Karen Turner Stitching Life textile artist stitching by hand

September 2026 daily stitching

The end of another month, and it’s been another busy one.

As usual, just threading a needle every day to see what happens next.

You can see some of these blocks in action, happening (more or less) in real time on my YouTube channel.

There were my mother’s favourite flowers for her birthday earlier this month, and a heart for her pacemaker check up.

There were some long days

I really like the long/thin format and may well design a whole year like that some time.

A few people asked about this one:

It’s just herringbone stitch, worked quite closely in fine silk thread. You can get a lot of variety from simple stitches by changing the thread type, stitch size, and stitch proximity. Widely-spaced herringbone stitch looks very different from this closely-worked example.

And – I can hardly believe it myself – October tomorrow.

In other news, the shop is open again for thread. I don’t know, at this point, when I will be able to dye more thread so what’s there is what there is.

Also in other news, I’m road-testing the template for next year – just to see. The jury is still out but I think we may get a favourable verdict. There are some challenges and limitations with circles, which could make things a bit more interesting.

Preview of the 2027 template, under construction

If you’re doing your own daily stitching, I hope you’re enjoying it and finding a little peace in a few quiet moments with needle and thread.

Taking a break

Just to let you know I’ll be taking a short break next week for a week or two, depending on how much down time there is. It’s all been very full-on this summer, as you know, and I think there’s space for me to slow down a bit now.

I’ll be closing the shop for tangible items (thread and fabric) from lunchtime on Friday 11th September, and I’ll re-open later this month. My Teachable school doesn’t have a holiday mode so that will remain open as usual. If you need to contact me about any problems with access etc, please be patient as I won’t be checking emails every day.

See you on the other side 🙂

Shipping update

Good news for some, and you saw it here first:

I have now re-opened international shipping for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

I’m very sorry that I still can’t ship to Europe or Northern Ireland; that’s due to changes caused by Brexit and there’s unfortunately nothing I can do about it. I hope to resume shipping to USA at some point but I will need to dig around for current information on the tariffs. I will look at that as soon as I have the time.

Please be aware (wherever you are) that I may not be able to post items as quickly as I usually do. I am still a bit all over the place, here and there attending to other things.

Thank you as always for your valued support of my little hand-dyed thread boutique.

August 2026 daily stitching

You will see from my lack of blog posts this month that August has been exceptionally busy. Time has disappeared in a blur of house-clearing and charity shop runs. My mother’s dementia has reached the stage where she is now unable to live alone, even with daily care, and I have to sell her house to pay her care home fees. All of it is hard. I look mostly ok from the front, but the back is a mess; much messier than the back of the cloth.

The cloth, and daily stitching, has helped with maintaining a sense of equilibrium and normality.

I find that each daily block isn’t intended to mean anything, or depict that particular day. It’s just a few stitches, in any colour. Part distraction, part escape, part immersion. Mostly restorative.

The exception this month was the solar eclipse on the 12th, which is loosely pictorial. A once-in-a-generation astronomical event kind of deserves its own spotlight, I thought.

You can see some of this month’s daily stitching in the August playlist on my YouTube channel

And the year so far:

Two-thirds of the year down, one to go. I had better start thinking about next year’s template.

July 2026 daily stitching

The last day of July today, and time seems to be flying even faster than usual. As always, I’ve been catching a few moments of each day and stitching them down. Time is life, and the most precious thing we have.

You can see some of the daily blocks for this month in the July playlist on my You Tube channel.

Summer is probably my least favourite season overall, but I’ve enjoyed using a brighter colour palette. I have a new collection of hand-dyed threads in summer/early autumn colours in my shop (sorry, UK-only shipping for now).

July has been very challenging, personally, but I am focusing on one day at a time and placing stitches like footsteps. Eventually the path will lead to a quieter calmer place.

And tomorrow, August begins. It’s intriguing to think that all those blank spaces will be full in just thirty-one days’ time.

I hope you’re enjoying your own daily stitching adventure, if you’ve embarked on such a thing. If nothing else, it provides a little quiet breathing space in a busy day.

Have a lovely weekend, and happy stitching.

