Good morning, and a Happy Monday all around!
Time’s a-ticking, and this week will see the end of A Stitcher’s Christmas!
Today, it’s all about tools – and a wonderful array of them, too!
Imagine toddling down the stairs on Christmas morning at 5:07 am in your fuzzy sleeper, your blanket dragging behind you and your bunny slippers scuffling along. As you rub the sand from your eyes, suddenly you behold, in the glow of the Christmas tree, your Christmas stocking, bulging with embroidery treats!
Well, you’ll have to supply the stocking (and the blanket, the fuzzy sleeper, and the bunny slippers), but Needle in a Haystack is supplying the embroidery treats – a whole collection of useful and fun tools for the stitcher. In fact, for two stitchers, as I’ll draw two winners who will each win a collection!

Before we launch into the delectable details of today’s give-away, though, we’ll take care of the business of drawing the winners of last Wednesday’s give-away for this luscious collection of beautiful wool embroidery threads from Renaissance Dyeing.
There are two winners from the give-away, and they are Deana Vaughn and Louise in Mt. Gretna. Congratulations, ladies! I will drop you a line so we can get the ball rolling and get those threads winging their way to you!
If you’re looking for a beautifully cohesive color range of crewel wool in colors suitable for any stitching, hand dyed with all-natural dyes, do check out the Elizabethan Collection at Renaissance Dyeing. It’s a wonderful full color palette for Jacobean styled crewel work, without having to fuss over color choices. And the wool is quite dreamy to stitch with!
Needlework Tools & Fabric
And now, on with the tools!
Needle in a Haystack is a locally-owned needlework shop in Alameda, California. They carry a vast array of fine needlework goods.
They’re also one of the (very) few well-inventoried and well-stocked online stores for fine needlework supplies in the US. While there are still some excellent needlework shops out there (sadly, fewer and fewer), they don’t necessarily have a thorough online inventory and shopping system. Fortunately for the rest of us who don’t have access to locally owned needlework shops, Needle in a Haystack does.
Today’s give-away incorporates lots of little (and some big) things that every stitcher can use. Here’s what you’ll find in your package, should you win:
- Two tubes of Tulip Needles (crewel & milliner)
- An ultra-fine needle threader
- A Tulip pincushion
- A Hardwicke Manor 5″ embroidery hoop with twill tape to bind the hoop
- A Pigma 003 Micron Pen (.15mm – this is very, very fine)
- A fine-tipped water erasable pen by Bohin
- A metal tin of Little House glass head pins
- A gold-plated mellore (used in goldwork, but also works as a laying tool)
- 1 yard of Southern Belle white muslin (this makes a great backing fabric, but it’s also excellent to stitch on as a ground fabric)
- A pair of black scissors
- A Felt Chip board (gray) and French Macron needle minder – both Needle in a Haystack exclusives
With a retail value of $120, this is a fine collection for any stitcher, whether absolute beginner or thoroughly seasoned.
Give-Away Guidelines
This give-away is now ended. Thanks for participating!
To join in today’s give-away, please follow these guidelines:
1. Leave a comment below, in the comment form following this article. You can follow this link directly to the comment form, if you are unsure of where to go. Please do not comment as a reply to someone else’s comment.
2. On the comment form, please fill out the name line with a recognizable name (no anonymous comments) and the email address line (which is not published). Please make certain your email address is entered correctly. Leave the website line on the form blank, unless you own your own website.
3. In the comment box, answer the question posed below.
What’s your favorite subject matter for embroidery? Are you a floral person? A bird person? Stylized or geometric designs? A sampler person? A people or character person? What subjects do you like to stitch, or what subjects do you find yourself stitching most frequently?
Please do not leave your email address, mailing address, or phone number in the actual comment box. The comment box is also not the place to advertise your own needlework business, so please do not leave links to other websites in the comment box.
4. Please leave your comment by Friday, December 21st, 5:00 am central time (Kansas, USA). I’ll randomly draw the winners that morning and notify them by email.
5. Please leave only one comment on the give-away. Multiple comments will be deleted. You can enter all the give-aways in the series, but please enter them only once each.
And that’s it! Two winners for this one, so you have double the chance to win!
Coming Up…
After today, two more fabulous installments of A Stitcher’s Christmas. On Wednesday, look for some splendid silk specialty threads; and Friday … oh, the most exquisite scissors in the whole wide world! (Want a hint?)
I hope your week is off to a wonderful start!
I like samplers and florals. I’ve never done any people or animals except for a cross stitch cat when I was just beginning. I think my sister still has that old pillow.
I really enjoy stitching flowers in all their glory. Thanks for the opportunity to win Mary!
Samplers are what I’ve worked the most. I love a variety of subjects so I have several different things going at once.
The only time I did a sampler was when I first did embroider which is in 5th grade. I enjoyed it a lot and was quicker that all the other girls in my class doing stem stitch, chain stitch, button whole stitch and others.
But do not ask me to do samplers, for me it is a waste of time. I want to be into action to do a finish piece with a purpose.
I like to do flowers or geometric designs depending if I do stumpwork or hardanger or other cutwork designs.
I have always been attracted to Jacobean stylized designs. So I’m working on 17th century designs in my own needlework. I don’t know if it all started with my mom’s crewel work in the 60’s and the attraction was inherited or if it was innately acquired.
My favorite subjects to stitch are abstract shapes or symmetrical things like mandalas.
Mary,
Flowers, definitely flowers! Single flowers, multiple flowers, circle of flowers, flowers on crazy quilt blocks, flowers! I doodle flowers and then embroider them. Flowers are my delight!
Regards,
Bonnie
I love William Morris style designs, as well as Jacobean crewel, and designs with a medieval feel. I have so many “I’ll do that one day” ideas with those aesthetics in mind, but at this point the pieces I’ve actually completed tend to be floral.
I love to stitch maps, especially topographical maps. In fact, I learned embroidery so I could execute the vision I had one day of an embroidered topographical map of the mountainous area where I used to live. It took me six months to learn and make, but I was delighted with how it turned out and with the fact that it set my artwork on a totally new path.
So exciting. I would love to see these maps. Used to make fun maps as party invites and for ads: such a marvelous form with cool conventions.
I never thought about this before, but I suppose I’m primarily a floral person. Someday (when the last one graduates) I hope to try one of Trish Burr’s adorable little birds. For now it’s mostly flowers, autumn leaves, and evergreen things like holly and pine boughs. Definitely plan to use those new patterns you just released!
I enjoy doing nature scenes.
I love to stitch little scenes from nature and simple geometric designs, similar to those you offer in your projects.
My favorite subjects to embroider are flowers and birds together. It’s such a joy!
Coming from a weaving and knitting background, I like to use abstract geometric cross-stitch designs on pincushions and biscornu and other small pieces. DMC has some very nice free patterns.
Definitely flowers. They work so well with needle painting
I definitely prefer stitching flowers and fruits. They’re my favorite
My favorite subject matter to stitch is holidays–any holidays. I decorate my house for every major and some minor holidays, and I have stitched pieces for every one. My husband used to try and figure out which was the new one each Christmas, but I think he’s given up on that.
I am just learning embroidery and I like to do embellishments on wool
I’ve just finished a series of 5 bird embroideries but am now working on a Jacobean tree design which is captivating, and I am enjoying it so much that I plan another larger one for the new year. Thanks for the chance to win.
I can’t really say I gravitate towards one style or another. With most of my pieces being gifts for others I tend to consider the person I am stitching it for and create a piece that way. The last piece I finished was for a friend who loves Dr. Who. I’ve done many with animals, some with flowers, and a few with people in them. My latest is a Christmas piece for a white elephant gift. I guess if I had to give everything a category sampler would do best as I try to incorporate a few different stitches as I can in each piece, with some having a lot more than others depending on how the piece flows.
Animals, birds and florals are my favorites things to stitch. I also like Halloween designs.
Animals are my favorite stitching subject although I also love tiny flowers.
I love to work on geometric patterns.
My favorite subject matter for stitching is anything historical. I really love any sort of historically inspired stitching.
My favorite subject for embroidery? Acorns and oak leaves, I think.
Hi Mary,
Thanks so much for your always-interesting and helpful newsletters! I look forward to reading you every day.
My favorite subject matter is on techniques and tools. I’m always interested in learning how to do something new or learning a new technique. Most recently I’ve been drawn to samples and primitive designs in cross stitch, but am looking to get back into more embroidery.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! Happy holidays,
Stacey Fischkelta
I have loved embroidery since I was a little girl. I mostly needlepoint and add embroidery to make the canvases come alive. I love all things old fashioned……….vintage hearts, flowers, birds and monograms. I have pieces all of the place from my mom, aunt and grandmother. They are like treasures for my memories. I am exploring some sayings for the new year………..like “as long as stars shall shine” and “the thrill of hope”. I think 2019 is going to be a wonderful stitching year.
My favorite needlework topics are:
Birds
Animals
Trees
Landscapes
Everything else!
Sorry, can’t settle on just one topic!
I am a sampler person
This is truly a tough question to answer with the limitless options that needlework offers! If I had to pick just one, it would probably be samplers but with more of a modern flair. Merry Christmas to all and thanks for this opportunity!
My very favorite subject for stitching is Birds. As I am owned by an African Grey Parrot, I tend to stitch all species of parrots. I stitch other type of birds too.
Thanks for a series of fun questions. It is interesting to read all the comments.
My favorite subject to in Braintree would be butterflies, and monograms.
I would say that I am a floral stitcher!. I love flowers! Merry Christmas!
I love to embroider flowers mostly with silk ribbon.
I enjoy freehand floral stitching and embroidering literary themes using quotes from favorite books.
I love all kinds of embroidery but probably am more drawn to geometric designs and precision pieces. I learned more about myself this year by learning to do silk shading which requires more precision.
I think it would just about anything by Victoria Sampler!
I stitch people and flowers in a landscape setting.
This is a lovely package of goodies! I am getting back into my stitching , and I would love this as a means to REALLY get back into! Believe me, it would be put to good use!
I find that I stitch a lot of different subjects. For a long while it was definitely floral. Now I switch it up, and like learning new techniques, such as Otomi, and Sashiko.
Because my main technique for years was Hardanger, the subjects tended to be geometrical (although they also included a Christmas tree, house, flower, set of berries, ladybird and dragonfly) but since I’ve been doing more freestyle and goldwork I think the majority is probably floral.
Really I think the truth is my favourite subject matter is whatever I happen to be designing at the time!
Floral, anything floral, I especially live your floral alphabet! And tiny things, I LOVE minitures!
Hi Mary,
It’s hard to choose a favorite because I am so drawn by colors, but if pressed,
my favorites are flowers and birds, especially during the colder months when I can’t go outside and play in the garden.
Judy Ries
I enjoy stitching nature, flowers, trees, mushrooms…
At the moment I am exploring the beauty of bees. I’ve completed one in gold work, and am just about to frame up a pulled thread work bee on fine linen. Next I’d like to explore one in casalguidi or reticella work. Perhaps, after that I would need to think about a hive? Stumpwork, perhaps?
I love to study the history/origins of the textiles used. Great subject matter. I love the organic plants, animals nature of design.
I like to embellish hand appliqué quilts with embroidery. Flowers and leaf details and swirling accents.
Most frequently I find myself stitching folkloristic themes. Samplers of Chinese or Japanese or Russian designs. Lately I find pleasure in geometric designs.
I really love stitching birds. They make my heart sing!
Not certain this fits by my favorite subject is Holidays – Christmas, Halloween, Easter, 4th of July – so more theme than subject
My favourite thing to embroider are lots and lots of flowers. They work so well in embroidery and easily translate into very realistic projects.
I love doing embroidered or needlepoint Christmas ornaments for my eight grandchildren. I especially enjoy patterns with Santa or angels.
My favorite theme to stitch is florals.
Stylized and floral are the most common items I stitch, but anything beautiful will do.
I seem to always choose flowers to sew but I make a bird ornament each year for my daughter and I love planning and making those.
I am a floral/nature stitcher at heart. I enjoy geometric designs, particularly for learning new stitches, but flowers are my favorite.
Animals!
Some flowers and other things too, but mostly animals!
I guess I’m a Sampler person.
I really love stitching anything Christmas. I keep the season going all year so there’s no rush in December to get gifts finished.
I guess you could say I like just about everything to stitch. But lately it seems like I am doing more samplers then anything. I always find myself doing something for Fall or Halloween and then some ornaments for Christmas time. I love a variety to work on.
Floral…and bugs! Yes, bugs. They looks so cute when embroidered. And of course, wherever there are flowers, there are bugs.
if I look back at all projects- there seems to be a geometric theme to many and while I don’t always think it is my favorite subject, the numbers don’t lie!
I love so many designs up its hard to choose one. I tend to gravitate towards samplers, geometric designs, birds, flowers. Thanks for the chance.
My favorite subject for needlework must be flowers and leaves, with birds being a close second. But this year I’ve also found myself stitching fish…even a couple of octopuses….octopi….octopodes….whatever the plural is.
Primarily I stitch quotes into found photographs.
My favorite subject matter for embroidery is animals. All kinds of animals and birds too
I definitely love flowers as an embroidery subject!
