If you are in the East Midlands area why not try out some traditional embroidery skills in my new series of workshops? Held at the newly built Heritage Skills Centre in the grounds of Lincoln Castle, we will kick off with embroidery samplers on Saturday 29th November. Classes are for complete beginners or if you already have some knowledge you can further your skills with some more advanced stitches! For more information and to book, visit the Heritage Skills centre website here

Here is my sampler!

New in the shop this October!

Goldwork owl kit

Strawberry needle cleaners

Silver plated broad plate no.6

Carpet felt for goldwork padding

Don't forget, you can always see wha't new in the shop by clicking the New In! image..

Well it's all been go, but we are now installed in the new studio and just unpacking the last of the boxes of 'stuff'; just in time to as the weather has turned and the rain is giving the new building a good test of how well we built it! So far so good....

We took our stand to the Big Textile Show at the end of September in Leicester. It was lovely to meet everyone there. I held a workshop in goldwork embroidery and the beetlewings caused much conversation (see this months issue of Stitch magazine)! You can still get yours in the shop here

There are more classes on the way this month starting with a 2 day stumpwork class this coming weekend at Rufford Abbey on the edge of Sherwood Forest followed by blackwork in Rugby at the end of the month. Check out the classes page here. This is what we are making at Rufford:

We have new items in the shop with more to go in in the next few days. Check out these fantastic strawberry needle cleaners; Just run your needles and pins through the special filling to give them a good clean and prolong their lifespan!

Look out for a new goldwork embroidery kit, and more strawberry items....

Well that was it I guess, summer gone once more! A lot happening at sarahhomfray.com in the coming months so here is a concise round-up of what's coming your way:

Day classes: There are a new series of day classes starting up in the market town of Rugby where I will be teaching traditional embroidery techniques for beginners on behalf of the Royal School of Needlework. There is also one more class at Rufford Craft Centre in Nottinghamshire where we will make a beautiful 3-D poppy for you to wear (it's nearly done, image coming soon!); and I have classes starting up at a new venue in Lincoln. The first is in November learning some of the fundamental emrboidery stitches in the form of a historical sampler, and all these classes will be held in the lovely new Heritage Skills Centre in the grounds of Lincoln Castle! For details of all my classes, just visit the learning zone here.

The Big Textile Show: We will be having a stand at this two day show; in it's second year and expanding rapidly! Come along and meet us and treat yourself to some specialist embroidery items including goldwork metals and threads, kits and equipment. Why not join me for a 2 hour workshop in goldwork on the Saturday? We will be stitching these sweet little Trio of Toadstools below. More info and workshop booking here

New studio: It's nearly ready to move in to! This will put us in a position to expand the shop items and start on the youtube videos again so watch out for new goodies, more helpful how to tutorials and the re-start of the distance learning classes. More news on these as they happen; don't forget to like my facebook page for all the latest news!

Goldwork owl kit, release soon!

Summer has flown by and all we seem to have done is building work! Our new studio workspace is almost completed (you can see pics on our facebook page!); just the ceiling to go in then we can put the carpet down! From then on it will be no outdoor shoes! We will be setting up a filming space and will be back on to making more great youtube videos and the distance learning course will get back on track. 

There will be more items in the shop (there are some real treats waiting in the wings!), and for the first time you will be able to visit our normally mail order only shop when we take our place at The Big Textile Show at the end of September in Leicestershire. We will be selling lots of embroidery kits and materials (with the launch of our new goldwork owl kit!) with a goldwork workshop on the Saturday. For more information on this visit the events page here.

Don't forget to check out the classes page and come and learn the beautiful techniques of traditional hand embroidery with Sarah in several venues across the Midlands including a new venue, Lincoln Castle. For more details and to book, visit the classes page here.