using DMC substitutes if required – there are instructions in the booklet.   It is not always possible to keep stock of the thread packs for sale but I have listed the threads needed for each design so that you can see what is needed when you place your order.

Gentle Heart Shades Of Whitework Kit

Meantime, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

Last month I went over to the UK to visit my daughter and whilst there took the opportunity to run two days of workshops which were held at St. Matthews conference center in Westminster, London.   St Matthews is a little church very near to Westminster Abbey – the area of Westminster is breathtaking with its’ plethora of beautiful historic architecture as seen below.  St Matthews hire out rooms for conference venues, it is a central location in London and it was here where the classes were hosted.  Just off the classroom was a lovely little courtyard with English roses and tubs of flowers where we had teas and lunches. I did not have my lovely daughter with me to take photos so was only able to take a few with my iphone and I am not known for my talents as a photographer – I normally cut off peoples’ heads but managed to keep those on just this once!

Westminster London

Westminster bridge London

St Matthews Church

My youngest daughter and I in front of Big Ben Westminster

Although the events co-ordinator, Enver was so kind and helpful with the pre-arrangements I was not sure what to expect as the whole event was organized via email from Cape Town.  I had to rely on Enver to cater for lunch and teas and because they had a prior conference on was not able to visit the premises until the day of the class.  The day before the classes began it was announced on the media that they were experiencing an unexpected heatwave of 38 degrees.  Anyone that is familiar with these old church buildings will know that they have double glazed windows (to keep the street noise out) that do not open, so I was naturally concerned that it would be less than ideal conditions for stitching!  When I arrived early that morning,  Enver had placed fans around the room and plenty of cold water was available for the students throughout the day, so it was fine, we soldiered on and there was lots of chatter and laughter, despite the circumstances.

Classroom

classroom

Over the two days,  students arrived from various parts of  UK.  We had Annie Penin from France, and Natalie Marais from South Africa.   Eleanor Roome came from the Isle of Man for both days and was a great help to me in setting up the classes, thanks Eleanore.  I was so interested to meet Kay Dennis, teacher and author of several stumpwork books  – it is always good to compare notes and learn things from other designers.  It was wonderful to meet so many talented ladies and have them in my classes – they were such a joy to teach and so appreciative of everything.  I was thrilled to receive, on my return,  pictures of some of your finished nuthatch birds and the lovely feedback. Thanks to all of you for attending – I know that many of you had to arrange accommodation in London over the busiest time of the year when Wimbledon was on and catch trains home at midnight, your efforts are appreciated.   I do hope we can repeat the experience at some time in the future?  Next time I will make sure it is in cooler months!

Eleanor & natalie

tea in courtyard

Next time I would like to share with you the next part of our strip to Edinburgh Scotland where I got to view the Mary Queen Of Scotts embroideries at Holyrood Palace.  Meantime, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

Hope your week is going well and you are managing to get some stitching done?  This week I would like to continue our journey from London to  Edinburgh, Scotland.  I am of Scottish descent so for many years I have wanted to visit the home of my ancestors and as my daughter had lived there prior to London for almost a year it was an ideal opportunity for her to come with us and show us around.

On Friday morning after the Westminster classes we boarded a train from Kings Cross Station, London (think Harry Potter) to Edinburgh, stopping off overnight in York.  The train journey was an absolute delight as we had time to relax and view the beautiful English countryside from our windows.  We arrived in Edinburgh at lunch time, and promptly went off on the top of a double decker tour bus to get an overall view of the city.  I was absolutely charmed by Edinburgh – it is possibly one of the most beautiful city’s I have ever visited.  Based around the medieval old town and the elegant Georgian new town it is a feast of stunning, historical and modern architecture, Edinburgh Castle looms over the whole city and it is the seat of the monarchy in Scotland with Holyrood Palace, being the home of the royal family in summer.

Edinburgh Scotland

Edinburgh Castle

The queen was in residence when we arrived as is her custom to visit in summer so we had to wait a few days before visiting the palace.  I had been advised by Phillipa Turnbull of the Crewel Work Company, who runs superb annual, Scottish stitching retreats to visit Holyrood Palace with a view to seeing some of the Mary Queen of Scotts embroideries.  I was not disappointed – the tapestries and embroidered bed covers and curtains were wonderful – unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos but I did manage to find this photo online of Mary Queen Of Scotts bedchamber, courtesy of https://thefreelancehistorywriter.files.wordpress.com.  It is difficult to see the actual bedspread but it was a stunning example of crewel embroidery in soft shades of cream, greens and pinks.

Holyrood Palace

Mary Queen Of Scotts bedchamber

On a visit to the Museum Of Scotland I saw some lovely examples of needlepainting and other embroidery as shown below and was amazed at how many pieces I came across displayed casually  in tea shops and other places in Edinburgh.  Some of the pieces are possibly very valuable but just hanging on the wall like an everyday picture, possibly handed down by a great grandmother or friend?

Of course no visit to Scotland would be complete without mentioning tartan – it is everywhere, so gorgeous.   Needless to say it is now fixed in my mind that I just have to,  incorporate it somewhere or somehow into my shades of whitework designs.  Can you picture it in contrast with the white?

tartan weaving

Display at museum

I will be running a workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa in October this year so look out for details on the blog next week.  Meantime, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello everyone

How are you, hope your week is going well!   I am pleased to let you know that I have managed to secure a venue, dates and times for the Johannesburg, South Africa Class in October 2015.  It will be held at the lovely Country Club Johannesburg Woodmead – in a large spacious room overlooking the golf course, what bliss!  Thanks to Lesley King the functions co-ordinator at the club and Kim Grossett who made this possible.

Country Club Johannesburg Woodmead

There is a two day class on offer, on Mon & Tues 12th & 13th October.  The class is on Needle painting embroidery and we will be working on the Nuthatch In Spring as shown below.  Full details of the class are included in the PDF – click here for details. 

Nuthatch In Spring

The classes will begin each day at 9.00am and end at 4pm.  Tea & lunches are provided and a full kit included in the cost.  Online registration will open on this website on Monday 17th August.   Details for registration will be posted under CLASSES.   It is recommended that you email me first to secure a place as they are limited to available class numbers, and will be secured on a first come first served basis.  Contact details can be found on this site under CONTACT.

Payment of the class fee is required at time of registration, –  please note that as the conference hire fees and airline tickets are payable in advance the registration fee is not refundable if you are unable to attend.  I look forward to meeting you and sharing two wonderful, relaxing days of stitching in October!    Meantime, wherever you are in the world, remember “Embroidery forever, housework whenever!”  Keep smiling and happy stitching!  Trish

Hello Everyone

Registration for the Johannesburg Class is now open.  See details here.

Have a lovely week.

Trish