Workshops at The Stitchery Studio

I love having people to come and stitch with me at my studio.   

I love making up the kits and preparing the linen. 

Love seeing confidence build and friendships being made. 

I love sharing inspiration and feeling inspired too by the women who join me. 

I love planning lunch, baking cakes and arranging my shelves so that my supplies look artistic and inspiring. 

Love sharing new finds and favourite makers.  

I held my very first workshop on Saturday with another yesterday.  Despite me being overly optimistic about the number of people I could comfortably seat and cater for I think it all went really well and I so enjoyed making it a happy day.  I can't wait for the next one.  Come and join me - workshop dates are always published here and I'll be releasing new dates and new patterns soon. 

If you can't join me for a workshop then on a few days a month I'll be holding social stitch groups.  These will mostly be Saturdays but I'll open on other days for those who aren't free on a weekend.  Just bring your latest project and something for your lunch and come to work with a group of like-minded people for the day.   And if you're passing and the sign says I'm open then knock on the door and have a cuppa with me. I'd love to see you.  

My gorgeous stitched letter from my friend Penny at  The Embroidery Bird.   These are available to commission as wedding/new home gifts or any other special occasion.  Plump with fragrant lavender and stitched onto antique linen.  Heart eyes!

Gifts and cards from my lovely stitching friends.  I am so lucky to meet these people. Kindness beyond words.

Have a great week, 

love

Nicki xx

Winter at The Little Green Door: Beginner Embroidery Classes

I have always found Winter really difficult - particularly those three long months after Christmas.  I used to suffer with bouts of depression quite regularly and whilst I'm reasonably healthy mentally these days, I take extra care to banish the blues in January, February and March.

When I feel the need to ward off a low mood I can often be found building a cosy little nest for myself in the living room, with comfy cushions, soft blankets and a fire.  I make myself something a bit special to drink, play an audiobook or an episode of Gilmore Girls and pick up my stitching.  The repetitive movements of the stitches soothe my soul, the designs I stitch are cheering and I feel a sense of pride at the finished article.

I decided that I would open the house for embroidery classes in the new year so that I can share my passion for needlework and have more cosy days to look forward to.  I love to have a good chat when I am sewing, particularly over tea and cake, so it would be lovely if you could make it.

The four dates for Winter have now been published over in the shop.  If you fancy joining in but would like to know more then please just drop me an email at [email protected]  - I'd be happy to answer any questions or abate any worries! I live in South Northamptonshire, just ten minutes from Junction 15 on the M1 but if you prefer to travel by train we can collect you from either Wellingborough or Northampton stations. 

If you really do prefer to stay at home for the Winter but would like to join a class then don't worry; there will be more dates published for Spring and Summer including some quite special venues. (I am also about to launch a virtual stitch club and you can join in from the comfort of your own armchair so there is definitely something for everyone!) 

Hope to see you soon,

love

Nicki x

Christmas at The Little Green Door: Embroidery for Beginners

I have just published the date for my first embroidery class here at The Little Green Door.  I decided to start with a nice festive session to create a little haven away from the craziness of preparing for Christmas. 

We live in a very small 17th century cottage in Northamptonshire just ten minutes from junction 15 of the M1.  The nearest train stations are Northampton and Wellingborough; I am happy to arrange transport to and from a station if required.  I will have decorated the cottage with fairy lights and foliage and she will be gleaming from head to toe ready to welcome our first guests to Stitch School! 

The class is aimed at beginners but, I hope, will be equally enjoyable for more advanced stitchers.  I have designed a little sampler inspired by antique needlework incorporating simple stitches like back stitch, cross stitch and running stitch but with a few other trickier numbers like French knots and satin stitch (which requires lots of practise to get neat and tidy but there are a few things you can do to make it easier).  We will be stitching onto antique linens using my favourite threads and I will share my tips for beginning and finishing the perfect piece of embroidery ready for framing or making into a little decorative cushion.  All participants will receive the full kit to take home in a little project bag which I will have handmade especially.

As well as the full kit and project bag, the price of the workshop includes tea and coffee throughout the day and a hot, home-cooked, lunch.  There will also be plenty of cake and Christmas cocktails (or mocktails) before you head home.  I will have my favourite embroidery notions available for sale along with a few pieces of my own work and pretty little last-minute Christmas gifts from my shop such as lanterns and candles.  It will be a lovely, cosy, Christmassy day and I can't wait! Hope you can join me. Sign up here.

