For needlepoint addicts in the northern hemisphere at least, this is the time when, as the nights get longer and longer, we can look forward to many peaceful hours stitching. We can't be in the garden, or preparing barbecues and picnics so we have every excuse to snuggle up and enjoy the stitching season.

Christmas is nearly here and if you have stitchy friends, they will be thrilled to be given a tapestry kit for a present; if you do not, then the only thing for it is to do the stitching yourself and give the finished article.

At One Off Needlework the Christmas rush is well under way and it is not only Angels and Robins that are flying off the shelves.
But I am in the mood for Christmas and have a new idea that is taking a long time to get right. My idea is guinea fowl... I know they don't conjure up Christmas in most people's mind but they do with me! They look so very festive with their grey plumage covered in white "snow flakes" and the flash of red and bright blue on their heads.

So I have been trying to translate all this into a Christmassy tapestry. It is not going well! However, I am not giving up just yet - I have a lot more stitching and unpicking and restitching before I do that. I will keep at it until I have design that works or that there is no hope. I will let you know the outcome...

Luckily, there is no shortage of Christmas (or otherwise) needlepoint kits for your winter stitching. Christmas Decorations and Stockings, Hearts, Angels, Music, and Pink Elephants.

Something cheery to brighten up the darkest of winter evenings.

Are you left-handed?

When the owner of a needlepoint store in America contacted me recently to ask if she may pass on my Left-handed Instructions to her customers, of course I said yes because I believe the pleasure of stitching should be available to everybody. Those instructions, came originally from Anything Left-Handed in London. That company had stopped using them, gave them to me and after adding a few remarks of my own, I have been offering them to left-handed customers ever since. But this request from America made me look at the instructions again.
For linear tent stitch, after the first row is stitched, the work is turned upside down (through 180 degrees, not back to front) and the return row is stitched. Basketweave tent stitch fares a little better with no turning, but in both cases you must start at the bottom left corner of the stitch area. These methods mean that the stitches lie in the same direction as if a right-handed person had done the stitching.

Why such a fuss?

Needles, wool, canvas – none of these have a right and left in the same way that say, scissors do. So I cannot see why there is a problem. Surely, left handed stitchers could just stitch the other way round - Go in the opposite direction. If I would start in the top right hand corner, they could start at the top left. An exact mirror image. The only difference would be that the stitches would lie in the opposite direction on the finished work. Would that matter? Who says which way they should lie?

So as an experiment, I have reproduced my normal stitch diagrams, and simply flipped the images. Would this work? I don't know because I am right handed; what do you think?

(Anything Left-Handed is now an online store. www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk)

I'm not always in charge!

When designing, I often find at some stage that the design itself gets a life of its own and takes charge. There comes a time when the design dictates what happens next whether it is colour choices, size, imagery - more or less anything can happen! If all is going well I can surprise myself with the brilliance of what is unfolding, so when that happens I feel I can't really take credit for it. At other times, I can have a day when it all goes badly; the things I wanted to include just don't fit, the colours look awful etc.etc. I suppose then it is fair enough not to take responsibility for that either. The odd thing is that sometimes designing just seems to happen by itself and sometimes not - and I have no say in the matter!

When sportsmen say "I played well today" it is not as boastful as it sounds because one's performance is a completely separate entity and sometimes you just have to wait and see what happens. As a designer, I can be completely thrilled by one of my own designs and completely indifferent to another. Needless to say, the indifferent ones never see the light of day!

Four months to go for Christmas Gifts.

What can be nicer than a hand made Christmas gift? The hours of work devoted to it make the whole thing so much more meaningful and precious. There is still time to get stitching and make something personal for a grandchild, or maybe a son, daughter, parent or your best friend. Perhaps there is a milestone wedding anniversary coming up. We have all the big ones - Diamond, Gold, Ruby and Silver but they could be adapted to any anniversary using the alphabet charts provided in the kits. All our Christmas Stockings can be personalised and if you don't manage to get them finished in the next four months, not to worry.....Christmas will be back again next year.

Plain sailing

The summer is here and whatever the weather, there is plenty to keep an eye on while you are stitching. As I write, we are in the middle of Cowes Week. The Regatta Tapestry is a stunning sunny seasidey design that will keep you smiling as you stitch. It couldn't be easier to do, so if you are half watching something else at the same time....

Christmas must be coming!

This is normally the time of year when there is so much to do that needlepoint hardly gets a look in. But not this year it seems. I cannot believe how busy I have been, sending out new orders for needlepoint/ tapestry kits. There has even been a rush for Christmas Stockings and Decorations, so stitchers are already planning ahead.
If you prefer to enjoy the summer before launching into Christmas, we have plenty of summery designs that are perfect for your holiday, whether you spend it at home or away. Needlepoint tapestry is very portable. The printed canvas means you don't have to concentrate really, so you can take it with you whatever your plans for the holidays.