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To start off with transparency, I want to be clear that I was sent a free copy of this book for an honest review. The word honest is key here. Everything I write is always completely and utterly unfiltered and these are my own, honest views through and through.

Royal School of Needlework (RSN) Stitch Guides – you know you’ll see high quality work within and this book is no exception!

“Goldwork” by Helen McCook (a Royal School of Needlework tutor) is a comprehensive book that seeks to share the history of the needlework technique, the tools required to try it, a breakdown of the associated techniques as well as images of inspirational projects.

The images are sublime and are a testament to the true beauty of this technique and the interwoven elements of colour, light and texture.

The contents page is clear and inspiring with such rich colours and textures. The introduction includes background information about the Royal School of Needlework as well as the technique of Goldwork itself before then providing a detailed exploration of fabric, threads, hoops and frames, tools and more.

It provides clear and easy to follow information about how to frame up or hoop up depending on your preference and project.

What I really like is that this book does not presume prior knowledge so it really does guide you through the whole process in a way that is useful for experienced stitchers and new stitchers alike.

Next, the book moves onto the methods involved in goldwork.

These methods include couching with different threads, finishing your stitching with different threads, how to handle angles when stitching, cutwork, basketweave and more.

I had a go at couching with rococo, before subsequently following the instructions for couching angles.

The book then moves onto the stitches that can be used as surface stitches in goldwork (chain stitch, feather stitch, trellis stitch). I can’t wait to try these out!

Lastly, the book presents a section on ‘Combining Techniques’. In this section, a range of photos are presented along with information about the materials and techniques used.

Personally, this section was less useful than the other sections. I absolutely adored seeing the photos of Helen’s work but I would have loved the last section to actually have projects so that I could use the techniques that had been taught earlier in the book.

All in all, this is a beautiful book so I would give it 4*.

To start off with transparency, I want to be clear that I was sent a free copy of this book for an honest review. The word honest is key here. Everything I write is always completely and utterly unfiltered and these are my own, honest views through and through.

Carolyn Forster is a sewing extraordinaire and someone whose work I have admired for many years. If you don’t already follow Carolyn on Instagram then I would really encourage you to do so as she posts such incredible and inspiring makes. Carolyn has published extensively and I was so excited to see Carolyn’s new book!

‘Quilt As You Go‘ is published by Search Press and it is a detailed, inspirational and comprehensive book that explores the quilt-as-you-go technique.

The book contains 14 individual projects for quilt-as-you-go techniques including hand-sewing, machine sewing, log cabins, stitch-and-flip methods, cathedral windows and so, much more.

In the introduction of the book, Carolyn explores the history of ‘quilt-as-you-go’. I absolutely adore reading the history of techniques and I think this is such an important section to include as it shows that the book has been comprehensively researched. Again, the inclusion of this section as the start of a book is a true testament to Carolyn and her work ethic.

Carolyn then guides you through the tools and materials that you’ll need (threads, fabrics, needles, wadding etc) before then explaining quilting and binding techniques. The layout of the book is extremely accessible, intuitive and inspirational.

Then Carolyn moves onto the 14 techniques. I’m going to start off by saying how incredible they all are! Genuinely, each technique made me think “oh my gosh, this is amazing! I’ll start this straight away”…then I turned the page and fell in love with the following technique, and the following technique, and the following technique and so on! Be prepared to fall in love with them all!

Carolyn starts by presenting each technique with some information about the history of the technique, the measurements, the methods involved and inspiration for developing it further.

I really like that the requirements for each technique are clear, detailed and leave no unexpected surprises! I also really like that Carolyn encourages you to explore your own tastes and creativity when making.

The instructions for each of the 14 techniques comprise of clear textual, step-by-steps accompanied by labelled and coordinating photos. This combination is invaluable for supporting you as the maker. Carolyn then gives instructions, and inspiration, for joining your blocks together.

There are templates to accompany all of the projects that require them. They are printed at full size which is always helpful as it means you don’t have to do any increases.

The photography is utterly sublime. The level of sumptuous detail is breathtaking.

I can wholeheartedly say that this is the best patchwork book that I have read in a long, long time. It is my must-have book for 2021….and 2022 too! 5* (and I’d give it more if I could!)

I was sent a free copy of the “Transfer & Stitch” book, published by Search Press, in exchange for an honest review.

‘Transfer & Stitch’, a new publication by Search Press, is an amalgamation of 140 embroidery designs from previously published, bestselling transfer designs. The difference this time, is that they’re all brought together into a single publication. The fabulous pro to this is that they are all encompassed within a beautiful, new folder edition!

