I will have [...]]]> As you’ve read through my class details for Beating Around the Bush over the last few days, if you were paying close attention to the dates, you may have noticed I will not be teaching on Wednesday 18th April. This is because there will be a Stitchers Village Fair on that day.

I will have a stall at the fair selling my books, and will of course be available to autograph copies of them. I will also have examples of embroideries from my books on display for you to see in person.

At the last BATB, it was a fun day, where I met many lovely stitchers, and was reacquainted with some after meeting them at classes from earlier times. There was an Inspirations magazine launch that day, and I spoke about an article that I had written for the magazine.

Apparently this time there will be book launches and exhibitions as well as needlework vendors like me being there to sell our wares.

The day is free for conference registrants, and there will be a nominal cover charge for the general public.

I look forward to meeting you there!

This is music to my ears. [...]]]> I heard from the wonderful Barb Suess yesterday that she’d recently been teaching at an EGA seminar and my stitch dictionaries The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion and The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion were disappearing very quickly from Ruth Kern Books. (I don’t think she meant that they were being shoplifted, either…)

This is music to my ears.

If you like my books, the nicest thing you can do to encourage me is let other people know how much you like them and why. Putting a review on Amazon, the Nordic Needle website, or submitting one to your favourite needlework shop’s website is something that would make me forever grateful. Putting one on your blog would make me smile all day. If you’re a member of a guild, submitting a review for your newsletter would make me very happy too.

See how easy it is to make me happy? Thanks in anticipation!

I’ve [...]]]> Yesterday I was talking with a lady who wanted to order a copy of Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery for her friend. She said she already has her own copy and loves it. She’s taken the techniques and run with them, having recently completed a merezhka project that she adapted from filet crochet, featuring grapes.

I’ve asked her to send me a photo of the embroidery to share with you, which she said she will do.

Oh, how I love it when people take one of these techniques and really get into it! It is so wonderful to know that my books give people so much joy. Sometimes when I feel a bit down I can doubt that what I do has very much impact on the world. I’m not a doctor or a nurse, or a teacher, changing people’s lives in a very tangible way. However, if my books help people to learn to relax and gain enjoyment from a new skill, I think that’s pretty fantastic!

PS. Sorry there was no post yesterday. I didn’t really have anything to say, and I just got stuck into more of the techniques pages for the books, first thing in the morning.

I’ve been doing needlework of all types for more than 40 years and this is the best all around handbook I’ve ever seen. Details are wonderful and it [...]]]> Time for a round up of new reviews of my books today. From Amazon US, we have…
Review by Claire Nardone on The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion:

I’ve been doing needlework of all types for more than 40 years and this is the best all around handbook I’ve ever seen. Details are wonderful and it even has a diagram for a lefty.

Review by M. LeMay, on The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion:

Great book to have in a how to library–I’ve had to adapt right handed embroidery instructions over the years to left handed, or embroider right handed–finally a book that shows me. awesome!

From Amazon UK…
Review by Dekka, on The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion:

A gift for my left-handed wife – a 60ish grandmother. She loves it – has been taught (sometimes unsuccessfully) by right-handed people to embroider and knit…..strongly recommended for all ages.

Extract from a review by Brigitte Picart, on Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery:

I was fascinated by drawn thread embroidery and the geometry in Ukrainian style. This book provides a step by step tutorial with both a clear drawing AND a clear photo of every step in the process so you can’t fail.

From Nordic Needle…
Extract from a review by Joy Lodge on Elegant Hardanger Embroidery:

An excellent book for everyone wanting to learn Hardanger. Also has tips to help the more expert …the projects are lovely, filling half of the 62 page book. I’m preparing to start two of them which is an indication of value of owning the book. There are some helpful sections when you have made mistakes with cutting and information about caring for your finished work, often not included with the instructions for the stitching.

Couldn’t find any new reviews of Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature, so if you want to write one somewhere public, I’ll be happy to feature it here! In fact I’d be happy to feature reviews of any of my books here! Why not tell us why you love them?

Merezhka bellpull from Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery by Yvette Stanton. Beautifully stitched by Lisa in Canada.

A couple of the ladies in the group had already bought my book Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery and worked the large scale sampler (we were doing a project of [...]]]> I had a wonderful day yesterday teaching merezhka to a lovely group of ladies in Springwood. They did a great job and produced some beautiful embroidery.

A couple of the ladies in the group had already bought my book Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery and worked the large scale sampler (we were doing a project of small scale technique in class) prior to the class. One of them raved about the instructions in my book. She said that they were so detailed and couldn’t be more clear. She said (my memory of her words) “you know how sometimes there are steps missing and you don’t know what to do next? Well, there were no steps missing in Yvette’s book.” I asked her when she was going to write her comments down!

