intuitive daily stitching textile artist, stitching by hand, thread, embroidery, stitch journal

More thread

I have given myself too much to do, as usual. It started as an experiment to see whether I could produce enough hand-dyed thread to sustain a stand at Knit and Stitch in Harrogate next year. It was an idle thought, which I have tested and unfortunately found wanting. The crucial points I hadn’t factored in are that I only have one pair of hands, and there are only twenty-four hours in a day. I haven’t completely given up on the idea, but it will involve a little more rigorous planning and pacing if it’s going to work.

Hey ho. More thread for the shop, then, in the meantime.

There’s a big pile of hanks awaiting winding into skeins:

cotton and silk thread ready for winding

There’s a growing pile of threads that have been wound into skeins and are waiting for labels:

Apologies for the light, by the way – my north-facing room doesn’t get any sun, and the view from my window is mostly trees. Definitely not complaining about any of that, but the light is decidedly blueish at my desk at this time of year.

And finally there’s a smaller pile of threads being labelled:

These are ‘spares’ that will go into Randoms, which will be in the shop (I hope) some time next month. I’m trialling a new labelling system which so far is working quite well. The swing tags get a bit cumbersome in a set of threads, and it can be fiddly to get them all to lie flat when packaging them for posting. These are smaller and flatter and I hope might work a bit better. I sourced some plastic-free sellotape so the labels and tape will be compostable.

I estimate there’s probably another hundred hours or so of winding/labelling/sorting into groups, so this will keep me busy for another couple of weeks at least.

I’ll be back at the end of the month with October’s daily stitching.

Good news

Good news if you’re in the US.

Royal Mail is now providing an international mail service that replaces the flat fee for US customers and instead charges the 10% tariff at the point of posting. What that means is that all charges and fees are paid up front before your parcel leaves the UK, leaving you nothing further to pay when your parcel is delivered. It also ensures that your parcel clears customs as smoothly as possible. Definitely no $80 fee.

Unfortunately I’ve had to increase the postage costs for US customers, to help cover the cost of the tariff as well as the administration fee that Royal Mail charges for providing the service.

There may be some delays to begin with, until the system becomes familiar and runs more smoothly, so you may want to wait a few weeks or so before placing an order – but you definitely can order again if you want to, and hurrah for that.

In other news, I’m preparing some new sheer fabric collections and have been painting some lovely chiffon and tulle fabrics.

I have some sheer silk fabrics to dye next week and then I’ll have some fun curating an inspirational collection for you.

We’re in for a wet and windy weekend here in the UK, so a comfy chair, a hot chocolate, and a good book may well be on the menu. And some quiet stitching, of course.

September 2025

Another month completed and only the last quarter of the year left.

As always, there’s no plan at all – just thread a needle and begin. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s how life is. I don’t judge the daily stitching; it is what it’s meant to be, however it turns out.

As usual, it’s mostly straight stitch and running stitch in various guises. Life is complicated enough at the moment.

There were poppies for my mother’s birthday earlier this month.

Today is a few back stitch squiggles. Two steps forward, one step back, a path that loops back on itself sometimes but still gets to where it’s headed eventually. Taking the scenic route, perhaps.

The other side is just another kind of perspective on where we’ve been.

And October tomorrow…

Onward and maybe upward. Most paths lead somewhere.

I’ll be back later this week with what I hope might be good news for those of you in the USA. 😎

August 2025

And here we are again, another month down. Time, in thread on linen.

In the old Celtic calendar, the beginning of Autumn is Lammas on 1st August, signifying first harvest (grain). Second harvest (fruit) is around the autumn equinox in mid-September, and third harvest (nuts and seeds) is the end of October, at the start of winter. There is always much exasperated hilarity in our house when the Met Office refers to ‘false autumn’ on its weather reports as the leaves are starting to fall. That’s because it’s real autumn, we cry in unison. It may be still warm and sunny, but weather is not season. You only have to look at the changes in the light, in the air, in nature itself, to see and feel the signs of early autumn. This is my usual northern hemisphere bias, of course, because this is where I live. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, you’ll be enjoying the beginning of spring.