When you open up this fabulous folder edition, there are 2 books inside. One book contains step-by-step photos of embroidery tutorials followed by images of the finished embroidery designs themselves and ideas for how to use those designs (tablecloths etc).

The imagery is absolutely exquisite and the stitch tutorials are very clear and accessible.

The 2nd book contains the reusable embroidery transfers themselves. I love that they’re multi-use so that you can use them again and again (and again and again!) You simply cut out the page of the transfer design that you’d like to embroider, place it face down onto your fabric, cover it with a tea-towel and iron!

When you remove the paper transfer, you have a folder ready to store it in thanks to this new book edition! You are then left with the stunning design on your fabric ready to start embroidering.

The book doesn’t give you a step-by-step tutorial for which stitches to use on the design. The idea is that the book acts as a source of inspiration and then you, as the stitcher, can use any stitch/thread/colour combination to make it your own. Personally, I think this can be both a pro and a con. If you’re new to embroidery or not very confident in designing embroidery, it could feel quite overwhelming to have to choose the stitches yourself. Conversely, it could act as a springboard for creativity so that you can make it to the style you’d prefer.

The designs themselves are absolutely fantastic. Such a huge variety of designs and motifs so there is sure to be multiple designs that catch your eye and heart!

This will make a breathtakingly beautiful and creative gift for yourself and for loved ones too with inspiration aplenty!

I wanted to share a photo tutorial for how I made my fabric postcard. I made this postcard as part of the ‘Dear Me’ postcard activity for the ‘Crafting During Coronavirus’ research project but I wanted the tutorial for the postcard to be available generally too as it is such a fun, creative project.

I’ve also made a YouTube tutorial for creating a stitched postcard which can be found here: https://youtu.be/xq41v0wBvPo

Materials for making a stitched postcard:

• Fabric (this will be for the front of your postcard) measuring 5″ x 7″
• Wadding measuring 6″ x 8″
• Vlieseline bondaweb measuring 5″ x 7″
• 160gsm card measuring 6″ x 4″
• Baking parchment measuring 7″ x 18″ (it is really important to use baking parchment rather than greaseproof paper)
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Rotary cutter, mat, ruler, scissors, pen
• Iron and ironing board

Instructions for making a textile postcard:

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22. Once you’re back to where you started, having sewn twice around all 4 edges with a tight zig-zag stitch, secure your thread by reverse stitching 0.5″ and sewing forwards again by 0.5″.

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23. Trim any loose threads.

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Your stitched fabric postcard is now complete!

The ‘Dear Me’ activity is part of the ‘Crafting During Coronavirus’ research project. The idea for this activity is, if you could craft a postcard to send to your past self (March 2020) from your current self (March 2021), what would you say to yourself? What craft would you use for your postcard?

I spent some time reflecting on what I’d like my postcard, to my past me from my current me, to say and how I’d like it to look. I knew I wanted to use something I’d made during 2020. For me, it felt like a tangible, crafted piece of positivity and I love the idea of showing my past me (even if only hypothetically) that there will be positive things/times/creations in the year to come.

I was watching the news and I was increasingly anxious about it all but I also found comfort and calm in the soothing repetition of marbling (something I haven’t done for many, many years). I shared a video on my Twitter showing some of the process: https://twitter.com/naomia_creative/status/1239934199102091265?s=20

I haven’t used the marbled paper since but this activity felt like the right time to use some of it.

This is my completed “Dear Me” postcard for the ‘Crafting During Coronavirus’ research project! I also made a second postcard as I wanted to do a tutorial for making a fabric postcard which you can find here: https://naomialice.co.uk/2021/03/12/fabric-postcard-tutorial/

The writing on the fabric postcard was exactly the same, but I used fabric that I printed during 2020 and which I wrote about in my ‘Crafting During Coronavirus’ diary.

Here it is! The idea for the 2020 #focuscuttingsewalong group quilt. If you’ve taken part in the 2020 #focuscuttingsewalong at any point (from 1 week through to all the weeks) and you’d like to make a block for our group quilt then I would absolutely love it if you took part. This year, there is a new optional extra to the group quilt and I’ve made a YouTube video explaining the block, the written (optional) extra and how to make your own templates if you’d like to. Please, please watch this video as it covers some of the key points! The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/eAT2htDi1B0

There is absolutely NO pressure to take part in the group quilt – it is completely optional and it won’t impact your participation in the sewalong in any way. I also want to say that I won’t share any photos of your writing or of your block unless I’ve got your permission to do so as this is your work.

Ideally, please could they arrive before the end of December 2020 at the very latest. I will let you know when your block arrives and share update photos of the quilt coming together. If you’re sending it to me from abroad then please could you mark the block as a ‘gift’ on customs with a value of less than £10 otherwise I get stung by customs. Please do know that I value your time and effort and that I know your time and effort is worth a lot more than £10.

