This morning I have received the files for some historical photos I’ve requested to use in Portuguese Whitework. They’re downloading at the moment, as I write. Its a little bit exciting as these are going to add a wonderful sense of history to the book!
I have been very fortunate throughout the process of putting this book together. All the people I have dealt with in Portugal have been so wonderfully generous with knowledge, time and even things like photos and fabric. I have been thrilled by their kindness and willingness to help me.
I’m really looking forward to putting the photos in place on the pages. 
This morning a reader asked if she will be able to pre-order Portuguese Whitework. Yes, you will be able to, but not yet. Once the book is off to the printers and that process is underway, they’ll give me a shipping date, which will help me to figure out when it will get here (give or take some weeks, depending on shipping!). And after it is off to the printers, I will have time to get the necessary information up on my website.
I also hope to put together a youtube video type preview of the book. I’ve seen a few video previews of books now, and think they’re a wonderful idea. I’m really looking forward to the fun and the challenge of making that!
In the meantime though, I have a book to finish, and the historical photos (still downloading as I write!) to enjoy!
Added later: Oh WOW! The photographer has been even more generous than I had hoped, and sent me a number of photos of each of the items I requested, showing different details. I had only asked for one of each item! Manuel Correia of www.mcfotografia.com, you are wonderful! Thank you so much!
Welcome to 2012! And a particular welcome if you’re joining us here for the first time after visiting Mary Corbet’s Needle’nThread! Why not subscribe to White Threads while you’re here?
 'Portuguese Whitework: Bullion Embroidery from Guimarães' by Yvette Stanton, due for release in early 2012. 2011 has been a year of hard slog for me. I’ve gotten seriously into writing and stitching for my upcoming book “Portuguese Whitework”. I am well on track to having it off to the printers very soon. From there it will take a few months to come back to me, and to make its way around the globe to my distributors.
However, it hasn’t all been hard work, as I have enjoyed the stitching for the book so very much! I find myself very much in love with the style of needlework, and now say that it is my favourite style. If you would like to know more about the book as information becomes available, please sign up for my email list specifically for news of the book. You can email me to ask to sign up for it, or let me know in the comments section of this blog post.
Personally it has also been a great year for me and my family. My husband had some excellent things happen at work. He’s a librarian, and his library moved into its new purpose-built home early in the year.
My eldest daughter finished her primary school education and is off to the larger world of high school. She continues to mature into a delightful young lady.
Rainbow Girl, my younger daughter, has stepped into the world of elite gymnastics on her quest for an Olympic medal. Given that she’ll need to be 16 years old before she can compete internationally, we’re a long way off from anything like that! But she surprised us completely. We had no idea she was that good, have no idea where the sporting talent has come from, and would never have imagined a child of ours setting themselves the goal of an Olympic medal!
And because of all the gymnastics training, just a few weeks ago, I finally got my driver’s licence. Driving is still not something I’m thrilled about doing, but it will make life easier, I am sure.
2012 promises to be a year of great delights. I will finally publish “Portuguese Whitework” – it feels like it has been a long time coming, especially since we visited Portugal to do the research for it way back in 2008, before I got sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome! (I’m completely better now, if you’re wondering…!)
This year I’ll have to decide which idea on my list of book ideas turns into my next book, and get started on it. I will be off to Adelaide to teach at the “Beating Around the Bush” conference run by Country Bumpkin at Easter, and have various other classes lined up around the countryside.
I hope that 2012 (wow, it feels strange writing that!) is a wonderful, stitchy year for you, filled with happiness and joy.
I told you that I probably wouldn’t post this week, however, for Christmas I received a particularly special gift.
Because I have only just gotten my drivers licence, for the whole of last term, I was taking Rainbow Girl to gymnastics on the train each gym day, and then coming home to Elder Daughter, who spent the intervening time with friends or relatives.
It turns out that she and my mother had embarked upon a project for me for Christmas. All of it was Elder Daughter’s making (except the final construction, as they ran out of time, so my mother constructed it).
 So on Christmas morning I was presented with a very pretty hand-embroidered cushion. The design was my daughter’s, and I think it is gorgeous. The colour scheme was my daughter’s, chosen to go with our lounge, and it works beautifully. The embroidery was my daughter’s, and it is very well done.
I was quite overwhelmed with the amount of thought, time, care and love that went into the cushion. I am very proud of my daughter and her creativity! And thanks also to my mum!
 My Christmas present to you: a sneak peak of another project from my upcoming book Portuguese Whitework!
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas! At Christmas time I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, my saviour. I am grateful to God for all his blessings to me, but particularly for the blessing of his son Jesus.
I’d also like to thank you all for your interest in Vetty Creations over the past year. I really appreciate the fact that you read “White Threads” and that some of you join in by commenting.
All the best for the coming new year. I hope that for you it is happy, safe, and full of love, good health and stitching.
No, I didn’t spend the whole day in the car yesterday, skiving off. I didn’t go anywhere in the car at all – me driving or anyone else. I actually spent pretty much the whole day buried in my office working on more step-by-step diagrams. Therefore nothing much to say.
Have a great day!
