Tolpuddle Stitchscape

In a push on marketing for my Stitchscape Shop and the fabrics that I currently offer, I have decided to stitch little hoops, only 10cm ones, to show how you could combine some of the fabrics in the shop into a Stitchscape. Obviously there are lots of different ways and scenes you could create, and it may depend (especially with the batiks) which areas of pattern and colour you get in your FQ, but I thought this was a nice way to just get the inspiration flowing and to show how they could work together. 

I have, inadvertently already done one of these hoops - which I am calling Fabric Friday hoops by the way - with my Boggy Bottom Stitchscape made using four batik fabrics I had ordered last year - but this one is a deliberate choice from my fabric range, orderable online. 

There is something special about stitching these little 10cm hoops - they don’t take so long to stitch, can be stitched absolutely anywhere as perfect travel projects and look extra sweet when finished. 

This hoop is quite tonal with the blues and greens complimenting each other. Even though it’s based on a landscape, it doesn’t mean that you have to stick to actual earthy colours. 

I started stitching this whilst at Fibre Fest when it got a bit quiet in the afternoon. I try to take little projects to events so that I can demonstrate stitches, or lure people in by being creative. It can also apparently make people more at ease when browsing because I’m not staring at them so they linger longer and if it’s quiet then I’m at least being productive!

I do sometimes try and support other sellers whilst I’m there if they are selling something which would compliment the piece - in this case I picked up some hand dyed yarn from Folkestone Harbour Yarn which I’ve unravelled and couched down as plant life at the bottom of the hoop. The colour helps to balance all of that heavy green at the top. 

It reminds me of the green Northern Light photos you see with the big swathe of green blasting across the sky. I’ve sort of added to that effect with the vertical straight stitches covering the layer, and then I’ve edged the top of it with bullion knows, and also French knots at the bottom (actually edging the piece below) to give it a fluffier edge. 

On the batik piece I have used a single strand of back stitch to go round the obvious shapes in the batik print, then added some texture with small French knots, drawing down those bright zesty green knots but matching them to the colours underneath with more of the green and some turquoise scattered through. 

My favourite layer is the third from the top, which I’ve used in other colours but not personally in this blue. The swirling stems I’ve covered in stem stitch (one strand), then the leaves are single strand detached chain stitch, and the flowers two strand detached chain stitch in dark purple. There are two colours used on the stems and leaves as the print is two colours, but I've kept all of the flowers the same. Gaps between the pattern have been filled with running stitch following the stem lines like ripples working outward from a droplet of water. I love all of the different colours in this one layer, it gives it so much movement whilst still being quite calming. 

The fabric has been edged with quite a hard dark line of a navy waxed cotton cord - it was all I had in that colour. 

Working down is a striped sort of fabric which immediately says water to me so I've enhanced that with some single or two strands of long straight stitches vaguely following lines in the fabric print. I'm not sure how many colours I've used here, three I think with an additional metallic thread - a thinner Gutermann one which can be used through sewing machines so it's very fine and delicate. 

The fabric was edged first with ric rac, then the straight stitches came afterwards. I've had some fun stitching this ric rac down, stitching over it with a single strand (as I often do) but then working in those curves a french knot for some fun. 

The foliage on the bottom starts with the Folkestone Harbour Yarn, then I stitched these great cup flower sequins on the top - wedged on with the bead rather than stitched. Naturally I then decided that actually it needed pistil stitches worked around them (which should have been done before the sequins but never mind), using a variegated thread so the colour subtly changes. The bottoms of the stems have been 'bedded in' with some lovely clear green-tinged seed beads to give another element of sparkle and watery bubbles. 

It's a really cute little hoop!

The final stitch run down for this piece is; straight stitch, french knots, bullion knots, back stitch, stem stitch, detached chain stitch, running stitch, pistil stitch, couching and beading. 

You can find the Fabric Friday Bundle Two (for the colours in this hoop) HERE. 

You can find the first Fabric Friday Bundle (for the Baggy Bottom piece) HERE.

Heathfield Show 2025

This was our third year at the Heathfield Agricultural Show in the Arts & Crafts marquee (you can see my posts about 2023 here and 2024 here - look how much Toddler F has grown!). We like it because it is only one day so it isn't spread out over a whole weekend, Toddler F can come and look at all of the tractors, stunt bikes and animals and, Holly, the organiser of the A&C marquee, is very lovely and organised. The attitude of organisers can make a big difference to an event! 

