Anna Pearson's Needlepoint Blog

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 ...

Our trip to Tuscany was fabulous, just as much fun stitching as our previous visit and interest in wonderful places that they had organised for us to go. However, before I tell you, and hopefully tempt you to join us next year (we are working on dates around the end of April 2018) I must refer back to my last blog with tips for travel and mention some important items I forgot – When taking a floor frame (the Lowery is my favourite) do take the Allen key to help re-assemble it on arrival.    Before leaving home it is also a good moment to put a little Vaseline on all the screws; (this is recommended and makes swivelling to get to the back for finishing off much easier) When taking any magnification be sure to have some cover for the lens.   Some models have a ‘bag’ or metal disc but these strong magnifiers can easily cause a fire – even for short periods like a quick lunch! So, I do hope you found all these tips useful and I am sure that you have some of your ...