Who's Who catch-up

We can't believe we are already over halfway through the year, so we wanted to highlight some of the amazing people we have had the honour of interviewing this year so far. We have some really cool 'Who's Who's coming up in the next few months and we can't wait to share them with you, but for now here is a look back at the last six months.  

February was the turn of Hatastic.  Chloe's advice to herself  'Take a step back and breathe a little and then see how it lies. It's surprising how some things seemed like a brilliant idea at first, and then turn out to be a bit of a turkey!' Too true!

March was the turn of Laurel Howells, a Designer-Maker, Illustrator, Photographer, Collage artist and all round creative hailing from Taplow in Berkshire - Just near Sammy and it turns out went to the same Uni as H, small world hey!

In April we brought you Craft Candy.  Zoe's Advice to her past self? 'If I could go back and whisper advice in my ear it would be to get references when engaging with a company or freelancer to do work and to simply be patient.' 

May was Miss Maker's turn, Clare Blackmore-Davies, wife to the lovely John, mum to the adorable Finn, and around all that Miss Maker - prolific crafter and excitable sewing tutor.

In June you got a peek into the world of Holloway Smith Noir, Established in 2010 Holloway Smith Noir are stocked in luxury lingerie boutiques across the globe. their cheeky sellers can be found making mischief weekly at The Wam Bam Club, Miss Polly Rae’s Between the Sheets and a luxe collection is available at Proud Cabaret, London.

July was the month that saw Mr X-Stitch answer our questions, Jamie Chambers the king of modern cross stitch reminded us that 'it takes a very long time to be an overnight success.'

Hope you enjoyed that little look back, if you missed them the first time you can click the links to check out the full interviews.

H and Sammy xxx

Who's Who: Mr X Stitch

This month's Who's Who is all about our favourite male stitcher - Mr X Stitch.

We have managed to catch up with him at a few shows and he is a very lovely guy and  he usually has biscuits - so as you can imagine, he is a winner with us.

You may remember we blogged about him last year when we met him at the 'Stitch and Craft' show and he signed our copy of his book 'Push Stitchery' 

So, let's find out a bit more about him!

Who are you?

I'm Jamie Chalmers aka Mr X Stitch

What do you do?

I run the world's best contemporary embroidery and needlecraft site.

How did you start?

I started cross stitching about ten years ago and got frustrated at the apparent lack of cool cross stitch patterns in the marketplace, so I started making my own. After a while I decided to start a blog, which began focusing on contemporary stitched art from around the world and the rest is history! I still enjoy cross stitching and designing new patterns, but it's interesting to have become a contemporary art curator via the internet.

What's Next?

All manner of things. I'm embarking on a couple of new stitched projects, one involving phrases from Urban Dictionary, as well as an exciting project on the website that will take Mr X Stitch to the next level. There are many, many other projects that I'm involved in, but not many that I can talk about right now! 

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to the beginning?

To realise that it takes a very long time to be an overnight success and that you'll still be slogging away at the site every day in five years' time. The good news is that stitching is excellent, so you're in a good place. Oh, and watch out for roller derby - it'll change your life!

Check out his website for what he is getting up to these days as he is always doing something new!

H & Sammy

We are away on holiday at the moment, we will read and reply to all of you comments when we get back

Live it: Stitch and Craft with Mr X stitch

Last week H and I popped down to the Stitch and craft show at Olympia. H was there last year work-shopping with the Foundling museum, and I was there to shop, but we both had a chance to be visitors this year... and we had a date with Mr X Stitch, Jamie Chalmers!

We walked the short distance from H's place in The Bush to Olimpia and on the way passed one of the posters commissioned to commemorate Olympias 125th anniversary buy one of my favourite artists right now, the amazingly talented Rob Ryan.

We started on the top floor and were greeted by over 500 quilts made for the Olympic teams PLUS quilted pennants made for each Olympic athlete! This bunting tribute named Flying High by Owl quilters and  this beautiful heart offering were my favourites.

Then there was the Knitted Village, Knitted by members of the public, Stitch and Craft had such success that they have extended the competition and will have an even bigger 'Village' on display at The Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Plaice in the Autumn, get on over to Twisted Threads page and see how you can make an addition to 'Knit the Nation'!

This is H resting her tired feet in what I was told a super comfy chair in the Mollie Makes luxury patchwork yurt! So comfy it very almost came home with us!

These are some pics of the Yurt from Mollie Makes

P.s. check out their blog for great projects and lots of other fun crafty stuff!

We thought it would be rude not to come home with some Linden Lady coconut ice....all I can say is it didn't make it home.

After a bit of paper craft and ribbon buying (seriously you think I would have enough) we headed down stairs for our date with Mr X Stitch. Jamie Had a great collection of not only his own work but lots of pieces from other Cross stitch and embroidery artist, all trying to push the boundaries of yarn crafts. One of my (a bit twisted) favs was  Theo Humphries  who takes ordinary run of the mill tapestries and gives them an often gruesome edge.

This one 'Kanye' from the 'Big Cats in Shades' collection a particular highlight.

He told us he is also exhibiting with some of these great artists at The Knitting and Stitching show In October, as if we needed another reason to go, right!

Jamie was kind enough to sign a copy of the book he curated 'Push Stitchery' for us too!

Oh and we also shared chocolate hobnobs whilst he ate artichoke , Thanks Jamie it was a pleasure.

I will suggest that you all run to Jamie's shop and buy your copy now!! 

We had a great day, topped off by a trip to Paperchase at Westfield on the way home. 

Living it. Loving it. Making it.

Sammy and H xxx

Apologies for My post being a bit on the late side this week, sooo much exciting stuff going on here at Li.Li.Mi Maidenhead HQ this week, can't wait to fill you all in!!

xxx