Probably enough meteorological ranting.

You can probably see the change in the colour palette. More muted golds/browns/reds/purples.

The light isn’t great this morning in my north-facing work room. The morning sun is no longer quite reaching me – another clear sign of the turning season.

I’m enjoying the occasional ovals and cross-quarters on this year’s template.

As always, it looks far more complex than it really is. It’s mostly variations on straight stitch and running stitch, with a bit of blanket stitch, chain stitch, fly stitch and herringbone stitch thrown in. The edges of each daily section are mostly couched, usually silk boucle yarn or other textured yarns. Nothing very difficult here at all.

So on we go into September. I’m currently working on a sample to road-test the new template for 2026 – so far so good, I think, and I’m already quite excited about stitching it for real next year. The template will be available (probably) from early November; more on that later. Stay tuned 🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed your own August daily stitching, if this is your thing. Have a lovely Sunday.

July 2025

I say it every month, but where does it go? Blink and you miss it. Time just escapes, scampering out through a door that can’t be shut.

Today is just herringbone stitch, which looks deceptively complicated (it isn’t) when worked in close rows like this:

As always, the stitching is very simple: mostly running stitch and straight stitch in various combinations.

There is a seam where I had to join two strips of linen. I like the fact that it’s visible but not too obvious. One year (not next year, that’s already planned) I will work the daily stitching on lots of patched and joined pieces.

As always, it’s a kind of map. Setting out, hoping for the best and finding a path through each day.

There is never a plan for the stitching. Choose a colour, thread a needle, and begin. See where it goes.

August ahead:

The blue thing you can see in the top left corner is the simple bag I keep it in. I made a sample of the template when I first designed it and then I stitched it to the front of a hand-dyed cotton drawstring bag.

The back has a single motif:

If you want to begin a similar daily practice, take a look at my online course here – you can watch as many times as you like, you can download the videos, and you get lifetime access (lifetime effectively means as long as I’m alive, or as long as I stay with Teachable, the platform that hosts my classes).

Happy stitching!

June 2025

Another month, taking us halfway through the year.

It’s a bit of a wobbly video, but here’s how it’s looking so far:

the year so far

Today is a few wild flowers. We don’t call them weeds in our house.

There have been some very long days, and some very hot days.

As always, a few very simple stitches to witness the days passing.

It doesn’t need to be complicated. Life is challenging enough without making extra work for yourself.

July tomorrow, and the second half of the cloth. There is a seam where I had to join two lengths, but you’ll hardly see the join once a bit of stitching covers it.

I often look at the blank month ahead and wonder what it will bring. It seems strange to think that this time next month I will know what it brought, and today’s future will become the past. Good job I have a needle and thread to anchor me into the present.

May 2025

And that was May.

May always feels like quite a long month to me, but not this year. The days continue to fly by and even though the days are getting longer here in the northern hemisphere, there never seem to be enough hours.

As always, a few stitches every day.

It’s been mostly winding/processing thread (and orders, thank you) and checking in with the various Making Zen groups and posts this month. Next month I hope to make a little time just for me.

Of course we can’t ‘make’ time. It’s all the same time. The same twenty-four hours in every day, perpetual motion as the minutes pass and the world turns.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of daily life, and sitting with needle and thread for a few minutes every day is very calming.

I calculated that it’s 1,247 days since I started this practice. I guess that’s a lot of stitching.

I sometimes wonder where these annual stitch calendars will end up. I was half-joking when I said in my Making Zen chat with Kate that I might exhibit them when I’ve got ten years’ worth. Only another six and a half years to go, if that turns out to be a thing.

The other side is important too: the side we don’t see, the side that forms the foundation and stability for daily work. The side that shows where you went and how you got there. It doesn’t need to be tidy or neat. Beneath the surface I suspect we’re all a fairly chaotic jumble of thoughts and feelings. It’s a kind of map, I guess. I think of these things as maps of time.

