Well time seems to fly and I never have enough of it. At a show recently someone said wistfully "if only we could knit time", that's pretty much what I need to do but with stitching!
I've been hard at work developing new patterns and kits and will be putting them up on the website real soon. I am enjoying working on plastic canvas and so some of the kits will use it. What I like is that you can use any wool rather than just tapestry wool and so they are real stash busters. I am working with Appletons Crewel Wool on some of the designs which is giving me a lot of intriguing colourways and also brings me back to my love of maths as the rhythms are created by a strict mathematical pattern.
Exciting news in the stitch world is that Mr X Stitch is bringing out a magazine which will feature some fantastic stitch designers and will also be packed full of advice and interesting articles that all have stitch at their core. One of my designs is in the magazine along with Emily Peacock, Bobo Stitch, Maria Diaz and many more. It's really great to be part of something new and I hope that you will find it just as exciting!
I hope to have some of the magazines at my studio on 29th and 30th July when I open up the doors and invite you to "come and see what we do" as part of Jewellery Quarter Open Studios. There are over 40 studios and workshops opening their doors, jewellers, brewers, visual artists, leather workers, chocolatiers, make up artists to the stars...... I will have guests in my studio which include my community stitch group Springhill Stitchers and also Shelanu who are a social enterprise that work with Craftspace. It will be great to see how craft and making can be a support to people in the local area and also that a career as a maker is possible.
The link to the Open Studios blog is here, I will be linking to it on twitter so please do follow me @tinafrancis15.
Happy Stitchings!
