2025 - Another Busy Year
The last
five years have meant change for all of us, not least me and this
business.
With the addition of the online classes – and their accompanying videos – the number of folders on my hard drive has at least doubled, if not more than doubled and I am often to be found looking at all those folders with a confused look on my face, not knowing where I have saved something. I’ve got good at using the ‘search’ function, I have to say.
Finally, though, things seem to be settling down. In between general admin and trips overseas, with Andrea and Zandile taking care of kit packing and orders, I have now got myself into a good routine, dividing myself between the various aspects of what I call ‘product development’ – that is, designing and stitching new projects, writing up the instructions (or books) and then working up online classes and making the video clips.
I call it ‘product development’ but when I speak to my adult children, they refer to it as ‘content creation’. Oh well, just semantics and maybe a little of the old generation gap.
Getting into the new routine involves communication and what you might call some marketing – although my children might have another name for that too. Whatever it might be doesn’t matter.
As soon as the kits are ready (within the next fortnight), I will be telling you about 3 new designs and in the not too distant future I will be able to tell you about the next book - a collaboration with Phillipa Turnbull and really quite exciting. In the meantime, though, let’s tell you what workshops are lined up for 2025.
In April/May, I will be travelling up to Harare, Zimbabwe to judge their annual Guild competition and to do workshops. This is all under the auspices of the Needlecraft Guild of Zimbabwe and if my last trip up there is anything to go by, I know that I will be inspired by what those ladies create under, really, often difficult circumstances. If you’re in that part of the world, and would like to know more, please email me (address at the bottom of this newsletter). I will give you Julie’s contact details.
For the
rest of the year, I am doing a whole lot of online workshops for Guilds in the
US and, as part of seminars in the US and Canada.
Also, before I leave for Zim and on the 26th April, I will be starting the live sessions for a 4-session workshop for the Corning Chapter in New York State. At this stage they are still voting to choose what project they will be doing. It’s a choice between Jacobean design no. 18 and Reflection. The live sessions for that workshop will continue when I return from Zimbabwe. I imagine that being in the early stages of planning, there will be places available in that workshop and if you would like to know who to contact, drop me an email and I’ll get back to you.
On the 26th May, we will start a 4-session live online workshop for the Neapolitan Guild in Florida, USA. The project for this workshop is Clive the Chameleon, so lots to get into there because it involves learning the 3-dimensional beadwork flowers – amongst other things. I’m not sure of the booking status for that workshop but if this appeals to you and you would like to know who to contact, drop me an email and I’ll get back to you.
Every Saturday and Sunday in June will see me doing live online workshops for Stitching Under the Arch, the 2025 Canadian embroidery guilds seminar. In these workshops I will be teaching Summer Jewels and Reflection.
If you are interested in taking part, you should CLICK HERE. Scroll down to the section outlined in green and this will give you the details of these workshops. Click on the workshop title to get the details and then go HERE to register. You will need to be a member of the Embroiderer’s Association of Canada to take part in these online workshops and you will be able to arrange that HERE.
During July, I will be continuing with workshops started earlier in the year – Clive the Chameleon and whatever project we are doing to the Corning Chapter – then in August, I’ll be doing the Daisy Pincushion for the EGA Dayton Chapter.
Daisy Pincushion
That’s a great little project originally designed for the New York seminar, so this will be something of an encore and if you think you’d like to participate, would like to know who to contact, drop me an email and I’ll get back to you.
From mid-September until the end of October, I will be busy with the EGA Needlework Faire 2025, being held in Dallas but of course, I will be teaching my workshops online.
If you want the details of those classes, you will find them HERE and you can register HERE. As with the Canadian Seminar, you will need to be a member of the EGA and you can join HERE.
Most of these online events happen on Saturdays and Sundays, all done in the time zone of those participating in the workshops – usually their morning and my late afternoon/evening. So that’s me out of mischief for many of the weekends this year. There is, however, still space to add more workshops, particularly if they are during the week and also, in other time zones. An Australian afternoon, for example, is my morning and of course the UK and Europe at on a very similar time to me. So, shout if you’d like to organize anything and we’ll talk.
If you want
to see what’s available at the moment, bearing in mind that I add to it
regularly, CLICK HERE. Read through to the bottom and then click on
the two links that take you to the 4- and 6-session workshops. When you get to those pages, there is a link
below each photo. That gives you the
full details of the workshop.
So, that's it for today. I hope that the new designs will be ready in the next fortnight and you will hear from me as soon as they are uploaded on the website.
Till then,
Hazel
email: blomkamp.hazel@gmail.com or info@hazelblomkamp.com