I most frequently stitch flowers, but I enjoy lots of subjects. Mary, Have a Merry Christmas and a great New Year
Wow,
I love needlework tools and this selection looks fabulous. I have heard how wonderful Tulip needles are and can’t wait to try them. I collect and sometimes use antique tools so some modern ones would fit right in.
I’m a sampler person. I love samplers with different stitches on them.
Flowers and birds!
Oh my – I just love stitching things that make me smile, both when I am stitching them, and when I look at the finished projects. These are almost always animals. My two favorites are – Mr Rooster who is a very funky rooster in bright colors of crewel wool on black, and I have Christmas Owl who is absolutely cute with his Santa hat and big wide eyes.
My favorite subject to try to put into my embroidery designs is mathematics. This mostly leads to geometric designs, and I particularly like working on designs that combine Escher’s art and mathematics in stitching.
I adore embroidering flowers bound up with flowing curly ribbons , dreamy.
My favorite subject matter for embroidery — I do a lot of geometrics, which aren’t necessarily pictures — I enjoy showing off colors, thread types, and stitches. Butterflies, bees, acorns, and peacocks are featured in many of patterns I’ve bought.
… and, oh, my — you and NIAH will be making two stitchers very happy. That’s a wonderful selection!
I mostly create and embroider my own designs based on sources that I find both online and in my rather large collection of Dover design books
A people person!
I prefer to stitch flowers and animals. Nature has so many beautiful options 🙂
I am definitely a flower person, all types and colours. There is never enough. Hope I am a winner in the next draw. Have a marvelous Holidays Season and best wishes for the coming year.
My favourite subject is nature, predominantly flowers, trees, etc. I am currently working on an apple tree branch with some apples. I would like to progress onto animals as I often have deer, hares, coypu, foxes, squirrels, etc pass through my garden. I’ve also had a rather large snake this year – not so keen on that one!! Having stitched Trish Burr’s Blue Tit starter bird, I would also like to do more birds. We get a lot of birds and in particular I like the Gold Finches, Green and Greater Spotted woodpeckers and finches that come to the garden as well as the larger birds like herons.
I think geometrics and flowers are my favorite. Although I’m planing on expanding into animals thanks to Trish Burr.
I think my favourite subjects are animals but I do like variety and trying new things, I love stumpwork and have done horses birds and tress so I think I am on the side of nature for most of my work.
I tend to be most attracted to holiday/occasion-themed designs, like Easter eggs designs, Christmas-themed hangings and ornaments, Thanksgiving/autumn cloths for breadbaskets, and anniversary or birth samplers which involve a variety of techniques. However, I tend to take on and complete projects based on techniques that I am interested in learning and often take on various themes, whether geometric, floral, or landscapes.
Although I stitch flowers most often, I love tucking in little critters here and there – they’re like little surprises among the flowers. The critters can be butterflies, birds in their nests, spiders swinging from their webs, cats hiding in the ferns, snails, bees, tiny opossum hanging from a branch, bunnies peeking over a tulip…
I live in Minnesota. Winter is great for embroidery. I love all the historical information concerning needlework!
I really like to stitch flowers.
My favorite subject for embroidery is a function of the type of embroidery. In cross-stitching I like flowers, nature, and “sayings”. In hardanger and Wessex I like pretty traditional motifs and patterns. I am not a huge fan of surface or canvas embroidery, but am trying out a couple of canvas pieces. I do like satin stitching and bargello.
I like many subjects but dragonflies, flowers and sweets are my favorites. Thanks for the chance.
I love to embroider miniature animals and flower bedecked handmade Easter eggs.
I love birds and flowers, I stitch a lot of birds, usually along with birds come flowers, win, win.
Thank you!
I usually drift toward seasonal themes or nature themes..unless I see something that reminds me of a “favorite” thing..mine or someone I want to gift. I am also always on the lookout for patterns to decorate my home with.
For me it would be anything in nature as long as it is also colourful.
Thanks again for this great contest!
Florals!
It has to be nature, from berries, chestnuts, hedgehogs, butterflies and flowers. To bring the beauty to life of all the bounty that nature offer and creating it with needle and thread, for generations to come and enjoy.
Needle in a Haystack is a great shop.
I am very new to embroidery and am focusing on embellishing my needle-turned applique projects for the present time. I enjoy looking for inspiration in antique album-styled quilts.
I love to stitch flowers and birds. The colors and textures of different species really appeal to me. I am especially attracted to birds. These little creatures make me feel happy.
I always seem to come back to stitching flowers, whatever I start with, a nice bunch or bouquet of flowers always cheers me up and keeps me smiling for the rest of the day!
I am a sampler person, I like both reproductions and more modern pieces. I also like to do a lot of smalls, like sewing sets with a needle book, pincushion, fob and some sets have a punch or bag to hold the smalls….thank you for such a nice drawing!
Thank you Mary and Needle in a Haystack for this wonderful giveaway. I find myself most often stitching figurative images or geometrics. By figurative I mean people or animals.
My favorite embroidery subjects are birds and bunnies!
Flowers, without a doubt!
Hi Mary,
LOVE this giveaway! Thank you and thank Needle in a Haystack.
I am a sampler gal. Love everything about them. I love samplers with a variety of stitches and find that I am attracted to samplers with lots of flowers and birds but not people or houses.
Thanks again for your great blog and all your wonderful tips and advice!
Tania
My favorite subject for stitching is samplers!
I’m a sampler person. Loves to invent new styles
I’m a sampler addict.
I love to try and experiment with all kind of embroidery and needleworktechniques or to experiment with all kind of threads and fabric (and other grounds to embroider on).
My favorite subject matter us a combination of floral and geometric like in folk art embroidery. I love to combine shisha with it.
My favorite embroidery subject is floral. Thanks!
I truly love doing hardanger embroidery and have done it for years but with seeing all the beautiful embroidery you do, I’m trying to spread my wings and try something new. So far, I’ve bought the great dish towels you recommend (does that qualify as a start?). Have a nice day. Janet
I love to stitch animals, particularly birds.
What’s your favorite subject matter for embroidery?
I have several things I really love to stitch – the primary one is samplers, traditional and other more modern versions. I also like to stitch hearts, and a lot of them are little miniature samplers. Most of these are done on needlepoint canvas. the traditional samplers are done on linen.
My favorite style of embroidery is geometric, It give scope to the imagination in terms of colour and stitches.
My favorite type of stitchery is on canvas but I am very surprised that I have done so very many Victoria Samplers projects that include hardanger. And I sometimes call it “hard anger!” I made an anniversary sampler for our 43rd wedding anniversary. A stitching friend of mine thought it was very funny that I had 43 on it, but, my comment was that you never know whether you will make it to 50 years. I made another sampler for our 50th wedding anniversary and they both hang on the wall in my tv room. We made it to 51.5 years so that was a miracle. I love doing canvas because it is a bit more relaxing and much easier to see.
I’m enjoying embroidering birds recently. They adapt so well to being stylized, with their complicated feathers and bright colors, and they’re lightweights, who don’t object to having a little fun. Mine all have to have a gold spiral on each wing; without it, they can’t fly!
My favorite stitching theme is Estonian folk symbols. They have ancient origins and are stylized botanical and other natural symbols. They dominate Estonian folk art and appear not only in needlework, but also in weaving, painting, and architecture.
Blackwork embroidery lends itself well to abstraction and geometrics, so that’s where I go with it. Typically transitions of patterns as subject—with the occasional insect appearing.
My favorite subject matter for embroidery is animals. That being said I confess that animals are what I am attracted to and love to look at, but that what I execute is more often floral. I think it is much harder to draw/stitch a realistic animal, whereas floral things I feel comfortable with looking fanciful or whimsical or just being imaginary
Ooh this looks amazing! I am more of a sampler person. I do not love the planning process I generally just want to get to it and experiment with different stitches. However, these are not band samplers but are very free form and contain a lot of floral elements! Flowers are my favorite thing to draw and since I have those sketches hanging around I will adapt them to whatever technique I want to try, often something I’ve seen you do on Needle N’ Thread!
It’s no secret because I have mentioned it before but my favorite subject to stitch is monograms. It works up quickly for the most part, it is a fun way to use any stitch, the possibility for design are endless and the people who receive a hand stitched monogram are always delighted.
My favourite things to stitch are geometric canvaswork designs, but I love doing Christmas things too! Christmas is by far my most prolific time of the year as my creative juices really get flowing. Thanks for the awesome contests.
I enjoy stitching people, birds and scenes – African in particular
I mostly stitch samplers and Nativity scenes. The samplers are because of my delight in early American work (which I can’t afford to buy) and the Nativities are because of my Mother/Baby fixation. I am a pediatric nurse practitioner(24 yrs), an Int. Bd. Cert. Lactation Consultant (33 yrs) and La Leche League Leader51 yrs). Helping mothers and babies with breastfeeding is my vocation and stitching in my spare time is my other obsession, LOL.
If made to choose between flowers and birds I guess I would pick birds or maybe wildlife as my favorite. Trish Burr is my hero and I bought one of her books which I stare at until my eyes turn red. Maybe I just forget to blink haha. My first project next year will be a tiny fox. My husband is retiring in 2 years, we are buying an RV bus and will travel with United States seeing all the things we have missed over our 40 years together. I think embroidery is the perfect project to take along on our travels as it combines small size along with a beautiful finished project.
I have stitched many floral pieces on linen with specialty stitches mixed with cross stitch. Love the old world colours for these in dusty rose, burgundy and a mix of blues and gold with deep greens for the foliage.
I’ve stitched many geometric canvas pieces in a large variety of colour ways that I have matted and framed.
A nice give away! I would love to win this.
I love flowers to embroider. Also lately I’ve been enjoying red work Christmas ornaments. I’m about ready to do a flour sack towel with your beautiful holly and berries so will be learning a new stitch. Love you emails!
Hmmm. It’s a toss-up between geometric patterns in black word or the exotic flowers found in Jacobean embroidery. The blend of colors and graceful swirls enchant me.
I love stitching animals and birds and flowers. Anything by Trish Burr or Tanya Berlin with wonderful details in the stitching.
My favorite subject matter right now is patriotic although I have been known to be a floral and bird person as well as samplers.
What’s your favorite subject matter for embroidery? … What subjects do you like to stitch, or what subjects do you find yourself stitching most frequently?
I mostly do stylized or geometric patterns, although I have done a few animals and flowers. Most of my embroidery is for the historical re-enactments group I am a part of, so it is based on pre-1600 designs.
I’m a beginner stitching lover who tends to take on large projects. I love to create scenes to stitch. My last one is on the back of a jean jacket and shows a swing hanging from a tree at night with stars in the skies and a little kitty with a ribbon around it’s neck looking at the swing.
I lust after this combination of stitching tools!
My favorite subject matter is portraits — of people, animals and insects. I have stitched my share of flowers and birds because those tend to be the subject matter of classes and kits, but they are not at all my preference.
What a fabulous goodie basket from Needle In A Haystack! Thanks for running this holiday giveaway. I’ll keep my stocking and bunny slippers at the ready 😀
My fave subjects are birds, birds, birds and, flowers, flowers, and more flowers!
Mary, thank you for doing A Stitcher’s Christmas! It’s not only fun to enter, but it’s fascinating to read everyone else’s comments and pick up ideas. What a wide range of skills and interests your readers have.
I tend to like stylized subjects – things with an Art Deco, Celtic, or “arty” design to them. Many of the medieval religious motifs fit in here too. So many possibilities, I’ll need at least one more lifetime to get some of them done!
Based on projects I have actually finished and framed, I favor cross-stitch that incorporates a pithy saying.
One of my favorite subjects to stitch is OWLS. Love them.
I love to embroider and embellish crazy quilt pillows and table runners.
I am more drawn to sampler style work where color variations make the scen come alive thank you
Merry Christmas Mary! I really enjoy embroidering little Christmas gifts–so I do a variety of cute little nature scenes–generally birds, bunnies, and squirrels! I also like to add embroidery into the quilts I make. Have a wonderful Christmas season–I so enjoy your writings!
I love reproduction historic samplers and all needlepoint. I tend to do a lot of Christmas themed things-stockings and ornaments in both cros stitch and needlepoint.
Becky Myhre
Put me on the ‘flowers’ list! Even in the most dreary Winter day embroidered flowers bring alive the memories of Spring!
My favourite is samplers. I love the stories behind them. It is interesting to see how some regions were influenced by other regions in their styles. Thanks
What do I like to embroider? What don’t I? I guess I like nature best – trees, flowers, leaves, birds.
Animals (woodland creatures especially)! Oh, and birds, of course!
Thank you so much for such an amazing giveaway and the chance to win it!!
My favorite things to stitch depends on how I’m stitching. If I’m doing applique, I love to stitch botanical subjects. If I’m doing embroidery or cross stitch, I like to stitch people and aquatic subjects.
I love to stitch flowers and other natural subjects like birds and insects.
My favorite subject to stitch is life in the 17th century! Designing motifs is wonderful because it pulls me in to museums, history, fibers and the world around me. Then I go on a scavenger hunt for the tools to create the history on canvas and satin for my Cabinet of Curiosities. Looks like Needle in a Haystack made that part of the adventure much easier! Hazzah! Thank you and Merry Christmas!
My favorite subject matter is nature–it’s broad, I know, but I love trying to replicate the natural environment through fabric and thread!
