Stitch Maynia

I came upon this last week.  I've joined the facebook group.  The premise (if you were to follow the original idea) is 15 new starts thorough the first 15 days of May, although I think it's more flexible if you wish it to be.

I've just been through my stash and discovered so many pieces of fabric that I bought many many years ago, presumably at a stitching show.  There are a lot of unusual colours plus a bunch of neutrals.  Not all are big pieces.  But I'm thinking that starting on some new smalls would be nice, I could handmake a few cards ready for birthdays or Christmas.   It really makes me feel bad that it's all just sitting there!  Plus, it's a good chance to try out different materials, counts, use up some scraps of thread etc.

Ok, I'll admit, I've been sucked in by all the other pretty planning everyone else has done.  I'm gonna do it.  I'm not so organised to work out every project more than a day or so in advance and perhaps not all new starts, but definitely some.  Watch this space for updates.  Who else is joining in?

New Stash

Hello everyone

As promised, here's a little update with the new stash that I bought at the Creative Stitches show a couple of weeks back.  I'm pleased with myself that I didn't go too mad (frankly, I've got more than enough stuff as it is), but I did manage to pick up these few things:

Random offcuts of fabric - A pack of greys and blacks in a good variety of counts, and a pack of neutrals and browns, again some tiny but mostly large varied count pieces.  At £4 each, I grabbed them!

A selection of cards from The Nutmeg Company.  I can't describe how much I love these cards.  Whichever show I go to, I always seek them out and make sure I pick up something from them because they are so different and people always love the cards I have made from this range.

Something a bit different for me - these are cards made with different pieces of fabric, and stitched like quilted pieces.  I spotted them as something which was a bit more unusual and thought I'd pick up a couple of simple looking ones and give it a try.  They also had a wide range of books on the subject for people who wanted to take things further.  I've not seen this sort of thing at shows before but I thought it looked beautifully effective.  There's not huge amounts of info in the kits, but these were designed by Sally Holman, Priory Farm.

And that was it really! I did also do a workshop with the Royal School of Needlework, but that piece isn't yet finished so I will save it for another time.

TTFN!

Knitting and Stitching Show 2013

Well, Sunday couldn't have been any more miserable weatherwise, but I dragged myself out of bed, made bacon sarnies, got ready and went to stand at the bus stop to go to the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally.

I went with a list in mind and actually managed not to stray too far from that, which I'm pleased with.

As for the show, I arrived just before 10 and got to look at the Nicola Jarvis and May Morris exhibition pieces that I'd missed at the William Morris Gallery.  Some stunning work, really beautiful.  Since the queues started moving into the main hall at 10 though, I thought I'd better get on with the browsing before it got too busy.  I was right to do so, because by about 11, it was starting to get a bit pushy and by 12, I was in danger of viciously digging my elbows into people who were starting to be rude and impatient and you could barely get close enough to look at some of the stands.  I'm normally quite patient but for the few times I've visited this show, I've been pretty disgusted with the behaviour of some of the people there once it starts getting busy.

Thankfully, I had bought everything I wanted to by 12, so I made a swift exit and looked at the other exhibition pieces in the entry hall on the way out, including a large number of interesting works by Margaret G Nicholson - it seemed like it must have been a good chunk of her life's work, and I found her long career with embroidery fascinating.

So then, onto the new stash!  Here are the things that I bought at the show!  I'm particularly excited by the crewel work kit, it's something I've wanted to try for a while as I love the effect.  So I'm starting gently but I have my eye on a firescreen piece from the same company which is quite expensive.

Magnetic board for my needle needs stand
Introductory Goldwork kit
Introductory Crewel work kit
Boo Club Lizzie Kate charts
Autumn Alphabet Chart
Small Pumpkin sampler chart

And fabrics:
Backing fabrics in autumn colours
Neutral fabrics for cross stitching on!

There we go - not too much, so I'm not too poor, but enough to keep me going for another year!