Visit us at the Anna Templeton Centre, Christmas Tea and Sale

We are working on embroideries, baskets, silk ornaments and other finery to deck your halls this holiday season. Come visit us and see our new one of a kind product line at the Anna Templeton Centre, Christmas Tea and Sale, December 12-14.

For the past few months we have been working on a new logo for our business. We liked the old one, but it was a stock logo, and we wanted something original that was designed especially for us. We hope you like our new logo as much as we do!

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A Cupids Landscape

Experience the textile techniques of Natural Dye and Needle Felting

July 5th and 6th, 1-4 pm

Cupids Community Centre

On Saturday, join Susan Furneaux, of Black Hen Studio, to unlock the mystery of creating stunning colour with local natural dyes on wool and silk. On Sunday, Anne Lucas, of Foggy Rock Fibres, will guide you in creating a one-of-a-kind needle felted landscape, inspired by the historic Town of Cupids. You may take one or both workshops. Cost per workshop/day: $30 which includes materials. Pre-registration is required. To register for workshops or for more information please email blackhenstudio@gmail.com 

or call 709-690-8732.

My Chickadee

Loved working on the piece as it was a commission for a friend. She found the chickadee skull in her garden and wanted a piece to honour the small bird. I really like the caribou hair and the natural dyes; they compliment each other quite well. What to work on next? Foxes maybe???

Embroidery for the Spring Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador Nesting Exhibition

April 8 

Eric Walsh Photo

Here's Mystique; all complete. I am quite happy with her and especially fond of her expression. You can visit her at the Craft Council Gallery until April 26th. I am going to get more detail shots done when she comes home. As with everything, there are a few choices I would have made differently if I had the time, but that is the creative process!

March 10

Well Mystique is off to the framers. I tried to get a photo of the finished piece but it was late and the light wasn't cooperating. I will post a picture when the photographer shoots it. I did change a few things, including the colour of the flowers, I made them closer to the heritage honeysuckle colour; pale and soft. I am happy with the finished piece, now it is up to Nesting jury whether they feel she is worthy.

March 8

Thread painting is one of my favourite techniques. I just lose myself in an image and stitch until it looks finished. Lots of coffee and good television. I use DMC floss for all my thread paintings with a #10 crewel needle. DMC offers a large selection of colours, it is locally available and cheap. Mystique (the hen) is approximately 4 inches high and the 'slip' is stitched on cotton organza, it will be cut out and applied to the background doily.  It was a lot fun to immortalize my girl in stitches. 

March 5

I was right about the weather, I didn't really feel the need to be out and about it -20 weather. Other than feeding and watering chickens and collecting eggs, it was a lazy few days of stitching. The honeysuckles are complete. I used vintage linen and silk thread. The stems were completed with just an inch of thread to spare! I am happy with them, I decided not to use any gold but I may change my mind. I feel it is a little naked without it. Although my embroidery is very traditional, in both technique and design, I use the computer quite frequently in my design process. My tools are quite simple: a variety of scissors, embroidery hoops and needles, my blue washout pen and my computer and printer.

March 1

After some thought about what to do, I am finally getting started with my piece for Nesting for the Craft Council's Gallery. My Grandmother's barbecue chicken recipe transferred to a vintage napkin dyed with Labrador Tea. Pleased with the results so far! Hope to use the Reading Break to get it complete. One good thing about the cold weather is that I won't be so tempted to spend the days outside.  One of my favourite parts of the whole process is preparing the base material on to the frame. Sometimes I spend months with the design in my head. Once I have the material stretched in the frame, I know I will be soon stitching. That's the fun part!

Lucy, She Always Inspires Me To Stitch

Lucy       Photo by Eric Walsh

My passion for embroidery, runs right to my soul. When I haven't embroidered for a little while, I get a little 'ancey'. I stitched on paper napkins as a child, stitched at parties as a teenager, left the poolside while on a Florida family vacation in search for a fabric shop. Four hours later, back at poolside, I was contented again, quietly stitching together pieces of olive coloured silk.
I created Lucy, a couple of years ago for the Annual Members Exhibition of the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador. She now sits in my living room. I have considered selling her a few times, but I just can't bring myself to do it. This is odd for me. My work is very process driven, usually when I am finished working on a piece, my love affair with it is over. Lucy is different. She makes me happy and always reminds me how fortunate I am to have a life where I can spend every day doing something that I am very passionate about. She is the boost I need if I am having trouble getting inspired. Something I find hard to do in the dark evenings of winter. Just to let you know, Lucy is the departed. :)