White Threads

Hardanger Filling Stitches reader testimonial

reader testimonial

“Hardanger Filling Stitches” has now arrived in the US and Canada, and this is Mary Kay’s testimonial.

It is here! A beautiful piice of work, can’t imagine the amount of research involved. I have done hardanger all my adult life (am a senior now) and my mother (Norwegian) as well into her 90’s. Oh how I wish she could see this book. I’m talking to her as all the ideas are flooding in, oh where to start. You have lit the flame that was fading. Thank you.

Thank you, Mary Kay! To think that my book has inspired you so is simply delightful!

Thank you!

I want to express my enormous gratitude to all of you who have purchased my latest book, Hardanger Filling Stitches. As it has made its way around the world, I have loved hearing of the joy of people receiving their copy. It’s just arrived in the US and Canada, and my morning has been spent reading lovely comments from people whose copies have just arrived.

People are so excited that they’re posting in Hardanger Facebook groups with a photo of their book on their carpet/lap/table/bed/lounge… And there are so many excited comments on my social media. It’s so lovely that people want to share their joy with me and with others, publicly!

I’d particularly like to thank you for investing your money in my book. In times that are tough for many, to know that you’ve devoted some of your hard earned money to purchasing my book is really quite special.

I’m sitting here on my lounge, supposed to be doing orders, but am not well enough to do so, today. So I’m reflecting on the fact that I am *so* glad I finished the book before I got sick. Imagine how frustrating it would be for all of us if I hadn’t!

Thank you for your support. Thank you for your excitement about my book. I am very proud of it, and I hope that you all have many hours, days, years of inspiration, enjoyment and learning from your copy.

Have you found any errors?

I know that many of you don’t even have your copy of “Hardanger Filling Stitches” yet, but I was wondering if anyone who does has found any mistakes. I’d love to think there aren’t any, but I’m far too much of a realist to actually think that’s true!

I usually post errata notices on my blog and I correct any errors in future print runs.

If you’ve seen errors in the book, please let me know. Thanks for your assistance with this!

How my illness is affecting your orders

Detail of the Hardanger Filling Stitches Sampler from my new book, “Hardanger Filling Stitches”, by Yvette Stanton.

I have mentioned a few times that I am not well, but there might be new people here who don’t know. I haven’t talked a lot about how the illness is affecting me, because some things are private.

I just wanted to say that if you order something from me (I’m sending out orders most days, but that’s usually all I can do as it wipes me out) and you end up with the wrong thing, please just let me know. It can be tempting to complain publicly, but if I’ve made a mistake, please let me me fix it for you.

At the moment, I know that my brain is not working well. I check things numerous times, so as to hopefully get all the orders right. Despite this, I keep wondering if mistakes are getting through. If they are, I apologise. Please get in touch.

The other thing is that I’m finding that it’s really difficult to get everyone’s tracking information to them. I have it all recorded, but as I’ve mentioned, my brain isn’t working well, and it’s the details that I’m really not good on at the moment. If you want your tracking information, please contact me. I hope that as time goes on, I’ll be able to get these sorts of things under control a bit more.

And I’ll finish by saying that I hope that all my sentences make sense, and have all the words needed, in the right order, without any confusing extras. I’m actually quite paranoid about this lately.

Why shop at an independent store?

Today we have a guest post from Michelle, who has worked at The Crewel Gobelin in Killara, Sydney for nearly 11 years. Michelle was one of my colleagues when I used to work there.

Michelle wrote this as a comment on my recent post and has given me permission to repost. She wrote from an Australian perspective, however, the main points are relevant wherever you are.

Over to Michelle:

“There are so many reasons to choose to buy from an independent shop rather than a big box store.

Service: a real person will serve you. You don’t have to hunt for it on the shelves, or have a drone collect it and send it.

Attention: that real person will work out how much fabric you need, cut your fabric or collect your threads or work out a conversion to another thread type.

