I’ve been sorting through my fabrics and scraps, and I’ve put together a couple of options that are now available in the shop.
The first is a sheer and semi-sheer/textured fabrics scraps pack that looks a bit like this:
FSH – sheer fabrics scraps pack, example
You can see average contents here:
sheer fabrics collection
The second is a lightweight fabrics selection, mostly hand-dyed, and mostly cotton with some scraps of silk and/or linen:
lightweight fabric scraps, average contents
And one in the making:
lightweight fabrics
Both packs are good for layering, to create little landscapes or stitched samples. I used some of the scraps to create a very long cloth, which I’m starting to explore.
a long landscape
Not sure where this one is going, but it looks like a long road. It’s about 4″ wide by about eight feet.
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.
All of May
As always, a few stitches every day.
end of May
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.
May, stitch journal, detail
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.
May, stitch journal, detail
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.
May, stitch journal, detail
I calculated that it’s 1,247 days since I started this practice. I guess that’s a lot of stitching.
May, stitch journal, detail
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.
May, stitch journal, detail
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.
The other side of May
Looking forward to meeting June tomorrow:
June ahead
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.
The end of April, and that means a few more stitches for 2025.
April, detail
It’s been a busy month, and next month might be even busier.
the end of April
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.
April, detail
I’m enjoying the spring palette, in real life as much as here in stitches.
April, detail
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.
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:
threads for dyeing
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.
Bright and early on a Monday morning, and here’s the first of my two Big Newses I’ve been waiting to share: I’m delighted to be hosting a workshop on the fabulous Making Zen online stitching retreat, happening from 26th May, and you can get your free ticket here:
Making Zenis much more than just another free event. It’s an opportunity to slow down, tune out the noise, and reconnect with your inner artist. If you’re looking for a quiet pocket of time to make something with those delicious scraps of fabric and threads, then here’s an invitation to somewhere special.
It’s called the Making Zen Online Retreat, and it’s five soul-soothing days (26–30 May 2025) hosted by Kate Ward of Zen Stitching, where 32 (!) makers, artists, and creators share an invitation to slow down, reconnect with your creativity, and rediscover the joy of making with your hands.
You’ll discover:
How to turn your scraps and remnants into stunning art (and peace of mind)
Cultural traditions in art to explore
Why listening to your gut might be the most creative move you make
And I’m delighted to be there too, sharing my session on zero waste stitching.
If you’ve already purchased the course, the Making Zen workshop will still be of value. In addition to the workshops there are free gifts and exclusive extras, plus you get to join over thirty other workshops from some incredible artists including Jody Alexander, Ann Smith, Mirjam Gielen, and many more.
And the best thing about all of this is that – yes! – it’s 100% free to attend. No strings, no catch. Just art, peace, and a community of makers who understand the value of quiet, mindful making.
I’ll look forward to seeing you there, with an open mind and hands full of thread.
For transparency, you will see that this email contains a few links to the Making Zen ticket. These are affiliate links, which means if you later decide to upgrade to the VIP Pass, I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) and you’ll be helping to support my work as an independent artist. Thank you so much for signing up – there’s so much to enjoy here.
And PS – for anyone looking for information on pricing (for the VIP pass) here are the prices:
Good news! My new course is about ready, I think. It can be hard to tell when these things are done because you get so immersed in the process of making, videoing, editing (and re-editing) that it can be difficult to be objective about it in the end.
Stitched Samples for Sketchbooks is all about turning your fabric scraps (and other odds and ends) into something beautiful, useful, and inspirational.
I’m probably primarily a textile artist, but I spend a lot of time working (or playing) in mixed media sketchbooks to explore different themes, colour palettes, textures and different ways of stitching. Most of that happens behind the scenes, but it’s essential groundwork for whatever I happen to be working on at any one time.
This course shows you how I go about preparing and adding stitched samples to my sketchbooks.
scraps
By layering your scraps and adding some simple stitching you can create unique little samples that you can add to your sketchbook, or indeed turn into any piece of decorative work.
getting started
There is layering, stitching, painting, sketchbook work, and more.
painting backgrounds
As always, you can watch the preview for free before you commit to anything, and you get lifetime access to all lessons. You can download the videos, watch as many times as you like, and learn at your own pace.
working with layers
I had lots of fun putting this one together, and I’ve made some interesting samples for my own sketchbooks too.
preparing samples
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
And stay tuned for some exciting news coming next week…
This week I’m in the scraps box as I start compiling my new forthcoming course on making stitched samples for sketchbooks. New courses take a while to create, but I do enjoy making them.
fabric scraps
However much I take out of the scraps box, it never seems to get any emptier. It always reminds me of the fairy tale about a magic porridge pot that keeps refilling itself. Not complaining, but I do wonder where they all keep coming from.
I like to use lots of layers in my stitched samples. I think of them as transparent layers of time.
stitched samples in progress
The one below is made from scraps of antique and modern lace covered with two layers of very fine tulle, with some textured cotton yarns couched onto the surface.
whites
I’ve also been painting some lovely patterned tulles:
painted tulle
Fibre reactive dyes won’t work on synthetics, but fabric paints do. I use Jacquard Dye-Na-Flow, which are very liquid and behave more like dye than paint. My Stitch a Little Landscape course has a section on painting fabrics this way. You could even use standard watercolours, if you don’t need them to be washable.
At some point it will all come together nicely.
layered stitched scraps ready to become something useful
If you’d like to leave a comment at the end of the SoST article, please scroll down the page to the end of the interview and you should see the comments box.
stitched landscape
Comments are off for this blog post (busy day ahead) but just wanted to share the article here.
