Episode 59 : 2022 Christmas & New Year Special Part 2 : Review of the Year

Some of the highlights of 2022 on Making Stitches Podcast! (Clockwise from top left; Figen Murray, Amanda Bloom, Khloe from the People’s History Museum, Eleanora Tully at Yarndale, Amoami, Tracy Fox, Great Northern Textile Show, Kitey from the Yarn Whisperer

It’s that time again, as 2022 draws to a close, I’m taking you on a romp through this year’s Making Stitches back catalogue with a few of my highlights.

One of Leah Higgins’ beautiful art quilts on display at the Great Northern Textile Show

You can hear from Figen Murray, Amanda Bloom from Cosy Life Boxes, Rafael Alcaide from Amoami, Beth Gillions, Conservation Officer at the People’s History Museum, Eleonora Tulley from Coastal Crochet, highlights from the first Great Northern Textile Show, Leah Higgins, Tracy Fox and Kitey from the Yarn Whisperer.

This year, Making Stitches has been listened to across 6 continents and has held the number one spot in the Apple Craft Podcast Charts in the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland & New Zealand. It also reached the number 5 spot in the USA. Thank you to everyone who has listened this year – it’s been great to have your company.

Happy New Year!

Lindsay x

**Listen to the episode here**

To join the mailing list for the new Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The music featured in this episode is Winter Trip by AudioFlame from Melody Loops.
The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.
Making Stitches Podcast is supported by the Making Stitches Shop which offers Making Stitches Podcast merchandise for sale as well as Up the Garden Path crochet patterns created by me & illustrated by Emma Jackson.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

Episode 58 : 2022 Christmas & New Year Special Part 1 : Old Friends

In this, the first of two Christmas and New Year specials this year, I catch up with a few old friends of the podcast: Lisa & Lynda-Rose from The Crochet Sanctuary (my first ever guests on Making Stitches) and Christine Perry, otherwise known as Winwick Mum, who first appeared back in Episode 31).

Lynda-Rose & Lisa from The Crochet Sanctuary

We look back at what’s been happening in the worlds of The Crochet Sanctuary and sock knitting in 2022 as well as their plans for 2023, and what they are hoping to achieve with their New Year’s Resolutions too.

You can find The Crochet Sanctuary website here, and the Black Sheep Wools Betwixtmas Make Along for this year here.

Christine has so far donated £435 to the Trussell Trust through the sales of her her Sofa Snuggle Socks pattern. You can find the pattern here if you want to buy one and help with the fundraising whilst keeping your feet warm at the same time. You can also find Christine’s website here.

**Listen to this episode here **

To join the mailing list for the new Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The music featured in this episode is Winter Trip by AudioFlame from Melody Loops.
The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

Episode 38 : Happy Stitchmas 2021! The Making Stitches Podcast Christmas Special & Review of the Year 2021 (Part 1)

It’s Christmas Eve, so here’s my Christmas gift to you dear listener! This year I’m splitting my Christmas Special into two halves, the first one is here for you today, and the second one will be out one week from today on New Year’s Eve.

In Part 1 I look back at a few of my personal highlights of the year so far on Making Stitches and feature little snippets from interviews with Sara Huntington – Editor of Simply Crochet Magazine, Louise Armitage aka Gini’s Dorset Buttons, Great British Sewing Bee 2021 contestant Adam Brooks, Heather Griffith from HGDC Crochet & Louise Murray from Hooked by Lou. You’ll also hear from Tracy, Julie and Lucy from Black Sheep Wools in Warrington and Kate Blackburn from Katie Did This UK hand-stitched cards.

You can find links to all my guests below. My thanks to everyone who spoke to me for the Podcast this year – I couldn’t have done it without you!

I hope you enjoy listening to this special festive episode and I very much look forward to sharing Part 2 with you soon! Have a great Christmas! You can listen to it here.

Sara Huntington – Editor Simply Crochet Magazine & @crochetdeli on Instagram
Louise Armitage aka Gini’s Dorset Buttons
Hayley Shelton aka DotCraftStudio
Adam Brooks
Matthew Downham Art
Heather Griffith from HG Designs Crochet
Louise Murray from Hooked by Lou
Tracy, Julie & Lucy from Black Sheep Wools
Kate Blackburn from Katie Did This UK on Etsy & Instagra
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.
The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Episode 16 : Creativity for Mental Health with Emma Jones from the Vintage Sewing Box & Looking Ahead to Christmas with The Apex Singers

Creativity whether it’s music, craft or art has long been seen as having a positive impact on mental health, and after the year we have all experienced, it’s something many of us have had to focus on. This week on Making Stitches, Emma Jones from Vintage Sewing Box speaks about the benefits of focusing the mind on stitching and how that simple repetitive activity can calm the mind and our thoughts look ahead to Christmas with the Apex Singers.

Emma Jones says on her blog that she ‘loves sewing’ it’s been an important part of her life since early childhood. In this episode Emma not only explains how stitching has helped her deal with difficult times, she also discusses her love of English Paper Piecing and hand embroidery and has a truly lovely tale about a quilt dedicated to the memory of her Gran.

Mabel’s Garden – Emma’s quilt dedicated to the memory of her Gran

Emma with ‘Mabel’s Garden’ on display at the art exhibition

To find out more about Emma Jones’ work please check out her website: Vintage Sewing Box

Also this week, as our thoughts turn towards Christmas, we hear from The Apex Singers about a special Christmas Concert they are hosting online. The young vocalist group, which is based in Manchester, launched its first album back in March just as the UK went into lockdown and is now looking forward to performing together for the first time since that launch. Lydia Wonham from The Apex Singers explains how 2020 has changed the way the group has made music and how they now want to share their Christmas performance with as many people as they can online.

You can find out about The Apex Singers here and you can buy tickets for their Christmas Concert ‘Snowed in at Home’ here.

** YOU CAN LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE OR BY SEARCHING FOR MAKING STITCHES IN YOUR FAVOURITE PODCAST APP! **

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.