Thread Web no. 33

workshop planning, creative philosophy, embroidery updates

May 31, 2026

Exciting news:

Over the past month I’ve been planning my very first embroidery workshop!

I’m really looking forward to it but was also taken by surprise with how much work actually goes into the planning of such an event.

Much of my month was spent scouting for potential spaces to host at, searching for ways to source second-hand supplies, and then of course making samples to feature on the flyer(which I still have to make).

Since it is my first time hosting a workshop I want to keep things rather simple, making the experience as low-stress and beginner friendly as possible.

Paradoxically to what I just said, I ended up making five patterns...

In retrospect I probably should’ve just chosen one single pattern, but my initial thought was to have variety so that way there’s something for everyone.

It was a little extra work on my end, but as long as people enjoy it I won’t mind.

Aside from the workshop planning, one of my goals for this month was to start something completely new.

While ruminating on what I wanted that to be, I found myself getting caught up in meanings and details, leading me to realize that maybe heavy planning wasn’t the right approach.

I find that when creating it’s important to recognize that everything we want to express is already within us, and yet we don’t really have ideas so much as ideas have us(please don’t ask me to explain, this is just one of those things that feel biologically true to me although I can offer no further explanation on the matter).

So instead of approaching this new project with, “I want to make something inspired by blank,” and then falling into the pit of perfectionism, I found that simply sitting with emptiness allowed space for meaning to reveal itself to me organically along the way.

As I write this I am reminded of Alan Watt’s backwards law, sometimes reffered to as the law of reversed effort, where he claims that by starting at the end, you’ll have everything you need to get there.

The general idea is that the more we chase our desires, the more they will flee from us, or, in other words, the harder we try, the less likely we will be to succeed.

(Just to clarify—I’m not crediting Watts with being the creator of these ideas by any means. He studied Buddhist and Taoist thought and simply made these ancient philosophies more acessible to the west through his writing. All credit to the original masters).

Watts of course spoke in relation to things like money and happiness, but I feel the same theory can be applied to making art because of the importance we place on achieving certain visual, emotional or aesthetic outcomes.

That being said, sacred hearts have been heavy on my radar lately so I did want to incorporate that imagery.

The rest was all drawn on the fabric in the flow of the moment, with very little planning and very low expectations.

So far theres a sacred heart sitting in a cloud with flowers growing out of it and candles growing out of them.

This piece is starting to feel really special as I work on it, and I can’t wait to see how it comes out.

I would love to sit here and write to you that this month I successfully established a daily “slow-stitch” practice that I peacefully worked on every morning at the crack of dawn… but that simply wouldn’t be true.

Although I really enjoyed the freedom I felt when making these pieces, I found it difficult to create a steady practice on top of the embroidery that I already do regularly.

I’ve settled with the idea that maybe I don’t have to do this kind of stitching everyday, but that I can do so whenever I feel like it.

Sometimes I really just find myself doing too much, or atleast wanting to do too much, actually doing less in the process.

I was expecting to be atleast close to finishing this piece by the end of May, but unfortunatley I came across one major set back.

I had been working on it indoors in less than great lighting, and so when I took it outside and saw it in the sun it was obvious that I had stitched half the dove in the wrong thread color.

You can imagine how great I felt after that..

I thought about redoing the whole thing, but that would truly take forever, so I’ve slowly been going over the yellowish shade with white thread and just hoping it won’t be too obvious in the end.

The moral of the story is never stitch in dimly lit rooms. I’ve certainly learned my lesson.

Well that’s just about everything I’ve been up to this month..

See you in June with more <3

Zoya xx

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