For those of you inspired to get out your needlework by the work of the Staircase Stitchers mentioned in the last newsletter, you might like to look further for inspiration and guidance from Mary Corbet, that great ambassadress of fine needlework. Mary writes a daily blog on her site: www.needlenthread.com where she shares her vast experience in all types of embroidery. There you will find over 50 video stitch tutorials, a tips and techniques section - take a look at this church embroidery project, a large selection of free hand embroidery patterns, a section on embroidery books and one ...

Le Rentrée all over France is a time when the outdoor life is coming to a close and people start to settle back in their houses., children return to school, trailers of wood labour towards barns and the bureaucrats answer their telephones again. That is all of course if they are not on strike!

In the Ariège and all along the Pyrenées it is also the time of the transhumance, when the grazing animals are brought down from the high mountain pastures to their winter homes beside the farms. The village next to ours celebrates this event with a grand ...

First I would like to share with you the latest news from the Staircase Stitchers.. it sounds exciting.. here is what Jane Dew has to say," After five inspiring years, of the Staircase Stitchers', 13 projects are rapidly being completed, two bed hangings are up, one more completed and three on frames! Glorious needlepoint cushion covers, both entirely needlepoint and four with "slips" are ready for making up and the dowry cupboard carpet in petit point is well over half done. It is all truly AMAZING!!

When I have time, after finishing making the bespoke feather cushions and the the ...

It has been a while since the last blog post and much wool has passed through the dye vats since then, with just a month to go to the Knitnation 2010 expo I thought I had better let you know what was going on in the dye house.

Although our main product is still the embroidery threads, knitting has been occupying Tee and me for quite a while now as we dye and wind the wool for the kits the designers are finalising for Knitnation. Tee is a whirlwind of efficiency as she winds piles of precisely weighed hanks to ...

Juliet Sargeant, the award winning garden designer has been visiting Renaissance Dyeing with a camera crew from the BBC's Gardener's World.

After visiting my non-award winning garden and looking at the madder and woad plants there, Juliet had a go at naturally dyeing with woad, one of the plants that will be growing in her natural dye garden at the Hampton Court Flower Show.

Producer Richard Holmes and researcher Simon Rice are zooming around the garden exhibitors filming for their special Hampton Court Flower Show edition of Gardener's World which will be broadcast on Friday July 10th ...