What’s black and white and read all over?

 

No, not the herd of very inquisitive cows Ben and I met on a recent walk – they are black and white, but certainly not read all over …

 

And the boy is black and can be read (his microchip – with a scanner), but doesn’t have any white hairs at all so he doesn’t fit the blog title either ….

 

It’s this .. and …

 

this … yes – black and white and read all over, the very old embroidery books from my stash.  I adore these  books.  No colour photographs in those days, just black and white line drawings, beautifully done .. so effectively illustrating the stitches.  But my stitches are never as neat as these!

 

I find embroidery books of the 1930s, 40s and 50s totally inspirational though, and often dip into them when considering a new design.  In this month’s Bustle & Sew Magazine I’ve written about one of my favourite artist/embroiderers, the wonderful Kathleen Mann who taught at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1930s.  Her line drawings are so fluid and of their time … I’ve taken four and worked them into a sampler pattern for the magazine … here it is nearly finished…

 

 

and in this photo it’s guarded by the prototype for a new softie pattern – Mrs Millicent Minniver the friendly goose… her pattern will be in the magazine too – so there’s loads to look forward to this month!  Out in one week’s time so not long to wait!!