A Visit to Heirlooms

Like many of you,  I enjoy visiting needlework shops when traveling.  I was particularly excited to visit Sherelyn's shop, Heirlooms, in Napier, New Zealand.  It was just as wonderful as I thought it would be!   Here are a few photos to show you what I mean.

Above are several versions of  Mrs. Waddelow's Huswif.  The finished huswif was made by Sherelyn's daughter Melissa.

How clever is this?  Sherelyn turned the stitched pages of one of my little books into small cushions that she displays in a basket.

Elizabeth and Diane stopped by the shop the day before the class.  Here is a photo of them along with Sherelyn (on the far right) and me in front of Sherelyn's roses.  Elizabeth is holding her version of A Pair of Pin Cubes.  She stitched her version over two linen threads and made the design into a box instead of a pin cube.  How clever is that?  Diane is holding her A Fair Maiden's Etui.  You can see more photos of both of their projects in my last blog post.

And here are a few final photos before leaving Napier.

Sherelyn and her husband Keith

Sweet Lily

Several of you have asked about photos from New Zealand.  I have hundreds and will sort through them shortly so I can share a few with you.  (I promise not to subject you to all of them.)

Teaching in New Zealand

What a treat it was to have been asked by Sherelyn to teach a class sponsored by her shop, Heirlooms, in Napier, New Zealand. Sherelyn picked a wonderful class venue, Mission Winery.  How much fun it was for me to present Fruit of the Vine at a winery!

In my next blog post, I'll show photos of Heirlooms.  Today's blog post contains miscellaneous class photos.

Here we are headed off in the morning.

Almost there...

And here are some classroom photos.

Here are some views of the shop boutique and also some of the "show and tell".

Here are some of the class participants.  I'm sorry I missed getting  photos of everyone.

Don't let the seriousness in the previous photo fool you.  Below are the the same two ladies
right after I took the previous photo.

Here is Sherelyn loading up her car at the end of the day.

Thank you to everyone for a wonderful day,  but especially thank you to Sherelyn for inviting me to teach for you!

Lots and lots of "eye candy" for you to enjoy from the needleworkers at Fobbles!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some photos from my classes at Fobbles in Gubbergill, in the western part of the Lake District in Great Britain.  I took so many photos that I'll split them up over several blog postings.

First is an outside view of Fobbles. The window on the right is in the classroom, which is adjacent to the shop.  In a few days I'll share some photos of the inside of this lovely needlework shop.

Today I'm sharing with you photos of some of the needlework pieces the ladies brought to show me.  What a marvelous array of projects!!  I was thrilled to see so many lovely works in person.  I'm only sorry that I neglected to take photos of all of the pieces.  Please accept my apologies if I missed taking a photo of your needlework.

Here are the projects I photographed. 

First are some Quaker Hornbooks.  On the left is Barbara R.'s version. Barbara stitched the second design in the package as a needlebook and attached it to her hornbook. How clever! On the right is Judith H.'s Quaker Hornbook. Judith chose the over-one-linen-thread version.  Judith and Barbara both live in Preston.



Here I am with Sylvie R. She lives in the southeastern seaport village of Deal. (Yikes on my hair--it was rainy and very windy everyday, and I had forgotten that day take to bring my hairbrush.) Sylvie is holding her Mrs. Waddelow's Huswif, and I'm holding her Mrs. Waddelow's Needlework Basket and accessories. What a beautiful job Sylvie did with both her stitching and her assembly!

Here is a better view of Sylvie's lovely workmanship.



 Next is Elsie M.'s lovely version of A Fair Maiden's Etui.  Elsie lives in Lytham.

And now look at the inside of Elsie's etui!



Somehow I neglected to get a photo of  Elsie's My Needle's Worke Box. I'm so sorry. Perhaps she'll send me a photo to share with you.

Elsie and her daughter, Janet E. of Freckleton, who I have known for quite a few years, were in all three of the classes.  On Saturday, Janet's daughter, Lucy W. of Preston, was in class along with her mother and grandmother.  It was so wonderful to have the three generations together!

Here is the outside of Lucy's Quaker Schoolgirl Needle Necessities.



And here is an inside view of Lucy's case. I wish that the photo better showed the luscious green thread and lining Lucy chose.

Lucy also stitched A Fair Maiden's Etui like her grandmother did, but sadly I neglected to take a photo of it.

