White Threads

Wishing you a very happy Christmas

As you may remember, I’m having time off with my family at the moment. I’d like to wish you and your family a very happy Christmas!

We’ll be celebrating the birth of our saviour with friends this year. We are thankful to God for his provision for us. If you are unfamiliar with the Christmas story, and you’d like to know more, I suggest reading the gospel of Mark. If you don’t have a bible, you can find them online.

I’d like to thank you for hanging around here at Vetty Creations. I’m grateful for your interest and support. Thanks for reading my books, buying my products and being part of my community. Maybe some of you will have even received an Yvette Stanton book this year under the Christmas tree, or maybe you’re giving one.

My heartfelt thanks to you. A merry Christmas from all here at Vetty Creations (that’s me, The Husband, The Reader and The Gymnast)!

Start the day with some embroidery

A glorious sunrise

I recently read an article I really loved. http://craftindustryalliance.org/morning-makes-start-day-creating-not-consuming/

Why did I love it so much? I am a morning person. I generally wake much earlier than I would like to, and stay in bed until it seems a reasonable time to actually get up. Then I go to my computer and read my emails to see if there are any from the UK or US (time-zones quite different to here) that I need to respond to.

After reading the article I decided that I would spend the first 15 minutes of each day (as often as I can) doing some embroidery. So far, I’ve done it four days.

I wouldn’t say that it puts me in a more creative frame of mind. However, it does get a chunk of embroidery done each day, in time that I would probably otherwise waste on something not nearly so productive. It is a calm and meditative way to start the day, and I have found that I’ve quite enjoyed starting like that.

I will be continuing this, when possible, which I hope is most days! Do you already do something like this? What do you like about it? If you don’t already, perhaps it is something you could try too?

writing books

I was at the local Christmas Carols in the park last night. We took our picnic along, sat with friends and enjoyed the evening in the setting sun. (Don’t forget it is summer here in Australia – it’s very different than a northern hemisphere Christmas!)

editing I met some friends of friends. Two of them mentioned writing non-fiction books. One had tried and stopped because he got stuck with the process. The other is writing a book, on a subject which sounds fascinating. He explained how writing a good proportion of the book was really easy. It was basically a process of getting all the stuff he knows on the subject out of his head and onto the page/screen. But then it got really hard, with all the “joining together” bits.

I know exactly what he means.

When I write my books, there is heaps that you just know that you have to get out of your head and onto paper/screen. It’s obvious that these things need to be in there. But then you have the process of putting it all together, in a sensible order, making sure that you haven’t missed anything or made assumptions about what people already know.

This is the particularly difficult bit. I think it is probably the part the first guy got stuck on.

It was really enjoyable talking book writing with others. It’s not something I get to do very often, but when I do, it is fun. It is great to be able to share the things I’ve learned over the eight books I’ve written.

Do you have any book writing questions? Ask away!

Out of office notice

Over the next two months, I’ll be in and out of the office a few times. From 17th-27th December, I’ll be taking time off to be with my family. I’ll be back in the office until 3rd January when I go to New Zealand for a teaching tour. I’ll be back from that on 21st January.

While I am out of the office, you will still be able to place orders through the website. I apologise that I will not be able to attend to any enquiries or fill any orders until my return. These will be filled in the order that they have arrived. I apologise for any inconvenience.

out of office notification

Early-Style Hardanger reviewed in Bunad Magazine

I received my copy of Bunad Magazine today, which includes a review of Early-Style Hardanger. A translation of the original Norwegian text is as follows:

bunad-no2dec2016 “Australian book about Hardanger

When Yvette Stanton researched for her book, she visited the Norwegian Folk Museum and the Hardanger Folk Museum to study old folk costume garments where the technique has been used.
Yvette Stanton is from Australia and the book is published there. It goes without saying that it contains patterns on the technique used in anything but national costumes. I would still recommend it as a technique book because it shows the different stitches in a very informative and easily understandable way, step by step, with plain and clear illustrations. It even has left-handed explanations.

She also shows error correction and how to best avoid problems and errors. It is supplied with 3 large pattern sheets.”

