Secret Garden Embroidery

My stitchy friend Sophie (aka What Delilah Did) has released a new book called Secret Garden Embroidery and it's really lovely so I'm excited to share some of the wonderful projects with you today. The best thing about Sophie's books is that each book is a little different from the one before, but still has the same timeless, unique style that many of us love. Secret Garden Embroidery is no exception and with its 15 projects a fabulous resource for both beginning and more advanced stitchers.

One of three Lace Wing Butterfly patterns in the book

Sophie's first book, Storyland Cross Stitch had a lot of her signature style silhouette designs in mostly muted colours. Stitch the Halls, the Christmas book, featured more colour and lots of fun stitch ideas for Christmas decorations. Secret Garden Embroidery is all about botanical and garden themed projects, framed in stories about Miss Merriweather's Thistledown Farmhouse. The book is elegantly illustrated by Katt Frank and the beautiful photography is by Rachel Whiting.

Are you ready to join me for a short walk to Thistledown Farmhouse and have a look around? Be prepared for lots of delicate stitching and gorgeous muted colour palettes!
First, we visit the Vegetable Garden...

And look...here are some cute bugs (and a spider too)!

You cannot leave Thistledown Farmhouse without meeting Miss Millicent Hare...

The first chapter of Secret Garden Embroidery deals with stitches and supplies used for the book's projects. All of the projects are counted embroidery or cross stitch. The larger patterns are included in an envelope at the back of the book, the other patterns are printed in the book.

I think the real fun is in how to make the lovely designs work for you. If you are not into belts you can stitch the pattern on a bag. And colours are easily changed too. The bugs look fabulous on a magnet but would look great on a table cloth or on napkins as well.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into What Delilah Did's Secret Garden! Secret Garden Embroidery is published by Pavilion Books and available now. You can buy the book from Sophie's store (and have it signed too!) and many other bookstores.

Designer Insights with...me!

A little while ago I was asked to answer a few questions about my design process. I chose some craft/embroidery favourites as well. If you are interested you can read more below or here. :)

For some reasons I couldn't find links in the article for my 'Top Choices'. So from one to five (although I didn't put them in a particular order):
1. Satsuma Street Patterns. This one is called Pretty Little San Francisco and just this week Pretty Little Hong Kong came out.
2. Sophie Simpons' new book Secret Garden Embroidery (which I will be reviewing next week!)
3. Heather Ross' new fabric line Tiger Lily 
4. Needlepoint kit Kumo by POMPOM Design. I interviewed POMPOM Design founder Helena on the &Stitches blog last week.
5. Lovely The beaks, the birch and the bees design by Hanna Mason found on Spoonflower (via Pinterest)

Courtesy of: Terrys Fabrics

Book review: Stitch the Halls

Although we 'do' celebrate Christmas in our house, in our own quiet way, I'm not a huge fan of covering the whole house in Christmas decorations. Most decorations that stores offer don't appeal to me anyway. Santas are not allowed in my house (only the real one is, to drop off presents) and the only decorations I indulge in are a Christmas tree and lots of sparkly fairy lights.

But now Stitch the Halls by What Delilah Did* has arrived and I suddenly feel I need Mini-sampler Stockings in my tree and send Christmas cards with tiny jumpers on.

The Polar Parade bunting is one of my favourite projects in the book. Sophie's signature silhouette designs make this decoration sophisticated and timeless. Festive, but in a not exclusively Christmas kind of way. Brilliant.

With it's 80 pages this book will not take up much of shelf space but the 12 projects are all of great quality.  Personally, I'd rather have a small volume with great useful designs than a large book with lots of mediocre stuff.

Another favourite (it's so hard to choose though!) is this tiny 'Miss Prance-a-Lot' Peg doll ornament. The attention for detail is just fantastic.

The book starts with a chapter about Supplies and the basics of  Cross Stitch and Counted Thread embroidery are discussed. I thought this was particularly interesting as Counted Thread embroidery doesn't always gets mentioned in today's Embroidery books. A lot of the projects aren't incredibly complicated or time-consuming so all in all this would be a good starting point for anyone who wants to try their hand at cross stitch and/or counted embroidery.

