Snippets from Florence’s Studio
If you’ve been following me for a while and know me quite well, you will probably already be able to recognise when my head is down and I am buried in the process of creating new designs and pieces. I have a habit of disappearing entirely from Instagram when my head is full and my hands are busy and that is the surest sign that new creations are in the works.
Whilst I will try my hardest to improve on this hibernation-mode habit, I thought a news from the studio segment might be of interest to anyone finding their way to my blog, and if there are any things you would like me to talk about in these updates I would love to hear from you.
What’s going on in the studio?
As I sit and write this, there is tiny vase with a bunch of wildflowers on my table that I picked this morning while out on a walk across my friend’s fields and woodland (with her permission) - bluebells, primroses, wood anemones, ramsoms (wild garlic) and lady’s smock. Out in my garden, the daffodils nod in the breeze, standing sentry along the hedge line and my later-flowering cherry hangs heavy with boughs of blossom in full bloom. Late winter’s flowers - grape hyacinths, dwarf irises, crocuses and the tiniest snowdrops - all feel so distant a memory that you question if they were really with us only a month or 6 weeks ago.
I stitched my Spring cottage project folder in that brief ‘between’ period, just after those miniature early blooms had disappeared and before the hedgerows and woodlands had come alive with wildflowers. In my embroidered cottage’s garden I planted spring flowers because they herald the feeling of new beginnings. It felt the appropriate choice with my website launching in the Spring and this folder being part of the first offering direct from Florence’s studio.
Sized to fit a What Florence Did Next embroidery kit folder, along with a small set of embroidery supplies, the folder means you can keep everything you need for one of my kits in one place (just as soon as you have stitched the folder!).
Top Stitchy Tip?
Whilst it’s not necessary, getting into the habit of using an embroidery stand has multiple benefits to your stitching technique and finished piece. A stand frees up both hands and you will be able to adapt quite quickly to two-handed stitching, with your non-dominant hand working the underside of your hoop or frame to guide the needle. Using a stand also means that you handle the hoop or frame, and therefore your embroidery fabric, a lot less. Even the cleanest hands will still transfer dirt on to your linen with handling so adopting a stand will make an enormous difference to your finished piece. Whilst I do very occasionally stitch holding the hoop in my hand, nine times out of ten I will chose to work on a stand instead.
I don’t like to crush my stitches inside the hoop or frame. Embroidery stitches can be rejuvenated to a certain extent with some steam and a judicious amount of fussing but they don’t lay in quite the same way as they did when first stitched, so my preference is to opt for a hoop or frame large enough to allow me to keep it clear of the embroidered work.
As a result, I have three different types of stand that suit my stitching (and size of hoop or frame) in different environments:
The Elbesee seat stand is perfect for use in a comfy armchair or sofa when embroidering smaller projects up to approximately 8” square. Anything larger than this, I find the stand becomes a bit unwieldy with too much movement and sway. Slide the base under your leg to anchor it in place and get stitching - the clamp will hold whatever hoop you wish.
The handmade wooden floor stand from Jenny Adin-Christie (an embroidery artist who creates breathtaking works) is brilliant for use when on a dining or desk chair. It collapses down into four pieces so is perfect to slide in to your suitcase if you are heading for a workshop, class or retreat, and uses Elbesee’s clamp arm to grip your own choice of hoop.
For much larger projects that require a larger frame, Needle Need’s Necessaire floor stand is an absolutely workhorse. Mine is close to 20 years old and as solid as the day I bought it. I first started using one when I was heavily in to cross stitch (their equally brilliant Millennium frames come in sizes up to 44” wide), but my stand still comes out regularly when I am working bigger pieces and want the frame well away from my work.
An important aside… I am not affiliated in any way to any of these products, am not receiving any form of reward for including them in my list and am recommending them solely based on my own favourable experiences with these products across a period of years. I always appreciate well-informed recommendations from fellow stitchers and I’m assuming you are the same.
Who’s been inspiring me?
There is something very magical and magnetic about Sam McKechnie (@themagpieandthewardrobe) and you feel it when you are in her company. An artist, doll-maker, and writer (with several books to her name), Sam shares my love of antique fabrics and fripperies, and whether it is her installations, still life pieces or her dolls, her work has such a tactile quality that it screams to be touched. Sam also gives hands down the best hugs, so if you ever get the opportunity to go on one of of her doll-making workshops, firstly don’t miss out, and secondly, don’t forget the hug!
What I’ve been eating?
Wild garlic pesto, for all meals, for the entire past month, and I’m seriously not exaggerating! The woodlands around me are buried for six weeks each year in a carpet of wild garlic. I don’t work to a recipe, instead just blending up piles of parmesan and pine nuts and handfuls of wild garlic with a great glug of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Stick it on chicken, mix it through dressing, a bowl of pasta or spread a great quantity of it on toasted sourdough. Delicious.
What’s been keeping me entertained?
I devour podcasts and talking books alike. During my GCSEs and A-Levels, I could almost quote word for word my set texts because I listened to them each night as I went to bed (and right throughout the night while I slept). A literary osmosis of sorts. That love continues to this day and whilst there are passing series I keep discovering, as this is my first snippets blog, I thought I would mention those podcasts that I listen to every day / week, and have for a number of years or decades (!).
I’m a super fan of The Archers, having listened to it since I was a child. As I catch up with each episode while out walking Dilys across the fields, I guess you could call her a super fan too. We simply can’t function if we don’t know what is happening in Ambridge and the opening dum-de-dum of the theme tune is all that is required to have Dil running for the back door ready to set out on our constitutional.
Americast has had me hooked since it began airing in January 2020. It is vital and fascinating listening to make sense of what is happening in the US and how this one super-power impacts world politics, and as far as I am concerned, should be compulsory listening for everyone, and especially in all schools.
What did Florence do next?
Well, with a trip to my family farm in the offing, I’m doing all I can to avoid mentioning the *C* word in Florence’s presence. The *C* word in my household is car. Florence is not a good (or reliable) traveller. She loves visiting the farm, getting out into the barns for a poke around, maybe even enjoying some mousy tapas, and is never more charming that when she returns to the farmhouse smelling of earth and with cobwebs in her whiskers, but there is a two and a half hour car journey to get there and Florence learned a long time ago that “codes” (yellow and brown, if you catch my drift) mean she gets a brief trip out of the crate while her disposable travel mat is replaced. Something to look forward to, then!
TTFN, R x