Ok, here’s something I bet you didn’t know about me: until very recently I did not have my driver’s license. Yesterday, however, I passed my driving test and am now licensed to drive by myself. Quite frankly the thought of that scares me! But I am now officially able to do it.
I just have never wanted to drive. I still don’t really want to, but with Rainbow Girl needing to get to gymnastics training a good number of days per week, it became necessary.
Here in Australia, we have a system where learner drivers have to accrue 120 hours of driving practice before they can take their driving test. Fortunately this changed a few years ago, so that drivers over 25 (which I am just *slightly* over) no longer have to do the 120 hours, just as many as they need to learn to drive well.
However, because I didn’t have to do the 120 hours of practice, I feel that I have cheated (I did not, though!) by not having to do it. I feel very inexperienced, and very much like I am not ready to drive by myself. However the driving tester obviously felt that I was good enough, or they wouldn’t have passed me.
So if you see me out on the road, give me a wave and a nice wide berth!
Just a word of warning about my upcoming office closure. Vetty Creations will be closed from Christmas until and including the New Year’s Day public holiday. I’ll be attempting to get the book FINALLY finished!
While I’ll be around, and may even read emails, I won’t be blogging (unless I think of something absolutely thrilling to tell you – such as that the book is DONE!) or filling orders. Partly this is because I’ll be busy doing the book, but partly it is also that my suppliers will be closed, so if I run out of stock of any particular items, I won’t be able to restock until they reopen.
If you call and leave a message on the Vetty Creations answering machine, I’ll return your call when I get the chance, which may not be until after New Year.
I apologise if this causes you any inconvenience. It is not my intention to annoy you! I was hoping to have a break during this time, but that won’t be possible until after the book is done.
I’ve been working on the cover a bit over the last few days. A cover is really important to a book. If a book has a boring or uninteresting cover, people in a shop are less likely to pick it up. If the information on the back doesn’t pique people’s interest, then they’re more likely to put it back on the shelf. So it is really important that the front and back cover communicate through words and stunning images, what the book is all about.
I did the front cover ages ago, as I needed it to take to the Sydney craft show in June, and my distributors in Europe (Search Press) needed it for their catalogue. But the back cover and the spine are just as important. Apparently, when you pick up my book, I have a few seconds in which to catch your interest so that you look further into the book, to evaluate whether you want it.
I have organised a wonderful testimonial for the back cover, from someone very well respected in the needlework industry. But I also need to know what my readers are looking for in the book, and so I can write the back cover copy accordingly, so that it addresses what they want to know.
For those of you who are eagerly awaiting the release of the book, can you tell me what it is that has piqued your interest? What appeals to you about it? What are you hoping to get from the book? Thanks!
Yesterday I did some more photography for the book. I had not been completely happy with the photo I had of my sampler. It looked a little washed out and I just wasn’t happy with it.
 My mum let me have some of her Christmas bush to photograph around the sampler. Christmas bush is a bush with dainty red “flowers” – they’re not the flowers actually, the flowers are long gone, and what most people consider to be the flowers are actually the bracts. What is a bract, I hear you ask? No idea, but that’s what my sister, the botanist, calls them! 
Because the theme of the book is red and white (if you’d notice this by looking at the book, I’m not sure, but its been a good way for me to get the book to come together visually) and Christmas bush is red, it seemed like it could work well with the white embroidery. So we raided Mum’s bush on Tuesday and yesterday I used it.
It did work really well. The “flowers” are very pretty and they made a lovely border around the edge of the sampler. It was much more pleasing than the washed out photo I replaced.
I also took some more little “filler” photos to brighten up the pages. The idea is that they give you a little more of the “story” that I’ve set up in each main photograph. I don’t want you to think that my photos are over-propped (ie. have too many extraneous things, scattered around that detract from the actual subject of the photo, which is the embroidery) though. Most of the “stories” don’t have much of a plot! Most just have a couple of things that help to suggest its use, or give a bit more colour to look at.
Having a story makes it a little bit more inviting than museum-type specimen photos. While museum-type specimen photos are great for giving you a good view of the whole item, and therefore they also have their place in the book, they’re not really all that exciting or enticing!
I have very much enjoyed doing the photography for this book. Its been a challenge to try to communicate the sheer beauty of this style of embroidery, and hopefully I have managed to do that. I recently showed what there is of the book to a highly respected needlework writer, and she said she was left speechless by the projects. I guess that’s a pretty good sign! I certainly found it to be very encouraging!
Please indulge me today, in a proud mother moment.
Here in Australia we are about to finish up the school year. That means end of year reports and presentation day, where individual achievements are recognised and applauded.
Yesterday my elder daughter was awarded not one, but three awards at the school presentation day. I am so pleased that three teachers chose to recognise her participation in, contribution to, and huge efforts in the areas for which she was awarded.
She’s worked very hard throughout her time at school, so it is lovely that this year it has been officially recognised. The awards are a huge boost to her self confidence, and made her feel very special. I’m very proud of her!
However, due to attending the school awards presentation unfortunately I got very little work done!
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White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations quality needlework books and embroidery products. You can see turn-the-page previews of my books at
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