Flickr inspiration - January 30

Stitchy and Nice #4, a gallery on Flickr.

Flickr is definitely a fantastic place to find inspiration, just look at this selection. And the thing I love the most about the embroideries on Flickr is how different they are. All types of imagery, different skill levels, traditional, non-traditional - it's all there!

Do add your stitchy creations, whether embroidery or anything else hand stitched, to the &Stitches Flickr group - we'd love to see what you make!

Best Valentine Freebie Patterns

photo by Even-Star

There are many Valentines patterns about, but some are just a little more special than others. I found a couple of  cool free patterns for you that are lovely for Valentines day but don't 'expire' after the 14th of February. On the Hancock's House of Happy blog you can find this awesome free-bee cross stitch sampler.

Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching has a fun 'Secret Message how to' . It isn't specifically meant for Valentines day but it sure is a great way to make your Valentines message both personal and intriguing!

From the Badbird Flickr group stitched by Louise

On the blog of Andrea Zuill you can find  this lovely birds and heart pattern. I think it would look pretty amazing on a pillowcase too! But why stop at one pillowcase when you have an excuse to stitch two? Find the downloadable pattern for this matching set on the Lazy May blog.

Happy Valentines stitching!

Give away winners!

Congratulations to Alwayssunnyinmyworld, Krislovesfabric and Lee Ann, you all won a Three Kitchen Fairies 'Sharing is good' PDF embroidery pattern! Mail us at: hello@andstitches.com to tell us your email addresses! Thank you Paloma of Three Kitchen Fairies for offering these adorable patterns to us to give away.

Many thanks as well to all the nice stitchy peeps who took the time to share with us what features they'd like to see in &Stitches e-zine. Carina and I are in the middle of planning the next few issues (yay!) and we will certainly take your tips into account.

Ideas and suggestions for future issues are always welcome so if you have something to share with us, drop us a line at hello@andstitches.com. And if you have a craft/craft supply business, ask us about our super affordable advertising spaces (available in the next issues and on the blog).

Sharing is good: a pattern giveaway!

Photo by Paloma Nunez Regueiro

If you have seen the first issue of &Stitches you surely noticed Paloma Nunez Regueiro's sweet embroideries. Some even may have thought her cute 'Sharing is good' pattern was included in the e-zine. It isn't, but you can purchase one here  in Paloma's Threekitchenfairies shop or....leave a comment for a chance to win the 'Sharing is good' pdf pattern! You could also do both or buy one of Paloma's other beautiful patterns. This is my personal favourite. Thank you Paloma for making this neat giveaway possible!

We are giving away three 'Sharing is good' pdf patterns! And because Sharing *is* good, we would love you to share with us in your comment what features you'd like to see in &Stitches e-zine!

Comments close this Friday the 20th of January, 20.00 CET. Be sure to leave an email address, if we are not able to contact you we will draw a new winner. Good luck everyone!

Comments are now closed, winners will be announced later today! 

Give away winner + thank you!

The winner of a copy of &stitches is Rachel - congratulations!

Rachel Jan 12, 2012 12:00 PM
Awesome! I've been waiting with excitement for this ever since the first sneak peek! :)

We also want to say a big big thank you for all your sweet comments and congratulations on our new adventure. Your support means a lot to us!

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Love &stitches

&Stitches: first issue is available now!

Woohoo! We are so excited to announce that the first Issue of &Stitches is available here as of today! And for the early birds: if you use the code RAINBOW on checkout between now and Monday the 16th of January 2012 you will receive 15% off the first Issue (normal price is 4.50 GBP, about 7$)* Please note that this discount is no longer usable.

You could win a copy of &Stitches too! See the bottom of the post for details!

Late 2010  we started talking (well not really talking more...mailing) about doing something together. An Embroidery Pattern was the idea at first. However, the project was put 'in the fridge' until the summer of 2011 and then we thought we might just do a little bit more than a pattern. It was at that moment that &Stitches really started to take form. And now, six months later the first issue called  'Colour &Stitches'  is here!

So what can you expect to find in our e-zine? A lot of stitchy goodness of course! To name a few things: the current issue has patterns by Corrine McHie of Septemberhouse (embroidery- A Splash of Colour, pictured above) Carina (felt-Gulspurv, pictured above) and Nicole (embroidery-Spring). Several prolific stitchers talk about their colour inspiration. And if you are very sensitive to gorgeous pictures of embroidery floss you might better not read Carina's article 'A bit of Colour Theory'. :)

So head over to the shop and get yourself a copy and don't forget to let us know what you think!

To enter the giveaway to win a copy of &Stitches, simply leave a comment on this post. The giveaway closes tomorrow at noon UK time. Make sure to leave your email address or some other way to contact you if you win. Good luck! Thank you for entering - the give away is now closed. Winner will be announced in the next post!

Love &Stitches,
Nicole and Carina


*Mention RAINBOW in the message to seller when you check out with Paypal and 15% will be refunded to your Paypal account  after your purchase!

One Fish, Two Fish...

I could not help but to make a reference to the famous Dr. Seuss book when I started writing this post! You will find this lovely colourful Fish Pattern, designed by the very talented Corinne of Septemberhouse,  in our first issue. We were absolutely delighted to have Corinne as our very first &Stitches guest designer!

At the moment we are putting some final touches to our e-zine and it's available for purchase on this site (here to be exactly) on Thursday January 12th! Woohoo! More details in a couple of days time.