Workshop coming up in 2016!

Next year I'll be hosting an Embroidery workshop for Beginners in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) at a local gift & craft shop called 'Maak' (which means 'Make') . I know that's probably halfway around the world for most of you, but just in case you live within travel distance of Rotterdam: come join me! The price is 30 euros and coffee (or tea) cake and a kit with supplies and instructions are included (yay!).

It's a workshop for beginners, but if you happen to be a little more advanced in your embroidery skills, I'm happy to help too. I can also give instructions in English, so please feel welcome too if you don't speak Dutch and think you can bear my Dutch accent. :) Mail to the ladies at 'Maak' to sign up for the workshop.

What do you think?

I'm thinking of trying, to teach embroidery workshops locally (although invitations to exciting places elsewhere will definitely be taken in consideration!) and I was wondering what would be the best way to introduce people to embroidery. A small embroidery project maybe? Or something a bit more 'practical' like embroidery on clothing? Or a sampler? And would a basic kit be a good idea (hoop, needle etc) and perhaps a small guide to the basics to take home? What would your perfect workshop look like? And is there anything beyond embroidery basics that you would like to learn from me? Let me know, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Lotus Flower & Simply Shading Workshop

I finished this Lotus Flower today. It's part of my Simply Shading Workshop that starts in about a months time. Throughout the workshop there are 'needle workouts', short exercises that will help students 'see' how shading works. Most of these don't even involve using needle and thread! The Lotus Flower obviously does though and it's an exercise that comes up towards the end of the
workshop.

You can still sign up until the end of this month, after that I'm going to send out the little kits that go with the workshop.  The kits include my new Bird & Flower iron-on pattern (yay!), needles, fabric and the handy floss organisers pictured in the first photo. This workshop is for the uninitiated, basic embroidery skills & motiviation will do. There will be no stitchy snooty-ness just pure shading fun!

Simply Shading Online Embroidery Workshop!

Often when I post a (progress) photo of one of my embroideries online I get comments like 'I wish I could embroider like that'. That inspired me to start writing and preparing my new workshop Simply Shading. It's aimed at embroiderers (I think even adventurous new embroiderers could join) who want to try their hand at shading but need a little push in the right direction. :) You will learn how to choose colours and shades and use them effectively.

The workshop starts on the 18th of June and will end 4 weeks later. A kit with fabric, needles, floss holders and the Flower & Bird iron-on pattern (finished embroidery pictured above) are included but thread is not included. The lessons will be available as downloadable PDFs and there will be a student and teacher only forum for feedback and questions. And... as my former Furry Nice students know I'm always happy to answer any questions you have via e-mail or on Instagram.

Shading is really a lot of fun and not incredibly complicated but it takes time, practice and patience. I look forward to tell you all about it in the workshop!

You can sign up for the workshop now and if you use the code EARLYBIRDY before the 3rd of April, you will receive a 10% discount. Yay! Hope to see you many of you in the workshop!

Shading Extravaganza

I'm trying my best to put a super fabulous online class together, as well as kits to go with it (and feed the family from time to time and conquer mountains of washing) so posting on this blog might be a little less frequent the coming months. I hope this Shading Extravaganza makes up for it....You guessed it, my online workshop will involve a good portion of shading but I'm putting my own spin on it. It's 'shading for the uninitiated', so if you have some basic embroidery skills and want to really learn something (instead of copying an example to the exact stitch) this might be a good one for you. :)

Foxglove in stitches and an embroidery workshop

I managed to get a little bit of stitching done on my big Bear and Fish project around Christmas time. Deciding on what the best way was to embroider the Foxglove was hard. I tried different things, un-picked a lot of stitching but now I'm quite happy with how the Foxglove turned out.

While the stitching might look a bit frumpy and not-so-subtle up close, the over all photo gives a better idea how it looks in relation to the whole image.

Photo and Embroidery by Georgia Mc Donald

In other news: Claire over at Patch Fabric and Haberdashery in Lowestoft, Suffolk (UK) has an Embroidery Sampler workshop planned on February 23rd using my Princess and Abel patterns. Go check the details here. Unfortunately I can't be there myself but I have met Claire at the Fat Quarterly Retreat in London last year, she is a lovely person and I just know the workshop is going to be wonderful!

Within the next week or two I'm hoping to release a new pattern, I'm not going to reveal exactly what it is except that it is not too large and comes in three different varieties (all included in the one pattern). :)