My favorite embroidery subject is everyday objects usually with flowers added.
I mostly like to stitch holiday motifs.
Flowers are my favorite thing, but right now I’m cross stitching a quilt top for my newest granddaughter.
I have always been a stitcher, quilter and sewer of many things. Most recently I have been doing a lot of Redwork – angel blocks for a Redwork quilt, Red Radiance for a small quilt, English nursery rhymes quilt, etc. I admire all the work you do so much, and I am becoming more interested in the “fill” work stitches that I admire greatly through you. Thank you for this awesome opportunity to broaden my horizons. Merry Christmas to All. Judy C in NC
Without a doubt, your daily publications lift my spirits. I have learned so much from you. Thank you for your generosity.
Enjoy good health in this New Year.
I love stitching flowers and leaves.
I absolutely adore flowers and spend a great deal of time in good weather outdoors working in my gardens. Since Michigan winters aren’t conducive to time spent outdoors with my flowers, I get my “flower fix” in my stitchery. Any style or type of flower is my favorite subject.
My favorite stitching project would be anything floral. At this time I am stitching a small piece with a vase of flowers using soft teals & pinks.
Hi
I mostly embroider images I have found that are varied. For example drawings of children, garden scenes, cottages, and sewing and quilting themes.
Love to sit and stitch, it’s the very best relaxation therapy!
If it’s crewel work I love Jacobean inspired designs. For almost everything else I turn to the time of Elizabeth I for inspiration. Ornate vinework and elaborate motifs really make me extremely happy.
A few years ago, I would have been firmly in the sampler camp–but now I’m into 17th century surface embroidery–stumpwork and goldwork and swirling lines!
I love doing samplers. I have done quite a few Christmas Ornament this year which has been really fun to do.
Flowers, flowers and an occasional bunny.
Although I am still a beginner, for me it’s all about flowers and birds. I am drawn to the Jacobean style as well as botanicals.
I find that I continually are drawn to floral designs, especially ones that are folk art based. I love the look of Schwalm for this very reason. Have a happy holiday season!! And once again, thanks for all the giveaways.
Although I stitch lots of flowers and birds, I always look for connections between my life and the thing I’m stitching. That’s because I generally stitch/quilt stories of my own making and I like them to be knee-deep in family lore and personal memories. And – because the fabric book I’m working on contains an abundance of memories – I’m trying to balance the old with fresh, unusual stitches I’m doing for the first time!
Trees! Free hand trees are my all time favorite embroidery subject. Big ones, little ones, bent ones, fall ones, well, you get the idea.
Thank you for all your helpful tips, ideas, and instructions. My favorite subject for embroidery are flowers & foliage! LOVE your work!!
I am drawn to flora and fauna! I love all things nature and love how stitching can bring it to life with needle and thread. Thank you Mary for the opportunity to play and the chance to win those lovely tools! Merry Merry Christmas!
Hi Mary!
My favorite subject to stitch is my upcoming running project next year- I’ll stitch all my running maps from my run tracking app on my phone to create a map unique to my movement around San Francisco. It’s for a show at the Hanging Threads Gallery at the San Francisco School of Needlework & Design.
Thank you for the raffle and happy holidays,
Margaret
Merry Christmas!
Love to stitch smalls
Samplers are my very favorite.
I gotta tell ya, it’s all eye candy for me because when I go to Cathe’s shop in Alameda I WANT EVERYTHING just like a kid in a candy shop but I usually get drawn to the gold work and black work items and Nicola Jarvis’s birds. If I think about all the items I have created though it turns out I make more Samplers than anything else but with gold/silver or black work. Thanks for making me think about the stitching I have done
I love to stitch places I’ve visited
A difficult question, I love birds and animals but also flowers,it depends on my moods, I do stitch a lot of sampler type designs as well. Currently working on an advent stitch along, with silk threads, a real Christmas Treat.
I find myself drawn to flowers & butterflies of late. Crazy quilting.
I love Pineapples and geometrics!
Thanks!
My favorite subject to stitch in recent years has been birds – thread painting! I cannot seem to get enough of Trish Burr’s beautiful designs! 🙂 So, I keep stitching away, slowly mastering the art of threadpainting…
I love flowers and leaves!
Merry Christmas, Mary 🙂
My favourite subjects for stitching are flowers and birds. I love the way flowers look stitched. And I love, love, LOVE birds! All kinds of birds really. As a matter of fact, my Christmas tree is bird-themed, so that ought to tell you something, lol. I love needle painted birds, and they way they look almost real. But stylized birds have their place as well. All over my Christmas tree, actually, lol.
Thank you for the chance to win such a wonderful giveaway. This would be wonderful to get in the mail. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours
Looking around my home , I most frequently stitch flowers followed by butterflies whether in surface embroidery, stump work or black work. Next would be flowers with butterflies !
You’re absolutely right – these are the kinds of goodies I’d love to find in my stocking Mary! Thank you so much for another great Giveaway 🙂 My favourite subject is flowers, and I’m really hoping to teach myself needlepainting this year so I can stitch some realistic wild roses. No matter the kind, they make me happy!
I am a Sampler person and a Hardanger person. There are some beautiful kits out there. I love the variety of Stitches you can use in samplers.
I love samplers, because I enjoy doing a little bit of lots of different techniques or stitches.
I like garden scenes and birds. Both are great for bits of color.
I love to stitch flowers but am planning some colourful geometric designs too
The subject I find I stitch most often is butterflies. I embroidery them, appliqué them, and quilt them. Now that I have this reputation, friends send me pictures and links to kits and BOMs (butterfly of the month). And I don’t seem to have any trouble finding ideas on my own. Butterflies, real or stitched, just make me happy.
I love to trees. I live in the woods and watch the changes for the trees throughout the seasons
I love to embroider flowers. Thanks Mary for the chance, again!
Favorite embroidery subjects are floral. To my eye, floral subjects provide the opportunity to employ the most shape variation, color and style variety. I also feel that depictions of the floral elements of nature are peaceful, pleasing to the eye and remain fresh for long periods of display.
I like to try all sorts of designs, and seem to go through phases. I’ve had a sampler phase [which I tend to fall back on for anniversaries, birthdays and births], but I’ve also stitched birds in crewel work and cross stitch, animals, and flowers and leaves! I stitched psalm 23 with an accompanied scene twice for two relatives as well! Currently, the UK Embroiderers Guild is running its Kickstart Project and this year the subject is geology and fossils, so I’m planning to embroider the bedrock geology of my county, show it in cross-section and then work fossils found in the bedrock in different types of embroidery techniques, putting it all into a book and annotating it. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but am planning to visit a local museum to sketch and photograph the fossils they have. Wish me luck!!!!
I like to stitch up flowers. Not very original, but I like them. I usually prefer realistic, but have been known to do a few stylistic ones. I also like to do Christmas ornaments, and angels seem to be a bit of a theme for me.
Hi Mary,
I love to stitch birds. I’ve made a hummingbird, a blue jay, a red cardinal, an American robin, a little bee eater and I am preparing to stitch a kingfisher. I have too a splendid photo of a grouse and I’m thinking of it… oh it should be a marvelous stitching, I’m sure. But I like to vary too and try different techniques and subjects. It is a vast world, isn’t it?
Diane from Montréal in Québec
My favorite subject to stitch is whimsical animals. I have done pillows,3-D , ornaments, etc. I use lots of stitches and can use lots of color combinations si it can be personalized based on the recipient. My grandchildren love to see what I am stitching next.
Animals, animals, animals – Domestic and Exotic! Love needle painting with both floss and crewel wool.
I love stitching ladies. I found Gay Ann Rogers queens and I have been working on them for the last couple of years. I also do cross stitch ladies. I love the costumes and the faces.
Presently, I’m all about anything bridal in my stitchery quests. My niece is getting married in November, 2019. She’s all about family and our contributions we will make to her special day. I’ve already finished her corner of her grandmother’s hanky she carried on her wedding day; and a biscornu ring pillow. I have 2 garters to make, the adornments to the bridal slippers, a cover for her bible, and anything else she has planned for me to do in the way of needlework. I am honored she has asked me to do this; and would feel blessed to use the tools the Haystack is giving away to finish all the details for my niece’s wedding!
Bunny slippers, check
Fuzzy blanket, check
Stocking, check
Those goodies look fantastic.
It changes over the years, currently I love stitching birds and geometric designs.
Thanks for organizing the giveaway, Cheers!
My favorite thing to embroider is nature. I love the look of sewn trees and leaves, small animals, flowers, and even water.
Flowers!
I like to stitch small things, usually some sort of flowers, that I can use on my quilted postcards. Both the small designs and the postcard size provide instant gratification, plus, I have a supply of cards/gifts for most any occasion.
My favorite embroidery subject is birds. After stitching Birds of Paradise, I researched the actual birds online. All the swirls in the embroidery made more sense after seeing the real birds in action.
My new favorite thing to stitch are animals. I have just started doing Crewel and the animals are so much fun. I also like to stitch floral designs, so I guess the best would be a flora picture with a few animals.
What’s my favorite subject matter? I’m a botanist, so it’s definitely flowers. I seem to stitch a lot of birds too, though. They go so nicely together!
Merry Christmas!
My favorite subject for embroidery is fantasy, especially fairies, wizards, mermaids, and Santas.
I love all the butterflies that cn be stitched with a huge variety of techniques, stitches, thread and colors. Nature is wonderful in its creativity with colors.
There is a saying that I love , I do not who to give credit, but It is “Creativity is intelligence having fun”So lets have fun!!
Merry Christmas..
My favorite embroidery subject is floral patterns. There are so many opportunities to play with color, whether I want soft muted colors, or a bright, cheerful pop of color.
I love stitching floral patterns! The beauty of a garden full of a variety of blooms and greenery inspires, calms and always amazes me. What a beautiful world we live in. I try to bring some of that beauty into my embroidery. I use nature to help inspire me in my color choices. I am also becoming mo9re adventurous in my stitch selections to bring texture and a more realistic look to my work. I just love flowers!
I like floral as a subject for embroidery, but I’ve never tried a sampler. I’m thinking after the beginning of the year when all this crazy preparation for Christmas is over I might like to try a simple sampler with florals and animals perhaps. I haven’t tried any complex embroidery, but it is good to push one’s skills or so I’ve heard. Maybe Santa will give me some bravery this year.
I enjoy stitching geometric patterns such as Native American or Arabic designs. I have stitched several of these to be framed or as pillows.
Though I do some of my own designs, stylized cats and dogs for pet owner friends; my absolute favorite motifs are wheat and abstract wheat patterns. The bulk of what I do are vintage MidCentury pieces, abstract and geometrics.
I enjoy stitching vintage patterns and incorporating a modern twist. Thanks for the giveaway!
I am a very eclectic stitcher and choose my next projects by whatever strikes me at the time. But, I am more drawn to stylized and geometric designs.
My eye is always drawn to geometric patterns, but I tend to satisfy that liking with Hardanger. My needle is attracted to character and floral designs to practice thread painting with.
Thanks for the giveaway to you and Needle In A Haystack, a great store to do business with. They have been extremely helpful to me in sourcing substitute materials for projects.
My favorite thing to stitch is Animals. I am currently doing Wool Appliqué with Embroidered stitching on each piece
I love a variety of embroidery styles and designs!! Which is why I probably enjoy samplers. But Mary’s kaleidoscope designs are stunning and captivating, they never become old!
I enjoy florals and scenes the best. I am getting back into needlework and am hoping to hone my skills and broaden my interests.
I love geometric designs – nearly all of my projects involve them!
My favorite subject has to be birds. I have really wanted to try a stump work bird but I am not sure I have the skills. I used to do some fancy and padded stitches with crewel embroidery and think it looks similar but am just not sure.
My favorite thing to stitch is the crinoline girls/ southern belles for my granddaughter in Georgia. We have embarked on the task of making her a crinoline girls quilt. I’m waaay over my head bit having so much fun embroidering appliquing and choosing colors and stitching away all by hand. Enjoying it so much and trying to be brave trying new things.
Flowers, flowers and more flowers. Thank you for your great tips and ideas and information. Merry Christmas to all.
Oooh, I’d love to see all those things in my Christmas stocking! Very, very practical.
So, my favorite stitching subject is plants. Leaves, flowers, vines, entire plants, whatever. The possibilities are just endless.
I find myself stitching flowers for the most part but dream of doing a Trish Burr bird or one of the little animals I see in my Helen M. Stevens book. What an delectable away of stitchy goodness! I bought my Hardwicke Manor hoops from them after reading your article about them. I love them.
My best favorite is Crazy Quilting which I love to do.
I am definitely a bird person. I enjoy cross stitching them for the most part and have just stated to embroider them . Thank you for your tutorials, blog and generosity. Merry Christmas and the best to you in 2019.
i would say that my favourite subject matter for embroidery would be wildlife. i love birds and insects especially to use in stumpwork and i tend to go towards the historic look in my pieces. i love the old raised embroidery and the lack of scale they used.
thanks so much and happy holidays.
Most of my projects are cat-themed. Cat pictures, cat-shaped samplers, cat Christmas ornaments. I love cats! =^.^=
My favorite thing to stitch is trees. All different kinds of trees.
