New pattern - White Rabbit

You may already know that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This has inspired many maker-designers to create new products with an Alice theme.

The white rabbit is the character that Alice follows into the magical world of Wonderland. My rabbit has a background of a Bargello-stlye pattern worked in bright, contrasting colours.

Bargello needlework looks like something that originated from the counter-culture of the 1960s but in fact it is centuries old. In its traditional form it is a form of canvas work but I have translated the technique into cross stitch. Bargello patterns are made by repeating zigzags of stitches to create various shapes. They can be narrow and spiky or wide and curved.

It makes a striking background for the clean, white shape in the centre. White Rabbit is the latest of my designs where I've experimented with open spaces being as important to the design as the stitching, similar to Assisi work. You can also see this in my Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice designs and I have others in the planning.

You can find the pattern in my Etsy shop by clicking the listing at the top of this page or you can head over to my Payhip shop.

And after April when May follows...

I returned from a lovely holiday in Mallorca a couple of days ago and so my Etsy shop has reopened. It was really hot and sunny all week, just like the height of summer back home (well, in theory!). It was quite surreal to see fields full of bales and dried grass when at home spring has only just blossomed. Here are a couple of photos. I did take quite a few but the sun was too bright to see the screen properly and so some of them didn't come out very well.

 

If you look closely at this first one, taken in the Albufera nature reserve, you can see a marsh harrier in the background.

 

This second one shows a field full of bales at the foot of Puig St. Marti, a small mountain overlooking Alcudia.

 

It's amazing how lush and green England looks from a plane window at this time of year and I feel very proud to call it my home. As much as I like to travel, I'm always glad to be home again, back to my little part of England's green and pleasant land.

Etsy May Day Bank Holiday Weekend Sale

"Arise, arise, you pretty fair maid

And bring your May bush in..."

 

Today is May Day, another of the year's markers. The hawthorn, or May, blossom is not yet out in my part of Derbyshire but it should only be a couple more weeks. Here in the UK we're about to celebrate the May Day Bank Holiday and so to celebrate, I am having a sale in my Etsy shop.

 

 

To get 20% off all patterns, simply enter the code MERRYMAY20 at the checkout. You can visit my Etsy shop by either clicking on the Etsy Mini listings at the top of this page or by clicking here.

 

 

 

The code will be valid until midnight EST on 4th May. If you live in the UK the deadline is 5.00am on the 5th May (due to the different time zones).

 

 

After that, I'll be on holiday for a few days and so my Etsy shop will be in vacation mode until 13th May. In the meantime, enjoy the May Day weekend and happy stitching!