So excited to see how this quilt progresses!

Some housekeeping points:

• Please take the time to watch the YouTube video that I made in relation to this block. That video can be found here: https://youtu.be/eAT2htDi1B0
• Please make sure you use a minimum of 3/8″ seam allowance on your houses and half square triangles. This is a really big help to me to make sure it can withstand the handling as I stitch it all together.
• Please can you thread baste your houses and your half square triangles. I’ve got a YouTube video exploring how to thread baste these shapes which can be found here: https://youtu.be/N7sQH1BUXzw
• We’re going to focus cut blue fabric for the houses, we’re going to use low-volume fabric for the half-square triangles, we’re going to embroider, in orange thread a word that represents the sewalong to you (this may be your overall reflections, what it has meant to you, what it has been like to be part of the sewalong this year or another word related to the sewalong entirely) and a word to represent your location, and we’re also doing an optional extra of writing down a bit about your block so that I can make a memory album to keep alongside our quilt. I talk about this memory album in the YouTube video so I’d really recommend watching the video as well as reading the instructions on this page (which also covers the memory album).

The 2020 group quilt ‘Floating Orbs’ block:

The block for the 2020 group quilt uses 2″ houses and 2″ half square triangles. In the YouTube video I show you how to make these shapes using a pencil, ruler, scissors and a sheet of 160gsm. Please do take the time to watch the video as this helps to make sure the blocks are all the same size which makes it much easier to sew together. The video is available here: https://youtu.be/eAT2htDi1B0 I’d really recommend watching the video for making the templates and ensuring they’re the correct size for the block as this makes it much easier for me to be able to stitch the blocks together.

Making the templates for the ‘Floating Orbs’ 2020 group quilt block:

Embroidering your words for your ‘Floating Orbs’ 2020 group quilt block:

10. Cut and baste the low-volume fabric for your remaining 2 half-square triangles and put all 4 half-square triangles to one side.

Focus cutting your houses for the ‘Floating Orbs’ 2020 group quilt block

1. Choose a blue fabric to focus cut for your houses (this doesn’t have to be entirely blue, just so long as a majority of it is blue then it is fabulous and helps to bring all the blocks together). The focus cutting is a big part of this group quilt because focus cutting is the foundation of our sewalong! I chose to focus cut these Art Gallery Fabrics windows to represent how windows have been such a big part of 2020 (I’ll explain more further down the page). It is completely up to you whether to focus cut stripes, whole motifs, mystery sections, kaleidoscope sections, motifs that represent this year for you or the sewalong for you, a fabric you love or another reason entirely – this is your block and it is your chance to make your voice and your style seen and heard!

The ‘Floating Orbs’ 2020 Group Quilt Memory Album

This part is completely optional! You can make the block and not do this written part and that’s absolutely okay! I thought it would be really good to make a memory album to keep alongside our group quilt. This is the chance to write down something about your block and this could be writing down a bit about the word that you chose or the fabric that you chose, it might be reflections on the #focuscuttingsewalong (previously the #fussycuttingsewalong) this year, your experiences of being part of the sewalong overall, it might be a combination of all of these factors or another #focuscuttingsewalong piece of writing entirely. It can be as long or as short as you’d like it to be. This is your voice, your words and your text to capture your experiences and your block however you’d like to. The plan is to keep this writing alongside our quilt as its legacy of both the quilt itself and of the stitchers who’ve made it possible. I won’t share any photos of your writing or of your block unless I’ve got your permission to do so as this is your work.

For my writing, I explained a little bit about why I stitched the word ‘constancy’. This year has felt so ever-changing and the constancy of the sewalong has been my rock. I know our themes have changed and our shapes are different from previous years, but the foundations of the sewalong (in terms of the focus cutting, the positive and supportive camaraderie, the humour, the understanding and the creativity) have stayed the same. I also wrote a little bit about why I chose to focus cut windows. Here in the UK, many households crafted rainbows and displayed them in their windows to show support for the NHS keyworkers, to display bunting for VE day, to display balloons and banners when people celebrated their birthdays in lockdown…they became our home-galleries. The window felt like a really important motif for me personally to focus cut for the 2020 so I wanted to record that alongside my block.

Again, I want to stress that you do not have to do this. You may have chosen a fabric because you love it and for no other reason than ‘just because’ and that is a fabulous reason in and of itself! This is your block and you can make it for whatever reason you’d like to with no explanation necessary. This writing part is only an extra if you’d like to do it and I will be guided by you!

Please do drop me a message if there’s anything I’ve missed out!