Review: Knitlandia

Apr 29, 2020Apr 27, 2020 toomanystitches5 Comments

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you make any purchases via these links, I receive a small commission that contributes to the running costs of the blog. However, any recommendations and opinions in this review are my own. For more information, please click here.

A book about knitting in the New York Times Bestseller list? Apparently not as outrageous as it sounds. Welcome to ‘Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World’, Clara Parkes’s collection of tales of knitting conventions and events across the world.

astitchornine (1)

Review: Threads of Life

Apr 1, 2020Mar 31, 2020 toomanystitches5 Comments

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you purchase the book through these links, I receive a small commission that contributes to the running costs of the blog. However, any recommendations and opinions in this review are my own. For more information, please click here.

Art? Handicraft? Women’s work? What is needlework to you? To Clare Hunter, needlework is not just a decorative frivolity but true skilled labour and a means of telling the stories of the individuals, countries and historical periods. To her, the act of sewing is to secure and trap out personal memories in thread and fabric. ‘Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle’ is Clare Hunter’s exploration of the oft-forgotten tales of the accomplished hands that created many different textile pieces, lost and preserved, and the political and social environments surrounding their work.

astitchornine (12)

Kew Gardens and Orchids

Mar 11, 2020Mar 8, 2020 toomanystitches7 Comments

When I heard there was going to be a special exhibition on orchids at Kew Gardens, I knew this was an exhibition I would happily make an effort to see. For those of you not familiar with Kew, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site home to over 50 000 plants and has one of the most diverse plant collections in the world. For the embroiderers, it is a beautiful botanical garden situated nearby Hampton Court palace if you want to sneak some stitching!

astitchornine (1)

Hello 2020!

Jan 1, 2020Dec 25, 2019 toomanystitches6 Comments

Happy 2020 everyone, may the new year bring you lots of great ideas, fabulous materials and the time to put them all together! As is traditional for this time of the year, let’s have a look back over some of the last year and set out some overly ambitious goals for the year.

astitchornine (7)

On Change

Dec 25, 2019Dec 22, 2019 toomanystitches4 Comments

Phew. Sorry for the extended absence. Normally when I know I’m going to hit a busy period I try and get organised and make sure I have a few things prepared in advance but with everything that has been going on I’m afraid my organisational skills haven’t been extending more than five minutes into the future.

astitchornine (3)

Catching a Break

Jul 17, 2019Jul 14, 2019 toomanystitches5 Comments

I think I should be very careful about ever complaining about have a few too many demands on my time on my blog again…. Apparently, life decided to take that as something of a challenge and pile things on to an extent that definitely crossed the ridiculous threshold and in a way that will also mean lots of big changes up ahead… Just when I was thinking of getting a bit settled!

astitchornine (7)

Bluprint and Craftsy

Apr 10, 2019Apr 3, 2019 toomanystitches9 Comments

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but as I thought I’d finally find the time to finish up a Craftsy course I’d watched part-way through and then abandoned, I couldn’t escape sharing a few of my thoughts on some of the changes that Craftsy has undergone in its reimaging as the new Bluprint website. For those of you not familiar with Craftsy, it was an online craft course platform, where you could purchase a video course, watch away at your leisure, and interact with other students and the instructor through a type of integrated forum. astitchornine (1)

Hello 2019!

Jan 2, 2019Dec 27, 2018 toomanystitches10 Comments

Welcome to the first post of 2019, what I hope will be a happy year for all of you filled with piles of shiny inspiration and crafting time. If I look back over the last year, before I start looking forward into the next one, it has definitely been an interesting time as well as the year where this blog has grown to over 100 posts!

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Review: The Secret Lives of Colour

Dec 12, 2018Dec 10, 2018 toomanystitches10 Comments

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you purchase the book through these links, I receive a small commission to help keep running the blog. However, any recommendations and opinions in this review are my own. For more information, please click here.

For regular readers of the blog, it will come as no surprise when I say I really, really like colours. I like looking at them, playing with them, making them and stumbling upon which combinations come together to make something even more exciting than their constituent parts. It probably also comes as no surprise then, that when I saw Kassia St Clair’s ‘The Secret Lives of Colour’, I felt as though someone had written a book just for me.

astitchornine (7)

Crafting Argh

Aug 15, 2018Aug 12, 2018 toomanystitches7 Comments

I think I am suffering with a great case of crafter’s block, which I am going to define as suffering with the desire to make all the things, having lots of ideas, but no ability to actually execute any of this.

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