Anna Pearson's Needlepoint Blog

  Just returned from yet another lovely trip to Calabria in Southern Italy.    This was our 12 th annual trip, many of the group have been on all occasions as trips like this are popular; we   share an interest/passion for needlepoint; enjoy the unique opportunity to stitch in attractive surroundings and as far as possible have an all-in price.    All of them, besides being enthusiastic stitchers are great photographers.    I have been the recipient of many, many beautiful memories of the trip and it will be difficult job to select those that I include in this blog. Calabria is still a relatively unknown area of Italy, Pirapora the Agro tourism family run place we go is on the West coast looking out across the beautiful turquoise sea to Stromboli and the island of Sicily.     This year both the weather and the visibility were perfect, the sunsets over Stromboli – were picture perfect;   Each year during the winter ...

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...

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 ...

Every time I promise myself to write a blog at least every 2 to 3 weeks and this time is no exception.   I truly longed to share both the photographs and lovely stories about our Italian retreat with you but on my return things caught up with me. Italian Sampler First I had my second eye operated on for a cataract (great success thank goodness, I can see much better) then there was the Autumn class programme to plan (now available with a generous discount for multiple bookings and payment before the end of August) – let me know if you would like a copy. But the project that I have been spending a deal of time on is the planning and stitching of the gorgeous piece for the project on our first trip to Tuscany at the end of September.   I have shown it before in my last blog . However, as promised, news of this year’s trip to Calabria.   We were 10, two from Belgium, 2 girls joining us for the first time and 5 others who have been often before.    Whi...

On 1 st June there will be an exhibition of needlepoint, new designs, old favourites, custom designs and interesting making up.   Do join us; full details anna.pearson365@gmail.com In this year of celebrating 45 years needlepoint it got me to thinking just how much had changed little since the time in the 70s when I started the first classes in a rented location in Victoria! Right from the start there were certain aims to try and adhere to; First people enjoy the class situation, having friendly help with their stitching, meeting like-minded people and seeing and trying out accessories.    Here in Spain (one of our earliest trips) we enjoyed delicious meals too! Students attending class or ordering by post (now from our web sites) appreciate being able to have a design in different colourways or even order it without threads so they can create their very own scheme.     WE have never designed an item without knowing a reliable professional ...

We have just returned from a break to Italy, too busy stitching to blog, sorry about that however I am longing to share the news with you now. We had our 8 th visit to Pirapora a family run Agro tourism place that grows all its own fruit and vegetables, even the wine we drink with dinner.    The location is perfect, pleasant shady gardens where we stitch, weather allowing, with stunning views of the sea. Everyone stitched their own design which added to interesting discussions and suggestions.    As before one outing to an interesting place was all I could encourage them to take – this year we went to a Roman/Norman site Catanzaro.    Our English speaking guide who with his knowledge adds a great deal to any of our trips and this time was no exception, we had a visit to an old olive press with the original machinery and an embroiderer’s work studio   and saw her working with the silks produced from the silk worms who enjoy the mulberry leaves gr...