Hi everyone,

First apologies for the missing March newsletter, I had so many things going on that I just didn't get a chance to write it. So I thought I'd better get April's out nice and quickly.

So what was I doing that kept me busy in March? Well of course there was the village pantomime, then I was asked to do some work for a London publisher and eventually I did manage to add some new sections to the website.

So lets start with the panto, Old Mother Hubbard. It was a roaring success, so we were told, “The best yet! Haven't laughed so much in years!”

I even found out that there was a tentative connection between the story and blackwork.

Apparently “Mother Hubbard” actually referred to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the most important statesman and churchman in England in the Tudor period in the 16th Century. He displeased Henry VIII by failing to facilitate the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon (who is said to have introduced blackwork to England) when he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. In the poem, King Henry was the “doggie” , the “bone” refers to the divorce and the cupboard relates to the Catholic Church.

After that brief history lesson let us return to our scheduled needlework newsletter.

London publisher? Yes I received an email from a gentleman from Quintet publishing who had seen the website. He asked if I would be kind enough to consider contributing to a series of books they were planning, including blackwork and hardanger. His first request was for three blackwork motifs, designed and stitched, with a two week deadline! Well I just scraped inside the time, and the motifs were accepted and if the books go ahead as planned he has asked if I would consider authoring them. Wow, that is so exciting!

Next I would like to thank all of you that helped me by taking part in the survey I held in the last newsletter. The results made me put my thinking cap on and you may have started to notice some additions to the website.

I realised that almost all the techniques I had covered so far had been counted needlework and that surface embroidery (or free embroidery) had been, for the most part, ignored. In an effort to put that right you will already find two new sections on the navigation bar: redwork and crazy quilting.

Redwork is an ideal starting point for anyone wanting to move from counted to surface embroidery as it is all worked in one colour and mainly in one simple stitch. To get you started I have created a cute little picture of a mother hen and her eggs here.

Crazy quilt embroidery, on the other hand, can be as complex as you like. Here is your opportunity to go wild with threads, fabric and stitches. You cannot go wrong as there aren't any rules! You can even include your favourite counted techniques by stitching over waste canvas onto your crazy quilt block. Watch this space for new sections on Silk Ribbon Embroidery (SRE) and much, much more in the days and weeks to come.

But be warned, crazy quilting can become just as addictive as blackwork and cross stitch!

To see my first “crazy” project you might like to check out my blog. I stitched this as a gift and it was definitely well received!

Now I am working on a “Strawberry” block and will be writing pages showing the berries I add to the project using different needlework techniques. The members of a yahoo group I belong to are currently raving about my lazy daisy stitch strawberry which they kindly picked as their April cover picture to encourage new subscribers to the list.

Of course its not just me that can add pages to the site. There are sections where you can you too! Whether you want to ask a question of other visitors, share your finished projects in the Show and Tell section or ask advice about stain removal it is simple to contribute.

Lorraine recently submitted some photos of her ATC, or Artist Trading Cards, that she has been making from my Little Ones cross stitch kits and they are definitely worth a look! If you have done interesting things with these little kits why not show us your results?

Oh and Kim will be adding a page showing her wonderful chess board, complete with pieces hand carved by her father to use on it, shortly. Don't miss this one, its fantastic!

Lastly I would like to thank everyone of you for signing up for my newsletter. If you know anyone else that might like to receive it please let them know. We are edging closer and closer to that magic 1000 subscriber number (at the time of writing there are only 34 more needed to reach it) and I am offering a surprise prize for the person who turns out to be number 1000. Don't delay those numbers will pass by in a flash!

See you next month, thanks for reading this far.

Regards,