Just like in Story Land Cross Stitching the photos (by Rachel Whiting) and illustrations (by Ana Victoria Calderon) are very charming.

Stitch the Halls is perfect for anyone who wants to add stylish, handmade stitched decorations to their home and presents (without the 'loudness' of the usual Christmas decorations!). It's available now in stores and online shops (including Sophie's own shop).



*As you may know I'm a longtime fan of Sophie's designs. I already had the book on my 'to buy list when I received a copy from the publisher for review. :) 

My Trip to London

I had a great time in London last weekend! After dropping off my suitcase at the hotel Friday morning I headed to Earl's Court which was the Tube station nearest to my hotel. Since I read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere I can never view the London Underground in the same way again and many of the Tube Stations and the famous 'Mind the Gap' phrase have a special connotation to me now. If you like (urban) science fiction than you should definitely check it out, especially if you are traveling to London.

Anyway, I was meeting my friend Sami at Earl's Court and we went on a quest to find Shaukat Fabrics. A store that is supposed to be like an Aladdin's Cave of Liberty Fabrics, some even say bargains can be found there. Well there was a lot of Liberty Fabric there, that's for sure, a bit overwhelming actually! I was really excited when I found the stacks of remnant fabrics. Sami and I went through the stack where all pieces cost 1 pound each, and I dug up a really lovely fabric (the white with flowers). The 2 and 5 pound stack was more impressive and there's where I found the other fabrics. The larger pieces were about a quarter of a metre and cost 5 pound. Reasonably priced but not exactly super-bargains.

Later that day Sami and I met up with Sophie (of What Delilah Did) and we went to see an interesting exhibition called 'Making Colour' in the National Gallery. After that we sat in a park (not sure which one) and talked lots, because that's something you do in parks rather than museums. :) We also managed to squeeze in a quick visit to Liberty where I found this fabulous patchwork deer. Saturday I went to the &Stitches Picnic in Hyde Park and I wrote a little bit about that on the &Stitches blog yesterday. I had quite a lot of time for myself on Sunday and visited the Victoria & Albert Museum where I saw some beautiful embroidered garments and textiles. Especially the Chinese Silk Embroideries were very impressive. 

I received some fabulous gift over the weekend like these two pendants. The one on the left was made by Sami in her signature blackwork-on-Liberty- fabric-style. The one on the right was stitched by Sophie (from &Stitches) and the odd thing was that the motif almost exactly matched that of the dress I was wearing on the day she gave me the pendant! 

It was great to spend a few days in one of my favourite cities again and I felt very lucky to have such wonderful company during my time in London. Thanks friends!

p.s. I totally forgot to mention Pigeon Steve-with-the-Leaf who joined us at the &Stitches picnic. Definitely will write about him in the future as I'm planning to embroider a Steve the Pigeon Portrait :)

Most Excellent Birth Sampler

Photo by Sophie of What Delilah Did

I love Sophie's version of my Most Excellent Party Bear pattern so much! She cleverly turned it into a Birth Sampler (by adding a date and initials to the balloons) and stitched it al so beautifully that I got a little teary-eyed when I saw the pictures on her blog. It's just perfect. :)

Favourites: 5 Modern Cross Stitch Designers

If you have been following my blog for a bit you know that I love to do some cross stitching every now and then and I thought I'd share some of my favourite contemporary Cross Stitch Designers with you. I have mentioned quite a few of these designers on this blog in the past but it's nice to see them all together in one post! In no particular order:

1. Emily Peacock designs beautiful needlepoint patterns and kits and  I love the vintage/retro feel of her work! The Meeting Place is a cross stitch design, worked with crewel wool and is one of her easier designs. It's available as a kit. 