I am a beginner and have dreamed about stitching mandalas and florals. This kit would be so awesome to win!
Flowers! I have such admiration for the beautiful, almost minimalist florals created by some of the Japanese artists; I haven’t yet worked in that style, as I am trying to be good and work through my existing projects! My current wip is the little scotch thistle by Jane Nicholas.
My favorite subject is the Maine landscape. I am making tiny silk and wool landscapes with embroidered details, especially trees and flowers.
Is it possible to pick one favorite? I was a math teacher so counted work appeals to me the most, geometric designs like Hardanger and pulled thread. But I also love Christmas and usually try to stitch something holiday-related every year to help sustain the holiday spirit!
I love doing geometrics. Changing colors or weight can make the same design look different. It is like opening a present, you are never sure of what the result will be based on the beginning.
My favorite subject matter for embroidery is flowers. I love, love, love flowers. Thank you Mary Corbet and Needle in a Haystack for this opportunity. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all!
Mary, I so enjoy your emails. I am 92 yrs old and do not do too much embroidery now but still enjoy all your hints, etc. I have done lots and lots of stitchery in the past. All kinds and for many years belonged to EGA. Just know your efforts are enjoyed by many.
Dottie
This is a wow opportunity for 2 lucky stitchers! I am a needlepointer and at least 30% of my projects are Christmas themed, many are Santas. Several recent projects are less traditional in color – I have 2 Santas that focus on pink and one is lime green!
I love to embroider small scenes that tell a story. I also love birds and flowers.
I have an American patriotic one I’m eager to start. I also am eager to start a fairly big tree with lots of birds and animals sitting in it. And one more seashore scene of two little children on the beach looking at shells.
Plus I also am easily interrupted with a small project.
I used your lovely pattern of holly leaves and berries for four Christmas gifts. They turned out lovely. Thank you for the beautiful patterns you gave us.
thanks for providing this Giveaway.
I like flowers and plants most for embroidery.
I love cute little animals to stitch and love to mix threads to make the critter look adorable. I like cats, rabbits, mice, and stuff like that. I prefer smaller projects so I can carry it around to work on at odd minutes when I am waiting.
My favorite stitching subjects are monsters and mythological beasts, although I stitch flowers a lot too. Thank you for this give away.
I like to stitch anything to do with the ocean – boats, fish, coral, seaweed, etc.
I would have said that I did not have a favorite, but if you look at my work you see flowers. I started with crewel to Japanese silk and the latest has gone to stumpwork. All fun! A very Merry Christmas to everyone!
I tend to knit seasonally. But, I like floral, trees, and I love the holly & evergreen corner piece you recently posted for dishtowels. Embroidering a nutcracker dish cloth right now.
I like to stitch mostly wildlife designs. Ferns & trees, bears & birds. I do mostly wool applique designs, but love to add embroidery details to the designs.
My favorite subjects to embroider are birds, and I’m not very good at it, but still I do my best. As my skills improve, I hope to get better.
My favorite subject to embroider is flowers/landscapes – it is fun using different stitches and threads. My runner up in embroidery is geometric patterns in needlepoint experimenting with different stitches.
Thank you Mary and Needle in a Haystack for a great give away!
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a very Happy and Healthy New Year to you Mary and fellow embroiderers!
My favorite is floral designs. I am also an avid cross stitcher of samplers.
I like to stitch whimsical characters.
I look forward to your post and I always learn something new.
I like all topics for stitching usually what ever season is coming up next. Especially love to do mixed stitches on crazy wool pieces.
Good morning – I’m so excited that we’re down to single digits on the countdown to Christmas – that means my stitching is not gift related now – it’s for me – because it’s too late to get anything finished as a gift(that’s my story anyway).
I do a lot of different types of embroidery – pictures, samplers, surface motifs etc. but my favourite embroidery is samplers – particularly the ones that have a variety of stitches used in each of the sections. And I always look for suns and moons…maybe not as the focus of the piece but, if there are celestial bodies in a sampler, it’s likely to end up in my stash.
I would have said that I did not have a favorite, but if you look at my work you see flowers. I started with crewel to Japanese silk and the latest has gone to stumpwork. All fun! A very Merry Christmas to everyone!
Plants (leaves, flowers, trees) and monograms are on many of my embroidered items.
I’m having a hard time picking a favorite subject since I’m just beginning to explore embroidery, I would like to do a sampler in the near future.
My favorite embroidery subject is small flowers to make a garden scene. I enjoy making baby clothing and love making a horseshoe style baby bonnet and embroidering a small garden on the horseshoe shaped back.
I enjoy floral embroidery, especially Japanese style.
My favourite embroidery subject is birds and animals. Whether I embroider by hand or machine I tend to always lean that way.
Hi Mary,
I tend to stitch what takes my eye. Whether it be a design in embroidery or cross stitch, color, surface or dementional, no preference as far as traditional or contemporary. I love it all. Plus I like the challenges that go with being versatile.
I love flowers and alphabets!
I am very excited for this giveaway! Thank you!
I love birds, and this year completed my first needle painted bluebird, with the help of a kit by Tanja Berlin. Next, I would like to try a Jacobean crewel style bird as I’ve been so tempted by the beautiful work I’ve seen by members of the needle n thread site.
I particularly love stitching reproduction samplers. Smalls such as pin cushions, etuis, and scissors fobs call to me too.
Most of my stitching is for special occasion gifts, so my favorite subject matter is whatever will suit the recipient. Usually this means a combination of lettering (message) and motif (birth month flower, hobby, animal, or other important symbol). If I can finish it in a reasonable length of time, put it in an envelope, and mail it, it is a favorite!
What a lovely array of tools, and I love ordering from Needle in a Haystack! I’m a sampler girl myself….been stitching them since the 1970s, when there were not quite as many true reproduction places out there, but always managed to get what i needed, and love the fact that there are so many available today…..so many to stitch, so little time to do them all!
My favorite stitching elements are flowers. Any kind in any stitch. I frequently use bullion stitches which are becoming old friends.
Hello,
A very Happy Christmas to all and to all good luck !
I love designing dolls and their clothes, I also embroider a lot of my work.
So I am constant need of these wonderful supplies.
I hope one day if you have not covered sculpting and embroidering dolls faces you would be so kind as to make it a topic !
I would love your insight and advise.
Thank you so much for your time.
What a great give away! Sure would like to find it in my Christmas stocking.
My favorite and go to stitching subject is Quaker motifs and samplers.
My favorite embroidery subjects are trees. So many types, colors, shapes. I just found an idea on The French Needle for a picture of pine cones worked in a gold thread with a fluffy type of thread worked to look like snow on them. So lovely. Living in Maine, I have 4 seasons with the same trees and never ending inspiration.
I love flowers and/or plants! There is so much variety and that enables me to choose from some of the more unique stitches. Also, I can choose different fibers from silk to wool. It keeps me in touch with my love of gardening, too!
I really enjoy stitching Christmas Ornaments, Samplers, Drawn Thread & Hardanger.
I enjoy stitching special gifts for family and friends. I stitch. Dogs, flowers and designs specific to the persons receiving the gift.
I am definitely a flower person but I also love Helen Richman’s little animals.
I love cross stitching birds. I’ve stitched Paula Minkbinge’s great blue heron and a reproduction of Eleanor Parr’s which has 18 beautifully replicated birds in the border and many, many 7-stitch black birds in the scene. I also did a kingfisher needle case. I’m just naturally drawn to birds. Tho, I’ve actually stitched more flowers than anything else, I guess.
Love the blog and email thank you.
My favorite subject matter is floral – often mixed with geometric elements in techniques like Hardanger. Recently I’ve been doing things like crewel and goldwork, and those have been mostly floral.
Mary in MN
Flowers, monograms, bees
Flowers, and birds, and charming little redwork-style characters, and food, and….
I LOVE samplers…but I am also drawn to geometric designs.
Usually embroider things from nature, leaves especially.
My favorite subjects to stitch are florals and whimsy which just makes me smile while I stitch (maybe even laugh out loud!). Love your blog Mary!!
l am a Sampler stitcher who “blows with the wind”. Currently, I am leaning towards Birds.
I love to stitch whimsical painted canvases, especially those by Zecca.
I like stitching birds and flowers.
I love florals especially silk ribbon embroidery although I used to embroider with my mum who was a beautiful stitcher I’m trying to brush up on my stitches and learn more. Your tutorials have been a godsend thank you so much Mary.
I like all kinds of botanicals, samplers, and some abstracts. Not so much on the animals and people. It’s so hard to get the expression and eyes right.
I am quite new to embroidery and haven’t done lots yet but I’m gathering ideas, reference books and tools. This gift would be a welcome addition to my needlework kit. I am most attracted by flowers and think much of my near future work will be flowers but I’m about to begin one of Mary’s mandalas (the stitch-along one, at last) and am looking forward to dealing with all the interesting shapes. I’m very attracted to Jacobean patterns too and have just purchased a couple of books about that kind of stitching. Merry Christmas!
My favorite is samplers and Christmas. I stitch Christmas often.
I love, love, love stitching women’s faces. I find people so interesting that seeing how an artist interprets expression and personality is fascinating to me. I’m game to stitch a wide variety of women’s faces.
I am definitely drawn to floral designs. The colors and shapes of the flora and leaves just make me want to stitch.
Canvas work geometric and samplers are a favourite stitching for me , also enjoy hardanger.
Thanks for chance to win such a beautiful and useful collection.
Enjoy the holidays.
I enjoy stitching geometric designs, animals, insects, and flowers. Looking through my upcoming projects, I see a lot of birds, bunnies, and flowers.
Floral, definitely, and I’m not picky about how realistic it is. I like the more natural ones as well as the stylized, geometric patterns. There’s just something delightful about stitching leaves and stems.
I like free form embroidery, especially on old fabrics, lots of french knots or kantha style running stitch. Maybe some flowers or some wording if the piece calls for it.
I love to stitch children from Veronique Enginger’s cross stitch designs.
I like cross stitching animals and birds. When I do Brazilian Embroidery I usually stitch flowers.
Tool are good, good to use
Lately I’ve been stitching a lot of birds and foliage – partly because I’m trying out some new techniques and partly because I have always loved birds.
You’re giveaway is a stitchers dream! thank you for this opportunity. My favorite style is sampler. I love variety. Happy Holidays.
My favorite subject to stitch flowers. They attract me like they do bees.
i love free hand embroidery. using vintage cloth and trims and lace to construct new pieces. embroidered with stitch, beads and sequins. Making new embellished cloth pieces. embellishing seams, adding tabs, buttons, frills and fringes
Secondly, i love samplers
My tastes in designs are eclectic from vintage to traditional to steampunk. The subject matter can be florals, animals, fractals, samplers. I like to try anything that catches my eye. Thank you for these wonderful opportunities to win some special gifts.
Jan
Hi, I am a quilter who loves crazy quilts and from it I have slowly found the world of embroidery and it luscious colors and dynamics. What I enjoy mostly is stumpwork and goldwork. I have been fortunate to take some classes and it has open a whole new world of adventures . In addition, of course, I like beadwork and ribbon embroidery. But what I found most fascinating is how much there is too learned. How is it that within the world of embroidery one looks into the future while simultaneously learning from its rich past history.
Thanks, and Happy Holidays
What a lovely idea ,asking about our
favorite subject matter for embroidery…i think it would have to
be flowers.Any and in all kinds of techniques,from realistic(well, I try)to totally stylized-and/or abstract.
My favorite subject matter is another – it depends. I’ve recently finished a number of geometric designs (counted canvas, bargello) but I’m working on St Basil’s Cathedral and a dressmaker’s dummy. One project that I finished recently is Carolyn Michell’s On the Edge. This is a mix of birch trees with geometric design on the side.
Vickie
Hi, love love love your website, I am a crazy quilter and wool appliquer, I love the birds, and a quilter. Not as much quilting as I used to, got back to embroidery, something I can do while travelling!
My favorite subject is animals; especially birds. I’ve done several projects of birds in needle painting (patterns from Trish Burr), before striking out on my own with a bust of my beautiful American Eskimo Dog in needle painting.
I definitely love stitching flowers! From realistic to folk art they are fun to create.
I am drawn to a variety of subjects, I.e., samplers, nature scenes, floral subjects. Colors pay a big part in what I am drawn to.
Plants and animals are on top always. Even when doing borders or corners, I prefer floral, vines or paw prints.
Oh, I love to embroider botanical motifs and usually gravitate to scrolling vines and leaves when I am needle “doodling”. Although, I love a good historic sampler. Truth be told, it really doesn’t matter to me what I’m stitching, just as long as I AM stitching.
Thanks for the chance to win this great give-away!
I love stitching samplers, autumn scenes, animals and florals.
The designs/subjects I like to stitch are usually holiday designs or nature related.
My favourite subject for stitching would be birds.
I love floral work. I can use lots of colors and lots of different stitches – endless possibilities.
I love working on samplers, mostly for wedding gifts and other special occasions.
Thanks for all your wonderful posts.
I like more abstract designs that emphasize the beauty of stitches and thread themselves – the essence of needlework.
I always seem be drawn to butterflies, I’ve embroidered them ,beaded them, made them from ribbon even made a lg crazy quilted one
What a wonderful collection of goodies! My all-time favorite thing to stitch is samplers. Beyond that I love houses and willow trees!