Always a short month, but this year it seems shorter than usual. I’m ending this month with an anniversary, as today is a year since we moved in to our current home.
Home
It’s taken a while for it to feel like home, but it does now and I’m looking forward to seeing our new garden grow a bit more this year. The seeds and ideas that we plant can take a while to yield visible results, and what starts as a scrap or fragment becomes part of something much bigger once it starts to grow. It all happens in its own time.
I’ve enjoyed using up scraps and odd ends this month.
circular form made with a scrap of silk fibrecurled spiral scrap of silk fibre
Running stitch, whipped running stitch, and couching are probably still my favourites. I like lines. Time lines, perhaps.
mid-February
Mostly it’s mark-making with needle and thread.
early February
There is a lovely darn on the edge of this linen, presumably made many years ago. I’m guessing this linen was probably hand-woven on a home loom because the width is much narrower than a machine-made sheet would be, and the selvedge that you can see beside the darn had originally been in the centre of the sheet where two widths had been joined. Someone, long ago and in a different home, carefully mended this cloth for the future, and their future is my present. Time does stand still sometimes.
mended
Holding time in stitches, weaving between past and future.
The long view:
February
And the other side:
the side we don’t show the world
Onward to March. Marching onward. See what I did there.
I’ve been working on this sketchbook for a few weeks now, finding homes for all the tiny samples and scraps of painted paper and fabrics. At the same time I’m in the process of preparing to write a new course on mixed media/collage in sketchbooks, and I find it helps to actually make the thing you intend to teach.
handmade sketchbook, 9.5″ x 6.5″
I made the very simple sketchbook, using cartridge paper and some handmade cotton rag paper – it’s just sheets of paper stacked, folded in half, and stitched along the spine. The wrap around cover is cotton rag paper and it ties with some hand-dyed cotton tape that wraps around the button. Mixed media sketchbooks often become quite bulky because of all the inserts and layers, so it helps to bundle it up like this.
Sketchbooks are sometimes regarded as preparation for something larger, but I tend to see them as valuable and inspirational objects in themselves. I see them as a place to collect abstract thoughts in the form of shape and colour, and also as a place to try different colour combinations and design elements. Some of the designs in this book may or may not become larger works, and if they don’t then it’s enough to have them as they are in the sketchbook.
Here’s a quick flip-through. The pages are about 9″ x 6″ ish:
mixed media sketchbook pages
And a closer look (details are in the captions beneath the image):
strips of painted collage papers simple mark-making with thread on layered fabric scraps (4″ square)extra fold-out page
I don’t often write in sketchbooks like this one, but I do sometimes like to add a few words of text. I have an old poetry anthology that I cut up to make found poems. I know some people have strong feelings about cutting up books, but I only ever use very old books that have missing or damaged pages. The text serves to remind me of what I was thinking when I made the image, and sometimes it might also suggest the title of a larger work.
stitched sample with found poemcollage with painted papers and textstitched sample (about 5″ square) with simple mark-making
I like the way samples in different media can support and inform each other. The top sample on the page below was made by collecting and layering fabric scraps, and then the lower image is a collage inspired by the stitched sample.
from stitch to collageinside back cover, handmade foam stamps and simple drawn grid
As I’m currently taking a temporary break from Instagram, I have a bit more time to focus on structuring the new course. It generally takes a month or more to put one together and I’m still at the thinking-it-through stage, so there’s a fair way to go. But watch this space.
The last day of December and the 2024 stitch journal is complete. A map of my year.
2024 stitch journal, 31″ x 30″, hand-dyed threads on vintage linen
366 days, 366 blocks, a few simple stitches marking the passing of each day.
Looking back
Days of different shapes and sizes, different colours and textures. Minutes, hours, and days that fill a life.
early 2024
This is what I mean by Stitching Life. It’s verb, noun, not adjective, noun. Stitching my life, to be more precise.
2024, detail
Every month seems to pass in a blur, however much you try to slow it down. December has been no different.
December days
I like the way this cloth displays its memories in a non-linear sequence. Because of the way I laid out the monthly blocks, the month directly above December is May, and I like the way memories of the summer sit next to the winter days. November sits underneath June, early winter sharing an improbable border with midsummer. But the flowers of summer became seeds that sleep in the winter earth, ready to wake up and grow again in the spring.
days like fields
I guess stitches are seeds too.
2024, detail
The stitched area measures about 31″ square. The fabric is the French cotton/linen bed sheet that I used last year and the year before. Next year (tomorrow!) will be the last of it.
looking back
Its function is to be a visual depiction of time passing. It’s also a mini-reference library, showing the effects you can create with a small range of very simple stitches.
It will rest in the cover that I made for it earlier in the year.
stitch journal storageit’s a wrap
It feels right to put the year away like this, on New Year’s Eve.
And away
Ready to continue tomorrow.
hello 2025
Not starting again, just continuing. That’s what we do every day, all our lives.
Next year will be long and thin, only because that’s the shape and size of the last strip of bed sheet. If you want to try something similar, there’s a stitch journal FAQ page here on my blog. There’s also my Intuitive Daily Stitching course with instructions on how to work and combine a range of simple but effective stitches. I also show you how to choose suitable fabrics, threads and needles for your daily stitching. The course is prerecorded so you can learn at your own pace, and comes with lifetime access so you can watch as many times as you like. You can find my daily stitching templates here, or of course you can design your own.
simple stitches
Tomorrow, we go on. Wishing you a happy and peaceful 2025.
