Kew Book Of Nature Samplers
Hello everyone
Hope this finds you well and enjoying the warmer weather. I will be away in the UK visiting my girls in July, so the shop will be close on Friday 23rd June – 19th July 2023. Thank you for your understanding and I have some exciting new products to share with you on my return.
Kew Book Of Nature Samplers
This week I am thrilled to announce that my new book The Kew Book Of Nature Samplers has finally been released in the UK, Europe and Australia and will be released in the USA on July 18th. It is available to order at Search Press, and Amazon UK and to pre-order at Amazon and any other good online booksellers. You can find more information on my site here.
Review by Mary Corbet
Incase you missed it, you can read a review by Mary Corbet of Needle N Thread of the book.
What’s in the book
This is the second book in collaboration with The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. With the first book I was given access to their botanical art collection, and worked closely with the archives and library, but in this second book I worked more closely with artists associated with Kew and took inspiration from their botanical illustrations to create the samplers. Working with Kew has been such a privilege and helped me get more in touch with nature and to look more positively at our environment.
The Kew Book of Nature Samplers is exactly what it says – “Nature Samplers”. The samplers feature a vast array of fauna and flora, including butterflies, bugs, birds, a rabbit and a hedgehog; lotuses, foxgloves, poppies, toadstools, and numerous wildflowers. I am particularly excited about this book because the sampler style projects offer you the option of completing a whole project or you can choose to extract individual aspects and stitch one or more of the elements in each design. None of the elements are overwhelming and each one is happily portrayed on its own or as a whole. I have to say that I LOVED stitching the projects for this book, it was very uplifting!
Like all my books the projects are listed from entry level to more advanced and includes a stitch sampler for beginners. I am very mindful of introducing those who are new to Needlepainting very steadily, so you can progress step by step through the book, but also for catering for those who have some previous experience and want to challenge themselves to new ideas. The book also includes a short chapter on dyeing your own fabrics with vegetable and natural dyes.
You will be pleased to know that most of the projects stitched use DMC or Anchor stranded cotton with substitutes listed for each. So there are no difficult threads to source and the fabrics used are all available in my shop. There are iron on transfers included for each project in a folder at the back of the book. The iron on transfers have been improved upon and tested, so you should find them easy to use. You can find more information on how to use the iron on transfers here.
Each new book includes something different and challenges us to progress with our Needlepainting, as in the spiky quills on the hedgehog and the tendrils on this pod! I very much hope you love this book as much as I have loved creating it for you.
Till next time, wherever you are in the world, keep smiling and happy stitching.
Trish