Win!!! Tickets to the Knitting & Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace, London

There is a real feel of autumn in the air which can only mean there are a few weeks now until the Knitting & Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace, London, 11th to 15th October.

This is the most fabulous show, packed full of textiles to spark new ideas, classes to try new crafts and, not least, it is one of the best venues to stock up on really beautiful fabrics, yarns and haberdashery.

If you would like a chance to win a pair of tickets as well as a mini beadwork kit and frame, a new chunky cross stitch or a beaded woodpecker kit simply comment here or drop me a line on the contact page of the website.

Please note the tickets are not valid on Saturday 14th October or before 3:00pm on Thursday 12th October.

All entries need to be in by midnight Friday 15th September and two lucky winners will be drawn on Saturday 16th September – Good Luck x

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A Sparkly Unicorn for a Mythical Knitter

Home from a fantastic Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate and just taking some time before I tackle the unpacking and back orders.

Tonight I am going to a party. My children seemed quite shocked that I have a social life but less so when I explained it was a Mythical Winter Knitting themed event.
I am very excited though and have sew a unicorn for the birthday girl.

He had been stitched entirely in wool but whilst away I thought he really needed some silver beads on his horn…..Disaster…..and I am going to whisper this next bit because it goes against all needlework advice…Rather than worrying about acid free mount board etc. I had ‘no more nails’ him to the box frame to create a shadow gap. Anyway, how to sew beads onto a firmly glued canvas???? I had to resort to a very bendy beading needle and tweezers but I got those beads on this critter.

I think it is probably fine to post a picture of my mythical beast as I am guessing Louise is probably going to be far too busy today preparing the woolly celebration in London to have time to look at the computer!

Inspiration from a notebook and piece of plastic

I have finally recovered from a very hectic but thoroughly enjoyable week at the Knitting and Stitching Show in London. I think I must have chatted about needlework solidly for the entire week! But how inspirational and I am now buzzing with lots of new ideas.

My lovely husband always buys me a notebook for birthdays and Christmas – these are where all my very quick sketches and ideas are scribbled down.

My latest jotter has the most fabulous bird illustrations on the cover. Combined with the surprising discovery of plastic canvas from Darice has triggered the idea of some really quick, chunky wool cross-stitch designs. I am trying to keep the colours to an absolute minimum and at 7 holes to the inch these new critters should be ideal for children but hopefully still appealing to us grown-ups….Oh, and I have sneaked in a beady eye!

 

Beagle Paw Colour Dilemma

A brief insight into how I design my little beadwork kits….

The initial design is drafted directly onto the computer. I have lots of source photos and start by trying to get the shape approximately right before thinking about the colours.

The computer is brilliant for very quickly trying ideas. This may sound strange but it is almost like modelling with clay, I can push the pixels around the screen until they are sitting in just the right place.

Once I am fairly happy with the design I will start stitching and this can sometimes be a long process. I have a fairly good idea of which beads will work well together and how to get enough contrast to allow the individual colours to shine out. It also works best if a contrasting thread is used for the background. However, it often takes several attempts before I am happy with my little critters.

For the past couple of days I have been working on a beagle….

He started with quite a shiny brown for his ears and tail which was then swapped to a sandy bead. I’ve also decided against having his tongue hanging out because it made his neck too long.

This morning my dilemma is the front paws…. I cannot decide between brown or sandy so your thoughts would be appreciated!

Beaded Garden Birds

I am so fortunate to live in a village with ancient woodland and fields to the back of our house and garden….making a real haven for birds. At this time of year their chattering noise is a real fanfare to the onset of spring. Designing beadwork embroideries celebrating these visitors to my garden has been a real pleasure.

I shall be taking them along to the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia 3rd to 6th March so if you would like a closer look please come and see us at B68.
Alternatively head to the online shop – hope you like them x

Little Beaded Valentine Heart

Ideas come at the funniest time – whilst eating breakfast yesterday morning I suddenly realised I needed to embroider a Valentine’s heart in seed beads.

Fortunately I have plenty of fabric, beads and embroidery hoops to hand so within a few hours all was finished. The inclusion of embroidered initials within the heart would make for a lovely wedding gift or alternative shapes could be used for different occasions, a rattle for a new baby or a rabbit for Easter.

I have used size 11 seed beads for this example but it would be very easy to substitute French knots or seed stitches to give a similar effect.

If you would like to have a go please click below to see how I made my little heart – it would be fantastic to see your creations!

Beaded Heart Instructions

Win!!! Tickets for the Spring Knitting & Stitching Show, Olympia, London

The rain has finally stopped, the sun is shining, the snowdrops and primroses are starting to bloom, I have almost finished my new little garden bird beadwork kits and it is time to think about the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show, Olympia, London, 3rd to 6th March.

This is a lovely show, quieter than Ally Pally but with as much to inspire and plenty of opportunities to treat yourself to some new projects for the coming year.

If you would like the chance to win a pair of tickets to this fantastic day out as well as a minibeadwork kit and frame of your choice then simply comment or leave a message on the contact page of my website.

All entries need to be in by midnight Friday 5th February and two lucky winners will be drawn on Saturday 6th February…..Good Luck!

How Long Does it Take?

One question I am often asked is, ‘how long would it take for me to stitch this?’

Surprisingly my answer is often very vague as generally the sewing is the trickiest part of the design process and involves a lot of stitching, unpicking, trying another colour, trying another bead……So it can take me a long time even if the final design is quite simple and may be stitched in a couple of hours.

This week I have been wrestling with a good choice of background colour for my little garden birds. Often the best solution is to choose a contrasting colour for the thread. Unfortunately, the beads used to make these birds cover the entire rainbow so there isn’t an obvious background colour that works with all of them. There are added complications. The background has to be dark enough for the whites to shine but sufficiently pale not to dominate. Then there is the problem that glass beads reflect light so will change colour depending on the thread they are sitting next to.

I had avoided trying one of my favourite, fail safe colours, ‘chicken blue’ until this morning because I was sure the blue tit would simply disappear but I think it might work…..Love to know your thoughts. In the meantime I had better start stitching the other three birds again!

Breakfast Time Bead Delivery

Nothing quite like a big box containing a rainbow of seed beads to brighten up a chilly January morning.

It is always quite a gamble when ordering based on a photograph on a computer screen, you never quite know what is going to arrive! I am particularly pleased with the slightly chalky colours, they are quite jewel like whilst retaining some subtlety. There is also quite a vibrant mustard yellow which rather smacks you in the eye but could work well in my new American Goldfinch.

Feathered Friend in Print

I am so delighted that one of my beaded bird designs has been featured in the latest issue 98 of The Embroiderers’ Guild Stitch magazine.

Can you believe my last article was for New Scientist!!!