One good buy.

The first embroidery/textile book which I was given in 1988 as a present was ‘The Art of the Needle'    by Jan Beaney.I wouldn't ever want to part with it, even though I am currently trying to declutter – having cleared two houses in a year it makes one aware of all the accumulated stuff that one day someone will have to dispose of. I know I should really ‘get rid’ of some of my City and Guilds pieces which are taking up a lot of space and honestly will hardly ever be looked at again, but it is difficult as I remember all the hours of stitching and' if and butting’ involved at the time. I have actually thrown away a whole basket of samples and acknowledged the fact that I had fun but have now moved on and in fact am accumulating more up-to-date clutter!

The point of this being that I used to pour over  Jan Beaneys' books and they have given me much pleasure; I have also grown to respect Jean Littlejohn as a tutor. When I saw a review of their new DVD I decided I would buy it at the Knit and Stitch Show. I did not expect it to contain any particularly new ideas but I wanted the pleasure of watching them stitch. It was a good buy and it has made me want to start playing with stitches again. I would thoroughly recommend it if you want a whole four hours of pleasure but beware it will make your fingers itch to get out all those piles of thread.