Our usual routine is to set up on the Friday morning as early as we can and, in previous years, we have been known to break into the marquee because it wasn't opened up for us - it was all fine, no one had a problem and we zipped everything back up when the actual entrances were opened. We take two car loads as our car isn't long enough to fit the framework of my stand in so our car gets loaded up to bursting with stock boxes, and then the frame, grid walls, tables, shelves, card and print stands etc get loaded into my parents' car.

I really love this frame. I worry sometimes that it can be isolating once we have the curtains up but I love the feeling of security it gives me considering everything is just left in a field overnight. It maximises the space as well as I can have shelves above tables, utilise the walls...it gives you more areas to display items rather than just a table would and makes me feel more like a little shop. 

Sometimes the neighbours don't like it as they've said before it restricts view of their shop when potential customers are walking around, or they don't have such a good view of other stands, but customers would still have to walk past them so I'm not that worried. I have, on the odd occasion, also come back on show day to discover neighbours have hung lots of their produce off my frame work as part of their own displays too so it sometimes benefits them if they embrace it. 

I faff around deciding how I would like my Stitchscapes and stock displayed, trying to put as much out as possible, photographing it as a reminder and then hiding away anything that would get damaged through moisture or the stand being accidentally knocked by other vendors when setting up. 

We trialled a new way of displaying the kits this year - putting out one of each kit in a stand, with the stitched example so that they were individually easier to see rather than rifling through a basket. We did still have a basket containing the Naked Stitchscape Kit, Stitchscape Pebbles and the Christmas Mini Hoop II kits but the big sellers were all set up in the tiered display. 

The big marquee can get quite damp depending on the heat and weather conditions so we put a tarpaulin down underneath to help with any moisture on the ground, we do also then have the option to create a tarpaulin roof if needed, but usually everything is ok if we layer bubble wrap or old sheets over the top of it. 

Show day! The Heathfield show opens at 8.30am so we have to be up and at 'em to get in before the punters and put everything out that was hidden away the day before. This time round the sheets we put out over the stock were damp on the top but the stock itself was bone dry which was perfect. 

We take a breakfast and lots of things to do for Toddler F so Reece set about getting the kiddo fed whilst I quickly made my shop look all pretty again, setting out prints and cards, tiering up the kits and presenting my hung and propped Stitchscapes. Most of my haberdashery items had already been set up so it wasn't too bad. 

Reece's second job is to go and source breakfast for us - he did excellently well with this absolutely giant hot dog!! Although it was quite tricky to eat without getting ketchup everywhere. They aren't delicate things to munch on are they?

I'm pretty chuffed with how it all looked. I don't want it to be so overwhelming that no one knows what they're looking at, but you also want lots out so that it covers everything I can offer. Thanks to the expansion of the Stitchscape Shop in a box, I could almost do with two tables here now but that might block us in somewhat. If we come back next year I might have to rethink our layout. The problem is that we never know where our position in the tent is until the day of setting up and it does make quite a bit of difference as to how the space is set out. The first year, for example, I had two sides open to the public and poor Dad was sent back to the studio to get more things to have on the second side. 

Our position this year was the same as last time, in the corner with an extra little unusable corner space where we can put down a picnic blanket and some chairs and share it as a relaxed zone with us and our neighbour on that side. The window being there is also great as it makes it nice and light, and we can sneak in and out of that bit as well as there are zips to turn it into an entrance. 

(Happy in his chair nest. Thank goodness for Wifi!)

We had a good day on the show day, it was nice to see the 'Heathfield Show regulars' and several other familiar faces popped by to say hello. Our only problem this year was the weather as it rained in the morning so was quite quiet in comparison to previous years. It did stop raining after a couple of hours but I think it had put people off coming so it was just generally a quieter day. 

The new way of displaying the kits was a success, it felt like more people knew what they were and were coming to have a look. I did get asked a lot whether they were kits so perhaps I need to invest in a better sign? I don't know where I would put it though, to me it's fairly obvious that they are kits, what do you think?