And here is Elaine E. of Blackburn with her version of Mrs. Waddelow's Huswif. Elaine stitched her case on a larger count linen than I used on my model, which made her huswif quite a bit larger than mine and able to hold lots of her needlework "goodies".


Now wait until you see what Elaine did to the inside of her huswif. She completely changed it by putting a pocket at either end and a rectangular pincushion in the middle. Elaine also added a scissors weight and case using motifs based on the huswif design.  I love it when stitchers make their own creative changes and additions!



Here is another view with Elaine's huswif turned sideways.  Can you see the pincushion in the center?  Elaine told me she made it the way she did so her huswif can rest on her stitching armchair with the pincushion on the top and a pocket on either side.

And last, but certainly not least, are lots of "goodies" from Sandra C. of North Yorkshire.  I think I've shown most of them on my blog before, but I asked Sandra if I could photograph them together. The projects in the next  photo are her Quaker Ornaments from four of the Just CrossStitch Christmas issues, Maidens of the Sea, Crown and Needle Etui, Acorn Sampler Sewing Case, Flowers for Lily, and Busy Bee Sewing Case (to which Sandra added an extra little piece).

 

Perhaps you remember seeing Sandra's An Emblem of Love previously on my blog. Sandra stitched this for her parents' 60th wedding anniversary in 2010. She chose the lovely thread and frame colors because they match the carpet in her parents' living room. 



Thank you, ladies, for bringing your needlework pieces for me to see.  I'm looking forward to seeing other projects, including your class projects!  Please send me photos.  I'd love to see your accomplishments!  I know others would also enjoy seeing your work.

Yolanda of Australia wins ribbons at the Royal Adelaide show!

A couple of weeks ago, I received a lovely note and some photos from Yolanda in Australia.

Yolanda wrote, Just finished this week in Adelaide was the Royal Adelaide Show, which is the main horticulture event for South Australia. This has many events in categories from pigs to leadlight. I entered my two pieces that I have done, designed by you—“A Fair Lady’s Etui” and “Quaker Schoolgirl Needle Necessities”. I placed a piece of blackwork that I have recently completed also.

I am proud to say that the three pieces I entered all got ribbons. I received a first place for my blackwork; in the category of "Counted stitched other that cross stitch" This was up against so many different style of counted work including hardanger tablecloths. For the school girl Quaker set I received a 2nd place and the Etui got a Commendation ribbon.

Yolanda's Quaker Schoolgirl Needle Necessities

Yolanda's A Fair Maiden's Etui

You can see more photos of Yolanda's A Fair Maiden's Etui in my blog post of June 23rd.

Yolanda's Blackwork project won a first prize ribbon.

Yolanda also wrote, I had never entered anything for judging before, so I was very happy with my results. Both these pieces were in the same class-"cross stitch other than picture" The first place was one by a beautiful bellpull. Some of the other contenders were Christmas stockings and table mats.

The last photo shows Yolanda (on the left holding A Fair Maiden's Etui) and a representative of the Royal Horticulture Show Society which was responsible for the judging The Royal Adelaide Show. In the photo they are holding two of Yolanda's lovely projects and the ribbons she won.
Congratulations, Yolanda, on your beautiful accomplishments. Thank you very much for the photos and for sharing the news of your ribbons. This is such exciting news!! I also enjoyed seeing a photo of you. It's always terrific to have a face to put with a name.

Yolanda in Australia shows off her A Fair Maiden's Etui!

What a delight it was to receive these photos from Yolanda in Australia of her A Fair Maiden's Etui! I think you'll agree that she did a beautiful job with this project.

Yolanda stitched her etui and 36-count cream linen using the threads specified on the chart. She lined her pieces with dupioni silk in a color named "Prune".

Yolanda wrote, I thoroughly enjoyed this whole project and I am now using it to work on the Quaker School girl set.

I chose to use the ribbon to make the closure as this tied the colours together from the outside to the inside. I also chose not to place the ribbon on the pin cushion. I made two pages for my needle book.

Thanks again for a great project and I will send completed photos of the Quaker set when done.

Yolanda, you did such a beautiful job with this project. I really like the little changes you made. You are indeed right that the ribbon closures tie the colors from the outside of your etui to those on the inside.

I'm also delighted that you are finding the etui a useful tool as you work on other needlework projects, including Quaker Schoolgirl Needle Necessities. I'd also love to see a photo of your etui in place in your stitching area. Hmm--maybe you could have someone take a photo of you using your etui.

I look forward to receiving photos of it once you have completed it. Happy stitching!