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Tea Collection: eight new designs!

We have been quiet for a while, but we are pleased to announce that we are back with a new wonderful collection!

If you follow our Facebook page you probably remember the “Winter Tea” cross stitch chart designed by Valentina Sardu, featured last year in the Lakeside Needlecraft Winter Cross Stitch book.

Now it is finally available through our webshop, together with other seven delightful embroidery patterns, collected in three booklets, and inspired by seasonal teas and infusions, botanical art, and antique doilies.

A Tea for Each Season, one of the three titles in the new Tea Collection, includes four easy cross stitch and blackwork charts, suitable also for beginners especially when stitched on a 25 or a 28 count evenweave fabric. Each pattern is 60×60 stitches and can be used to embellish any tea-time accessory, such as a tea-cosy, a table runner, napkins, coasters, or invitation cards.

The other two titles in the collection are two sets of botanical cross stitch designs, enhanced in the background by white elegant laces worked in Holbein stitch.
In the first set you will find the common Tea plant (Camellia sinensis), and the Rooibos plant (Aspalathus linearis), better known as African red tea; in the second you will find the hibiscus tea plant, or Karkade (Hibiscus sabdariffa), and the South American Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis).
The delicate and intricate geometry of the white doilies, together with the brilliant colours of the plants, will stand out on linen fabric, natural or, why not, hand dyed with tea leaves.

We hope you will enjoy stitching them!

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Tropical Fishes: the new collection is here!


We are so excited to tell you that the new collection has finally arrived!
Take a colorful trip around the world with our new three charts inspired by the underwater life of the tropics.

In the Amazon River, a multicolored discus fish, embroidered in cross stitch, is swimming in the company of an angelfish

… Diving into Lake Malawi, we meet three curious African cichlids that dart through the algae on a marbled blue fabric…

… Finally, from the tropical freshwaters of South America and Africa, we move to the Pacific Ocean, where a cute cross-stitched clownfish and a blackwork yellow tang greet us among the corals and anemones of the Great Barrier Reef.

We hope you love the Tropical Fishes Collection as much as we do! These designs will be a nice decorative touch to your home. Use hand-dyed or iridescent fabrics for a unique look, and share the picture of your finished projects on our Facebook page, or on Instagram using the hashtags #ajisaipress#ajisaidesigns. We can’t wait to see your artworks!

Happy stitching!

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CMYKwork. A four-colour interpretation of blackwork embroidery

CMYK. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key Black.

In the four-colour printing, the entire spectrum of colours is reproduced with only these four colours, simply layering them one over the other.

Taking inspiration from this process, Valentina Sardu studied an interesting variation of her favourite embroidery technique… She calls it “CMYKwork”…

Blackwork embroidery is traditionally monochrome, but it lends itself to many creative variations!

Here you can see the first result of this study: Soap Bubbles, a new design achieved after several tries, exploring various combinations of primary and neutral colours.

This new design is now available on Book Depository*!

* Price on Book Depository may change depending on your delivery location.

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I LOVE BLACKWORK – A free chart for blackwork lovers

Free Blackwork Chart Ajisai Press

Anyone who loves blackwork embroidery will certainly enjoy this little freebie! :-)

We used it to decorate a thread keeper, but it would also be cute framed, mounted on the lid of a wooden box, or finished as a pincushion.

Blackwork thread keeper AjisaiPress

Here is the chart… Happy stitching!

FREE blackwork AjisaiPressI LOVE BLACKWORK

Stitch count: 40 width x 40 height

Each square on the graph represents two threads of evenweave fabric or one block of Aida

Embroidery size:

On 28 ct evenweave fabric (stitched over 2 threads) or 14 ct Aida: 7,3 x 7,3 cm
On 32 ct evenweave fabric (stitched over 2 threads) or 16 ct Aida: 6,35 x 6,35 cm

Chart key:

___  Outlines and text: Holbein Stitch in 2 strands of black stranded cotton

___  Blackwork pattern: Holbein Stitch in 1 strand of black stranded cotton

___  Thread wrapped around the bobbin: Satin Stitch in 2 strands of black stranded cotton