Sew in Love: About

Sew in Love was started back in June 2005 as a personal record of getting on with and completing a number of half finished things I had hanging around at the time. It increased in both scope and readership during the following 12 years, but then, like many, I took an extended break. Posting is planned to recommence in late 2020, technology permitting.

You will find here as regular features:

*WIP photos and reports on the projects I have on hand, sometimes including design notes (where relevant) and where things went right or wrong.
*Finished projects
*Ideas and plans for future projects

From time to time I post:

*Tutorials on aspects of embroidery that people are most curious about, especially raised work/stumpwork.
*Articles on subjects I know at least something about.
*Links to others' work that I've found especially interesting and/or to retail sites where you can get supplies that are not so easy to track down, (such as wire for stumpwork etc.)
*Something amusing that isn't stitchcraft related, but that is harmless and that may spread a smile.

What you won't find is:

*Reams of info about my personal and daily life, except where strictly necessary - most readers just don't come for that and it can lead to problems when the author gets just a little too honest about how s/he feels about things....
*Photos of the above
*Tacky gimmicks, gadgets and clutter! ;)

Posting schedule:

Generally speaking, I post when I have something to share and that, at present, can mean anything! It all depends on how much I've been doing and having the time and desire to blog.

Myself

I was born in autumn 1971 in Leeds, northern England. I'm married to Martin, a 1966 model, made in Germany, and we have no kids or pets. By profession I'm a linguist and teacher, although I don't work much in either of those specialisms just now, beyond a little volunteer Mandarin teaching work here and there.

I loved art at school, but wasn't as good at it as I could have been had I taken the trouble to practice out of lessons. I didn't realise in those days that I had to work at anything as most stuff came so easily and I just dismissed anything else as 'I'm no good at that'. I did want to be good at art and for the teacher to 'spot' me, but the only highlight of my school art career was being called out from an end of year whole school assembly to collect a certificate for a piece I'd painted making it to the second level of a Cadbury's kids' art competition. I didn't know whether I was more embarrassed at the unexpected honour of going up in front of the whole school or stunned by the fact that the piece that had been entered for the competition was hung in the school corridor upside down! So much for modern art!

With needlework I found something I could make a decent job of straight away without wasting paint and spoiling paper. After doing some printed canvas needlepoint kits as a child and the freestyle embroidery of a T-shirt for part of my GCSE Art course when I was 16 back in 1988, I started stitching as an adult in 2002 when I was stuck at home with ME/CFS. I needed something to do to stop me being bored senseless or worse - spending all my passably well time doing ME/CFS reading and research! An old Taiwanese friend had arranged for me to forward her cross stitch magazine subscription to her, so I was seeing these interesting looking magazines coming through my door. One day, I took a couple of them and sat up in bed flicking through the designs. 'I could do that!' I thought and next time I ventured into town, I got myself a few scrap ends of Aida fabric from a small craft shop and my mum gave me her old threads and I had a go at stitching my very first piece - the little house card for an old friend when he moved into his first independent place.

Before long, I'd stitched several cards, bookmarks and small or medium sized pictures and had also made my first steps in hardanger, using the Mary Hickmott books. I went to my first stitching fair about 6 months after starting to stitch and met up with all manner of styles and products there - including the old Stitch Direct catalogue - fatal!

Stitching was very real therapy for me as it kept me creatively busy and, as every single piece (except the Bluetits bookmark kit I'd bought at that first show) was for someone else, it kept me involved with my friends' lives. I actually found that it gave me strength and energy, two things that I was critically short of, and kept my mind positively busy rather than dwelling on my less than desirable circumstances. Even though I underwent successful treatment for the CFS/ME with Mickel Therapy in 2005/6, I decided to keep up the stitchery.

I started on some freestyle and even stumpwork things within two years of starting stitching, sometime in 2003/4. In the years since then, I've done several techniques and even made a start on doing the City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Embroidery in 2008/9, but sadly, I wasn't able to to finish it thanks to an international relocation amongst other things.

Embroidery Styles/Techniques I've Done So Far:

Cross stitch, including Assisi

Hardanger

Freestyle, including thread painting

Stumpwork, including wired shapes, padding, slips and basic needlelace

Goldwork

Needlepoint - printed canvas kits

Ribbon embroidery

Counted thread/sampler designs with pulled and drawn work included

Patchwork and quilting - a tiny bit

Appliqué both standard and reverse

Broderie Anglaise
Brazilian embroidery
Blackwork

Styles I Plan to Try Soon

Miniaturisation of various things, esp. hardanger, blackwork and stumpwork

Crewel work - although not with wool, which I dislike

Canvas work proper, not just printed kits