Cyber Monday sale : 25% off everything on 30 November

Cyber Monday is almost here and, as I'm offering 25% off everything in my online stores, it's the perfect time to stock up on embroidery patterns for holiday stitching, gifts for your crafty friends or projects for the new year.

This year's sale runs from the evening of Sunday, 29 November to the morning of Tuesday, 1 December (SA time, GMT +2) to give everyone around the world a chance to shop on Monday, 30 November.

To shop on Etsy, add your items to the shopping cart and enter the coupon code KFNDCYBERMONDAY2015 when you check out to get 25% off the total. You can find more information on how to apply the coupon code in Etsy's guidelines. I’ve increased the available number of each pattern to stop listings from appearing as sold out, but if this does happen (in the middle of the night, for example) I’ll renew the listings as soon as possible. Otherwise please look for the patterns on Craftsy – they can’t run out there.

If you prefer to shop on Craftsy, the price shown will already have 25% taken off with the usual price in the product description for comparison.

For embroiderers living in South Africa, I’ve drawn up a sale price list in rands that you can download and browse. It tells you how to go about placing your order, which you can do anytime from now until next week Tuesday, 1 December.

Hope to see you there.

My pomegranate cushion in Mollie Makes magazine

Issue 60 of Mollie Makes features a taster from Embroidered Home: my pomegranate cushion.

The cushion itself is shaped like a pomegranate, with the outline and seeds of the fruit embroidered on the front. The seeds in particular are fun to embroider, filled with bullion knots, pistil stitches, spider web stitch and the like. The thread colours can easily be changed to suit your taste and the project includes the sewing instructions for making the cushion once you're done with the embroidery. 

The magazine is on shelves now in the UK or can be bought online from Buy Subscriptions. Digital editions are available on Zinio, Google Play and Apple Newstand. And you can see a preview of the mag on Issuu. 

Tartan Scotties, an exercise in Jacobean trellis work and needle weaving

This is one of those designs that has lingered in the back of my mind for ages, deserving more attention but not quite falling into place.

It appeared originally as a sampler in one of the early editions of The Stitch & Thimble, which for those of you who are new to my work was a digital hand embroidery magazine I put together between 2010 and 2013. Those of you who have that early edition may have recognised the design straight away.

It was a single Scottish Terrier in quite heavy colours with only the most basic instructions on how to embroider it. I’ve learnt a whole lot about writing instructions since then, as well as developed a better sense of thread colour and design.

My mother brought a beautiful piece of tweed fabric back from England and used it to upholster a wingback chair – it was all these gorgeous shades of dusty blue and grey. Maybe it was the British connection, but when I saw the chair completed, the colours made me think of the Scotties and suddenly I knew how to breathe new life into that old sampler and give those of you who love Scottie dogs (or dogs in general) a design with an elegant feel to it.

As I mentioned in my most recent newsletter, it’s a bit of a deviation for me as needle weaving isn’t something I use often in my work, but it was such a refreshing change to do it again and I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

First I modified the design. Then I spent a fair bit of time on the instructions for the pattern, creating illustrations for each written step to help you with stitch placement and to keep track of the weaving. It took a bit of adding and taking away to get the colours just right, but in the end I managed to create a similar feel to that piece of tweed fabric (although these Scotties are more tartan than tweed, stitchwise).

If all this appeals to you and you'd like to give needle weaving a try on a manageable scale, you’ll find the pattern as an instant download on Etsy and Craftsy. 

Hello ... and welcome

Welcome to my new website and news feed, where you'll find the latest updates on my hand embroidery patterns and projects. If you'd like to receive these updates via your news or feed reader, please click on the News RSS link on the right.

For a more in-depth and personal account of the goings-on behind the scenes at Kelly Fletcher Needlework Design, please consider signing up for my monthly newsletter (click on the link or use the sign-up form on the right). You'll receive a letter from me on the first Tuesday of every month filling you in on what's been happening in the studio, behind-the-design insights, needlework bits and pieces, and links you may find interesting.

You can also follow/like Kelly Fletcher Needlework Design on Pinterest, FaceBook and Twitter for updates between newsletters. And I've put together a comprehensive Stitch board on Pinterest with instructional pics and links to photo and video how-tos of all the stitches used in my designs, which is a great resource if you're new to embroidery or just to certain stitches.

Otherwise, please get in touch on kellyfletcherdesigns@gmail.com. I love hearing from you and seeing pics of your work.