How I used my embroidery and FREE workshops!

Excuse me a moment while I blow the cobwebs off this blog!
A bit of a posting break occurred due to a lingering virus, too many magazine deadlines, a lot of classes and a 4 day show at Glasgow SECC that involved 4 EPP workshops a day!
Today is my first proper day off in weeks so I am catching up a bit.

And I don't really have that much to show you due to all the 'secret sewing'. But I do want to tell you about some FREE embroidery workshops I'm giving in November!

Back in the summer I taught 'Further Adventures in Embroidery' at the Fat Quarterly Retreat in London. I ended up with 2 finished pieces. The original piece has been turned into a Dresden Plate cushion cover, using lovely 'Maisie' by Maude Asbury for Blend Fabrics  (one of my favourite lines this year) and Essex yarn-dyed linen in black. I portholed the embroidery to make it big enough for the centre.

I think it goes very well with my yo-yo cushion from Love Patchwork and Quilting a few months back and that WIP popcorn rose crochet throw which I must get back to this winter (along with all the other half finished crochet blankets!).

This is the second version of the embroidery that I made to work out how much thread I needed for the thread packs. This one is on natural linen and a very different colourway, still all DMC perle cotton 8.
And below is the original piece. I do plan to sell the embroidery pattern but haven't had a chance to sort that yet (see paragraph 1).

So what about those FREE workshops, eh?
Do you remember The Great Tapestry of Scotland? I went on about it quite a bit a year or so ago when I was working on one of the panels with my group.
Well it is still touring around and right now it is at New Lanark World Heritage Village and they have asked me to do a couple of embroidery classes for them. So I am repeating Further Adventures in Embroidery but this time over 3 hours. And they are free workshops!
It just costs £10 for supplies but that includes all the thread you need and your linen already marked up with the design and inserted in a hoop ready to go!

If you'd like to book on one of these free workshops (which are Saturday 8th November a.m. and Friday 14th November p.m.) just call 01555 661345 or email trust@newlanark.org
And of course you can see the tapestry too! More info here.

Here is the only new crafting I can show you. I made this whilst doing the 16 (!) EPP workshops over at the recent SECC show, they are 1 inch hexies. I'm thinking of hand quilting it then turning it into a zippy pouch for our EMQG secret santa swap.
It makes me happy to turn every waking minute into something productive and use everything up. Not that I'm obsessive or anything!!