Anna Pearson's Needlepoint Blog

Painting by Hugh Barnden ‘It is how you feel about your home rather than the way it looks’ an interesting comment read recently – when I got to think about it, it makes a great deal of sense.    It is the personal things, the items you have collected on holidays or trips to the country or treasures handed down from your family - and of course things like your needlepoint either made by you or your children or friends given as special gifts. Certain colours in rooms give me a thrill, in a previous home we inherited a deep blue bath (having always said there was only one colour for vanity wear – white) it was tempting to replace it but I decided to work with it, so pleased I did, teaming it with Moroccan tiles and this painting. Our present bedroom is shades of soft blue, the reason for many of my needlepoint designs being shades of the same colour.    Calm, peaceful but full of stitching memories that give me pleasure every time I go in.   Besides two...

Recently back from our third visit to Borghetto Calcinaia following much the same programme as in our previous visits and with three new people to join those who had been before. Special interest holidays work well, needlepoint and stitching are no exception, all the participants have a passion in common and I find needle pointers love flowers, gardens and visiting interesting art museums and quaint villages. They also enjoy their food and sampling recipes and fresh ingredients’ from the area.   A win win situation. Possibly the most important feature of the trip is the stitching project on offer; ideally everyone working on the same design – even if some details are adapted – works so much better with cross fertilisation of ideas and swapping of threads.    On our previous two visits we have worked on panels by the Del Robbia family – a famous family of potters from the area who produced their panels in the 16 century.This year we chose the attractive logo from th...

I know no-one who doesn’t love flowers, the colours the smell so little wonder, flowers have been a favourite subject with artists and embroiderers throughout the ages. My own Boots. Purchased in Turkey. In Elizabethan times, the English, well known for their love of gardening, have used flowers often in a naturalistic style than most other countries – vegetables and fruit   were almost as popular.   The larger pieces were often planned and sometimes worked by professional men but these too frequently hade flowers and foliage as part of the design. My favourite reference books The Needleworker’s Dictionary’   - Pamela Clabburn ‘The Embroiderer’s Flowers – Thomasina Beck. In Victorian times, with the increased leisure time among the middle classes, embroidery and watercolour painting   were practiced and flowers particularly popular.   Berlin wool work designs printed, hand coloured in the early days were worked with a special wool and sometimes ...