Willa
I’ve done many redwork designs, floral designs on pillowcases, cross-stitch and crewel work. I like variety, whether it is florals, geometrics, or samplers. Thank you for the opportunity to be in the drawing.
Birds or flowers, or both in the same project! Wonderful giveaway! Thank you!
Hands down, it’s got to be samplers. I collect early 20th century ones and I love stitching new interpretations by today’s designers.
Flowers, flowers any time! And leaves are my second favorite.
I love samplers. My favorites are spot samplers that have flowers in baskets or pots.
Pretty much all my stitching is for decorating pillowslips and crazy quilting, with the occasional sock-pairing geometric stitching across the toe line. So I would have to say it’s largely geometric, with little flowers thrown in intermittently.
Christmas themes are my favorite because of the colors used and the sparkle. They are the first to come out at Christmas and the last to be put away. But animals are probably what are stitched the most. Much of the work goes into charity projects so animals seem to be on everything from quilt blocks to tea towels.
I love nature scenes, especially flowers and birds!
What a lovely array of special items for embroidery.
My favorite things to stitch are Christmas items, especially trees embellished with beads.
The natural world of plants and flowers is my favorite subject for embroidery. There is an endless amount of inspiration just outside your door!
I love stitching flowers and trees the best. The colors of nature ❤️. Merry Christmas to you!!
Hi Mary,
Thank you so much for all of your inspiration and for your willingness to share your talents regarding embroidery! I love embroidering Sun Bonnet Sue, and flowers and snowmen. I may give butterflies and birds and other little critters a try this coming year.
Merry Christmas!
Kelley Tippery
Alphabets, alphabets and more alphabets! A most generous giveaway – thanks for the chance to win.
Anything nature is what I like most to embroider. That includes living things and plants.
My favourite thing to sew rather varies. Like many people I’m mostly drawn towards nature and colour.I tend to work organically and am influenced by what see,view and the threads and textiles that I’m have stirred me,that call to me. To be honest ,I probably need to be more disciplined and plan my projects more,but at the same time I am a creative ,to answer that that deep instinct inside me ,to work with my hands.
I enjoy stitching samplers. I recently finished a very large sampler that was full of flowery motifs. It was so much fun to stitch!
Hi Mary! I do really enjoy Christmas projects. And now that I have retired to New Mexico, I enjoy stitching Southwest themed projects. And I enjoy starting off with a blank canvas and working counted thread projects…I guess I like it all!
Merry Christmas! Diana
My favorite is stitching reproduction samplers, especially the all red ones. They just tug at my heart when I see one.
I’m relearning embroidery and am enjoying making a sampler.
My favorite things to stitch are animals. So far this includes crewel, needlepoint, cross stitch and now needle painting. In particular deer, and of course, though not an animal, owls.
I am Drawn to, and end up drawing in my own designs, nature shapes or scenes. I love the so-called organic flow of the shape of natural objects and the patterning of the chaos found there. Whether a simplemcross-stitch or a contemporary gold work piece you’ll find natural beauty there!
Flowers are my favorite thing to embroider. They come in such a beautiful array of colors and shapes. And they require different interpretations depending on whether one is doing counted cross stitch, silk shading or stumpwork so they are never boring to stitch.
Cats! Cats, cats, cats! I am especially drawn to the four seasons involving cats in some way.
Wow, the goodies just keep coming! You’ve had some really great giveaways this Christmas. My favourite things to embroider are combinations of stitches/colours/ threads on crazy quilt seams. There are so very many possibilities!
Birds are my favorite creative friends in most of my work! Living along the flight path of many migrating birds has lead me to follow their interesting lives and add them to my collages and wool embroidery in particular! Recently, after doing an Eco dying class with natural found foliage on silk…birds will be nesting soon! NOW… I have visions of a trove of tools to create my visions!
Hi Everyones,
My favorites embroidery subjects are flowers and monograms, and, or, monograms with flowers!
Thank you.
My favorite subject matter is flowers. I have stitched things with many different subjects but most often I’m stitching flowers.
Oh what a wonderful give away.
My favourite subject matter for embroidery? That’s difficult as I like to chop and change. I’m essentially a band sampler kind of girl so I suppose that means I like stylised and geometric patterns, but I also love stitching work from designers that make 3D designs and that challenge me, such as Jenny Adin-Christie, and Amy Mitten and Jackie du Plessy and Tricia Ngyen to name but a few. They take me out of my comfort zone (counted work) and challenge me and make sure that I keep learning all the time
My ih my! What an amazing sticking that would be. I’d be jumping up and down! My favourite subject used to be flowers but just recently it’s been people!
I’m a florals or geometric stitcher in regards to embroidery. All over the place with needlepoint and cross stitching. Mostly guided by texture and color in any stitching endeavor.
I love to stitch samplers, mostly reproduction samplers. My second choice would be surface embroidery of anything floral.
Florals are my favourite theme for embroidery. Presently I am putting the finishing touches on a quilt that features 50 little baskets, a center big basket medallion and a vine border all of which contain state flowers. Each hand appliquéd flower is embellished with embroidery.
I like to do people and animals
What an absolutely wonderful giveaway- -Needle in a Haystack is one of my favorite online stitching supply store. For Christmas I requested a new Hardwicke fanny frame, and having a smaller replacement hoop would be just great. Lately, I have been returning to Asian/Japanese cross stitch projects, especially Geishas. Whoever wins the giveaway will be a very lucky stitcher. Happy Holidays!
My favorites are stitch samplers. Not reproductions of antique samplers, but ones whose purpose is to learn and practice new stitches. Since I’m still relatively new to embroidery, these are ideal projects for me. In 2019 I plan to design my own samplers and also stitch the Lattice Jumble from Needle ‘n Thread.
I love to stitch anything small! Since collecting antique dolls is what got me reinterested in needlework, I love white work edging, Victorian embroidery, miniature samplers and even small silk ribbon embroidery on pillows and doll clothes. I have even done miniature counted cross stitch on doll size needle cases, pincushions and sicssor cases. I guess I love it all, in miniature…
Kathy Singleton
My favorite stitching subject is florals, particularly historically inspired ones.
I had a stroke in October so I’m trying to get comfortable with a needle again. So far I feel really fumbly but it’s coming along. I’m threading my own needles!
Don’t usually enter these because I never, ever win, but these are such beautiful and useful products that I’m going to try once more! I love reading about the history of all types of needlework, and am amazed at the store if knowledge on this subject shared to us by Mary Corbet on this site. And I always love seeing the work completed by her readers.
Flowers are my favorite thing to stitch. I find that I can easily do it freehand and I can be very creative with design, colors and style. Each flower comes out unique and I really enjoy the finished product.
I like the beauty of nature so mainly flowers and birds. Crewel and Jacobean designs as well.
Thinking back on it, I must say birds before all else. I have embroidered, appliqued and quilted (sometimes all three on one bird) birds realistic and fantastical. Most recently I have had an owl obsession. Always an opportunity to use a variety of stitches and techniques.
The gremlins seem to have eaten my original comment – hopefully it doesn’t come through twice now
Good morning – I’m so excited that we’re down to singles digits in the countdown to Christmas – it means I’ve run out of time to stitch gifts and can stitch for myself (that’s my story anyway)
My favourite things to stitch are samplers…all sorts, but my favourites are the kind with different stitches in each section. And if a sampler has suns and moons, so much the better – I’m very much a fan of celestial bodies.
My embroidery trends strongly toward the stylized and geometric, especially as applied to flowers.
I’ve been trying this year to expand my stitching and so I’ve stitched lots of different things but I enjoy looking at a couple of pictures that I did that were of a cottage and one of an old fashioned street scene with trees and buildings.
I love to do embroidery of vintage Christmas items. Thank you.
I like about any embroidery project but my favorites are stylized flowers. Jacobean is fun and pretty when finished. I’m also partial to something with a Bible verse on it. When I hang it, and walk by, it reminds me of good words from the Lord.
Merry merry Christmas Mary!! What do I stitch? I like to think I have tried it all and my go to is decorative embroidery. Bullion roses, satin stitch bows, shadow work anything, and so many times this is all added to my smocking love. But I love all the needle works…crewel, cross stitch, hardanger, smocking, embroidery. I enjoy it all. I need to finish much! Truly need fine tools more than I need more projects!!
I enjoy your posts, lover the FB group and hope you are having a great holiday!!
Keep fine stitching alive for the future generations…..my motto..my hope..
Karin
I have always embroidered flowers, as most embroiderers have, but now I find myself stitching more and more animals, especially in crewelwork. The range of beautiful animals that feature in so many crewelwork designs, are so easy to stitch in this medium and look magnificent when completed, I have to stitch more and more of them. I’m looking forward to my Christmas gift from my husband this year, as I know it is The Crewelwork Company’s “Running Hare” design. I shall probably start on this project on Christmas afternoon.
I love stitching people…portraits (Sue Stone), cats, and Japanese embroidery by Yumiko Higuchi, crewel embroidery, the simplicity of Kathy Schmitz designs, and small surface embroideries for my grandchildren.
I find that I am drawn more & more to reproduction samplers. I am amazed that young girls were able to stitch such lovely works of art.
I think I’m a bird person although I haven’t stitched any large enough for lots of detail. That is definitely on my bucket list.
Love birds, trees and water.
I love to stitch text, particularly poetry.
Samplers and birds! And holiday themes. Thank you for the generous giveaways!
My favorite subject matter is reproduction samplers that exhibit a hillock or grass that is filled in Entirely . To me this gives the appearance of an embroidered piece, rather than only cross stitched.
Depending on technique, I love birds, silk ribbon & Brazilian embroidery flowers. I also love everything with a Celtic design.
I like flowers. However, I design geometric. Can’t seem to get my mind around curves.
I love to stitch Christmas. Angels, nativity, Santa, snowmen and women, bells, Christmas trees. I love them all. So far I’ve framed all I’ve done. Just about ready to move on to Christmas pillows and tea towels. Such fun.
I am not sure I have a favorite, but I do like samplers, especially historic reproductions. The fact that several stitches are practices is appealing but seeing the work of generations passed is fascinating.
I tend toward all types of flora subjects, but I admire the possibilities with bugs and birds. I have my eye on those next!
Gosto de bordar flores que não estejam em cestas e bichinhos vintage.
Definitely a floral person. The variety of colors, stitches, and floral presentations all contribute to the end product.
I love to embroider nature in all of its glory.
Samplers cover my walls.
I am very new at hand embroidery. So far, I’m liking flowers (did a small poinsettia), and characters (presently working on a rooster). I’m enjoying the learning process of which I have a lot to learn!
My favorite things to stitch are woodland scenes with animals and filled with whimsy.
My favorite type of embroidery is Hardanger. Typically I stitch very geometric patterns that have plenty of cutwork. Patterns made by the negative space really appeal to me and I love when you move the embroidered piece from one surface to one of a different color it changes the look of the whole piece.
Geometric designs
Nature scenes including animal’s, flowers, bird’s, mountains, water, sky, etc.
I love to stitch tiny flowers free style and 3 dimensional. But I also love to embroider pictures of quilts, bouquets of flowers and birds in treetops. Something about birds in treetops brings such calm and peace during times of angst and tribulations… and when they’re complete they always bring a smile of joy for years.
I’ll stitch anything, really — with varying degrees of success — but I guess I can can say that I’m happiest when I get a character right!
Oh my! So many useful things!!
I’ve put my hands to everything from samplers to cutesie kawaii stuffies to serious historic blackwork to realistic floral stumpwork so I really enjoy everything. But what really gets my goat are realistic pieces – I am especially fond of Jane Nicholas’s stumpwork bugs though the “realism” in Salley Mavor’s upcoming bedtime book is so inspirational also – the world you can create with needle in thread!!
I have always avoided animals, I can never get them quite right. Flowers are fun, and I’ve enjoyed stitching words as well.
Geometric with lots of counting, whether it is needlepoint, black work, hardanger or any other technique. That is my favourite type of embroidery.
I haven’t really settled on a favorite subject for embroidery. I am still trying different things. I have done a little cross-stitch, a goldwork project, the MC Christmas ornament, Swedish Weaving, Chicken Scratch, and a Brazilian Dimensional embroidery project. I am currently stitching quotes onto towels.
I’m definitely a bird person. Just getting back into embroidery after years of cross stitch, crocheting & quilting.
I love to stitch angels!
Jane
I am crazy about birds and especially blackbirds and I must have any pattern with blackbirds. I also love samplers with needlework tools, sheep, spinning wheels and birds.
I find myself drawn to birds! I love them. I have 4 bird feeders that my two cats and I love to sit and watch. Birds are so small and fragile and they fly! So baffling and amusing!
I love to do wool applique and birds are often the subject of my projects. Embellishing my projects with embroidery stitches is the best part!
I really love samplers – particularity Quaker style samplers. =
What’s your favorite subject matter for embroidery? I love to embroider redwork patterns on to flour sack dish towels.
My favorite subject matter to stitch is sheep. My children made the most adorable Christmas ornament of a sheep when they were in preschool and I’ve seen their little faces in all the sheep patterns.
