What Are You Stitching?

Each week we bring you glorious, stitched pieces from our Inspirations community. Whether you are stitching for yourself, for a friend or simply for relaxation we love sharing your passions.

Lorraine Lafrance

‘During the pandemic, I took advantage of all the free time offered to me to stitch as much as possible. In two years, I completed 53 projects. Here are three of them.’

‘The Medieval Pheasant Tapestry, a chart by StitchWorld, was completed in 140 hours. The Unicorn Tapestry, a chart by Tiny Modernist took 115 hours.’

‘Ndebele Woman, a chart from African Stitch, took 585 hours. I’ve named her Annika which means Grace or Sweet-Faced in Hausa.

Cross stitch is my favourite craft as I find it very relaxing, even when working on long-haul projects. I love going through my collection of charts and linens and deciding on my next project.’

We are absolutely amazed, Lorraine, 53 projects! You have been busy! The designs you have chosen are beautiful and have been completed to an incredible standard. We love that you find your time stitching relaxing, especially when you consider the amount of time and work that has gone into each of your pieces.

Sonia Santini

‘I live in Italy in the city of Fermo, Marche. I am mainly a designer of hand-embroidered jewellery, I like to paint floral subjects, portraits of people or animals and make them as realistic as possible by interpreting them in a modern way.’

‘I am so happy to share a miniature embroidered portrait that is 7 x 5 cm (2.7 x 1.9 inches). The portrait is of Baroness Betty von Rothschild, who was an Austrian philanthropist from the 1800s and it was painted by the French painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. I love the special and very accurate contrasts that the artist Ingres wanted to show us, Betty von Rothschild is splendid!’

You really have incorporated all your passions into your stitching, Sonia. This piece is beautiful, we love the use of beads around the pendant that resemble the pearls in her portrait.

Christa Donohoo

‘I am only an amateur embroiderer but have loved it all my life.’

‘Four years ago, I made this design of a cross for my sick auntie in Austria. She absolutely loved it.’

Christa, there is no better gift than that of a stitched piece for a loved one. We hope that your aunt will admire the thoughtfulness of your needlework for many years to come. Well done.

Do you count the hours you spend on each of your stitching projects? Do you like stitching people? Or perhaps for people?

Whatever you are stitching, we’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com