Thinking about Christmas

With the Vetty Creations Christmas ornament swap underway, I’m already thinking about Christmas. I hate leaving things to the last minute – I do not thrive on stress as some people do!

Here in our house, and probably many others, it is common practice for various family members to affix a list of Christmas present suggestions to the fridge. I haven’t written one in years because my list of wants is not very long! This year I think I’ll ask for some plants for redoing our front garden. We recently went to a local garden centre and explained what we wanted and one of their garden designers drew up a plan for us. We wandered around the nursery and she showed us some plant ideas and we were able to see what she was suggesting. We like her design very much, and I’m looking forward to seeing the real thing outside the front of our house one day! I also think my copy of the Valentino exhibition catalogue is likely to be a much anticipated Christmas gift.

But if you’re thinking about gifts for yourself or a fellow stitcher, I’d love to suggest a copy of either The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion or The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion. What could be better than giving yourself (or a dear friend) the gift of learning new embroidery stitches and new embroidery inspiration?

If you haven’t seen these books in the shops, you can see turn the page previews at Scribd:
The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion
The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion

They’re the books everyone is talking about:
“The diagrams are really clear and along with the clearly written instructions it is almost as good as having one-to-one tuition.” Acon, Ireland

“I was very impressed with the clarity of instruction and the detail given. I found it very easy to create new stitches and was impressed at how well they turned out (especially compared to my attempts following my other books).” Workshop on the Web

“My sister bought the left-handed book for me and I thought I would buy the right-handed book for my friend. The book was really well layed out and l liked the pictures.” Leanne, Australia

“The LH Stitch Dictionary is proving to be so very helpful. I refer to it almost daily, and am always impressed with the precision of your instructions. They are so clearly stated that it is impossible to stitch incorrectly. It is an invaluable reference book and am so delighted to have it nearby.” SB, France

So if you’d like to give yourself (or that very special friend) a gift that could open up a whole new world of embroidery stitches, head down to your favourite needlework shop and grab yourself a left or right-handed stitch dictionary. If they don’t have it, there should still be ample time for them to order it in for you in time for Christmas. And of course, we have both The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion and The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion available for purchase right here at Vetty Creations.