A Little Good News from my Studio

I have some lovely news to share today.

Last November, I spent a rather unusual few days in my studio talking to a camera, demonstrating stitches, layering fabrics, making rocks, pebbles and stones — and trying to remember everything that I wanted to share!

Those videos became my Textile Rocks, Pebbles and Stones workshop for Stitch Club, the online textile community from TextileArtist.org.

And now, several months later, I have some more good news: I’ve been invited to become an artist partner with Stitch Club.

I have to admit, I was pretty excited when that email arrived yesterday.

From ordinary stones to stitched stories

If you have ever walked along a beach, through a forest or even down a city street, you have probably picked up a stone without really thinking about it.

Perhaps it was the shape.
The colour.
The texture.
The way the light caught its surface.

There is something wonderfully grounding about stones. They are small, quiet and completely unconcerned with us. They have simply been there, holding their stories, for much longer than we have.

That was the starting point for my Rocks, Pebbles & Stones workshop.

I wanted to take that feeling and translate it into cloth and stitch.

In the workshop, I show you different ways to create your own textile rocks, pebbles and stones using layers of fabric, simple stitching and the kinds of details that make a small object feel surprisingly full of life.

There is no need to make them look exactly like real rocks. In fact, I rather like it when they don’t.

A little piece of hand-dyed cloth might become the surface of a pebble. A scrap of vintage fabric might disappear into a layer beneath it. Stitching can suggest cracks, lines, weathering or simply become marks that make the piece your own.

And because these are textile rocks, they are wonderfully tactile. You can hold them in your hand, arrange them together, stack them, display them, stitch them — or simply keep one nearby on a block as a little reminder to slow down and notice what is around you.

A workshop – and so much more

My workshop is part of Stitch Club, the online membership from TextileArtist.org.

And this is where I think the opportunity becomes especially interesting if you love textile art and learning from other artists.

Alongside my workshop, Stitch Club has more than 70 workshops from leading textile artists, covering all sorts of techniques, approaches and ways of working with cloth and stitch.

But it isn’t just a library of workshops.

There is also a lovely online community of people who, like us, enjoy making things with their hands, experimenting, learning and sharing what they are creating.

I have always believed that one of the best things about textile art is that there is never just one way to do something. We can learn a technique from another artist and then take it somewhere completely different.

That is how our own creative language develops.

So if you’ve been curious about my Rocks, Pebbles & Stones workshop, or if you’ve been looking for a place to discover lots of other textile artists and workshops, this might be a good time to give Stitch Club a try.

And there’s a little something extra…

As part of the artist partner program, I have a special discount code to share with you.

If you join Stitch Club through my link and use STITCH-25, you’ll receive 25% off your first month.

You can cancel anytime, so there is no long-term commitment. You can join, explore my workshop among others, make some things, meet some fellow stitchers — and see whether it is something you enjoy.

After all those hours in front of the camera last November, it would be lovely to know that some of you are now sitting somewhere with your own scraps of cloth, needle and thread, making a few little stones of your own.

Sometimes the smallest things carry the biggest stories.

And sometimes, all we need is a little piece of cloth, some thread and permission to slow down.

Join Stitch Club here and use code STITCH-25 for 25% off your first month.

Thanks for reading. Until I write again, happy stitching!

Ana