I had to pause when I thought about your question. At first I thought well I do a lot of different embroidery, stamped work – baby bibs, table clothes, placemats & napkins; free hand embroidery on shirt collars & clothing; and samplers. So I walked around the house and I found that I have predominately hung framed samplers – American & European historical samplers and modern interpretation samplers such Teresa Wentzler’s Egyptian sampler & her peacock sampler. I then looked among my to do projects and there too I found sampler patterns out numbered every other type….so I guess I would have to say I most frequently stitch samplers. I’m actually surprised to find that out! lol 😉
Plant material, real or imagined. Not necessarily floral. So, moss and branches. Seed pods. Ferns. Some reimagined flowers. These all seem to need a bug.
Trying to push myself into other themes.
I am VERY new, I just started about 1 year ago. I tend to really admire flowers. I am not a sampler person, bird, or subject. I am currently working on a flower vase. Everything I see is beautiful and love getting emails regarding hand embroidery.
What a wonderful giveaway, thank you. I love Scandinavian and Eastern European motifs in embroidery, in particular geometric motifs.
Hi Mary,
What an exquisite giveaway. So exciting.
When I stitch, between doing my quilts, I love stitching flowers and samplers; occasionally, I throw in a victorian Santa for the holidays. I love the rich reds of Christmas.
Have a wonderful holiday, Mary.
Thanks for everything you do for us.
Colleen in Canada
It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I lean toward Jacobean florals.
Wow! Do we have to choose one? Haha! I will have to choose floral! Flowers! Flowers! Flowers! There can never be too many!
I’m a floral/botanical person, but I generally stitch in a more Jacobean than realistic style. I also love samplers- they stay interesting throughout and I learn a lot, but I probably don’t get as polished a result on the new-to-me stitches.
I have been mostly working on flowers and birds, I am in the process of the Hummingbird Project which includes both and I love the wonderful array of colors. However for Christmas I am giving hand done monograms on flour sack towels. I ordered the towels from the website you had listed, they are lovely. All of my family has so much “stuff”, I wanted to give something useful,beautiful and of keepsake value. I am having a wonderful time trying different techniques on each towel, I asked each one for favorite colors so it’s been fun picking out thread colors and doing a lot of shading. I am getting comfortable with satin stitch and french knots which I had shied away from. Monograming is quickly becoming a favorite stitching project for me. Your stitching videos have been vital for me, thank you for such clear instructions. My daughter’s birthday is Christmas Day, and I think for next year I will do the Christmas Trees project.
I am a sampler person. I enjoy finding ways of putting different stitches together and getting an idea of how they would work together. I feel that doing samplers gives you that. Samplers also give you a fancy way of learning a stitch rather than just doing it on a piece of cloth over and over.
Fredi
I collect flowering weeds and grasses that grow wild and also take photos of wildflowers. My favourite form of embroidery is hand-drawn illustrations of these plants which I then embroider. I prefer not to follow patterns for some reason.
I love to stitch snowmen!
As a child I loved to embroider the floral designs my mother and grandmother transferred on to pillow cases. Pretty pillowcases still give me the warm fuzzies no matter who did the work. Now I decorate things I make out of felt. Maybe a face on a bunny and flowers by his feet. I still love flowers. Fruit too. Love strawberries. My 70th birthday is Friday the 21st. Maybe that will bring me luck. No matter I’ve had over 60 years with my needles and thread and it’s been wonderful.
I am not sure that I have a favorite subject matter to stitch. I’ve pretty much done it all but I do love to stitch samplers which may encompass many different subjects since they frequently have birds, flowers, trees, etc.
My favorite design motif? I’d have to say that over the years I seem to be drawn mostly to Christmas designs. I love making ornaments. cross stitch and needlepoint.
I like to stitch Samplers with bands. I feel like I get something accomplished and can see progress.
I enjoy embroidery, not just any one subject but ALL things. Sometimes it’s geometric, sometimes flowers, and sometimes animals. I have never done people though, and while I’ve tried words, it was more of a chore than pleasurable. It all depends on the intended recipient and technique.
I am a floral person and I love stitching basic flowers like lilies and roses.
Animals have always been a favorite.
I do nog by there but I have heard a lot of good things of them
My design source for embroidery is most definitely ‘floral’. Flowers have such an array of colour, their individual design can be stylised or not, they can be adapted and used for so many things too. I just love silk shaded flowers with a touch of goldwork to enhance their beauty. Amazing – and thank you so much for your blog, I’m a huge fan and love receiving your emails.
I. Love. Birds.
Wow! What great giveaways these have been this year (and what generous folks!). I tend to do more floral embroidery than any other kind, but I like doing small motifs of whatever tickles my fancy, especially for gift giving. (One of the most fun embroidery projects I completed was a Yumiko Higuchi chart of winter skiers; one of the skiers is a polar bear! I used Aurifil wool thread to embroider it). I like to have lots of little stitching for those 15-minutes of stitching slots, but I also tackle larger pieces (such as an embroidered neck scarf) that takes a while to complete (my current one is a two-color–burgundy and white–floral motif on sage-colored linen). I think I might start Christmas stockings next and work on them for the years it’s just me and the hubby during the holiday.
My favorite subject for my stitching projects is birds! I love the different colors, textures and varieties of birds! It is a pleasure to stitch something you love!
Thank you for the opportunity to win the wonderful needlework tools!
I LOVE antique style samplers. My favorite sampler motifs are tree and flower urns.
Food themes, no matter if it’s a blackwork artichoke, a needlewoven peapod, a stumpwork pomegranate, and, of course chile peppers in everything from Casalguidi to crewel. Merrily your give-a-ways brighten another year!
Relatively new to needlework, two years, I love it all – geometrical, samplers, animals, scenes, floral. I also love all the tools and threads and gems and beads. The world of needles and threads is a lovely one!
I love stitching Christmas items, primarily ornaments for my tree. Every year I find myself making maybe 5-10, but the problem is having someone else finish them!
I like traditional designs with a twist, that is, traditional subject matter, such as flowers, but styled to be, say, Art Deco or to be a bit abstract. I have a collection of vintage domestic embroidery items–tea towels, table runners, doilies, etc. Often, the embroidery is intact but the item itself is stained or has holes or insect damage. I salvage the vintage embroidery and then incorporate it into an original piece, adding my own contemporary work to it.
My favorite subject matter for embroidery is animals! I’m not much of a people person, or a building person. I’ve also done some landscapes, but I love stitching animals. Especially elephants, dolphins or whales, and butterflies! One of my largest projects to date is Supersize Max Color Amazing Animal Kingdom charted by Heaven & Earth Designs. It’s huge, and it will take me forever, but it is packed with all sorts of animals, and I just love seeing them come alive!
I like birds and crazy quilting blocks
I find geometric patterns enjoy along with animals – owls, whales and elephants are my favorites.
I love to embroider flowers, geometrical and boho style embroidery.
I love to work samplers particularly band and geometric ones with complicated stitches like Waffle, Jessica and Sprats Head. I curse while mastering them but when it is all done I get a great deal of pleasure admiring the finished products hanging on my walls. And I love Needle in a Haystack. I have a great needlepoint store in NYC but they don’t have the great variety (space limitations) of fibers that Cathe has available on line. Would love to see her shop and meet the gang.
Mary-Hart
I really love to embroider floral designs and birds. Love the colours and different stitches.
My favorite thing to stitch?? Just about anything. I love looking for new ideas.
Usually any living thing and many variations thereof…all plant, birds, animals…people not as much…I like the outlines of people to stitch. I gravitate the most to animals.
I love embroidering flowers because there is such a large variety. I do enjoy birds too. Especially ones with flowers incorporated!
I love stitching samplers the most. But I have to admit that I love all kinds of stitching themes. Samplers give me constant change and some little surprises. They’re always easy to pick up and continue.
Recently I’ve been doing redwork which involves all kinds of subjects. I recently completed a Kathy Schmidt block of the month quilt.
Our quilt guild has started a wool club and our latest challenge is to complete a project with a minimum of 6 motifs, double or triple layered using 6 different embroidery stitches that we have not done before for embellishment. (Similar to Sue Spargo type projects.)
Love your newsletters!
Lately I have been embellishing my quilting with embroidery. I have added embroidery to quilt blocks in traditional patterns to make pillows to coordinate with the quilts. I’m also working on a sampler quilt project that incorporates a significant number of embroidered blocks called the Splendid Sampler 2. It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve started adding even more embroidery in kind of a Scandi style to work with my very modern fabrics as I embellish blocks that are piecework. Also working on a pattern to coordinate with a quilt I am making using repro French fabrics. As you can tell, I enjoy having lots of different projects going simultaneously. Thanks for this giveaway, Mary, and wishing you a joyous Christmas season and happy 2019. Your blog has been a delightful find for me this year.
I love all embroidery patterns and patterns THANK YOU FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL PATTERNS MARRY CHRISTMAS
What a great giveaway. I seem to be drawn to flowers lately as I find them a challenge and need the practice. I also like pieces with lots of different stitches so I can practice them. Love your articles. I learn so much.
My favorite subject is flowers — beautiful, wild, colorful, flamboyant flowers!
I love doing birds, either imaginary or realistic . My imaginary birds become comical and flamboyant with plumes and startling tails ! My more realistic birds are done with more attention to the true colours and shapes, but still they take on a personality of their own. After birds, I love doing people. I have done a series of Frida Kahlo images, with her hair embroidered with flowers. So flowers are also my favourite thing !
I’m a sampler stitcher. I like both traditional and modern samplers. I love LOOKING at reproduction samplers, knowing I’m unlikely to ever stitch one! Being a sampler stitcher means I stitch a lot of sayings, flowers, and birds, since they are quite common on both traditional and modern samplers. What started me with samplers is all the different stitches used. I’m a stitch junkie.
I have stitched a variety of things but my current desire is to stitch beach scenes. While I have many ideas as to how I want to stitch them in my mind, I’m hoping to start sketching them out after the holidays. I can’t wait to let the creative juices start flowing!
Hi Maria, I love embroidering birds, real landscapes, embroidering my face recently, and samplers to learn new stitches.
Flowers of any kind – the more the merrier!
I’m a transplant from Colorado to the Oregon coast, and after 35 years, I’m still enchanted with all things oceany and beachy. I love doing underwater scenes using lots of different materials and techniques. And – I can use my favorite colors.
I seem to be holiday theme stitcher. Halloween and Christmas trees. The technique, linen or canvas, designer and threads all change depending on the subject. Love the variety of designs available and the desire to display them keeps me stitching, stitching.
I love stitching flowers and birds in crewel work. I love working with wool especially and I love your website for all the info and being able to drop in to watch videos on how to.
Being so far from US it is great to see things that one can buy online.
I love stitching flowers and birds. I think it’s the shading that makes them so special. Mother Nature doesn’t make the same thing twice, not does she make solid colors, so really nice tools help with these kinds of projects.
I am most attracted to nature inspired themes and geometric designs. Birds and small creatures as well as mountain and seashore scenes are things I feel particularly drawn too. But I also love Kurdy Biggs’ geometrics, pulled thread and hardanger designs, and bargello patterns. I also love Christmas and Halloween designs. I am willing to stitch almost anything if it fits the person for whom I am stitching it.
I have just starting hand embroidery which I have wanted to do for a long time. I really like florals but would like to learn to do birds.
I love to do Hardanger embroidery! Worth the fun, with a pretty & sophisticated finish! Thank you, Susan
My subject matter seems to be floral. Abstract and traditional with bugs, butterflies and dragon flies.
thank you so much for the content provided on the website, it saves my sanity frequently!
It’s hard to say my style. I don’t embroider anything to technical. I like flowers and am drawn to reds and pinks in designs since I mostly use the colors used in the design.
I love embroidering flowers, especially poppies, and usually California golden poppies. When I travel I embroider a dish towel with California poppies done very simply to give to my host in another location—my towels are in India, Russia, Australia, Vietnam, Germany, Argentina, Panama Brazil, Romania. I recently visited two friends originally from California that presently live in the Chicago area and presented each of them with a poppy-embroidered dish towel to remind them of home. They loved it!
Although Needle in a Haystack is very near where I live, I rarely visit, so this would be great. Mary I can’t believe that you were born in Alameda! I was born across the estuary in Oakland!
I don’t like to focus on any one thing/category, but musical instruments and motifs are my favorites–probably because I am a musician. I also like animals and flora.
I love a variety of stitching projects. I find I am most attracted, however, to more modern styles. I am fascinated by some of the free-hand work I see online, and the year long projects that people post. I hope to someday be able to take on a project like that and complete it!
Meantime I am enjoying the 12 Trees of Christmas. I don’t think I will finish it in time this year (life got in the way), but it will be done by the end of January for certain. I have not done anything this challenging up to now. It isn’t a difficult project. Just more involved than I’d attempted before. And I am loving it!
OMG – how to narrow it down. Sometimes it depends on my mood and how I’m feeling about life in general. For the most part, I concentrate on the Lavender and Lace Designs which are obviously figural. Occasionally, however, I like to work on something abstract such as the new fractal designs that some designers are creating.
I love all forms! Too many to choose from.
I love stitching both flora and fauna.
I have always enjoyed samplers. Over the years I have made family history samplers for friends and family.