At the end of the day it is utterly amazing how quickly it all comes down again. Literally within half an hour this entire shop and stand was packed away and in the back of the two cars and we were on the road to offload it into my storage. The evening is traditionally spent with our feet up on the sofa, with a takeaway treat for dinner as an edible pat on the back for a job well done. 

Maybe see you there next year?

Everlasting Poppies

I had a little idea for a workshop theme to do with poppies for Autumn time and, once that idea had taken hold, I couldn't help myself and immediately got a hoop, fabrics, felt and threads to try and make my idea into an actual thing. In a big hoop, I drew around the centre pieces of my little craft hoops - which are presentation only, no good for stitching in - so I knew where my 'safe sew space' was for each flower. It's much less fiddly to work on several at once in a larger hoop. 

They are very similar to my brooches, with the woven wheel stitch being used for the poppy flowers - except this time I also stitched over the woven wheel in a contrast thread to create more obvious petal shapes. I went with black but I could have used the same red colours (there were two different reds mixed into the needle at the same time) just to pull the wheel in and create those petal shapes. 

Some of them are a little bit on the wonky side but that's ok for a first go! 

Before I got to the woven wheel bit I was having fun with leaves, experimenting with using felt and stitching into it for the leaf veins (being careful with my stitching towards the tips so that it would be pretty on the back as well where I knew it would go over the little hoop), I tried a couple with an organza but I think I should have cut that with a soldering iron, or fixed the edges in some way as it just frays when cut with scissors. 

Once I'd got the flowers and leaves on, I also added some long hairy black yarn that I found in a charity shop - either just couching it tucked underneath the flower, or twisting a little bit and stitching it inside the flower so it looks a bit like hairy stamens. The stamen ones were also given a haircut to make them shorter. Black beads were stitched into the flower centres as well which I really like. 

Green yarns or a crinkled green fabric from my stash were added to some for a little bit of extra interest, and french knots cover any gnarly or empty bits and that's it!

Once all of the designs are finished they get cut out of the big hoop and drawn up around the smaller craft hoop centres to make them nice and neat, then framed in the mini hoops and the back of the hoops glued on. You can buy the craft hoops online or in craft shops and they always come as a three piece set with central piece, frame and wooden backing but can be a variety of shapes and sizes. 

I had to be careful in this case to pull the leaves through so they didn't get trapped within the frame. 

I really like these, I think they're so sweet. I have since glued on butterfly brooch backs to them but you could also wear them as pendants or stick a magnet on the back to pop it on your fridge...or just pop it on a shelf!

Kynance Cove Stitchscape

 

This Stitchscape was purely inspired by the fabrics themselves. They were all picked up at the Ardingly Quilt Show in January and I think they must be my soul colours because they aren't all from the same stand but complement each other so well. I love blues and greens and turquoises, which then go beautifully with gold and yellow. It's a combination I often return to. 

It has ended up as a sort of seaside, abstract beachy Stitchscape with elements of deep rockpools and tangled seaweed and bubbles and pebbles... I don't really know. I've named it Kynance Cove after the National Trust protected beach in Cornwall which sort of has similar features - white sand, turquoise waters and dark rock stacks. 

I do love all of the different textures within it though. The bottom fabric is a pale ammonite print and I've filled in all of the different sections of the ammonite with either a satin stitch in various colours, or just a few straight stitches grouped together for a bit of a textural difference. 

Silk throwsters waste (loose fibres of silk thread) has been stitched down in areas as a kind of fluffy version of seaweed over the ammonites, and I've edge the fabric layer with long bugle beads which have been stitched upright thanks to gold seed beads anchoring the thread in place. I really love these, they are very touchy-feely. 

The sandy fabric underneath was edged with a hand dyed (not by me) cotton scrim and then seed stitch put over to give it texture. Where there are flat areas of scrim I have also continued the seed stitch up into it to help blend the two layers together. The fabric does also have areas of metallic gold print which I have ignored completely and left blank so that the metallic shines through and matches the metallic of the dark blue layer above, and the gold of the beads. 

