Inspiration can come from many things – nature, colours, a saying, a speciality thread. Or a fabric, hand-dyed, patterned or in some other way special. Someone asking me whether you could work Hardanger on afghan fabric led to a set of four Afghan Squares designed especially for that purpose.

Occasionally a fabric strikes me as being perfect for a design, but unfortunately the design itself has not yet materialised. Last week I ordered some samples from Sparklies, and I just know that I will be using Fire (the bright orange one at the bottom right) for a design at some point; it’s on my To Do list.

And then there was a fabric that I had actually seen before, but which I’d rather dimissed as impractical – Zweigart’s Colmar Carré, a 25 count gingham fabric with a slightly slubby, linen-like look. It comes in four colours, and they aren’t colours I instinctively go for. But suddenly it sparked an idea: how about using white on the darkest squares, and the two shades of green or beige or orange or yellow on the white squares, leaving the lighter squares unstitched? I ordered a fat quarter of two of the shades, and set out to find the thread colours to go with them.

I had a slight set-back when I found that one of the shades I’d chosen is actually not available in perle cotton. Bother. Fortunately I managed to find a replacement. Next was the size. Every square measures 3", so no more than 75h x 75w – just the sort of size I like. I could see this turning into a cushion, or possible the centre of a tablecloth. I sketched a few possible Kloster block frameworks, and some notes on additional stitches, as well as the distribution of the designs on a 12" cushion. And that’s the start of Gingham Gems, which have now been fully charted and will (if all goes to plan) be stitched some time in July.