Returning to regular writing
Behind the scenes, project inspiration and more!
I had the best of intentions when I signed up for Substack in October last year.
But as it often goes with such things, life got in the way! So I’m really excited to be finally writing the first proper edition of my newsletter via Substack.
It feels so good to be writing to you again, and I have to admit that for the first time EVER I’ve actually planned these newsletters a little way ahead. Hopefully this will mean that my intention of sticking to regular newsletters might now actually happen! 🤞🏻 I’ll be writing to you once a month, which feels like a sustainable goal right now, and it will hit your inboxes on the 30th of each month. If you decide that you don’t want to receive my newsletter anymore, then you can simply unsubscribe at the bottom of this email (but I really hope you’ll stay!).
I think the biggest thing that’s happened over the last 14 months is that I closed my physical shop and studio space. It was a really difficult time, and I wasn’t able to get out of the lease which was incredibly stressful. Thankfully there’s a new tenant subletting from me now, and I feel like I’m able to process everything a lot more. I wrote this blog post about the whole experience of closing here if you want to read about it.
I’ve also been working on my next book, the follow-up to Colourful Fun Embroidery, and that has been a real labour of love. It was an intense few months stitching and writing after my shop closed, and I can’t wait for you to see it. More on that as soon as I can tell you more!
One of the things I’ve been trying to do during this period is to keep working on self care, upholding boundaries and protecting my peace. On the subject of protecting your peace, the lovely Angela has been sharing WIP photos of her Protect Your Peace panel that she’s been working on, and I was thrilled to see the finished result. Isn’t is fabulous?! I am in love with how Angela has stitched this design, and was so happy that she enjoyed the flexibility of choosing how to stitch it. This collaboration with Studio Dariolina was a real passion project for us, and it’s wonderful to see Angela’s interpretation and amazing stitching. Thank you, Angela!
WIP
Speaking of Studio Dariolina, my current personal WIP is a large-scale fabric banner version of the mural that Daria painted at my old studio. It felt like the right time to be working on this now, and although progress is slow it’s also very pleasing! So I thought this was a good reminder to enjoy the process.
You can follow along with video progress on Instagram, and read more about the mural here on my blog.
Project inspo
If you’re looking for your next embroidery project, then I’ve got a new festive project for you! I worked on this commission for Love Embroidery magazine over the summer and it’s so amazing to see it in print. This sweet fabric envelope for letters to Santa is perfect for your little ones, and you could even get them to write the label and stitch it in their writing if you wanted to personalise it further. Find it in issue 45 of Love Embroidery magazine (which was out last month). Back issues are available here.
Stitch of the month
If you fancy stitching my envelope from Love Embroidery this month, then check out my satin stitch tutorial on YouTube. If you want to get the perfect smooth finish on this stitch, then this tutorial is for you!
Don’t forget to tag me if you make this project, or drop me an email if you have any questions about this stitch too!
Currently reading
Colour Confidence: A Practical Handbook to Embracing Colour in Your Home by Jessica Sowerby (Affiliate link)
I’m a big fan of colour (if you hadn’t already guessed!) and this is a fabulous book about how to introduce it in your home. It’s really clearly written, and I particularly love the section on moodboards.
Home ed
We are home educating both of our little ones full time now, and I’m always on the lookout for fun projects to make with them. This week we’ve updated our seasonal display in our kitchen, and we’re into all things autumn! We went out to collect some conkers today and I’ve found these cute hedgehog conkers to make and these conker snails too. Such easy craft projects, and you don’t need loads of fancy materials to create them either!
From the archives
Now that autumn is here, I’ve visited my blog archives on a trip down memory lane to see what I’ve previously shared on my blog. First up is a super sweet baby bat costume for Halloween, and this is a pretty straightforward make if you want to whip up a costume. Both our little ones wore this and it was comfortable for them to wear and fun to pass it on!
The second post from the archives is these delicious maple and pecan autumn leaves biscuits. Excuse the slightly dodgy photography from way back when - I promise these are easy and very tasty!
Hello! Hooray! Shop
I may have closed the studio doors but I still have an online shop! I am now only posting out to UK addresses, so I’m really sorry to all my international customers. Brexit and postage costs basically made it impossible for me to continue offering this, which isn’t what I wanted but it’s what makes sense business-wise.
I still have lots of bargain DMC mystery thread packs left, some special thread packs, and a few of the curated packs here too.
You’ll find everything that’s still in the clearance here, including copies of Colourful Fun Embroidery for just £10 (which is cheaper than Amazon!).
Just a little heads up that I’m going to be removing all courses from my website at the end of next month. If you’ve purchased a course, I’ll be in touch closer to the time to send you links to downloadables etc. so that you can still have access.
If you’ve joined in with The Happy Stitch Project, I’ll be creating a page with links to everything you need so that won’t disappear completely - it just won’t be available in the current course format.
See you next month!
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my first newsletter, and wish you a creative month ahead. If you want to chat, you’ll find me in all the usual places - or leave a comment on Substack if you like!
Clare 😊
Hi Clare! I’m quite happy to have several projects in progress - even if the the progress is slow and long. I love projects of kinds - I like the ideation of coming up with the idea, the research phase when I learn so many new things, the doing, the shifting of the idea, and eventually the completion. I find that process extremely fulfilling. And sometimes I think I’m in the mood for a particular project, but I’m not - so it’s helpful to have some backups . I remember when my son was an infant and I was on maternity leave with him for over a year - I was really in the mood for a creative project, and I literally just could not think of anything that grabbed my fancy. That was a horrible feeling and I decided just to make being good at early parenting my project, as apparently that was all my brain had the capacity to contemplate! Sounds like you too do well having several ongoing works in progress? :-)
What a wonderful and meaningful to stitch the mural! Looking forward to seeing progress over the months! And I adore the Santa letter! Last year I thought about sewing an Advent calendar for my son, which I didn’t get around to. Now I’m thinking about a sewing/embroidery Advent calendar. First I need to learn how to do both ;-D, but as you touched upon in this or a previous post... having a big project to work towards is so gratifying and exciting.