I had a lot of fun with the bubbly layer, I've gone around some of the circles with stem stitch (using just a single strand as it appears doubled by the type of stitch), sort of matching the thread colours to that of the circle. And then added textured circles with cup stitch and a thicker thread. Some of the cup stitches are actually two colours blended together, can you tell? The cups are formed around a triangle of stitches and you basically slide your needle under one of the stitches, then slide through the loop of thread that's created as you pull so that it tightens around the triangle stitch. This will need several of these loops per original stitch, I think I was averaging about 7 loops per side but it does depend on how big your triangle shape is. 

The seaweed print layer just has a single strand back stitch worked around the areas that look like a coral seaweed structure, with french knots worked over a stippled texture in the print. It's been edged with a metallic crochet yarn that I have, that just so happens to be the exact same colour!

I didn't want to do too much to the navy and gold fabric as I wanted the gold in the print to show so I have blanket stitched the edge, and then worked rows of running stitch in blue areas between the gold splodges. They kind of start and finish in random places, then fizzle out completely further up into the layer so that they don't get tangled up with the blanket stitches but it's just enough to lend texture to the layer. 

The final layer (top layer) has single strand back stitch around a few of circles in the rows to match the shapes below, bullion knots across the top and my trademark little cross stitches in the calico above. 

The full stitch run down for this hoop is; bullion knots, back stitch, blanket stitch, running stitch, couching, french knots, stem stitch, cup stitch, seed stitch, satin stitch, straight stitch and beading. What a lot of stitches!

A reminder that I have a tutorial on how to frame your pieces in the hoop if you are keeping them that way. They can be displayed on their own in the hoop (hung with a ribbon through the hoop screw or propped up in a plate stand), or you can get frames for them which you just wedge the whole embroidery hoop inside - my favourite maker of these frames is Barton Studios UK, linked for you here. 

The main thing to do is to round off your calico/backing fabric, about a couple of inches if you can from the hoop (don't worry about the fabric layers just yet). Then securely knot a long, strong thread to the calico about a centimetre from the edge. Work running stitch all of the way around, then pull it tightly so the fabric gathers up into the middle. Knot securely, and run your thread (if you've enough, or just get another piece) underneath the gathers to about a centimetre from the hoop. Work running stitch again, but this time folding over your fabric layers one at a time so that they sit flat on top of each other, making your running stitches go through both them and the calico and go all of the way round. Pull it again, this time it won't pull so impressively but may tighten it slightly, and knot off. 

Trim your fabric layers between the two stitch lines for a nice and neat finish, and go back and stitch any trimmings that got missed, or any bobbly areas of fabric. 

You can find the full photo tutorial here. 

AOH at Pretty Neat Gallery

 

Well, the diagram of what Pretty Neat Gallery & Studio will look like, has now become a reality! The gallery has been open for a couple of months or so now, and kicked off with Artists Open Houses which is no mean feat. 

I first met Paula, the owner and founder, at a workshop at Made & Making where I was hosting an autumn themed workshop which didn't end up being very autumnal at all! (You can see the blog post about it here.) She was one of the participants and we got chatting and she mentioned that she was planning on opening a gallery studio in Kemptown, Brighton, selling artist's seconds or work which they didn't feel they could charge full price for but was still eminently sellable to the right people (and for a slightly more budget friendly cost). It would also have workshops on all kinds of different creative subjects, some of which Paula would teach and some she would have tutors come in for - and was I interested in being one of the tutors?

I said yes but then there were complications with the initial location, and then the second location had to be done up so things kept changing but finally it was move in day, and within a week or so of getting the gallery space ready with furniture, painted walls and signs above the door - it had filled up with artwork and was open to the public as part of the AOH trail! Amazing work on the park of Paula and her team. 

We weren't able to get to the open evening for the gallery which was a shame, but went to visit it at the weekend instead to see my work on display alongside several other local artists, all using different mediums. (The above photo has been pinched from one of the other artist's who went to the open evening.)

The set up is a real mix of table displays, wall and shelf displays, with the artists all mingling in together rather than being in a block. Which is interesting because often galleries keep work all together rather than muddle it up but it works surprisingly well in this setting. It's the first time my work has been in an actual gallery though (apart from pop up exhibitions) I think so that's amazing! 

There was apparently lots of interest in my pieces and a few little bits sold, I'd taken cards, prints and framed/hooped originals. I didn't make any major sales though until the day after the AOH exhibition ended and then I sold an original hooped Stitchscape! Woohoo!

