Especially for @whitstabletail.bsky.social

The first Wolf Hall Quilt - all 46 ft of it - has its own sofa this week.

Today we talk Stitching Cromwell @worcesteruni.bsky.social

If you are in the Worcestershire area and would like to join us you can book a place here: www.worcestershire.gov.uk/events/engin...

The exhibition accompanies @drelvey.bsky.social 's contribution to the University of Worcester's Institute of Arts and Humanities 'Engine Room Lecture Series'. 'Stitching the World Within and Without Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy', which takes place 4th March 4:30-6pm at the Hive!

Beyond delighted that @drelvey.bsky.social has bought her beautiful work to the Hive at the University of Worcester in this collaborative exhibition 'In the Weave: From Text to Textile - Stitching Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy'

Having a good time at The Hive @worcesteruni.bsky.social with Stitching Cromwell.

Happy publication day to 'Hilary Mantel', published by @livunipress.bsky.social Thrilled to have been able to undertake this project with the support of the excellent LUP team. It's currently 20% off on the LUP website too! www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

Today I saw the Cromwell Textile Cloth - a representation of a list of textiles in Thomas Cromwell’s hand - hanging properly for the first time. In 22 years of quilting, I have made precisely two pieces I am completely happy with. This is one of them.

this policy is cruel and will make minimal difference to immigration numbers (as refugees are only a small % of overall immigrants, and most of them come from countries that aren't going to be safe any time soon [e.g. eritrea;afghanistan]). It will actively harm integration and finding work.

I suspect Cromwell would approve of the Chamber of Commerce taking an interest in the Stitching Cromwell exhibition..

Thomas Cromwell looks into his future.

I wrote about Anna of Cleves, Agnes Strickland, and stitching an admirable lady.

Very much looking forward to exhibiting #StitchingCromwell @worcesteruni.bsky.social next week! Come along and see me; I’ll be stitching in The Hive Monday to Friday.

Limited seats still available for June, we’re almost full for event.

While we're on historical parallels, I'm thinking today of Tudor lord Walter Hungerford, whose wife's complaints of domestic abuse were ignored until his patron Thomas Cromwell got in trouble. Only then did people start paying attention. He went to the block in 1540 alongside Cromwell.

oh god. It's going to be a day in which we are forced to tap the 'the world didn't start in 1900' sign every five minutes, isn't it? Anyway, stop firing your premodernists, stop making them feel irrelevant, stop making them do just the introduction sessions of 'the real' history.

Tfw you didn't study much medieval history at school

Oh goodness. I had to read the shooting script for the #ReluctantWidow for a book chapter I wrote a few years ago. The script is even more bizarre than the final film. I seem to recall that it started with a shot of Napoleon. All very odd.

the loss of the World Service would be a tragedy and huge lost of soft power for Britain

I wrote about Agnes Strickland’s opinions of Jane Seymour. And some carnations.

For a day of hearts: initials inside a heart. Included in the First Wolf Hall Quilt (2020-2021): inspired by a letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, referenced in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, and now held in the Vatican Archives. photograph by Michael Wicks

“He comes into his hall to find versions of himself in various stages of becoming: a tentative outline, partly inked in. Where to begin with Cromwell?” - Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall When I stitch a portrait I usually leave the face until the very end. For Cromwell, the stitching started with the face.

Stitching Cromwell exhibition Monday 2 - Friday 6 March; and Lecture Wednesday 4 March at 4.30pm. The Hive, Worcester.

I'd watch a muppet show movie where the muppets infiltrate an academic conference.

It is not down in any map; true places never are.

Some news I’m so happy to share. An exhibition to launch my new business www.marchlands.co.uk Excited and scared in equal measure to be going out on my own! #exhibition #london #allwelcome

Agnes Strickland, Anne Boleyn, and Stitching Cromwell.

It’s me! Talking about Stitching Cromwell with friends @guildmedmak.bsky.social!

Just came across this ticket in my studio. On the train back to London the following day, I said to my beloved “I’m going to stitch that.” 12 years later, I’m still stitching Cromwell. I’m just making a start on my latest Cromwell Trilogy piece, a full length portrait of Jane Seymour.

Doesn't he know that women eat the rage that this induces for breakfast, to make themselves even more powerful and terrifying to small men like this one? I hope the countless women archivists, historians, and annals keepers over the centuries haunt his dreams.

Some good news, though, if anyone has mislaid medieval Britain.

STITCHING CROMWELL EXHIBITION: I’m giving a public lecture, “Stitching the World within and without Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell Trilogy”, at the Hive, @worcesteruni.bsky.social on Weds 4 March. There will be a Stitching Cromwell exhibition all week. e-services.worcestershire.gov.uk/LibraryEvent...

Anna Regina (2026). Anne Boleyn in her Coronation robes, the second in the Thomas Cromwell’s Four Queens series of 6ft portraits.

4 Jan 1540: Representatives of #Cleves swear #otd that Anne had not previously been married to the Duke of #Lorraine #otd - and so the nuptial wheels move on... (TCC)

In preparation for this year’s #WolfCrawl with @simonhaisell.bsky.social I wrote about Stitching Cromwell and how the archives find their way into each week’s slow read.

Sculpture by Korean artist Do Ho Suh, 2010s-20s, whose fabric structures recreate the places he has lived, reflecting on broader concepts of migration and what makes a "home".

The first person recorded wishing someone "Merry Christmas" was Bishop John Fisher, in a letter to Thomas Cromwell #OnThisDay, 22nd December 1534. "And this our Lord God send you a mery Christmas, and a comfortable, to your heart’s desire." 🖼️ Wikimedia Commons

The complete Bayeux Tapestry has finally been released and proves that Bishop Odo had absolutely nothing to do with the illegal Norman invasion of England.

New beginnings can be exciting, but also a little daunting. To help ease into your creative-critical mindset of 2026, we warmly welcome you to join us for a special Making Space Session: Creative Intention Setting for 2026! ⏰5:30-7:00pm GMT 📅Thurs, 8th Jan 2026 📍Zoom

I have just put my hand in a letter from Thomas Cromwell dated 24 July 1540, sent from the Tower of London. I think it must have been the last letter he wrote. I am not ok.

I wrote about Agnes Strickland, Katherine of Aragon, and state papers.

Exciting delivery - a new bolt of calico has arrived in time for my religious houses pensions project: coming to Stitching Cromwell in 2026.

There now

Nice to see A Schole-House for the Needle in use.

Very pleased on behalf of me and Stitching Cromwell to get this message in my inbox this morning: “I am delighted to inform you that at its last meeting on 21 November 2025, our Council elected you an Associate Fellow of the @royalhistsoc.org in recognition of your contribution to History.”

Made myself a cross little Cromwell.

For generations, the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree has brought light to the heart of London. Thank you, Norway, for this gift of friendship since 1947.

29 Nov 1530: d. an exhausted Thomas Cardinal Wolsey #otd at #Leicester Abbey. One of many who fell due to Henry VIII's 'great matter'