Looking forward to meeting June tomorrow:

A warm welcome to all of you who are new to the blog as a result of Making Zen. Nothing much happens here, but if you enjoy a few quiet moments now and again then you’re probably in the right place. If you’re thinking of beginning your own daily stitching journey, please do take a look at my online class Intuitive Daily Stitching. Learn at your own pace, and watch as many times as you like.

And if you enjoyed my Making Zen workshop, you can take those ideas and techniques a bit further with my Stitched Samples for Sketchbooks course.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

YouTube – out now

Amid all the thread winding I’m just dropping in to let you know that my recorded interview with the lovely Kate Ward of Making Zen is now available to watch on YouTube here.

It was a joy to chat with Kate about daily stitching, mark-making, time and other things, and I hope you enjoy watching it. Please do give it a thumbs up on Kate’s YouTube channel if you liked it.

In the meantime if you haven’t got your Making Zen ticket yet, you can still get it here. Upgrading to the VIP pass will let you access the workshops two weeks early, from 15th May.

The VIP pass gives you full access to all the workshops plus some very generous free gifts from 32 participating artists. For transparency, I am awarded a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you purchase your ticket from the links on this page, so you will be helping to support my work as an independent artist. Thank you so much.

get your making zen ticket here

You know, middle-aged English people rarely get truly excited about anything, but I am genuinely very excited to be taking part in Making Zen this month and I’m looking forward to sharing some of my favourite techniques with you.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

April 2025

The end of April, and that means a few more stitches for 2025.

It’s been a busy month, and next month might be even busier.

Mostly, as always, a few stitches with no plan or design. Just choosing a colour, threading a needle and beginning. And isn’t that how most days begin too? We set out as usual, never knowing what will happen next.

I’m enjoying the spring palette, in real life as much as here in stitches.

It occurred to me recently that in four years of doing this I’ve never yet missed a day. If I did miss a day, I’d leave it blank. The point here isn’t to fill a cloth with stitches, it’s to sit and witness time as it passes out of my life. If I forgot to stitch, or didn’t have time (the irony!) then I feel ‘catching up’ the next day would be kind of missing the point. I would leave a blank space to remind me that on that occasion I didn’t slow down enough to watch those few minutes ebb away.

The other side of time is always worth a look. Knots, loose ends, a scramble of thread, but that’s how it is.

If you missed my last post, I’m very happy to be hosting a workshop at the fabulous Making Zen stitching retreat.

You can sign up here:

For transparency, if you use this link I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you), and you will be helping to support my work as an independent artist. Thank you.

Today is shaping up to be quite full. People are writing to me to tell me I haven’t got much thread in the shop. I know, thank you, I’m onto it. The shop will be closed for a couple of days while I attend to this:

Dyeing, washing, drying, sorting, winding, labelling, photographing and listing a batch of thread takes about a month, so thread update maybe towards the end of May, if all goes well.

March 2025

I don’t pass the time, the time passes me. Every day I watch it go, picking up speed as it hurtles further away.

There were daffodils for St David’s Day, and a row of dancing women for International Women’s Day.

There was a bouquet for Mother’s Day (here in the UK it’s the fourth Sunday in Lent).

There was equal day and night for the Spring Equinox.

Some of these days are tutorials on my YouTube channel here.

Today we have blue skies.

The other side is a reflection of sorts.

Three months gone. A quarter of the year behind us.

A reminder that this is the last day for the Early Bird price on my Make a Simple Sketchbook course and my Painted Collage Papers course. Courses are pre-recorded; you get lifetime access; you can download lessons or watch online as often as you like; learn entirely at your own pace.

April is going to be very busy – there is a lot going on, which I will share when I can.

Tag: intuitive daily stitching

More thread

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September 2025

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August 2025

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July 2025

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June 2025

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May 2025

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YouTube – out now

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April 2025

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March 2025

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