(Another) threads update

I am truly sorry to be the bearer of disappointing news today, but I have decided to suspend overseas shipping (that’s anywhere outside the UK) until further notice.

If you’re anywhere other than the UK, please accept my sincere apologies. I hope that I can resume overseas shipping before too much longer; stay tuned and I’ll let you know.

If you have family or friends in the UK who can order on your behalf, then that would present a workable alternative.

If you are in the UK (and I still can’t ship to Northern Ireland, I’m afraid) then – lucky you – it’s all yours.

You can find my online shop here.

Threads of life

You may have noticed my hand-dyed threads have been temporarily unavailable in the shop this week.

Recently there have been a few hard weeks, and I’m currently having another very full week arranging a residential care home placement for my mother, who is unfortunately no longer able to continue living alone. I’ve been unable to manage the shop on top of all that.

There has been a different kind of sewing. When I was at school (and that’s a very long time ago) my mother patiently sewed name labels into all my school clothes. And now I am doing the same for her.

It is a strange feeling. The wheel turns, time carries us along, and at some point we come full circle.

I need a few more days to gather together everything she will need, and also to get myself to a point where I can think straight, but threads will be available again soon – probably next week some time. Please keep checking the shop if you’re waiting.

Also, threads may be intermittently available if I have to be somewhere else for a while. If you visit the shop and don’t see thread, please just check back later or the next day. Apologies for the current unpredictability, and thank you for your patience.

Comments are off on this one; I will be back soon (ish).

June 2026 daily stitching

And here we are, halfway through the year already.

The month soon fills up.

Today was a simple leaf outline, and you can see it in action on my YouTube channel.

This month has presented difficulties and challenges, most of which are now ongoing. The best policy so far has been to keep calm and stitch.

July ahead:

And the year so far:

Amazing what a few minutes a day can do.

Delays

This is just a short update on availability (my own, and my threads). Unfortunately, last week was not the relaxing break I’d been hoping for. There has been a family emergency which will take significant time and effort to resolve.

The shop is now open again for PDFs only, because they are automated and require little input from me, but threads will continue to be unavailable until such time as I am able to be here more reliably for packaging and posting.

When threads do become available again the shop may continue to open and close fairly erratically, depending on where I need to be and what I need to do, and I may not be able to respond to email enquiries as promptly as usual. If you find the shop closed, please just check back in a day or two.

Comments are off on this one, but thank you for your patience and understanding while I navigate the very unpredictable path ahead.

Quilter-couching

You probably know couching is one of my favourite techniques, and I’m currently conducting an experiment to see how effectively couching might substitute for quilting.

I don’t often get as much time as I’d like for my own work but I’ve been squeezing in an hour here and there on this little quilt that began in June 2024 as a heap of little patches that needed stitching together.

It’s hand-pieced, from lots of vintage and contemporary scraps – past and present sitting side by side, as they do in life – and most of the stitching is either couching or very simple embroidery.

The whole thing measures about a square yard or so.

The red circle is about 10 inches in diameter and began as lines of straight stitch. That didn’t give a prominent enough amount of colour, so I’ve threaded the straight stitches with a fine wool yarn.

The vertical lines are still very much in progress, and there are lots more still to do. I’m couching a fine silk bourette yarn with quilting cotton thread, and that seems to be holding the layers together pretty well. The backing is lightweight calico and the batting is Hobbs wool.

It’s all very much a work in progress. This little quilt has had many false starts and many unpickings in the two years of its construction, but I think it seems happier now and we’ll keep going until we get to wherever it is.

In other news – I’ll be taking some time out next week, so the shop will be closed temporarily for a few days while I attend to other things. Please be patient if you need to get in touch as I may not be checking emails every day.

From ‘In Which Rabbit has a busy day and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings’ by A. A. Milne, illustration by E. H. Shepard

Karen Turner Stitching Life

September 2026 daily stitching

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Taking a break

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Shipping update

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August 2026 daily stitching

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July 2026 daily stitching

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(Another) threads update

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Threads of life

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June 2026 daily stitching

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Delays

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Quilter-couching

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