Show's over
Apologies for the slight lateness of this
newsletter but we've just returned unscathed from 2 of the major
stitching shows of the year - Stitch & Craft 2011 at Olympia and
Sewing for Pleasure at the NEC in Birmingham. It was fantastic to meet so many stitchers, and particularly great to meet existing
Stitchtastic customers who came back to say hi, to look at the kits
they were working on already finished, or simply to have a
browse for their next project.
As for me, I'm ready for a
rest and a bit of stitching myself, I have hardly had any stitching
time over the last couple of months whilst in show-mode, so over
the next few days I want to finish the Vauxhall Corsa I've been
stitching since Christmas and make a start on my next project, which
I think will be a Mini. However, there's the small matter of
spring cleaning first!
If you'd like to see my Vauxhall
Corsa when it's finished, have a look at our facebook
page,www.facebook.com/Stitchtastic. It will also be in next month's
newsletter, hopefully!
|
It's a feat of engineering, fitting everything onto our stand at Sewing for Pleasure. |
New Formula 1 Season
Another delayed event
this year (probably a little more popular than our newsletter but
you never know!) is the beginning of the Formula 1 season. Did you
get up for the first race? We did, before going to Sewing for
Pleasure at the NEC. And what's more, after an alarm / changing the
clocks fiasco, we ended up
getting up at 4am instead of 6am!
Oh, well, at least we didn't miss the race! If you enjoy the
racing, why not have a stitch whilst watching? Especially good for
the slightly more
straighforward races, or if someone at home is
a bigger fan than you and you are forced to watch it, a Formula 1
stitch could be a fantastic addition to your
memorabilia or just
a colourful way to pass Sundays until November!
We have
number of Formula 1 designs, here are just a few. For the full
range, have a look at
http://www.stitchtastic.com/catalog/cars_f1.aspx .
First of
all, a design that splits people right down the middle - our
McLaren
Hamilton / Button design. Whenever I show this to customers at
shows, they are
always very definite as to whether they would
want to stitch Lewis Hamilton or Jenson Button. I like both myself!
Whether you have a definite preference or
whether you're happy
to stitch either as a present for a fan, you'll find this a really
straightforward stitch, plenty of blocky areas to stitch in front of
the TV but some challenging bits to for when you want to use
your brain a bit more.
The Hamilton / Button design costs
£29.95 plus £2 p+p. It measures 13.8" by 9.1" and uses 12 DMC
colours.
Next, a blast from the past with a car from one of
the larger than life team principals of the last 20 years or so - an
F1 Jordan car. Eddie Jordan always
brightens up any race day and
his car is certainly as bright as they come! Measuring 20.6" by 8",
this design uses 13 colours and is very effective when
finished.
It also costs £29.95 +£2 p+p.
One of our biggest designs is
another
McLaren Car, measuring 15.3" by 10.6" this is stitched on 18
count aida and uses 19 colours. This comes from
approximately
the Alonso McLaren era and will certainly delight any serious F1
enthusiast. The kit costs £35.95 plus £2 p+p.
Finally, one for the younger enthusiast, a more
general F1 car based around the Ferrari design, the
Pole Position
design always goes down a treat with kids /
nieces and nephews /
grandchildren - the list goes on. The design uses 21 DMC colours and
measures 14.3" by 9.2" when stitched on 14 count aida. It
also costs £35.95 plus £2 p+p.
|
Lewis - stitched!
Stitch Jenson for his second McLaren season.
The distinctive livery of the old Jordan team.
An authentic, detailed McLaren stitch.
Pole Position - where all drivers would like to be!
|
Stitchtastic
Stitchers - calling all men!
A plea this month - we'd love to feature some
stitchtastic designs stitched by our male stitchers. We always to
chat to a large number of male stitchers at
the stitching shows,
so we know you're out there - get stitching and sending!
One
of our current male stitchers is Harry from Norway, he and his wife
Joey have featured in previous newsletters and we're very grateful
for all their hard
work. Harry has even appeared in his local
newspaper in Norway showing off some of our designs. Unfortunately
it was in Norwegian so I'm not entirely sure what it said! The
pictures looked great though. Here's a picture of the
London Black
Cab Taxi that Harry stitched. At least, I think it was Harry, Joey,
sorry if this one was actually you!
|
Harry's fantastic stitched Black Cab Taxi.
|
Stitching show review
Yes, I know I've mentioned the shows already, but I
had to mention the strangest experience that
happened during Sewing for Pleasure, I wonder if any
of you who visited were taken aback by this too?
As you can imagine, it's a very busy day at the
stitching show and you have to take opportunities
when they arise to pop out for any errands / lunch
etc. I
had left our stand briefly to pop to the
loo and as I walked out of Hall 12 at the NEC, I was
confronted by one of the most surprising sights I
had ever seen
- over 100 Star Wars
Stormtroopers! For those of you who don't know, a
stormtrooper is a character from the Star Wars
films, they were enemy soldiers and not quite
what you would expect to find standing outside the
NEC on a Saturday afternoon! With the stormtroopers
was Darth Vader, then rather more strangely,
Indiana Jones, a few assorted Ghostbusters, Xena
Warrior Princess and last but not least, the Stig!
After being a bit of a geek and taking a few
photos, I found out that there was a memorabilia
exhibition on at one of the other halls and lots of
enthusiasts
had come along dressed as their
favourite character, which certainly brightened up
my afternoon! I had a little look around the
exhibition, but it wasn't as
much fun as Sewing
for Pleasure - I suppose it depends on what you're
into.....!
|
I didn't expect Stormtroopers to be stitchers!
Some say........he loves to cross stitch!
|
Next Month
Next month we will pay tribute to a fantastic
group of people through the medium of stitch - the heroes of the
emergency services. Fire engines and police
cars here we come!
We'd like to feature those male stitchers too, so please send in
your pics.
See you then! |
|
Questions or comments? E-mail me at
sarah@stitchtastic.com or call +44 (0) 114 2353958
Until next time
Sarah
Designer
|