The kind of embroidery I most admire is traditional Jacobean style crewel. I’ve never been brave enough to try it though! Most of my embroidery is seam treatments and small motifs for crazy quilt blocks, although I do love a lot of samplers. There’s an ongoing blackwork project (never-ending LOL) in my cabinet too. I’m particularly enamored of the Quaker style samplers, actually. I spin also, and have played around with using my own handspun threads and yarns to do some work on what you call a doodle cloth 🙂
I love threadpainting and are very drawn to stitching animals, mostly birds with flowers, so a little of both floral and animal.
I’m a sampler person. Love all the different stitches and trying new and exciting threads to go along with the stitches.
Favorite form are samplers. They harken back to a time when children would learn the art of stitching and many lost values to carry forth in life. Would love to learn goldwork – so beautiful. Thank you.
I like flowers, animals, and celtic knot designs.
I like to embroider flowers, bees, butterflies, animals, some stylization is great. People are okay, but the faces are challenging to get right.
Flowers, as realistic as possible. I use them as small embellishments on bags or for handmade cards or just because….
Overall I would have to say flowers are my favorite subject. I usually don’t like to stitch people, but Gay Ann Roger’s queens are a noteable exception. They are my all time favorites.
I’m crazy about butterflies in flora and fauna. I love to stitch beautiful butterflies in their natural habitat in their actual colors but I also enjoy stitching cute butterflies in all kinds of settings and colors on dish towels, hand towels and placemats. So far a tablecloth overwhelms me!
I mostly embroider for historic recreation purposes, so most of my embroideries are based on existing embroideries from the middle ages and Renaissance. I don’t generally do copies, but more of an “inspired by” kind of thing.
I like butterflies, cats, mice, birds but have embroidered many different subjects, geometric canvas, samplers.
Hands down it’s peacocks for me. I love the colors and the range of design in which this beautiful bird can be expressed.
What a lovely tool collection!
I do mostly florals – they adapt to crewel, embroidery, cross stitch, stumpwork. I use lots of different threads and can create thread samplers using florals.
I like doing all kinds of stitches like for crazy quilts!
I love working on geometric designs when doing counted work (cross stitch, Hardanger) , but really enjoy free-hand embroidering flowers and delicate motifs. Would be difficult to choose among the two…
I’m definitely a flower girl. But, if something catches my eye I will stitching all kinds of things.
Thanks
Melinda
My favourite subject matter for embroidery would have to be forests and animal scenes.
I have mostly done florals so far. I would love to start doing some birds and animals soon
Most of my stitching includes flowers and trees, shrubs, etc. No matter what I’m working on flowers tend to bloom!
Ooo, such a wonderful array of tools!! I do truly hope I can win one of the sets. It is hard to say what my favorite subject is to stitch. I have a wide range of interests. But I think that beautiful designs from nature always attract my eye. Both flowers and birds, but any subject of nature well done makes a beautiful embroidered piece.
I mostly cross stitch, only recently venturing into surface embroidery with some basic embellishment kits where all the decisions are made for me and a crazy-quilt online class. In cross stitch, though, I tend toward seasonal themes, mostly autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving because i love the colors – warm, homey, and welcoming!
My favorite subject matter to stitch is floral and other plant life especially that of Australia and the U.S. Thank you for this great giveaway. Have a great day!
Bold, colorful, symmetrical things that flow from the brain when you let your hand lead the drawing
I love to stitch flowers. So much color and texture possibilities in flowers!
I hadn’t really thought about my subject matter until I read this question, but looking back it is probably plants and floral patterns. When I first started embroidery I did quite a few birds, too. Now I am a big fan of Johanna Basford’s coloring books as design inspiration!
I am most drawn to the organic elements around me. The plant life – flowers…leaves…weeds…that hydrangea that does not want to die!
I love to stitch butterflies. Any technique!
For canvas pieces I’ve done mostly geometric style pieces, which I love. As for cross stitch, I’m currently doing a large Mirabilia fairy and have done a few of them (L&L and Mirabilia). A lot of times I’m picking pieces for workshops that are more technique driven – still have to like the subject matter, but it is occasionally secondary to the technique.
I have been religiously practicing the stitches that you so kindly show in your tutorials. I am slowing learning and enjoying the process oh so much! Would love to win your generous gift to get me going on my way to a true embroiderer!
PS – I am unable to use lowercase on the first letter of my email address. It should be a lowercase “J”.
What a great newsletter and the giveaway is very nice for needleworkers.
I probably stitch flowers more than anything, though I would guess that the preponderance of floral patterns is the reason for this. I don’t particularly enjoy stitching patterns that have large areas filled with long and short stitch; small doses of this type of shading are good enough for me. I like patterns with variety.
Pick me!
I like trying new ideas and also using old patterns in new shape.
Feels the worst about putting up pants.
My favorite subjects are flowers and birds. I especially like the Jacobean style and have several projects in my queue that I hope to get to this coming year.
Thanks for the great series of giveaways. This was fun and introduced me to some new products I look forward to trying.
Jacquelyn
I am a beginner and am perfecting my stitches. I really like flowers and landscape and hope to do embroidery painting.
I most love to stitch flowers and leaves
The subject matter I find myself most drawn to is samplers. When I see patterns for samplers, I look to see if there are lots of different stitches incorporated into the design. I recently did a small sampler nametag and each sampler row was a different stitch. It was small, but so much fun!
I love to embroider… started with Redwork. A variety of outline stitches mostly of whimsical design. Most often now, I enjoy sampler work… or embellishing applique. Enjoy (trying) to learn new stitches.
I haven’t had a lot of experience with needlework….maybe a bit above beginner, I find myself drawn to dragonflies, butterflies and birds.
My favourite subjects to embroider are probably floral or animal, but mostly I just like good interesting design.
I love stitching everything, but I guess geometric patterns are probably my favorite.
I’m a quilter so I love stitching pictures that look like quilts, both the individual blocks and little quilts.
I love your blogs and website! Keep up the great work.
I really like doing Celtic designs
Have been work in Scottish family crest will be bordered in Celtic knot desins
I love stitching Halloween designs – pumpkins, owls, witches – I love them all! I also love the combination of orange and purple on a Halloween design.
I like seasonal project – trees, wreathes, snowflakes at Christmas, pumpkins in the fall, flowers in the spring etc.
I enjoy using embroidery to embellish quilts. Adding color, detail, and texture can make a big difference.
DRAGONS! I love dragons and love to work them using rayon, silk, and metallic .. even a touch of holographic threads.
I’ve been stitching since I’m 8 years old. I’m almost 73 as I type this. I’m aware that overtime, I’ve changed subjects, but now I seem to switch up between “samplers”–with a naughty twist (older people can get away with that) and an ongoing love affair with Kimonos. I use my work as wall hangers–And I use Mary’s idea for getting inexpensive art frames as the mounting (saving me mucho dollars). Of course i have the too-many pillows, and I also enjoy using, especially kimonos for the top of footstools.
Thank you for giving me a reason to think about a 60+ years life in love with the needlearts.
My late husband used to say: ‘Honey, you have enough “stuff” to last 250 years. And I think now he was absolutely right. But, even with that insight, I just keep goingX!
My favourite subject when it comes to embroidery would have to be flowers! Their beauty brightens up any room, and they always remind me that even though it might be winter….spring and summer are on the way!
I love to stitch almost anything, but am mostly drawn to flowers and greenery.
I love birds and Christmas embroidery themes. A partridge in a pear tree is right up my alley.
Wow. What a large package of great stuff!!
My favorite subject matter would have to be flowers, leaves, and assorted flora. That is the favorite SUBJECT matter. Nature is the most inspiring, and a great color palette!
I also like just doodle designs, too!
Fingers crossed!
Definitely flowers. And the smaller the better! I am definitely a miniaturist in a former life.
I really like samplers. They are timeless and always give me pleasure to look at and stitch. I also like to make Christmas ornaments for family and friends.
Flowers! Nearly all my embroidery is based on flowers, with their associated leaves, my second-favorite subject to embroidery… which includes holly leaves and berries, of course 🙂
Holly (not born in December, though!)
No matter what I look at I am always drawn to floral embroideries.mostly Jacobean. There are so many beautiful and stunning florals out there that you’ll never run out of things to stitch! I am currently working on a Jacobean piece ( my very most favorite) . I believe I am drawn to Jacobean because it reminds me of days gone by and vintage stitcheries. With all the different stitches I am learning , every stem, leaf or flower I stitch can be different than the last. I love to experiment with the different stitches because I like the look of variety.
Good luck everyone and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
I am a beginner embroiderer – but I am probably more interested in geometric work. I am a smocker and those are the designs I tend to do. I am looking forward to ramping up my embroidery skills in 2019.
My favorite embroidery subject is monograms. I especially appreciate all the monograms you have provided–they are so much fun!
I love dogs but also whimsical pictures.
I like Jacobean and samplers.
My favorite embroidery piece is flowers. I love the bright colors and enjoy the contrast from the leaves to the flower colors.
Thank you for offering these gifts.
I like birds and I like samplers. I stitch both. If I find a chart with just birds I stitch them on smalls. I also stitch samplers with and without birds if I like the sampler.
Hi Mary, a beautifull give away indeed. I mostly like floral design for my embrodery stylized or not but I also use geometric pattern for drawn thread work. I wish you a very Merry Christmas.
I’m a reproduction sampler girl whose favorite part is always stitching flowers.
I like colorful projects that present a different level of difficulty each time. To that, I like to add new stitches, new color combinations and of course, new techniques. That is the reason why I am totally in love with Needle’nThread. Besides all the above, I also find inspiration in your articles and book reviews: Mary Corbet is the reason of my stitching book collection that lead me to the most exiting stitching projects that I ever started! At present I am stitching a Macarena Virgin all dressed in lace. I a looking into all your recommendations and sneaking into all your projects so I can find the best representation of the lace in her dress. I visit Needle’nThread almost every day!…and it is always my pleasure.
Thank you, Mary, and Needle in a Haystack for this great giveaway.
I do find this question very challenging, as I am all over the place with my embroidery. I looked on my walls, and I have stylized designs, geometrics, samplers, birds, flowers, and animals. I even have a UFO with a beetle! I usually chose a project based on color and and the strength of my initial reaction to the design. Then comes subject matter. There are some lovely designs out there, but they are so pale that I always pass them by.
Stitching is very helpful during stressful times. And the most relaxing is a simple, uncomplicated design—usually geometric. Is it my favorite? probably yes!
I love blackwork and Ukrainian crossstitch!
I lean toward embroiderying drawings of animals and people or both. I am drawn to whimsical drawings of these subjects
Wow – what a generous bundle of goodies for some lucky winner(s)! For me, I would have to say that I love stitching flowers the most – there are so many different ways they can be used!
I don’t think you can have enough tools. The right tool makes the project so much easier.
I’m afraid I like everything but prefer some styles more than others. Holiday themes, quilt designs, florals and landscapes are my favorites.
I am a sampler person; most any kind will do but I especially love 17th Century English Band-style samplers.
I like a variety of subjects for embroidery. I would say I tend to like animal designs, wild animals like birds, or domestic pets. Floral designs are also a favorite of mine.
My favorites are samplers and flowers.
I love to embroider flowers and birds.
I am easily bored, so I like every project to be completely different, rather than having a favourite theme.
I increasingly find myself entranced with flowers. I’ve recently found stumpwork and thread painting. (I wish I had paid more attention when I had the opportunity to take art class in middle school). I am fascinated and take photos of the real thing to copy. Also I really want to depict the sun shining through the fall leaves as they glow with reds and oranges and,…
Definitely flowers. Small ones, large ones and especially ones in containers.
Samplers are definitely my passion. Particularly the complex 17th Century band samplers where there isn’t an inch of linen left unstitched. It makes my heart sing just to think about it! Thank you so much for the opportunity to join this competition.
What a lovely giveaway Mary. Thank you. I don’t have a favourite subject matter but I do have a favourite stitching technique which is needle painting so I do tend to veer towards animals and plants but I also enjoyed doing the Roseworks dragon. Whatever it is, I like it to look realistic rather than styalised and filled in rather than outlined. Thanks for the chance to win and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Hi Mary! I love to embroider animals. The fur can look so real and the faces are often adorable. I made a tiny fox from a kit, and I have a book of various cat faces, and also lots of birds. I love doing these, but they’re mostly for me. I have to finish Christmas presents first!
Oh hi!
This is such an easy question. It didn’t make me furrow up my brow or anything. My favorite thing to stitch is flowers. I like roses and peonies, wisteria, pansies, and I like them best in natural settings – the very opposite of geometric designs. Sweetpeas! Violets! Some of my earliest memories are of picking these flowers to bring indoors. Now I can reproduce them in various ways, such as needlework, pastels and paints.
Oh, wow. I love working with texture and geometric patterns: one or two colours and trying to create the whole with stitch choice and spacing 🙂
Thank you for this amazing giveaway series!
I’m new to embroidery, but my latest inspiration is fossils. Think of trilobites- they have so many bumps and ridges and interesting surfaces to recreate in thread.
This is an amazing gift! I’m drawn mostly to people- I’ve stitched a lot of angels – but I also like florals and stylized, geometric designs, especially for canvaswork.
Stylized forms like mandalas intrigue me and quick little recognizable items like houses, cats, flowers are fun to do for sachets or some little gift item.
