Embroidery magazine

Editorial

It may be the time for New Year resolutions but it looks like several textile artists have beaten us to it, with preparations well in hand for many of the shows and events taking place this year.

Most impressive is the work started in 2011 towards the regional arts programmes that will support the Olympic Games in London this summer. As I write Artist Shauna Richardson is busy crocheting three impressive 25ft lions that will represent the East Midlands as part of the Cultural Olympiad. Another team, lead by the textile artist Julia O'Connell, is working on a coat for a six-metre puppet as part of Godiva Awakes, Imagineer Productions' contribution to the same event on behalf of the West Midlands. We can't wait to see the finished results. We profile these projects and select our pick of the textile exhibitions and activities you can look forward to in the year ahead.

2012 is also a landmark year for one of Britain's longest standing textile collectives, The 62 Group. You can read all about their past and their plans for the future in this issue. For those of you who can't quite get round to finishing all of the stitch projects you've started, take heart: we find out all about the unfinishable project which is dedicated to exploring the reasons why we never finish some pieces of embroidery. It's good to know I'm not alone! We also profile Nahida Mahmood, a recent graduate who produces stunning embroidery on her multi-head machine.

All that's left is to wish a happy and prosperous New Year to all our readers, supporters and advertisers from the team here at Embroidery magazine.