I’ve been stitching… and other news!

You might well know that my very favorite embroidery thread for handwork is the hand dyed perle cotton from South African company, House of Embroidery. I’ve been using their thread for almost ten years. I love the great quality and the wide range of subtle colors available.

I get my threads through Global Artisans. We are always looking for ways to introduce the thread to more people. What better way than a series of designs? I did a series of paisley designs (read about them in my blog post) that you can buy on line or directly at shows where Global Artisans are trading.

Henneli Davies, a South African artist has created a series of Images of Africa designs and I have been having a lot of fun stitching them out on some beautiful hand dyed fabrics from Turtle Hand.

There are six designs in the series, starting with a windmill,a gecko,a traditional Banda house,a giraffe,a chameleon,and a tortoise!As if those aren’t fun enough Henneli drew a Flowers series and I’ve stitched those too.

Another six designs starting with Gazania,

the Protea, (the national flower of South Africa)Strelitzia,Arum lily,
Agapanthus,and Aloe.Each design used five different colors of thread. If it looks like more it’s because many of the threads are variegated, either tone on tone or multi colored. They are washable and color fast so you can use them for all kinds of stitching.

I’m planning on making a quilt with the embroideries, and maybe a bag and a pillow, but I thought you might like to see what I have been doing when I’m keeping up with my favorite tv series!

I’ve also been booking some more adventures 🙂

My next trip with the Stitches people is to Stitches United in Atlanta at the very end of April and beginning of May. I had a lot of fun in Connecticut last year and I’m hoping to repeat the experience in Georgia. We are trying to introduce other fiber arts to the knitting, crochet,  and weaving crowd. I’m teaching my favorite classes, including embroidery (beginning and intermediate), bold hand-stitching, wool appliqué, and walking foot quilting. All I need are some students! So I have a favor to ask… if you know anyone with easy to access to Atlanta who might be interested in a few days of stitching fun could you send them to my class page here or click on the button at the side of this page?

The details for Camp Saddlebrook are all now available. There’s a button for that too!

I’ve also signed contracts to teach some classes at Fall Paducah this September and lots of guilds for next year. I’m trying to keep my calendar up to date but sometimes I’m a few days behind…

My bags are packed for my day trip to Kenosha tomorrow. I’ll be a bit busy so I’ll wish you a very happy National Quilting Day one day early. Hope you find time to stitch something!