Horse chestnut: Elaine’s Botanicals

Dionne    Embroidery and Crewel     double running stitch, Elaine's botanicals, embroidery, french knots, pistol stitch, stem stitch

Another of the more subtle designs from Elaine’s Botanicals, but also one of the designs more suited to the more experienced embroidery stitcher.  Stem stitch, french knots, double running stitch and pistol stitch are all featured in the Horse chestnut design.  There is a layering to the application of the stitches that looks deceptively easy.

Up until the purchase of Victoria House Needlecraft, my most enduring memory of the Horse chestnut tree was a saucy reference to its aroma in a passage of text from that notorious literary bad boy, The Marquis de Sade.

There is also, as I look at the green spikey casings, a very vague (maybe I was about 6 years old) recollection of making a swan (I think it was a swan) from the casing.  The spikey bi-valve casing formed the wings of the swan.  Does anyone else remember anything like that?

The garden at Victoria House has a very old tree that fruits prolifically every year.  Luckily it is a beautiful looking tree with lovely flowers.  Last year after watching Jamie Oliver cook chestnuts in a billy can over an open fire, Craig and I tried out his recipe.  It had orange peel, a bay leaf and a few other herbs and spices.  They were horrible!  They were also horrible when we tried roasting them in the oven.  Not sure what we are doing wrong, got any suggestions?

Honeysuckle: Elaine’s Botanicals

Dionne    Embroidery and Crewel     double running stitch, Elaine's botanicals, embroidery, pistol stitch, satin stitch, stem stitch, stumpwork

While Camellia may have been the taster that reeled us in, Honeysuckle has been one of my favourites of the Elaine’s Botanicals range right from the moment they arrived in store at Victoria House Needlecraft.

I cannot say whether it is the faithful rendering of the delicacy of the flowers or the whimsy of the ladybird.  I just love it, and you will too.

It is a little more complicated than the flowers from the last couple of months posts, so would probably be a stretch for a novice.  The embroidery design features pistol stitch, double running stitch, stem stitch, satin stitch and some beginner stumpwork for the working on the ladybird.  This design is well worth the effort and is truly beautiful.

Made in France: Blackwork; Our December Book of the Month

Dionne    Blackwork, Book of the Month, Embroidery and Crewel, What's New     Blackwork, book of the month, lucano, made in france

Made in France: Blackwork is truly a beautiful book, I bought it for the shop on the strength of the previous titles in this series Made in France and Made in France: Linen and Thread.  We had to wait a couple of months, I am not disappointed.  If ever there was a book that made needlework sexy, this is it.  This is beautiful.  Clear, crisp images in black and white.  Coco Chanel would swoon!  Where do I start?

Of course there are the homewares projects, embellishment of towels for every room of the house, an apron that is not twee, it is smart and crisp and elegant.  An afghan and a sampler have given me some fantastic ideas for a class next year.  Even your “too cool” teenager will be impressed with the personalisation of the canvas satchel for school stuff or a computer bag.

As for garments and embellishment, I have never been one for embroidered shirts but examples here are stylish.  I really love the flower motif on the pants waist band.   I now understand why it took off in Tudor England after the arrival of Katherine of Aragon.  Made in France: Blackwork also has an incredible reference catalogue of motifs to create interest, variety and shading in your work.

Oh yes, … this is a very sexy book indeed!

27th June 2017, unfortunately we are no longer able to get hold of this fabulous title.  If all of your usual searches are not working try a “Google Alert”. Just type <<google alert>> into your browser and follow the prompts and let the Google crawl spiders do the hard for you.  You will receive quite a bit of rubbish and irrelevant stuff but this will still be the most efficient way of tracking it down.  Good luck.

Dionne

Blossoms in Bloom: Twill Designs

Dionne    Tapestry and Needlepoint     needlepoint, tapestry, twill designs

There are so many reasons to love these new needlepoint kits from Twill Designs.  They have everything you need to complete the design in a nifty little resealable pack.  This makes them a great quick project to take away on holidays, they are perfect for teaching needlepoint to a new stitcher and they have a fresh bright colour range, unlike anything else on the market today.  They are also Australian made and designed.

Blossoms in Bloom has been one of the more popular designs at Victoria House Needlecraft.

Hollyhocks: Elaine’s Botanicals

Dionne    Embroidery and Crewel     blanket stitch, double running stitch, Elaine's botanicals, embroidery, french knots

Once again my gardening tour of Elaine’s Botanicals takes me back to my childhood and my Grandma.  She always had Hollyhocks.  They are such an old fashioned flower to me, but even just the word and I can see her in my mind’s eye at the end of her dining room table talking to me about her favourite things cooking, sewing and gardening.  I share a love for all three, but sadly excel at only two of the above.  This lovely embroidery rendering features double running stitch, blanket stitch and french knots.

Once again, my garden tour by the non-gardener has provided another off-kilter vision.  While this appears a horizontally inclined flower, I have vertical visions more in keeping with Foxgloves.  Hmmm, … another moment where all those keen gardeners heave a huge sigh of relief that Craig is in charge of the beautiful, old and exotic plants trees that feature in the Victoria House gardens.