The perks of marketing . . .

As the year draws to a close, the idea floated that The Stumpwork Robe and The Last Stitch have a bit of advertising thrown at them.  At the beginning of the year they had the infamous book trailer whose making was featured quite heavily in the early days of Mesmered.

So what next, it was posed?

Well since the books are about an embroiderer whose skill is magnificent stumpwork, (this is her skill, but definitely not the dark story) why not advertise in one of the world’s most popular and glossy embroidery mags: Inspirations http://www.countrybumpkin.com.au/

It was organised in next to no time, and Salt Design, who designed the beautiful covers for the books, also created the half-page ad which will go in the January edition.  I found this all very exciting because Inspirations has been a bible to me for a long time.  My cupboards are full of glorious blankets I have stitched from their issues and around the house I have cushions with designs from their pages.  It’s a coffee table magazine that one can sit and pour over for ages.

Ad for magazine

But to the perks of marketing . . .

Yesterday I received a call from the magazine.  They send out a weekly e-zine, very short but with the latest news and views from their retail outlet, Country Bumpkin.  They asked if I would like to write a piece on the inspiration for the books for the e-zine and they would run it each week until the mag comes out.  Yes, says I!  Yes, yes, yes!

So this is the copy:

Once upon a time I saw my first piece of Jane Nicholas’s stumpwork.  I recall leaning on a table examining every part of the framed piece.  Apart from the desperate need to learn the art, the thought flashed through my mind that everything was so solid and structural that one could hide things underneath.  Tiny things, minikin things.  Maybe miniature journals that needed to be secreted away.

And that’s how Adelina’s story was born.  Almost every design that Adelina stitches through her story is one of Jane’s, and only the other day an embroiderer said that as she read the books she could recall the designs and if she couldn’t, she’d run to Jane’s books to check.

Stitching is my sanity saver and it was easy to imbue Adelina with the same emotion.  The rhythms of the craft, the meditative nature of it, have seen me through a crisis or two in my life and so it is you will find, with Adelina the embroiderer.

They are listing the links for purchase as well as putting up images of the bookcovers!  It comes as rather an early Christmas present for me.  The links for purchase at the most common online stores are as follows:

http://amzn.to/eFQ0w8 (The Stumpwork Robe Amazon)

http://amzn.to/fCRwJ4 (The Last Stitch Amazon)

http://amzn.to/dFjM0E (The Stumpwork Robe and The Last stitch Amazon UK)

http://bit.ly/i1jilA (The Stumpwork Robe Barnes and Noble)

http://bit.ly/hKTPq9 (The Last Stitch Barnes and Noble)