2. What Delilah Did. Stylish, dreamy patterns and fabulous kits like the Wise Owl kit pictured above which is a pattern from Sophie's enchanting book Storyland Cross stitch (read my review) Patterns and kits range from easy to stuff for the more determined. ;) 

3. Frosted Pumpkin Stitcheries A bunch of cute and Kawaii-style patterns. The Sampler pattern Subscriptions like this Fairy Tale themed one are especially irresistible, even though I can never keep up with them!

4. Satsuma Street It's no wonder that Jody's fun patterns have gained a lot of popularity in a relatively short time. I for one am a huge fan of her colourful, fresh retro designs. Currently I'm stitching the Pretty Little London pattern. It's not a difficult pattern but it does take a while to finish so I guess a determined beginner could work these patterns too. :) 

5. Wee Little Stitches, home of the Original Pixel People. Many of Jacqueline and Christopher's patterns are inspired by popular culture and if you grew up (or were a slightly geeky teen) in the 80's (I was!) you'll love the Labyrinth and Pretty in Pink Patterns. Generally the patterns are easy to stitch, so perfect for cross stitch novices. I interviewed Jacqueline in Fall 2012 about Wee Little Stitches.

If you would love to try one (are more likely all) of these designs but have never done any cross stitching then don't worry: it's very easy to learn. Sophie has some great information on her website to get you started.

Happy (cross) stitching everyone!

Book review: Storyland Cross Stitch

When I recently learned that Sophie of What Delilah Did was going to release a book I was well excited! I really admire her dreamy, nostalgic style and have bought quite a few of her patterns over the years. If you, like me, love cross stitching endearing woodland animals and magical beasts, and a bit of folklore as well, you will definitely feel at home in the world of Storyland Cross Stitch!

I rarely never have come across an embroidery book that is as esthetically pleasing and stylish as this book. Throughout the book you'll find charming small water colour illustrations, which I assume Sophie made *, and beautiful photography. Even the classic, formal font goes perfectly with the nostalgic feel of the book. The only downside is that the text is a bit on the small side. I had trouble reading the instructions at night actually.

The book starts with a chapter about cross stitch supplies,  advice on how many strands to use on which count of fabric and a cross stitch 'how to'. It is followed by chapters for beginners, more advanced cross stitchers and  'projects for the brave and determined'. Each project has an introduction in the form of a short story so that you know a bit about (for example) The Fantabulous Mr Fox before you commence your stitching. All the information you need to make the patterns is there: size and type of fabric needed, needles, thread etc etc. Even the estimated time to complete the project is mentioned. Some projects like the pincushion or lavender sachet, have additional sewing instructions.

The patterns are all fantastic: from Sophie's signature silhouette designs of birds, stags and knights to a huge Wise Owl pattern in different shades of brown. My favourite project is probably the Enchanted Forest selection (see photo above) which is quite an ambitious project: it would add up to 100 hours of stitching all together (or in my case probably a bit longer) But what a beautiful collection it is!

I'm not sure about you but when I'm cross stitching I like to keep track of where I am by colouring in the parts of the pattern I have already completed. Obviously I wouldn't do that directly in this lovely  book, so the book advises to photocopy the patterns before starting. In an ideal world I would have loved the chance to go to the publishers website and download the charts (on a bigger scale) that I want to stitch instead of photocopying. Maybe an idea for a next book? As a bonus Storyland Cross Stitch also comes with a little kit (which includes fabric, floss, a chart and a needle) so you can start stitching right away, which I think is a fabulous extra to a fabulous book!

Storyland Cross Stitch is published by Anova books (Collins & Brown) and available now (RRP 14.99 GBP). For several of the projects, like the fox pincushion or the sampler, you can buy kits (or a book + kit combo) in the What Delilah Did Shop.

* Sophie let me know the wonderful illustrations are actually by Julianna Swaney.

Photos used in this review are from the book Storyland Cross Stitch (Anova books) and made by Rachel Whiting

This review, like any of my reviews, reflects my own opinion. Regardless whether publishers send me books or, like in this case, I have purchased the book myself.