White Threads

European distribution of Vetty Creations books

This morning’s fantastic news is that I have received word that a European distributor is going to take my books into the UK and Europe. WooHoo!!!!

They will be taking all three of my books “Elegant Hardanger Embroidery” (the first of my books), “Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature” (the second of my books, about to be re-released in a fully revised and expanded version) and “Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavska”.

So not only is that fantastic news for me, but also for European readers and stitchers, as my books are soon going to be much easier for you to obtain.

I’m so happy!! 😉

sharon b has moved

I’d say pretty much everyone who has ever done any searching for stitch instructions on the internet will have come across Sharon B’s stitch dictionary at In A Minute Ago.

I periodically like to catch up on her blog too, as I love seeing what she’s covering in her Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge, which presents a new stitch each week for people to play around with.

I decided to pay her a visit this afternoon, and discovered she’s moved her blog to a WordPress one: http://sharonb.wordpress.com/.

If you’ve never “met” Sharon, I suggest you click through and make yourself acquainted!

a red moon and the end to slavery

Last night we went to see “Amazing Grace” about William Wilberforce and his fight to end the slave trade to England. It was a gorgeous looking and absolutely fantastic movie. It made me wonder how I can leave the world a better place, like Wilberforce did.

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me….
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.”
-John Newton

After the movie, and drying the tears, we went up onto the roof of the shopping centre to look at the lunar eclipse. By the time we got to see it, the moon was completely in the shadow of the Earth, and looked amazingly red. It was quite eerie, and one of the strangest things that I have ever seen! The moon seemed to have so much form compared to normal. Often it looks quite flat, but last night, the spherical shape was very obvious.

Great evening!

All Threads Embroidery

Had a wonderful time on the weekend up in Brisbane, teaching Mountmellick and Merezhka classes at All Threads Embroidery in Brisbane!

On Saturday, 10 ladies and I spent the day exploring the stitches of Mountmellick embroidery. We had fun playing with many variations. It was lovely to see the ladies faces light up when they learnt something they never had before.

On the Sunday there were eight of us in total, with 3 coming back from the previous day, ready to embark on their first Merezhka project. The day was a lot quieter than the Saturday, as there was a lot more concentration, following the pattern and counting threads.

Over the weekend, Kerryn Lightfoot was a delightful hostess. Her shop is wonderful! Its name “All Threads Embroidery” is very apt. Its an Aladdin’s Cave! Kerryn stocks as many different types of threads as she can, including my Mountmellick threads. I couldn’t go home empty-handed, and bought some Floche cotton, which is like broder cotton but with a softer twist. I also bought a piece of Colourstreams crinkle silk chiffon in green. Very nice! And there was some lovely pale green silk dupion, but I realised that the reason why I liked it is because I already had some of the same colour at home…!

Well, we all had a wonderful time, and Kerryn’s invited me back next year. So all you Brisbanians/Brisbanites (what do you refer to yourselves as?), I’m coming back! 🙂

Thanks to all for making me feel so welcome and for helping me to have such a good time.

slowing down for creativity

Well, things are slowing down a little with my revision of “Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature”. Its still not at the printers yet, but I’m waiting on a few things that I can’t hurry up. (Believe me, I would if I could!)

So in the meantime, I have been relaxing a little. And its amazing how when you do that, the creative juices start flowing again!

I have been rolling some ideas around my head for the Christmas decoration that Kirsten has asked me to design for The Gift of Stitching Magazine. It has to be counted embroidery, so I am heading back to my beloved hardanger.

I was working on some big files for someone else last night (I do freelance graphic design work, as I am a graphic designer by training) and because they were so large, my computer was taking long times to “think”. So while waiting, I picked up my needle and thread and started stitching.

Those who are familiar with my hardanger embroidery, will know that I LOVE very traditional style hardanger, usually worked in bands. I’m not often one for coloured hardanger, preferring the traditional white on white. At this stage, the design will be white on white, but with quite an unusual twist. Sort of a modern/traditional fusion.

The ornament will be in the December issue of the magazine, so keep an eye out for it.

Australian bookstore squeezing out the little guys

This morning I read a fascinating and highly entertaining blog entry in Undercover, the Sydney Morning Herald’s books blog by Susan Wyndham.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/archives/undercover/014948.html

It was about bookstore Angus and Robertson demanding that small- to medium-sized Australian publishers and distributors pay large amounts so that they can have the privilege of being stocked in the chain’s stores.

The blog entry consists of a reprint of the letter that was sent to Tower Books, who are a book distributor, by A&R. Then follows the response by the head of Tower Books. Both letters and the comments section are a completely entertaining read.

As a small publisher of extremely niche books, it will likely be a long time before our books are stocked in regular bookstores. However, Vetty Creations books are very readily available from your favourite needlework store. And if they don’t have our books, then they should be able to order them in for you. You can also purchase our needlework books from the Vetty Creations website.

We used to have the SMH home delivered, until our lives got so busy that the papers piled up in the corner until we had time to read them during our holidays. Susan Wyndham’s column, Undercover, was one I always liked to read. I now keep abreast of book news via her blog.

Zweigart Satin Royal fabric

Today I’ve added a new product to my website: Zweigart Satin Royal fabric.

This fabric is perfect for Mountmellick embroidery. It is a heavy-weight cotton satin jean, or cotton sateen. It has a lovely fine weave, and a beautiful sheen.

It is 175cm or 69″ wide. I have it available by the metre, as fat quarters (50 x 86cm), and fat eighths (50 x 40cm).

I have used Satin Royal for the two new projects in the revised and expanded edition of “Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature” and I love it! It has a lovely feel to work with, and because of its very fine weave, you have a lot of choice of where to put your needle. The sheen is perfect for Mountmellick work, where the sheen of the fabric is supposed to contrast with the completely matt thread.

I also still have my other fabric, the polycotton sateen, available. This is still a wonderful fabric, at an excellent price.

If you have any questions about either of these fabrics, please just ask.

Welcome to my new blog

Hello and welcome to my blog.

My name is Yvette Stanton and I am an embroidery designer and publisher of books. I love whitework embroidery, and have so far written books on Hardanger, Mountmellick and Merezhka embroidery.

I am currently working on the revision of our Mountmellick book “Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature” which I wrote with my twin sister, Prue Scott. It was first published in 2004, but sold out worldwide within 2 years. Because of its popularity, I decided to fully revise and expand it.

Hopefully it will be off to the printers in the next few weeks, and back just in time to fill Christmas orders!

My other books are:
Elegant Hardanger Embroidery
Hardanger is a counted thread whitework embroidery from the Hardanger region of Norway.