Advice: having trouble with your project? Not sure what needle to use, or thread? Or how to transfer your embroidery design?

Relationship: it’s hard to have a conversation with a drone, or with a checkout person who is hurrying you through to deal with the next person in the queue.

Choice: you’re more likely to be able to buy that hard to find obscure item listed in the vintage pattern that you’re finally getting around to stitching. And it’s where you’ll find something new, different, unusual, hand made.

Variety: independent shops are more likely to carry a wider range of items, or niche products that the big shops don’t. (When was the last time you bought 56 count hand dyed linen at a big box store? And when have you ever seen any colour of Aida but white or cream in a big store?) They respond to their customer’s requests rather than the lowest common denominator (ie that sold well last week so we’ll order more and ditch everything else, when what the customer really wants is not more of the same but something different).

Buy what you need: eg, you may have some of the threads at home already and not want to be forced to buy a whole kit, or a whole packet of something when you want to buy some of the individual components. Eg, what if you want to buy 20 cms of Aida but you can only buy a pre cut package of 50 cms.

Price: it’s often assumed that independent shops are more expensive but it’s so often not the case. They try to be as competitive as they can. They have to. Eg, Aida is so much cheaper in the independent shops, and cheaper still if you only want a small piece and don’t want wastage.

Quality: this matters to a lot of customers. They put a lot of time and effort into their projects so the quality of the ingredients need to reflect that.”

Thanks for your valuable expertise, Michelle.

Is the HFS sampler suitable for a complete beginner?

On the whole, I would say, no. It’s a very large project with some very complicated stitches.

However, that’s not a definitive no, because I don’t know you. I don’t know how determined you are! If you know your way around a needle, thread and counted embroidery in general – maybe you’ve done cross stitch but never tried Hardanger – then you are not a complete embroidery novice.

There are some simple stitches, but there are also some incredibly tricky ones. It’s a large project, and even for me – working long days on it with a high level of competence and experience – it took a long time.

I wouldn’t want you to come away from attempting such a large project feeling like you’ve failed. If you’re a beginner, please consider if you have the enthusiasm, perseverance and determination to get through to the end, even when things might be going badly along the way. Do you have a group of needleworking friends who can be your cheer squad?

However, you might be the sort of person who if you attempt a large project and do not finish it, you don’t see that as a failure, because instead you choose to focus on and celebrate all the things you DID learn along the way!

Me, as a beginner, I probably would have tackled something like this, though maybe it would have even been beyond me (admittedly my first Hardanger was HUGE). I probably would have thought, “I could do that!” even though I had never tried anything like it before. I have a can-do attitude to most things!

As a beginner, the other thing you could consider is working just one of the bands. The band with the five diamonds near the top might be a good one to start with, because it will teach you satin stitch klosters, eyelets, cable stitch, cutting threads, woven bars, wrapped bars, Greek quarter crosses, and a few specialty stitches (and more, but my list doesn’t have to be exhaustive!).

If you are still unsure, you are welcome to ask questions. But really, if you’re a complete beginner, YOU are the only person who can assess if you should consider attempting the Hardanger Filling Stitches sampler!

Physical reactions to beauty

Hardanger Filling Stitches sampler by Yvette Stanton

“That sampler at the end…! Oh my word. It’s stunning! I know this is going to sound weird, but every time I look at the sampler, my heart noticeably palpitates.” Mary wrote this in an email to me, and then said “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!”

Apart from the fact that I feel that Mary should get herself checked out medically, if she actually thinks there might be some sort of heart/nervous/adrenaline issue, I think this is an exceptionally lovely compliment. (Thank you, Mary!)

We can be moved to tears by a beautiful artwork. I love the feeling of goosebumps – the frisson – I get when my friend Kathy’s voice harmonises with mine when we sing together, or when I hear a beautiful choral work. We can feel a reaction to beauty in a physical manner. So I think it is entirely reasonable that embroidery that Mary finds beautiful can give her heart palpitations.