I have exciting plans for the new year and look forward to sharing them soon.  To keep up to date with The Stitchery news then please sign up to our newsletter at the foot of the page. 

Nicki x

Fair Season has Begun - Come and say hello!

Our stand at Fair in the Square

Fresh flowers were provided by the lovely Lou at The Little Red Robin 

One day I will make a tabletop cover but in the meantime I am using old linen sheets.

A stack of notebooks with beautiful handmade paper and my 'Day at the Allotment' embroidery framed with reclaimed wood.

Pink hydrangea embroidery in handmade chippy frame.

Tiny drawers, velvet flowers, linen string and handmade paper notebooks...  A few of my favourite things.

Blue hydrangea in handmade chippy frame.

My 'The Secret Garden' embroidery based on the logo for the Little Green Door.

Labels for my handmade items, artwork by Kate at Oyster Bridge & Co.

Our conservatory and where I can be found most days, stitching and watching the birds.

The conservatory.  The old wooden box houses my painting supplies.  The patchwork cushion was a gift from my mum (it is a Tilda pattern using Tilda fabric).  She made two cushions and a matching quilt for my 40th birthday and I love them!

I keep pretty sweet company when I work.  Here she is, watching watercolour YouTube videos with me on the laptop.  

Brocante season has begun! It was our first fair of the year at the weekend.  We had a stand at The Country Brocante Fair in the Square in Midhurst. I had planned to launch my embroidery pieces online at the end of March but being invited to stand at the Fair in the Square changed my plans a little and I decided it would be nice to use the opportunity to display a few pieces of embroidery and see what sort of feedback I received.

In the weeks leading up to the brocante I had the most nervous tummy.  It is one thing attending an event where you have bought in items to sell but when you've made things yourself it is a whole other thing... It has become personal and I was struggling with my confidence. 

The day of the fair was bright and sunny.  The marketplace was full of gorgeous stands, all decorated with flowers and bunting.  It was beautiful.  We were in the town's Old Library which is a stunning old building and provided the perfect backdrop to our stand.  I couldn't have hoped for a better reception to my embroidery.  I had so much wonderful feedback and I feel inspired to continue.  Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and especially those who gave me a few words of encouragement about my work, it meant such a lot to me.  I sold a few pieces and took a couple more orders but for now I am back in my workroom finishing a few stitcheries to sell at the Larmer Tree Brocante in Dorset this bank holiday Monday. 

It is my first time attending the Larmer Tree Brocante but having followed the team on instagram, I am super excited by the list of exhibitors and the prospect of a ukulele performance in the 'Singing Theatre' during the day.  It sounds wonderful! 

I am lucky to have two rooms in the house that I can use as workrooms.  I am in the conservatory today which is the room I use for painting and stitching because the natural light in here is, obviously, fantastic.  I have a sewing room at the top of the house, in the eaves, where I have a cutting table and a sewing machine.  My sewing room is a terrible mess at the moment as I have bought a few new (old) pieces of furniture and need to have a bit of a sort out in there to declutter.  I am looking forward to getting home next week and having a long overdue tidy up and organisation session but in the meantime I will enjoy watching the birds in the garden, listening to Spotify and embroidering a floral bouquet.  Hopefully see you in Dorset on Monday!

Love

Nicki xx

Happiness is.....

Fresh, hot, coffee.   Pink roses.  New skeins of embroidery thread.  Old, slubby, linen.  Little bowls of pastel coloured sweets.  Long chats with friends on the telephone.  Giant jammy biscuits.  Taboo on the telly.  Long walks in the winter sunshine.  A niece with glittering eyes and rosy cheeks; happy after her first day at a new school.  Catching up with family over fish, chips and mushy peas.  Thick watercolour paper and little tubes of paint.  Art class.  Bath salts and lavender oil.  Heirloom quilts.  Homemade banana bread, pots of tea and stitching with friends.  Beautiful hand-dyed yarn.  Tiny clay hearts.  Old tins filled with art supplies.  Kindle library books.  Miniature zinc buckets for collecting threads.  

*******

We are a bit out of sorts here.  Andrew has ruptured his achilles tendon which means he is in plaster and on crutches.  Minimum of 8 weeks to recover and months of physio for him.  I am responding every five minutes to requests of "could I have a glass of apple juice" and "would you mind fetching my book for me".  The poor chap can't do anything; he is thoroughly miserable and I feel so sorry for him.  Hope he heals quickly, for both our sakes! 

