White Threads

Beaded blackberry doily

When I was at the craft show back in June, I met a lovely lady called Alison. She was quite interested in Mountmellick embroidery and wanted to give it a go. Her project of choice was my “Blackberry Doily” from our book “Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature”.

Alison isn’t normally an embroiderer as such, more an embroidery beader. She’s been doing it for years, and her teacher is Karen Torrisi, who is a lovely girl I met a few years back when we shared an apartment as tutors at Beating Around the Bush.

Anyway, Alison embarked on the blackberry doily, but eventually decided she’d feel more comfortable reinterpreting my pattern into bead embroidery. On Sunday she sent me some photos of the finished work. It is magnificent!

Alison has allowed me to share the photos with you. The work is ALL beaded, except for the fringe, which is the traditional Mountmellick knitted fringe. I think you will agree that the work is simply stunning, and a lovely interpretation of a Mountmellick embroidery design. Congratulations Alison!

'Mountmellick Blackberry doily' interpreted into embroidery beading by Alison

slightly closer in

If this is something that interests you, do try to find a class with Karen Torrisi. I know I’d love to do one of her classes one day. All the embroidery beading I have done, I have loved!

Alison, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful work with us!

not so well connected

I got some more accurate information on my famous “relatives” yesterday and learned that unfortunately, rather than being family, they were business associates. 🙁 Boo hiss…

But still, who knows what wonderful influence my very distant relatives may have gained from that association, that has been passed down a very long line to me? Well, probably none, but we can dream!

To update you on what I’ve been working on lately, I am now nearly halfway around the tablecloth for the book, working the surface embroidery motifs. I have also been working on the instructions for a collaborative project with Janie Hubble for Inspirations magazine. Never a dull moment!

Embroidering pedigree

My sister has been working on our family tree for quite some time now. Rather than just trying to link names together, she’s been doing her best to learn about the people: who they were, what they did etc. Last night, my dad dropped a very interesting bombshell. Apparently she’s found that we’re related to the people behind the DMC thread company. Something to do with the family who gives the “D” to DMC.

That’s all I know so far, but I’m looking forward to learning more! Perhaps my embroidering pedigree goes back far further than I ever expected!

doing what you love

As I have been sitting here over the last week, stitching stitching stitching, I have reflected on how fortunate I am to have a job that I love doing so much. You sometimes hear wise people saying that you should never make your hobby into your job, because then it just becomes work.

My embroidery has never felt like work! It is fun. It is relaxing. It is slow and therefore gives me time to think, process and pray.

And all the while, it is still my job, so therefore I *have* to do it! 🙂

website questions

Periodically I evaluate how things are going with my website. I have had a couple of emails from people lately to let me know that they were finding certain things difficult. This gives me an excellent opportunity to fix those things.

If you have used the Vetty Creations website – particularly the shop, but not only the shop – and had any difficulties, could you please let me know? The more specific you can be about the problem, as in where it was and what it was, the easier it will be for me to locate the problem and fix it.

It doesn’t have to be something big. It can just be something small that irks you. If it irks you, it probably irks others as well, and I’d prefer that it didn’t irk anyone!

I made the decision to include postage in all my prices, right at the beginning. This was because I hate using websites where you can’t find out how much shipping will be added until right at the very end of the process. I like to know up front how much something is going to cost. Do you agree with this, or would you prefer to see the “bald” prices, and have the postage added later?

Is there anything else you would like to see on the Vetty Creations website?

Thanks for your thoughts. I look forward to hearing them. And I have thick skin!

Portuguese whitework in Springwood

I’m coming up to a little flurry of teaching. In addition to the class that I yesterday told you about in Hobart, on Monday 26th September I will be teaching a small panel of Portuguese Whitework at the Springwood Arts Centre.

For more information and bookings, please call Ruth Marshall on 0407 235 215.

I’d love to see you there!

Mountmellick in Hobart

If any of you are in Hobart (or nearby) you might like to know that I will be teaching a Mountmellick embroidery class at A Stitch in Time on 29th and 30th of September. The project will be my Honeysuckle and Rose Doily.

You can find out more details and book through the shop itself: A Stitch in Time. I’d love to meet you there!

I spent the day yesterday working on making up my Portuguese whitework cushion. Mmm… I love it very much! Today I will make the inner cushion to stuff it with, add the button closures to the back, and then it will be all done. I was writing the instructions as I went, which is much easier to do than trying to remember later how it was done.

Next comes the fun part of photographing it. 🙂

cushion on the way

I apologise for the lack of post on Friday. I had nothing to say and a lot to do! I spent the weekend away with some of the women from my church and we had a lovely time together.

I took my embroidery with me, and finished off the cushion front for the Portuguese Whitework book. I’m very happy with it, and will be heading to the shops today to buy some red silk to make it up with. I’m really looking forward to seeing it made up. I suspect it will be my favourite project in the book.

I also did some more work on the tablecloth. I just keep chipping away – eventually it will get done, but that seems a long way off at the moment!

Make me smile

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!

projects before step-by-steps

Thank you all for your your feedback yesterday on the order of contents in my Portuguese Whitework book. There was no one who said that the step-by-step stitch and technique instructions should come first. Most people said they felt that the projects should come first, and those who didn’t simply said they didn’t think the order mattered, as long as it was all there somewhere!

So, today I will set about re-ordering everything. I’m also going to take a break from sitting at my computer for days on end, and do some more serious stitching.

I was thinking about the order yesterday and there is a precedent for having projects first and instructions later – most craft magazines are like this. It works for them, so it can work for me too.

Thanks for your responses. I love having my own personal market research team!