It’s great when you find that you’ve got exactly the right frame for a finished project already in your stash, something which happened to me some time ago with the goldwork watering can; years ago I picked up a frame which I thought would suit a piece of calligraphy I was planning. It didn’t. And then, after years in my chest of bits and bobs, it turned out to be Just Right for that piece of goldwork. It would be nice to be able to say that the same thing happened with my little goldwork bee, but alas, I had to go out and buy something for that. I didn’t want anything too fancy as it is quite a simple piece, and so I decided on an oval flexi-hoop in woodgrain finish. I use flexi-hoops a lot, but really only as hoops; they are, however, actually meant to be dual purpose, in that you can use them to frame what you stitched in them.

The 4 x 5½ hoop turned out to be just the right size (I have a white one in my stash which I used to check whether it would work) so I ordered a woodgrain one from Sew & So. Framing in a flexi-hoop is quite simple, although the amount of time you spend on it depends rather on how nice you want the back to look. First, mount the work in the hoop, and fiddle about with it if necessary until you’re happy with how it looks. Then trim the fabric to within about 3cm of the hoop. Using strong thread, work running stitch all around the fabric, about 2cm from the hoop. Pull the two ends of the thread to gather the fabric, making sure it’s evenly distributed, then knot the ends together to make sure the gathers stay put. You could stop there. Or, if you’re a glutton for punishment, you could cut a piece of felt to the size of the inner hoop, and sew it to the fabric using a curved needle (indispensible, I found – it was fiddly enough even so). And voilà, one framed bee!

One thing I’ve discovered doing goldwork and surface embroidery is that my eyes aren’t as good as they were – middle age must be creeping up on me. Actually, my eyes have been really bad from the time I was a child; I am very near-sighted, which can in fact be an asset when doing detailed work, as I can focus on my stitching close-up if I take my glasses off. However, I don’t want to spend a whole evening’s stitching with my glasses off and my nose practically touching the fabric, so I invested in a little gadget: the rather splendidly named Mighty Bright Vusion LED Craft Light & Magnifier. It’s rather a miniature package compared to some of the proper daylight lamps, but then it was a lot more affordable, too! The magnifier comes in handy when trying to unpick things, or gauging where exactly to place a stitch in a complicated part of the design, but the true hero is the LED light. It makes all the difference not having to strain to see, and the colours look better too .