Goldwork Butterflies for a Good Cause

Today, I’m presenting you with a different kind of book review.

A Kaleidoscope of Goldwork Butterflies is a project and technique book published by Alison Cole last year. It’s a beautiful book, with beautiful projects in it.

At the same time, it’s a special book. It was published and is being sold to raise funds to support medical research for a condition called NORSE (New Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus), which tragically took the life of Alison’s daughter, Bek, in 2023.

I’m going to let Alison tell us about this, but I’ll be giving you a glimpse of the projects in the book, as well as the instructional content you can expect from it.

As with all of Alison’s books (like Goldwork Masterclass reviewed here and Stumpwork Masterclass reviewed here), the instruction is excellent and the projects are exquisite.

This is Alison’s story about A Kaleidoscope of Goldwork Butterflies, how the book idea came about, and what it developed into:

During the Covid lockdowns of 2020, I had the great idea of releasing a book featuring my butterfly projects. I set about stitching two more to make a compliment of colours, which were finished in 2021 and 2022.

I got busy and put the manuscript to one side and then in 2023, the unthinkable happened, our beautiful daughter Bek passed away from an extremely rare condition – New Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus or NORSE for short.

After three weeks fighting in intensive care, her body gave up after having suffered from thousands of seizures.

There is very little information about this condition – it affects mainly young people, and many have a fever before they are hit with the seizures – our Bek thought that she had caught a cold. A very lucky few survive with mild cognitive disfunction, while others are left with very little cognitive function at all or pass away.

We were told on day 3 that Bek had the worst case that the Royal Melbourne Hospital had ever seen. She had doctors from all over the world consulting on her case – as the condition is so rare, when a case is diagnosed, everyone in the NORSE field does their best to help.

So, what does all of this have to do with a book of Goldwork Butterflies?

I went back to writing the book in late 2023 in an effort to try and regain some of my lost creativity – and to fundraise for research into NORSE.

I suggested to my husband that we could give 20% away and when he agreed, I told him that I actually would like to give 50% away. By the time the book had come out, we had decided to give 100% of the profits to research. To date, we have given away over $21,000.00.

The book has fourteen Goldwork butterfly projects in it – ranging from beginners through to a few with more advanced techniques – so there is something for everyone!

To give the maximum amount to the charity that we can, the books are not being sold through regular retail channels like local needlework shops and bookstores.

It is only available from our website, here.

To date, we have sold more than half of the 1514 copies that we had printed.

I am hand numbering and signing every copy and we will not be printing a second run, so please, please, order a copy while we have them in stock and help us look for answers and hopefully prevent this happening to other families.

If you would like to simply donate without purchasing a book, this is the link to the NORSE gofundme page.

Steve and Alison Cole

Of course, the book is delightful. The projects are lovely. The instructions are clear and accessible – as always the case with Alison’s books and her kits.

There are projects for every level of stitcher, and if you are keen to hone or master goldwork techniques, it’s an excellent project book to work through, to achieve that.

You’ll find step by step photo instructions for all the goldwork techniques used on the projects, and with each project, you’ll find the pattern, a thorough list of supplies, and step by step instructions for completing the project.

It is, in short, an excellent book to add to your needlework library.

But even more than that, purchasing this book is a good way to do something positive to help a much-beloved and appreciated designer and teacher who has brought so much delight to the needlework world through her art.

Your purchase has a two-fold benefit: the material support for the medical research into NORSE, and the moral support from the needlework community for the grief that this mum and dad certainly experience through the passing of their beautiful young daughter.

Where to Get It & A Note on Shipping

As mentioned above, A Kaleidoscope of Goldwork Butterflies is only available on Alison’s website. You can find it listed here.

If you are located in North America and Europe, you will find that the shipping from Australia tends to be pretty steep. Keep in mind that the US dollar, the British pound sterling, and the Euro are stronger than the Australian dollar, so currency conversion is in your favor.

If you can pool your resources with stitching friends, though, you can reduce the single shipping cost. Three books ship for the same price as one, so find two friends, and your shipping reduces to a third.

Another option: I purchased three books last fall and gave two as gifts. If you have stitching friends with birthdays coming up, there ya go. Or guild gift exchanges at Christmas… lots of ways to look at it, and a good way to spread out the shipping per book.

Coming Up

Next week, we’ll be doing some tool talk!

Also, the Art Nouveau project is finished! We’ve named it, and I’m putting in supply orders for kits as we speak.

See you Monday!