Is Spring coming yet?
Stitching feels great in the Spring. The plants are
on their way, the sun is just poking through and most people get a
little spring in their step (sorry about the pun!) However, February
is not well known for the start of Spring, more for the last gasp of
winter. So if you're stuck inside, waiting to plant those seeds, or
really wanting a lovely country walk but knowing that the foot of
snow outside would really hamper your idea, get stitching! Pick out
a beautiful Spring design, or go mad and head straight into Summer!
Have a look at
http://www.stitchtastic.com/catalog/flower-designs.aspx to see our
lovely colourful flower range, which will brighten up any nasty
February day. By the way, if you read our newsletter from the
southern hemisphere, I'm sorry that I talk about the seasons the
wrong way round for you! |
Two of our flower designs, a hibiscus and a sunflower. |
Wonderful Stitchers
As a very visual medium, its
really important that we have as many of our designs stitched for
display as possible. This is really important so that customers can
see exactly how the design will turn out. My computer can produce a
pretty mean stitched model, but it's not quite the same as the real
thing. So this month all of our pictures are stitched pictures,
either stitched by me or one of our other stitchers who provide
stitched designs for us to display. Hope you like them!
Firstly, one of the most popular designs in our range - the Eddie
Stobart Lorry design. Measuring in at a dramatic 17.2" by 11", this
really makes a statement. The one in our picture was stitched by
Joan, who does an awful lot of our stitching (I know you're reading
Joan, I hope you know how incredibly grateful we are for all the
stitching you've done over the years xx). Joan is a very close
relative to someone in our household, but to maintain an air of
mystery I shall say no more!
Eddie uses 20 DMC colours and
looks amazing when displayed. At stitching shows, he is usually one
of our best sellers over the whole range because he looks so
dramatic and colourful. Further details at
http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/eddie-stobart-lorry-cross-stitch-kit.aspx.
Joan also wins the award for stitching the most backstitch, on
our Westie Dog caricature design, as the tartan effect is created
with backstitch and looks brilliant! He's a real cutie, using 16 DMC
colours and measuring 9.3" by 10.3".
Our next stitchers come
from quite a long way away. We met Joey and Harry at the Olympia
Stitch & Craft show several years ago now and they make a special
effort every year to come & chat to us. Last year they took several
of our designs away with them to stitch, and then returned them for
us to display. Both Joey and Harry stitch and Harry has been
featured in his local newspaper, showing off his designs, including
one of ours! Did I mention that they live in Norway? So thanks Joey
and Harry for being lovely friends and fantastic stitchers. See you
in March at Stitch & Craft 2011!
From Joey and Harry's
stitching, we're featuring the Harley Davidson 1946 Classic
motorbike. It's a super vintage design and is available in red and
black. Both use 12 DMC colours and measure 15.4" by 7.2". Have a
look at
http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/harley-davidson-1946-motorcycle-cross-stitch-kit.aspx.
Our final featured stitcher is.....wait for it......me! I
stitch our designs all year round as you know if you've been reading
our newsletter for a while, but I am a bit lazy about ironing and
backing them, it always takes me ages to get round to it. I tend to
back all the new designs we recieve just before our trade & retail
shows in February and March, so there will be some new stitched
deigns on our website in the next month or two! At the moment I'm
stitching our caricature Vauxhall Corsa design, which is virtually
all in shades of grey and so far looks amazing, but is only really
at the 'what on earth will this be' stage so I'm not showing it to
you yet!
Instead, here's a couple of my designs, the Easy
Rider Chopper and Mini Cooper caricature. And I must just mention my
favourite ever stitch, our scuba diving goldfish!
The Easy
Rider is actually stitched on 16 count aida to give extra detail in the
engine and measures 14.6" by 7.8", using 15 DMC colours. The Mini
Cooper is the cutest little car and uses 14 DMC colours. It is also
available in blue, green, grey and red , but I couldn't resist
stitching it in pink! We don't have many pink designs to display so
that one certainly takes pride of place at our shows. It measures
13.3" by 10.1", have a look at
http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/mini-cooper-union-jack-roof-cross-stitch-kit.aspx
for further information.
Finally, the goldfish. This design
seemed to jump off the aida as I stitched it, it was the best design
I've ever stitched and I really recommend it for a fun, striking
stitch. It measures 10.4" by 10.4", uses 21 DMC colours and is just
brilliant! It's at
http://www.stitchtastic.com/product/goldfish-caricature-cross-stitch-kit.aspx. |
Eddie Stobart never looked so good!
So cute and so Scottish!
The beautiful 1946 Harley Davidson, beautifully stitched in Norway.
The Easy Rider looks so detailed on 16 count.
Mini Cooper, available in lots of colours but I couldn't resist pink!
My favourite ever stitch.
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Stitchtastic
Stitchers
As you can see, there's no real need for a
stitchers section this month as the whole newsletter is dedicated to
stitchers. If you'd like your work to be featured in our newsletter,
send a picture to me, sarah@stitchtastic.com. Or, for a more
immediate display, you can upload pictures of your stitching to our
facebook page,
www.facebook.com/Stitchtastic. Make sure you 'Like'
us as well!
You can now 'like' each individual product on our
website, if you click the 'Like' button on our product page, your
name will appear. You may also get redirected to Facebook to log in
there first, but don't quote me on that!
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Come and join us on Facebook.
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Advance notice - stitching shows coming up!
The stitching shows are even closer now, we're
preparing for the first one which unfortunately most
of you won't be able to attend as it's a trade only
show at the NEC in Birmingham in February. I'm sorry
that you can't attend as it is an absolute treasure
trove for creative types, but don't worry, your
local retailer will most likely be there so you'll
be able to see all their favourite new products
pretty soon after.
The shows start in
earnest for us in March, with Stitch & Craft 2011 at
Olympia in London, 17th - 20th March and Sewing for
Pleasure 2011 at the NEC, Birmingham, 24th - 27th
March. Then we'll definitely be having a rest!
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Looking forward to seeing you all at a stitching show soon!
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Next Month
OK, so last month I said I would be featuring
lorries and vans this month, didn't I? I've only managed to squeeze
in one lorry, so I do apologise to anyone waiting for those vans. I
promise I'll show you a few more next month, along with our annual
guide to visiting stitching shows.
See you then! |
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Questions or comments? E-mail me at
sarah@stitchtastic.com or call +44 (0) 114 2353958
Until next time
Sarah
Designer
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