Needlework designs and delights
An antique reproduction I must confess – I have a real love for Victorian needlepoints and have been collecting them for some time. When I reproduced “Mary Barton’s Work” last year, I wasn’t sure anyone else would want to stitch it – and I’m thrilled that Mary’s weird little bird found so many homes with…
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An antique reproduction The mysterious origins of this sampler Some samplers are a mystery. This piece, reproduced from an original in my collection, tantalises with its enigmatic initials and charms with its details – that little dog hiding under the table laid out for refreshments in the garden, that rooster standing proudly, and that figure…
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Part of the @xstitchtherainbow2022 Autumn Garden SAL This little pin-pillow is my contribution to the Autumn Garden SAL – where 25 designers exhibiting at Needlework Expo this year all used the same palette of Cottage Garden Threads to create unique designs. Watching all the creativity shown in these 25 different designs has been so inspiring,…
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An antique reproduction Sometimes you can be lucky enough to stumble across an antique piece of needlework that just makes you smile. The original of this design was done completely in petit-point – the tiny stitches creating such a lifelike image, I could almost see those ears turning and those noses twitching. I tried several…
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This is a long-promised post, and one that’s just a beginning. The more I work with Cottage Garden Threads in my designs, the more I discover about their potential for bringing new & exciting things into cross-stitch. The following are some tips & tricks that I’ve discovered so far, but I’d love to hear your…
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When designing ‘Tasmania, after the fires’, I couldn’t resist creating this companion piece, based on my favourite Australian cryptid, the Tasmanian Tiger/Thylacine. Stitched in the same threads as ‘After the fires’, this little pincushion celebrates the enigmatic creature that still haunts the bushland. This beautiful colourised footage of the last Tasmanian Tiger in captivity from…
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This design arose from the wonderful opportunity to create a design for the first Dark Mojo Retreat in Hobart, Tasmania in June 2022. Kerrilyn Packer at A Stitch in Time has been a fantastic support for Australian designers, dyers and needleworkers and working with her has been a delight. After I suggested doing a design…
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I acknowledge and pay respect to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the traditional and original owners, and continuing custodians of this land about which I am learning and acknowledge Elders – past and present. Next week I’m travelling to Hobart, Tasmania for the first time – to present a new design at the Dark Mojo…
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I’m thrilled to be invited to gorgeous Hobart this June for a brand new retreat held by A Stitch in Time. Kerrilyn owns a beautiful needlework store, and is tremendously supportive of Australian designers, dyers and stitchers. And, she had the genius idea of hosting a stitching retreat at the same time as Hobart’s world-renowned…
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I must confess a secret. I often look at antique samplers and embroideries and wonder about the lives that the stitchers lived. I wonder about their hopes and dreams, and how they stitched themselves into their work, which survives long after them. And so I want to stitch my hopes into my work, each tiny…
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Mojo Stitches 