Love 

Nicki xOx

The Beehive Embroidery - Beginning

My next embroidery project is in the hoop!  I have spent the last few days pulling together some images and flicking through my vintage books for floral inspiration.  I have also pulled out the fabrics and some of the threads that I think will work with the colour palette I am using.  This piece is going to be a framed picture; an antique style wooden beehive surrounded by flowers in delicate blues, soft whites and poppy red.  I have sketched a (very rough) design just to give me something to work from in terms of sizing and placement but now that the beehive is in situ I can just randomly add flowers and grasses to where I think they look best as I work.  I prefer that my embroidery develops in this way because it means that each piece is unique.

I have cleared my diary to ensure that I have plenty of time to work on the beehive and there are a few films that I've been wanting to watch for ages (Testament of Youth, XandY and Enchanted April) so I'm going to have a really lovely week!  

I joined a restorative yoga class last Tuesday and I'm off to my second session tomorrow.  It is absolutely the most wonderful thing I have treated myself to in ages.  The venue is beautiful, the teacher is hugely inspiring and the practise is just what I need to help calm my busy mind.  The yogi, Lisa, also teaches on the use of essential oils for wellbeing and I went to a workshop on Friday evening.  It was amazing.  Such a warm and nurturing experience.  I am skeptical of the benefits these things claim to bring but also open-minded and wanted to give it a try.  I created a personal blend, with input from Lisa, specifically to help me focus and clear my mind.  I spritz myself every morning before I sit down to a ten-minute guided meditation (I like the app 'Calm' which I use on my phone) and - I am not kidding - I have been so productive every day!  I feel like I have magic fairy dust shooting through my veins, haha!  Next I think I'd like an essential oil blend to stop me eating so much chocolate..... 

Thanks for stopping by; have a great week.

Love

Nicki 

xOx

Birds, Hedgehogs and Fat Little Mice

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"We are both like Snow White, but in different ways." pondered my niece, Izzie, last week when she came to stay.  With her glossy dark hair, fair skin and rosy red lips I could guess at her own resemblance but me?  "Well, I look like Snow White and you act like her"  she offered.  Cute.  That girl knows how to charm me.  Snow White is my favourite of the Disney princesses and although I'm not keen on the idea of cleaning and cooking for a small army of dwarves, I love how she keeps that cosy cottage so pretty and cosy, with the help of bluebirds of course! 

We were re-filling my bird feeders at the time.  I am a nature nut and although we have a small garden, living in quite a rural area means that I can entice various species if I get the right food.  Unfortunately, birds do not have the best table manners (finches are the worst!) and the seeds they drop seem to be providing a continual feast for a fat little field mouse.  (I like to think there is only one; the same missy every day.  I realise the reality is not so cute...).  I need to get out there more often with my dustpan and brush.  Said fat little field mouse was in the garden yesterday afternoon.  She was driving Lizzie crazy. as she nipped between bushes, the shed and the log store.  I am torn between letting her nest in the garden and encouraging Lizzie to catch her (yep, not so Disney).  She is very fat and I absolutely do not relish the idea of a gazillion small rodents in my living quarters.  I am going to send Andrew out for a humane trap this evening.  

We've had hedgehogs every night, too.  They also drive my dog insane but hedgehogs are my favourite wild animal.  But then, as I type that, I remember bats and badgers which I also love.  Ahhhh summer.  I love it.

I have been crazy busy finishing up orders from the Summer Brocante at the end of June and the very last Cabbages & Roses overdresses will be sent out this week.  I also took a few orders for bespoke embroideries at the brocante, which I finished last week.  I will be attending the Cotswolds brocante at the end of September and the Winter brocante in Sussex at the end of November.  I'll put details on here in the events section when I get a minute but I'd love to see you there. 

I am off bird-watching with my dad this evening and really looking forward to it.  He retired earlier in the year and I've been wanting him to come with me for ages; it was him after all who I take after with my love of nature.  I have packed a pair of binoculars, a field guide and a notebook and made a quiche for us to eat when we get back.  What a lovely way to spend a summer evening, hey?

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and that your weather is appropriately seasonal.  It is hot hot hot here and I love it.  A proper summer.

Love

Nicki 

x

PS The kitchen and dining summer sale is still going strong over in our little shop.  It will continue until the end of August so snap up a bargain quick!