Michele Young

‘I recently finished Susan O’Connor’s Busy Bees project from Inspirations issue #120 where you celebrated 30 years. I live in Toronto, Canada and in 2026, the Toronto Guild of Stitchery, where I am a member, is celebrating 50 years of stitching together with its golden anniversary.

This particular project struck a chord with me, as my daughter keeps honeybees and I made it for her as a gift.

I used mostly threads from my stash but purchased the recommended fabric and given the number of times one must stitch on the same small place for each bee, I was glad I did.’

‘I made one small change, adding a flower instead of the eighth bee. When I finished number 7, and sore fingertips protested, I decided my bees needed a little flower. What a great learning experience this was and the instructions were amazing.’

Michele, what a beautiful and thoughtful gift for your daughter. Your bees look terrific and the flower you added suits the project perfectly. Keep up the great work and we hope your guild has a wonderful time celebrating such a big anniversary.

Bunny Goodman

‘I made twins! One of these Bayeux Tapestry sampler panels had been given to me years ago and the second panel I bought at a garage sale for only 50¢.’

‘This project had been taught as a class years ago, and the teacher used 26 count Jobelan evenweave fabric. I thought about swapping this fabric for a nice wool twill and just embroidering one of them, but the teacher had silk screened the pattern onto this evenweave fabric and had done such a nice job I decided to embroider both of them as is.’

‘As I got going, I wished that I had abandoned this fabric as the Jobelan was rough with the use of crewel wool yarn and I ended up with a lot of slubs on the wool yarn. I used the Bayeux Stitch on both panels and a couple of beads snuck in as eyes too.

When the panels were complete, I machine sewed them into decorative pillows. I also wrote their provenance on an inner lining inside on the pillows for future reference.’

This is such a fun way to bring new life to vintage and second-hand embroidery finds, Bunny. Stitching on the Jobelan fabric certainly sounds like it was a challenge, but both the panels and your cushions look terrific. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Sharon Evans

‘I just finished making Ana's delightful little Jonquil Pot. It sure is a celebration of spring and I loved stitching my favourite flower.’

What a pretty project, Sharon; Ana’s designs certainly are delightful, and your recreation of her Jonquil Pot is a little cutie. We’re so pleased to hear you loved stitching this and would love to see your next finished project.

Have you stitched a gift for a loved one? Do you enjoy using vintage or second-hand elements in new projects? Or have you recently completed a design featuring one of your favourites?

Whatever you are stitching, we’d love to see it! Email photos of what you’ve created with needle and thread along with a few details about your stitching journey to news@inspirationsstudios.com