Christmas crewelwork for Stitch magazine

Have you seen the Christmas issue of Stitch magazine? I’m super duper excited about it because I designed and stitched the main project on the cover!

It was back in May that the Stitch team got in touch to ask if I’d be interested in contributing to the magazine. I’ll be honest, at first it felt too good to be true and my scam radar was on full alert. But some quick sanity checks later and I was bouncing with excitement! 😀

Back then, Elara Embroidery didn’t exist. For years I’ve had the inkling that I’d like to build a creative business. But then I always ended that thought with “some day”. Well my friend, this was the trigger I needed to change “some day” into today!

I couldn’t wait to get home and start designing. The first issue I could realistically meet the deadline for was the Christmas one. So I got brainstorming. Amazingly I had one of those inspired periods where everything just seems to come together.

I’m often inspired by animals so quickly began experimenting with penguins. My mum has always had a soft spot for them so that was a big bonus for me in creating this design. I knew I wanted to create a 3D hanging decoration and the design soon evolved into a snow scene within a bauble.

I was loving the effect I could create by blending and shading colours in my RSN crewelwork piece. So I wanted to continue doing that in this design. By choosing shades of blue and turquoise I hoped to create an elegant, ice crystal feel.

The stitching went pretty smoothly. Although with a tight deadline I had to be very disciplined! I was working on this over the summer and did find it amusing that my main challenge was the heat!

Some of the lasting memories I have of this project reflect that I was making it over the summer. I made sure I finished the embroidery before heading out to see Stevie Wonder at Hyde Park. And I couldn’t allow myself to get too distracted by the epic Federer – Djokovic Wimbledon final while writing up the instructions!

I had a few emotional ups and downs after sending everything over to the Stitch team. Of course at first there was relief and a sense of achievement that I’d managed it! I also felt a bit strange to suddenly not be working on it after the project had been such a focus. Then I had a few imposter syndrome moments. Maybe they’ll decide not to publish it… Am I qualified to do this??

So I was absolutely chuffed to see that not only had my project been published, but it was on the front cover! I had a huge smile on my face in the shop when buying a copy, much to the bemusement of the shop assistant!

With Christmas just around the corner, I’m looking forward to having my new decoration on display. And I’m feeling inspired to work on new designs to share with you soon!