What Are You Stitching?

It has been a little while since we’ve seen some of Hazel Blomkamp’s designs in our What Are You Stitching? cupboard. This could be due to the fact Hazel’s projects are often so detailed they aren’t what you might describe as ‘quick to stitch’! 

We suspect that there are quite a few embroiderers out there working on Hazel’s designs right now, so this week we’re showcasing projects fellow stitchers have completed to help inspire you to keep going and prove the results are definitely worth the hours you put in.

‘Hazel Blomkamp’s project Masterpiece from Inspirations issue #70  has been on the go for quite some time.  I bought the printed fabric from Hazel at Beating Around the Bush back in 2014 and it has been my go-to project ever since.  I loved learning all the new stitches it contains.’

‘I have it lying under glass on an old sea trunk of my great grandfather’s that we use as a coffee table while I decide what to do with it. My unit is too small to accommodate a footstool and my husband rather likes it where it is so maybe that’s where it will stay.’

It sounds like it is the perfect place for it to be mounted, Robyn. It really is a masterpiece that you’ve obviously spent a long time on, so it should remain somewhere you can see it every day. Congratulations on finishing a project so long it in the making, you’ve done a beautiful job.

‘I finally finished Hazel Blomkamp’s ‘Pertinacity’. I had it sitting in my drawer for four years and finally got it out. I changed some of the weaving and did rows of chain stitch using Hazel’s colour scheme. I now have to get it framed.’

What a magnificent finish, Karin. It’s wonderful how you have made it your own, yet still remained true to Hazel’s original design. We love it.

‘My stitching journey started many years ago with counted cross stitch. Since then, I have moved onto many other types of stitching with my favourite techniques being Crewel/Jacobean, threadpainting and stumpwork. In saying that, I’m at my happiest whenever I have a needle and thread in my hand no matter what style.’

‘I started Hazel Blomkamp’s owl, ‘Maureen’ when I got home after attending Beating Around the Bush in 2018. I put aside the three beautiful projects from the classes I had attended and dived into this enormous project. I attached the final bead yesterday, nearly three years later.

Many areas were unpicked and restitched – some as many as six times. Thankfully Hazel is very generous with her kits and I didn’t run out of threads or beads. It was very challenging and at times frustrating, but I loved every minute and every single stitch that I finally mastered.

Once lockdowns are over, I’ll be taking it to the framers for the final step in this amazing project.’

What a project and what a story, Kerry. Maureen has truly been a labour of love and deserves to be mounted somewhere that everyone can admire her. Well done on completing this magnificent project.

Have you worked your way through one of Hazel Blomkamp’s amazing projects? Do you love her style and all of the different kinds of stitches? Or is there another designer you keep going back to? Whatever designer you favour and whatever you like to stitch, we’d like to see it. Send us a picture of your work and a story about your stitching journey and the project itself to news@inspirationsstudios.com