Going Round In Circles

Around the end of November last year, a week or so after I had my shoulder fixed - so my arm was still in a sling - we had a bit of a dog fight here.  With blood. Never nice when that happens and I was to be found doing an emergency dash to the vet with a distressed Maltese and my own dicky right arm.  I left her there to be fixed up and came home somewhat unhappy myself and set about sorting out the root of the problem - another Maltese who was living with us and was upsetting the balance.

Halfway through organising her a fabulous new home (where she is now settled, spoilt and very happy) I received a message from my publisher asking me if I would collaborate with Di van Niekerk and Monique Day-Wilde to stitch and write a book on hand embroidered mandalas.  Being a most agreeable person I said yes, no problem, absolutely fine and got on with my day which ended with me picking up poor little Phoebe the Maltese from the vet, still a bit confused from the anaesthetic and with all sorts of drains coming out of her worst wounds.  I'm pleased to report that she got back to normal very quickly and all is now happy in the Blomkamp Dog pack or, as I call them, our armed response team.  Because we have crime, they are our first line of defence.

But back to the mandalas.  I woke up the next morning realising that stitching 25 mandalas (between Di and me) in four months was going to be a bit of a stretch.  Actually, impossible.  So, got on the blower to Di and said we are going to have to find a team to help us.  By the end of our conversation we had identified 11 people who we could ask to help and we set about asking them.

And this is what I want to tell you.  

Every time I phoned one of them I did so with trepidation.  It was a big thing to ask.  I fully expected some, if not all of them, to refuse and to tell me a thing or two whilst doing that.  Well, that didn't happen and currently there are 13 of us, all over South Africa, madly stitching till late every night.  Di and I do a wedge of each circular design, put the threads and beads together, write up basic instructions and a stitch guide and send it off to whoever is going to do the repeats and turn it into a completed project.  We have people popping into our homes to fetch (and as of a week ago, deliver) and Aramex Couriers are being kept very busy delivering, fetching and delivering back to us those that are being worked in other centres.

Every single person we asked - and admittedly we only asked people who we knew were competent along with being nice people - has come to the party with enthusiasm and some even said they felt honoured or excited, said thanks for trusting me.  

I probably don't even need to mention that, on the whole, I trust dogs more than I trust most people but this is the second time in less than a year that I have been pulled up on this, the first being the wonderful response to Inspirations Magazine's request for donations of needlework supplies to the ladies in Harare, Zimbabwe.  Wow, was that amazing and did it go a long way to restoring my faith in humanity, particularly in these turbulent times.

And now again.  What a wonderful bunch of ladies we have helping us.  Our work party.  

It's too soon to tell you anything about this forthcoming book other than to say that it is going to be varied, colourful, but also with some more muted mandalas.  Monique's designs are out of this world and it is such fun working out stitches and colours to do them justice.  The wide range of designs will be divided up into skill levels so that there will be something for everyone - from very simple to the more complicated techniques - and we envisage that it could also be a great teaching tool for all you tutors out there.  We haven't yet got as far as a publication date, but I will keep you posted on this.

In the meantime, I am sitting some 8 to 10 hours a day doing circles and loving the process.  Some of them remind me of previous circular designs I have done and because I'm so enthused I decided maybe we should do a special on some circular designs. 

So here they are.   Full kits for all of them have been marked down by 25% and they are available at this price until the 22nd February or until stocks run out, whichever happens first.

Midnight Meander featured on the cover of Crewel Twists and remains popular.  If you would like to order the full kit at a 25% discount, click on the image above or here and choose "full kit" in the drop down menu when the page opens.
 

 

Jacobean Tangle turned out to be the most popular design in the Crewel Twists book and features small areas of needle lace, along with more conventional crewel stitches - and beads.  If you would like to order the full kit at a 25% discount, click on the image above or here and choose "full kit" in the drop down menu when the page opens.

And then two designs that are similar to mandalas in that the projects involve repeats.  One would think that it would be tedious to repeat what you have already done but my experience is that this is not the case.  You are watching the whole thing come together as you stitch and that is not at all boring.
 

 

Monochromatic designs don't show up particularly well in photographs - well not if you have my lack of photographic skills - but I loved doing 8 Shades Of Beige.  It is delicate and filled with really interesting needle lace stitches, bead embroidery stitches and, of course, crewel stitches.  If you would like to order the full kit at a 25% discount, click on the image above or here and choose "full kit" in the drop down menu when the page opens.

And the last one is a mandala design that I did a few years ago.
 

 

Called Mandala Magic, it is full of my 'tricks' - weaving, needle lace, beads, you name it.  My original intention was to mount it in a pole screen and I am still going to do that one day.  Just have to find the time to have one made.  If you would like to order the full kit at a 25% discount, click on the image above or here and choose "full kit" in the drop down menu when the page opens.

So, there you go girls.  Get in quickly because these specials usually go fast.

My new book, Crewel Creatures, is about six weeks away.  If you want to get a small preview of what the book looks like, either go to my home page or click here.  You'll be able to have a squizz at the back and front covers along with a selection of the content pages.

When I know that the arrival of boxes of books into my studio is imminent, we will be uploading all of the packs - along with the books - on the website and I will let you know they are there.  We intend to do specials on a selection of the full kits, so watch out for that.

And now I'm going to go back to stitching mandalas.  I think I'm on number 13 but, actually, I've lost count.

Till the next time,
Hazel