I wonder what it is about people not seeming to want to buy textile pieces. At several events people have purchased painted art without really thinking about it, but the textiles - although it earns a lot of discussion and chat about methods and mixed media etc - is a much harder sell. I'm definitely in the wrong industry. 

I really hope that the gallery continues to do well. I know they have lots of different exhibitions planned throughout the year, and I have lots of different workshops booked with them as well, all of which you can find on my events page, or on the PNG calendar page. 

If you don't know where it is, the gallery is in Brighton Marina which has a surprising amount of other things going on there! There is free parking, for starters, and you can also go crazy golfing, eat at a variety of restaurants, go on marina tours in a boat, there are little cafes, a selection of shops....all sorts of things! So definitely make a day of it - we did, after visiting the gallery we took a hungry Fin for lunch at Nandos across the road and did a little wander around the marina. I did try and convince Reece to do a boat tour but he wasn't having it...I'll work on him!

 

TACKS Workshop

More than a couple of months ago (I’m behind on my blogging again!) I had a lovely big workshop in Meopham with a really active group called TACKS, which stands for Textile Arts, Crafts, Knitting and Stitching. (TACKS is much easier to say!) I had met some of the ladies before in Arundel and Rochester so it was great to see them as well as meeting lots of new faces.

Before we'd even started the workshop I was presented with TWO completed Stitchscapes! Both ladies had been to previous workshops or talks, one at Wainscott and one in Arundel so had either started their own hoop or purchased a kit to make. Isn't that amazing? It was a great start to the day for certain.
This big green sheep hoop was being given as a gift so had even been done up on the back, covered with felt and with a little stitched label on the back! It's very sparkly with metallic threads, shiny yarns, beads and gorgeous metallic batik fabric.

I love, love, love seeing completed kits too - each one is always so different! I find it fascinating to see which bit of the pattern other people get and what they do with it. Just in designing the kit I can only work with the bit that I get whilst thinking about what other people might receive but I can only guess at that so seeing it in reality is fab. 

The workshop had no set theme so I’d made up packs which varied between coastal and countryside, and some ladies also brought their own materials which is always fun to add variety.
There were quite a lot of fussy cut sheep, all placed upright for once, as well as experimenting with using toy stuffing stitched down to make their woolly coats. Once we had the stuffing out it was also used for clouds and sea spray, as well as for actually stuffing felt or fabric rocks - it’s a diverse thing to have in your Stitchscape stash!

I love how in some workshops one particular trimming, thread or stitch becomes an accidental focus and ends up in multiple hoops.

This particular piece was being worked on by a lady who was a crocheter at heart (we won't hold that against her) and admitted that she didn’t really know how to embroider and was far out of her comfort zone. She had brought along with her an image that she was trying to emulate, with a river and stone wall in a rocky valley - which can be a hard thing to do for your first foray into Stitchscaping because you end up comparing your textile hoop to the image and they aren't really going to look alike.

Initially she was stitching each of the stones into her wall individually, and complaining just a little bit about the length of time it was taking her and that it wasn't working out like her picture so I went and grabbed a chunky knitting yarn from my stash and started pulling one of the strands in it to make the rest all bunch up like stones. If it were me I would probably have gone the whole hog and couched down lots of strands stacked on top of each other of this pulled yarn to create my wall, but I like that she's kept her stone stitching and just added the pulled yarn at the bottom, along with some strands of eyelash yarn being used as scrubby grasses. 

Sometimes you do have to go with the feel of something rather than an accurate representation. 

This lady is the one who made the big green sheep hoop at the start of this post and, interestingly, I think there are quite a few similarities between the two hoops. Lots of couched edges and sparkly bits, but this time with shells and furnishing trimmings! Really lovely. 

You can also tell, I think, who was sitting next to each other! The layout for the workshop was tables arranged almost in a 'U' shape but the tables themselves sort of had little pockets of people in groups around it and I think these three hoops were all created on the same table, with inspiration being taken and given between the three ladies! I wonder if you can see what I mean?

If you are in the area this would be a brilliant group to join. They not only have workshops but, if you didn't fancy joining in with the workshop on offer, they still have areas for you to bring your own projects, they had a show and tell, a raffle, a little pop up shop, shared news...it was so brilliant to see!