India Grace Designs Yahoo Group

I have created a new Yahoo group for anyone who is stitching one of my designs or just interested in them. It goes by the name of India Grace Designs so if anyone is interested please feel free to join up. I'm hoping that we will be able to follow stitch alongs of some of the designs and see some of the alternative colour schemes that some people are using. I can also use it to answer any queries people may have and offer online assitance.

Update

Things are very busy here right now, which is fabulous. I have a number of commissions which I am really excited about and I am concentrating all my energies on them so it will be a while before I have a new release to show. The castle has gone back into the 'maybe someday' pile but it isn't forgotten.

Marguerite is nearly complete and should be available to buy through my website by the middle of next week.

I hope to have some more exciting things to show you soon.

Eid cards launch

Due to popular demand after my last post I have released the Eid cards that I designed for my friend. They are now available in the cross stitch section of my site under 'cards'.

The original design that Marguerite was inspired by is shown here.

New release and update

Introducing my latest design 'Marguerite'. I am particularly pleased with this design. It was inspired by a geometric pattern that I created as a cross stitch Eid card for a friend. I liked the shape and wanted to see what could be achieved with it using hardanger and other speciality stitches. Added glitter is achieved by the use of Mill Hill Beads. The design is 8"x8" and uses 5 colours in addition to the beads. I hope to have the chart available for sale in a fortnight (Half term is slowing things down a little) It will be £7 for UK orders plus P&P for overseas.

I have been putting in some work on the castle that I mentioned in my last post. I am currently transferring the part that has been charted from 16 year old penciled charts to computer. It has taken me 8 hours so far just to do the left hand end of the garden wall and the pillar - this is going to be a long process!

New design and Update

Introducing my latest finish - Samantha. Samantha explores variations of shade and texture using threads from a single colour range and varies the pattern of stitches to highlight the changing colour. This design is 6"x6", uses 7 colours and will be available from my website in about a week for £5 (UK orders only - overseas orders include appropriate P&P costs)

Natalie should be available on my website later today if my computer behaves, I have been having a few technical problems. It will also be onsale for £5.

I am adding a progress piece here in the hope that it gives me the impetus to finish it. This is going to be a very long term project. I started it back in 1991 but RSI forced me to abandon it. I think the time is right to try and finish it.

This is a castle where I stayed with friends and the first large piece I started designing. I have now a massive job ahead to take all my faded pencil drawn bits of chart and transfer them to computer before I even get to carry on with it so don't expect to see it onsale very soon.

New Birth Sampler and Update

This is my latest finish, a Cross Stitch and Hardanger combination birth sampler. In keeping with the rest of my hardanger designs I have given it a girl's name which may seem a little odd as it was initially designed for a boy but it will be provided with colour keys for both boys and girls. It is to be called Natalie from the latin natalis : birthday.

Suzanna is now available to purchase directly from my website but for the next fortnight will also be available, along with my other hardanger designs, from the Online Cross Stich Expo http://www.cross-stitch-expo.org/ . Designs will be available at a special discounted rate from the expo site.

Update and new design preview

This is Constance, the first of my collaborations with Kay at Kay's Kullors http://www.kayskullors.co.uk/ . It uses 3 different varigated threads on hand dyed fabric and will be available in a variety of colour schemes.

It's taking me a while to get the instructions for the new designs ready at the moment as I get a lot less done during the summer holidays and I'm a perfectionist, don't like to rush things just to get them out. They will definitely be available by mid september but hopefully before that.

Whilst away on my holidays this year I was chatting to a lovely lady who introduced me to a new technique (well, new to me) which has similarities to Hardanger. I shall be researching this over the next few months and hope to create some designs inspired by it soon.

New Design Preview

This piece was designed for my daughter's teacher who retired today. I wish her a fabulous retirement. It is the first of my Hardanger pieces to use beads. There will be more!

It should appear on the website in about a week once the instructions are finished. I'm a bit slower during the school holidays as I lose half my working time.

I would also like to introduce my new logo. There may be a few minor adjustments later, but this is pretty much it now.

Update

I have finished another hardanger design which will be released in 2 weeks. I'm keeping the image under wraps at the moment as it has been sewn as a present but check back in a couple of weeks. The next release after that will hopefully be the first of the range created using Kay's Kullors http://www.kayskullors.co.uk/

I've also got a new draft for my logo from my friend

I've tried it out by putting it on the Baby Samplers page of my website. As always and comments and feedback are welcomed.

New designs now available

The Three Sisters and Incy Wincy Spider are now available for sale through my new look website. I hope you like the new image!

Website Update

I am currently making some changes to my website which should speed up it's loading. In the meantime you may find a few links that don't work - hopefully they will be fixed very quickly but if you spot any I appologise.

Logo Quest

As some of you know I've been trying to get a new logo for a while. When I started the business I used the teddy as a logo because he was the first design that I finished for sale. Whilst he is perfect for my nursery based designs I don't feel that he fits all the designs that I'm producing. I've been looking for something that says something about me, without it clashing with any of my work. For this reason I've been playing with a spotlight theme as it's a way of combining my old life in the theatre to illuminate the new (if that makes any sense) I asked a friend's husband who is a graphic designer to work on something and he came up with these.

They need colour and my friend is a busy person so I've been having a few tries myself.









I'm just not sure how I feel about them though so I guess I'm asking for a bit of feedback on them, even if it's 'scrap them and start again from scratch.' Thanks in advance.

New designs preview

Introducing my latest designs. A trio of Hardanger pictures based on the same theme. When I first started designing the Hardanger range I named the designs after the friends that I made them for. I decided to stick with the theme of using girls names for all future designs in the range so these three are named Olga, Masha and Irina (The Three Sisters).

I have quite a lot of work to do on the instructions before they can be added to the website for sale, but I hope to have them available within the fortnight. They will be sold as a 'Chart only' pack, containing all three designs, for £7 (plus p&p on overseas orders).

I have sewn the three designs on a single piece of fabric, one above the other, and mounted them with a double mount in silver and blue. This is one I am keeping for my own wall!

Also to be released in the next week is Incy Wincy Spider. This is a large design (8"x30" on 18 count aida or equivalent) The image below is a computer simulation of the design as the finished cross stitch is too large to scan well into a small picture. This design will also be sold at £7 (plus p&p on overseas orders).

I am intending to make some minor changes to my website in the next few weeks too so please check back soon.

Welcome to my Blog

Hello and welcome to the new India Grace Designs Blog. I've never tried blogging before so please bear with me. Here I intend to post information about what is happening with the business, new designs, exhibitions, collaborations etc. I'd love people to post feedback too, especially if you've enjoyed sewing one of my designs.
I'm starting to take India Grace Designs in a new direction and will hopefully begin selling my 'chart only' packs through shops. I'm redesigning the logo because I feel that the current one doesn't work with a lot of my newer designs. As soon as that is finished I will start pitching to shops starting with the UK , so hopefully India Grace Designs will start appearing at your local needlecraft shops soon.
I am currently taking part in the online cross stitch expo http://www.cross-stitch-expo.org/ it runs from the 1st to the 14th of June and features a range of new designers and some good bargains.
I'm starting a collaboration with Kay's Kullors http://www.kayskullors.co.uk . Kay produces lovely hand dyed fabric and threads and I am designing a range of Hardanger designs using these threads. Hopefully we will be able to launch these later in the summer.
Other designs coming soon - A triptych of Hardanger designs (three variations on a single theme), a Hardanger/Cross stitch birth sampler and several other ideas including a cross stitch Incy Wincy Spider.