Long time no posting!
I spent most of May in the USA teaching the Royal School of Needlework certificate in San Francisco & I had a ball. Now I’m back I’m frantically trying to catch up with all my outstanding work before the RSN Jacobean intensive kicks off in a couple of weeks.
Something dramatic I noticed was the difference between the thread stores in the UK & the USA. These are rooms full of fabulous silks, cottons & novelty threads. We do have some great independent stores here but they are few & far between. I got so over excited I spent a fortune! I do now have a fabulous set of thread draws in the studio though for easy access to all the new prettiness (I will show pictures of that at some point in the future.)
Whilst killing time at the airport before flying home I had the joy of studying the Lace exhibition which is being staged at San Francisco International Airport. I lost track of how many pictures I took but one that really captured my imagination was the peacock fan. I’m thinking a Rococo style blackwork peacock may well be worked ready for next years class list.
The lace wasn’t the only things on display. There were some doors (yes, doors) on display advertising another exhibition & also lots of different wall art at each departure gate. My favorite was all the metalwork at this one.
Lastly here is a picture of the silk shading which will be heading towards the RSN in the new year & a sneak peek of one of the mandalas. Clarence is a fancy blue unicorn & is the second advanced silk design in the heraldic beasts set after Trevor the pheonix was stitched last year. I’ve just got Murphy the dragon to stitch before the instructions will be available, fingers crossed before the end of the year. The new mandala embroidery kits will hopefully be ready to go on sale by the autumn.
Have a happy summer of stitching (just in case I don’t get back here for a while again!!)
Jx
Jen Goodwin Embroidery 
I dye most of my own wools for embroidery, so I tend not to get so excited in shops these days. the unicorn looks very prancy, but his neck looks a bit skinny – unless he’s getting a fabulously flouncy mane?
As I usually work in stranded cotton or crewel wool for kits, I need to be able to get the same colours reliably. That’s getting a fun selection of silks was liberating, I get to plot fun things that will only be one offs! The unicorns mane hasn’t been painted on, I can’t achieve a broken edge to the mane if I’ve got an outline to cover! I will update with a finished picture once I’ve gotten him stitched