So even Norwegians like it! My thanks for the great review of Early-Style Hardanger go to Heidi Fossnes and the team at Bunad Magazine.

New chains for pendants

In addition to the pendant bezels/trays that we have had for some time, we now have chains to go with them. Previously we only had the chains as part of our pendant kits. However, I have now managed to source a reliable supply of the chains, so can now stock them.

The chains are silver-plated zinc alloy, 50 cm/20 inches long, 3.2 x 0.5 mm with a lobster clasp.

You can use them with each of the different pendant bezels we stock.

The silver-plated chains can be found on the Vetty Creations website. We are happy to post to most places in the world.

Keep in mind that at this particularly gift-giving time of the year, a hand embroidered pendant can be a lovely gift for teachers, coaches, friends etc. As well as the pendant blanks, we also have pendant kits available – coloured counted thread pendant kits, and whitework counted thread pendant kits.

We now stock all sizes of the interchangeable hoops!

For some time now I have stocked the Klass and Gessmann hoops and sitting stands (also known as fanny frames). Previously I only had the 8 inch hoop as standard and all other sizes were a special order. I now have the full range!

This means that you can now order the following sizes:

155mm/6 inch
185mm/7 inch
215mm/8 inch
250mm/10 inch (I don’t know why there’s no 9 inch hoop!)
275mm/11 inch
305mm/12 inch

Because these come from Germany, sometimes there are gaps in availability from my suppliers, however, we will endeavour to keep them in stock at all times.

These hoops and stands are made of high quality, smooth wood. Some similar products include plastic parts. Klass and Gessmann ones are only made from wood and metal, so there’s no chance of any plastic breaking down over time.

You can order your Klass and Gessmann hoop and stand from the Vetty Creations website.

New Vaupel and Heilenbeck linen bandings

I have uploaded the gorgeous Vaupel and Heilenbeck linen bandings to the Vetty Creations website. All are high quality 28 count (11 threads per cm) linen. There are four different bandings:

Top left: 12cm wide 2027 linen banding in red and natural.

Top right: 12cm wide 975 linen banding, in white.

Bottom left: 8cm wide 975 linen banding, in white. (We have stocked this width for some time now. The colour of the 12cm and 8cm bandings look different in the photo, but are actually the same clear white.)

Bottom right: 10cm wide 981 linen banding in natural with a decorative woven border in soft white at the edge.

These beautiful products are perfect for Christmas stitching. With a pretty design in cross stitch, Sardinian knotted embroidery, Hardanger or some other form of embroidery, these linen bandings would make lovely Christmas candle wraps, vase wraps, lavender sachets, needlebooks or anything else you can think of.

You can order them in multiples of 1m lengths and 10cm lengths. I’ll add them all together in one length. For example, if you order 4 10cm lengths, I’ll send you a 40cm piece. Makes sense?

Order beautiful Vaupel and Heilenbeck linen banding today at Vetty Creations.

How to stitch on planes

Having done a bit of stitching in small spaces lately, I thought it might be useful to make this little instructional video about stitching in small spaces.

If you’re reading this in an email, you can see the video at: https://youtu.be/ypv7zXEk2aE

I had a little fun creating this last night while my daughter attended a trumpet masterclass. Better than sitting in the car doing nothing.

My research trip was fantastic!

I’m back! The trip was fantastic and I learned so very much. I visited museums, met with stitchers and also visited an amazing private collection. The curators and stitchers were so kind with sharing their knowledge and expertise.

I’m back in the office today, (as well as being driver for a relative who is having a cataract operation!), so will start on the back log of orders. I haven’t yet gotten through all my emails, but I’m most of the way there.

While I was away, a lovely parcel of scrumptiousness arrived in the mail: my new order of Vaupel and Heilenbeck linen bandings. I’ll hopefully get these up on the website in the next few days. Great for stitching Christmas goodies on.

I also saw a new review of “Early-Style Hardanger” on Amazon, which was extremely complimentary. Thanks Jane of Milwaukee! Have you added your review on Amazon or your favourite review site yet? 😉

So, next is getting on to the back log of orders, getting ready for my teaching tour of New Zealand in January, and getting all that information I learned into the book! I’ll be busy!