Because this lady had already done some merezhka, she had already been thinking about it, and had a list of questions for me. Could she use filet crochet or filet lace patterns for merezhka? Yes. It would require a bit of thought to figure out how the closed and open bits would translate, but yes. Could you work merezhka in a circle with stepped sides, rather like you can with hardanger? Yes… you could. I’ve never done it, but you could.

I also discussed sources for merezhka patterns with another lady. Another suggestion that I had was for monochrome cross stitch patterns. To adapt these, wherever there is a cross, you could work a layering, and wherever there is blank fabric (no cross), you would have the gaps between layerings. I reckon it would take me a good while to adapt something like this – to get my head around how to adapt it – but it certainly could be done.

Last night I was surprised to find an email in my inbox with a scan of a completed embroidery. Yes, someone had already finished theirs last night, and it was beautiful. Thanks for sharing it with me. I always love to hear of people being so enthused that they finish their class project as soon as possible.

One of the other ladies in the class regularly teaches embroidery, and has been telling all her students about my books, particularly The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion and The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion. She gave them a huge plug by saying “We think these are even better than the A-Z books.” Wow! What a fabulous thing to say. Thank you!

My train journeys to and from Springwood were smooth, and I did get quite a lot of my Mountmellick done. I was surprised how tired I didn’t feel at the end of the day. I’d say it was because I was able to relax on the train home, with some enjoyable embroidery. They’d like me back later in the year to teach Mountmellick embroidery. I’m keen!

Thanks for a great day ladies!

Newly released Merezhka daisies cloth pattern

A new design [...]]]>

Newly released Merezhka daisies cloth pattern

A new design is now available: Merezhka daisies cloth pattern. This pattern makes a beautiful table centre for any table. It features a contemporary design of daisies, and would add a freshness to any setting.

Merezhka is drawn thread embroidery from Ukraine. This particular type of merezhka (there are a number of different styles) is from the Poltava region, and uses the small scale method with wrapped bullion corners.

The design is for an intermediate to advanced merezhka stitcher.

Purchase the pattern and find more information about the Merezhka daisies cloth at the Vetty Creations online shop. You can also learn more about Merezhka at the Vetty Creations merezhka page, and from my book Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery.

Merezhka Bell Pull from 'Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery' by Yvette Stanton

Embroidery instruction, No 3 should read: From the pin, [...]]]>

Merezhka Bell Pull from 'Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery' by Yvette Stanton

Embroidery instruction, No 3 should read: From the pin, count 29 threads across to one side. From this point work the satin stitch bar (59 stitches, four threads wide) across the fabric, inside the line.

The graph shows 59 stitches, and is correct.

Sorry for any inconvenience this error may have caused. If you ever find a mistake in one of my projects or books generally, I want to hear about it so that I can issue a correction, and change future editions. That would really help me and others!

However, Mary Corbet and others also directed [...]]]> I was reading a needlework forum recently where some time ago a lady wanted to learn merezhka to put some on a sampler she was making. Many people directed her to websites where she could get the information. She used one of those websites for her sampler.

However, Mary Corbet and others also directed her to my book Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery. Some time later she came back to the forum and said that she had purchased my book to work some merezhka, and found that using my instructions created a neater and straighter result than the websites.

Smiles all round.

You get what you pay for.

If you’re wanting to learn merezhka, Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery comes highly recommended by people who have used it and and found it very beneficial.

I would love to be able to do something about this, but I am really battling with the fact that there is still just one of [...]]]> Recently I have received several emails from people expressing their desire for more merezhka patterns as a follow on from my book Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavska.

I would love to be able to do something about this, but I am really battling with the fact that there is still just one of me! Sure, I am an identical twin, but that’s just not the same as having a clone. (wink!) So I feel I am going to have to do a bit of lateral thinking to try to solve this problem.

I don’t use model stitchers, mostly because I don’t know anyone else who does my type of stitching who would be interested in model stitching. But maybe that’s something I could consider. I also have extremely high personal standards for my stitching… but that doesn’t mean that others wouldn’t meet those standards.

So, very much just testing the waters here, is there anyone who has learnt merezhka from the two learning samplers in my book or from a class with me, who would be interested in submitting a sample of their work to me? At this stage, its probably best if it was only Australian and New Zealand stitchers – not because of any dislike of stitchers elsewhere, its just that domestic and nearly domestic postage is much cheaper and faster!

If you are interested in talking with me about model stitching, please don’t post me anything yet! I think the best thing would be if you could send me a good quality closeup photo of your merezhka work, both front and back. My desire to see the back of the work is only so that I can see that the technique is correct, not because I want to see how neat it is! You can email them to me at:
ystantonfish @ iprimusfish dot comfish dot aufish (remove the fishes!)

If I was to take this further (and I am not making any promises, just really thinking it all through at the moment), then I would need model stitchers of a very high standard, who can complete work quickly.

Could this be you? And even if its not, if you know someone who might be interested, please get them to contact me.