Do you experience a reaction to beauty in a bodily manner? What does it for you, and how do you experience it?

Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘n Thread review of Hardanger Filling Stitches

Mary Corbet, of Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘n Thread has written an extensive review of my newest book, Hardanger Filling Stitches. Mary always writes generous, detailed reviews, and this one is no different.

If you’ve been umming and aahing about purchasing it, her review might help you make up your mind.

It can be purchased from Mary if you’re in that part of the world, or from me. (And many other places besides!)

Additional and obscure stitches

I received a lovely email on the weekend from Deborah, to check if I was ok, as she noticed I hadn’t posted in a while. (Thank you, Deborah, for your kindness.)

I am still unwell and was finding that posting (coming up with things to say and saying them in full sentences without bits missing or incorrect words!) and replying was really taking it out of me. So I had a little break.

This week I have things to say again, but I might take a break again at any time. My health is more important than a constant stream of posts to keep Instagram and Facebook happy.

Today I have a question for you. Next on my list of things to do – though who knows when I will be well enough! – is to revise The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion. It has been out of print for a little while. (The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion is still very much in print – go forth and purchase if you wish!)

I have a list of stitches that I would like to add, but the ones I really want are the obscure stitches that most people have never seen before. Years ago, I was kindly billeted by someone, and stayed in the room housing her extensive needlework library. I enjoyed perusing some of her books. (Thank you, Kerryn!) I remember finding a new-to-me stitch in a book about Chinese embroidery. I made some notes of it on a piece of paper. I kept that piece of paper for many years, but I’m annoyed with myself that I don’t have it anymore – right when I could really do with it! All I remember is that it was a book on Chinese embroidery. I have no further details than that!

Do you know of any obscure stitches, perhaps from your cultural traditions, that you would like to see recorded? Part of the reason why I do what I do is so that cultural information is not lost to future generations. By recording how to do those stitches, we can keep them going.

If you have stitch suggestions for me – for anything that is not already in my stitch dictionaries that you wish was – please let me know. You can comment here, or email me privately at yvette at vettycreations dot com dot au (changing the words to symbols where appropriate). Thanks!

Why was the release date delayed so many times?

wrapped bars spread

When I started writing Hardanger Filling Stitches in October 22, I had no idea it was going to turn into the heavy tome it turned into.

For many years I have enjoyed working with Search Press who take my books to the rest of the world, other than Australia and New Zealand. I have complete control over the content and they know that I’m a bankable author for them.

In November 22, I had the pleasure of meeting the managing directors of Search Press when they came to Australia, having only emailed before. We discussed all things embroidery books, and I told them I was working on a new book: “Hardanger Filling Stitches”.

They asked me to send the book’s details as soon as possible, with a provisional cover (to be changed later) so that they could get it scheduled in their publishing program. I was writing furiously, and hoped to have it written quite quickly. After all, I didn’t have to go on a research trip for this book, which usually adds significantly to my research phase.

I didn’t expect the book was going to get as huge as it did. As it expanded, my delivery date to Search Press was delayed again and again. And each time, I felt like I was letting you all down.

But why stick with an advertised release date if it means the customer is going to get a half-baked book? It’s FAR more important to write the book well, and take the time that needs. And so, I took the time I needed.

This is why the release date started off in mid 23, then moved to late 23, and then early 2024 for some. Right at the end, there were shipping delays from the printer, which didn’t help either.

Let’s remember that behind those release dates, there was an actual, real person madly writing (& stitching, designing, illustrating) as quickly as possible. I worked HARD. (Overly hard, and I think that’s a big reason I’ve been unwell for 3 months now.)

If you feel you’ve been waiting forever, I assure you that you haven’t – it took less than a year for me to write, which is FAR faster than any other book I’ve ever written and it is a MUCH thicker book than any of my previous ones.

All the reviews coming in say that the book was worth waiting for. I hope you do/will agree!