This year also included a fair number of catnip toys stitched up on felt. We picked up two new kittens and my friend also got two kittens with us. They love the simple shapes stitched up with catnip filling.
I’m not an advanced stitcher by any means, but I do enjoy stitching different flowers.
Floral designs are my favorites to stitch. Although, I am thinking of trying some mandelas.
My subject manner is probably equally divided between flowers and birds. I also like counted work so I have quite a few geometric designs, trending toward blue/purple and fall colors.
Thanks for the opportunity from Needle in a Haystack. There are a number of items that I have not used, and would enjoy exploring.
My favorite subject to stitch is stumpwork floral designs.
Florals. Florals, and more florals. Although I’ve done my fair share of samplers and enjoy the variety of stitches one gets in those, it’s the flowers that I want to hang on my walls.
I love all sorts of subjects for stitching…flowers, Japanese motifs, cross stitched samplers…I do like variety!
I like stitching flowers/gardens especially with a contrast of something man-made such as a fence, house, bicycle.
I find flowers are my go to subject it. Spring and Summer I find myself out in the garden, not stitching, but playing in the dirt. Embroidery and wool work are my winter “dirt playing”.
My favorite subject to embroider is anything to do with the sea!
I love the water rather a river, a lake or an ocean!
I love the colors whether they are earthy in the rivers or lakes or bright colors of the beauty of the ocean bottom.
What fun it would be to win these treats for my Christmas stocking!
I love to stitch samplers with birds and small animals as well as any subject coming from the good old days, brings back so many memories as I work the stitches
Art motifs and mandelas
My favorite theme for stitching is floral abstraction. Since most everything I do is abstracted, this seems to be the way my flowers are achieved also.
I love to do animals and of course anything Christmas !
My favorite subject to stitch has changed over the years. I started with teddy bears, moved on to realistic flowers, geometric designs, and now have been doing samplers. But actually, I’ll stitch any subject where the design and colors appeal to me, as my stash proves!
My fav for needlework is the sampler. I’ve done birth samplers for each grandchild and several miniature samplers framed and placed on the wall above my bed serving as the headboard.
I live to stitch birds! And i really really need to win. I hope i do. We have no needlework shops here in Morocco and I would be so thrilled!!
My favorite subject to work with embroidery has to be animals. I’ve done some Trish Burrs (a cat), some Tanja Berlin (an owl) and I’m ready to start on an elephant family from a coloring book pattern. I’m not into samplers, although I do like the look of them, just don’t want the hassle of doing them and will do flowers, but they’re not my favorite. Always work with my project in a hoop – except when I do Sashiko, then it is in my hand. Would love the goodies bag from Needle in a Haystack. I’ve seen their site, just never bought anything – yet! Thank you Mary and Merry Christmas to you. I’ll think of you in your bunny slippers, coming down the stairs, dragging your blankie…
My favorite subject to work with embroidery has to be animals. I’ve done some Trish Burrs (a cat), some Tanja Berlin (an owl) and I’m ready to start on an elephant family from a coloring book pattern. I’m not into samplers, although I do like the look of them, just don’t want the hassle of doing them and will do flowers, but they’re not my favorite. Always work with my project in a hoop – except when I do Sashiko, then it is in my hand. Would love the goodies bag from Needle in a Haystack. I’ve seen their site, just never bought anything – yet! Thank you Mary and Merry Christmas to you. I’ll think of you in your bunny slippers, coming down the stairs, dragging your blankie…
I’ve been stitching for 40 years, so have many different interests. I set up workshops for my EGA/ANG chapters and must cater to different interests, so I try to accommodate a lot of different themes….counted needlepoint, subjects derived from famous artists like Eleanor Groh, surface embroidery combining canvas and fabric, whitework, ethnic themes, designs from nature….on and on. Never get bored that way.
What an awesome collection for the give away. I mainly do natural items like trees, seeds and florals.
I like to embroider things with words. Things that I can hang up to provide meaning or encouragement.
I do mostly flowers but I am always looking to find something new to try. Thanks for the opportunity.
Birds! We have a very popular bird feeder and I love stitching all the different varieties of birds that come to it.
That’s a hard one. I really like to stitch anything that has lots of fun, happy and bright colors. I seem to tend to do animals and flowers. Especially cats. Just love a good cat design.
For embroidery I am mostly a flower person – but I prefer to incorporate them into a scene like gardens or mountains covered in spring blooms. Quilt squares come in a close second.
I do most of my stitches on crazy quilt hearts, pincushions or boxes. I want to do some embroidery on my quilts.
What a fun giveaway–thank you!
My favorite embroidery subject is really more of a style: traditional Scandinavian designs. I love both 19th-century bright florals and very, very traditional Norse designs (for my SCA clothing). The combination of bold shapes and nice chunky threads makes them enjoyable and rewarding to stitch.
Floral is my favorite and probably my security blanket. I have also enjoyed lettering lately.
I love stitching flowers and birds, but most of all, cute little houses!
I mostly cross stitch but I’m trying to get back into embroidery. I mostly love to stitch houses and landscapes when cross stitching and florals when embroidering.
I love all embroidery, but favorite would be using beads, thread and goldwork to embroider a design of floral or religious designs.
I’m drawn to things leafy, especially if they have pithy sayings. I try to work on at least one for my son each year. This year I’m on:
Good night moon
Good night cow jumping over the moon
Good night all the ****
piled high in the
corner of the room
All encircled by lovely scrawling leaves.
That’s what I do when doing cross stitch, for surface embroidery, leaves always just suck me in. There’s an odd bird in the mix, a few pine cones and snowflakes. But mostly leaves.
I love samplers and seasonal things. enjoy different stitches. the samplers are all kinds, not just reproductions. thank you for doing these give-aways. your sponsers are great. I am greatful for the chance.
I love to stitch samplers or florals. The samplers are fun because you get a sense of accomplishment as you complete each motif or line and there is a good variety of stitches and/or designs so you don’t get bored with a piece.
I prefer to stitch either Geometric or Country Primitive style patterns preferably in either samplers or smalls so that you feel like you accomplished something.
I am most definitely a floral person. It is not something that I have on home decor fabrics but I find it completely fascinating to draw and stitch flowers.
Hi Mary,
I truly love flowers and plants of all kinds and love love love stitching them. Thanks so much for your blog. I’ve learned a lot.
For the most part I am definitely a floral person when it comes to embroidery. I have even managed to decorate my recent project of Christmas Tomtes (gnomes) with flowers, including a 3 layer detached buttonhole rose (which I was very proud of, it was one of those times where everything went spot on & the result was exactly what I was looking for, that just doesn’t happen very often !). It’s not always a floral design I go for but embroidered flowers are perfect for decorating & embellishing a design. Brazilian embroidery is a great example of this, flowers & vines done in this surface embroidery gives a wonderful, tactile finish. I have completed a cross & have a sugar skull waiting to be started in this way.
I love to embroider flowers and birds!… bringing nature inside!…
Overall, I’d have to say florals but for Samplers – Whitework.
my favorite thing to embroider is flowers…probably because they are somewhat easier. (I am a beginner) plus they’re versatile…I can put one or two here and there on my sewing projects.
Oh, this is a tough question. Birds, Woodland Critters, Floral, Geometrics???
I do believe that Floral with a few Woodland Critters would be my favorite.
Merry Christmas to all.
I love flowers. I love to stitch them whether it be embroidery, cross stitch or petite point. I love to look at flowers and smell them in the garden.
Lately I am into monograms with floral designs as I have by completing Christmas gifts. I do like birds to stitch, my favorites cardinal, chickadees and bluebirds.
What’s your favorite subject matter for embroidery?
Wow, that’s difficult to put it down to only one, but I would have to say I enjoy a floral with a bird pattern in goldwork. I love the combination of flowers and birds and of course the richness of the threads, the wonderful variety of colours, the textures and thicknesses.
I have two subjects that I particularly enjoy embroidering. The fist is Halloween! The second is birds. Thanks for the opportunity to win such tasty goodies.
I like stitching flowers and leaves. I use different stitches to have different effect on both flowers and leaves. I liked the leaves samplers that you blogged in the past.
Thank you for your blogs and emails.
Best wishes,
Sophia
I love designs from 3 or 4 hundred years ago using flowers and insects but they need to have an element of symmetry for them to be pleasing to my eye. I prefer to use muted colours for a faded appearance rather than the brash colours used in the past. I also love the texture of wool so I do enjoy crewel work designs.
My favorite subject to embroider are florals. I’ve been studing the oriental art of using silk threads and needle painting. It’s Facinating work, and such a delicate art.
The colors are all so rich, they bring pure happiness when working with shading.
Needle and thread has been so much help with designs, tips and tutorials. I would never have started embroidering without Mary’s website. I look forward to your emails.
Merry Christmas to you Mary, thank you for being there!!!
My favourite embroidery subject to stitch is usually flowers and birds .I am drawn to botanical themes and find pleasure in trying to captivate nature with thread and needle! Cheers to all!
I prefer samplers. A bit of everything, lots of color choices, and so much fun!
My favourite embroidery theme is samplers. I have worked on several different type of samplers: band samplers; geometric samplers; Quakers samplers; drawn thread samplers; and spot samplers. Many of the samplers that I have stitched symbolize a memory or a time in my life. I am currently working on Long Dog Sampler “Spirit of Llanfair PG”, as I have been to this lovely town in Wales, have a picture of the longest names train station in the world, and a Welsh Love Spoon – which the sampler consists of many Welsh Love Spoons.
My favorite type of embroidery is Crazy Quilting, where I can use a multitude of embroidery stitches and combinations. I can also use a variety of different types of threads. It is fun for me to see what type of effect the threads have when combined with the fabrics I am working on. With Crazy Quilting I can do holiday themed pieces or flowers, animals, houses, etc.
I love to embrllish animals with pearl cotton and silk threads! Thanks for the give away!
Thank you for the giveaway. My favorite subject matter would be nature.
My favorite subject are flowers, ferns, trees, leaves, and birds. Nature is a big source of inspiration for me.
Thank you!
Hadn’t thought about it before … but definitely a floral person, especially with ribbons.
I love to embroidery flowers and nature.
Hi Miss Corbet,
Definitely ornamental and decorative, mainly because they look nice even in one colour 🙂 I enjoy the look of figurative embroidery, but I tend to lose track of where I am in the pattern when working it…
Best wishes from Holland
I love stitching anything from the natural world be it flora or fauna!
I enjoy stitching landscapes because of the creativity in choosing threads, both for their colors and their affect, and stitches to represent the beauty of nature.
My preference is towards florals however I have done a couple of birds. I lean towards the florals but change the stitches that might be recommended in a particular pattern so that I use a variety of stitches to give my work greater dimension.
Love samplers. Have been thankful for many years that you share your knowledge with others so readily. Hope I win but also want to take opportunity to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you.
i have been stitching for more than thirty years. in all this time i have stitched a picture of two robins on a branch. the rest are samplers, more that one hundred so far!. i enjoy samplers with a alphabet and a saying along with a picture on the bottom. latley i have been stitching more band samplers from the 16 and early 17 hundreds. i find tht he majority of these have alot of different stitches. this is where log on and get directions on how to create these awesome stitches.mary corbets site has been wonderful for learning different stitches.
I love to work on flowers and birds.
Lois A in Idaho
My favorite subjects to embroider are words or monograms. Differing fonts are fun to stitch. Thank you for a wonderful give-away.
My favorite subject for embroidery is currently baby animals. But I go through phases. A few years ago it was flowers. I remember geometrics were my thing for several years.
I love to do monograms but flowers are a close second, so I usually combine them.
My favorite stitching subject is floral for surface embroidery. I also love reproduction samplers, and I seem to stitch a lot of people in counted cross stitch (Mirabilia mermaids and ladies). Thanks, it would certainly be a Merry Christmas to win this!
On reflection it seems I am definitely a floral person, but not necessarily with lots of colour. I also really enjoy animals with abstract geometric satin stitch filling (like Trish Burr’s whitework with colour – I’m stitching prancer at present and loving it). Thank you Mary for this chance of a scrumptious prize.
Mostly, I love to stitch flowers. They don’t mind so much if they become a little wonky. Birds are my next favorite. Both are subjects I can easily do in most types of embroidery. It’s all fun!
I love samplers, florals, whatever catches my attention and skill level! 😉
I do needlepoint and love structural stitches and patterns. Bargello, patterns taken from quilts, and Celtic designs that I then work with different stitches to add another layer. I can’t seem to help myself. Last night I spent digging through Pinterest for Persian designs, in awe of the the math and balanced beauty of them.
Flowers are my favorite thing to embroider. I like to use different techniques including punch needle, blackwork and needle painting.
I love to do folksy surface embroidery, even household transfers, and use as many fancy stitches as possible. “Aunt Martha’s” patterns don’t have to be all stem stitch and lazy daisies. Kick ’em up a notch!
Love these Christmas drawings…..
I mostly stitch florals, sort of a folksy style. Most are small wall hangings, couple have been pillow covers.
I’m still very new at embroidery, but I have been enjoying stitching flowers the most so far.
I like to embroider free style, at the moment I am embroidering a family history project onto an improv quilt.
Lately my projects have been strickly floral, but I like monograms. Monograms with florals, monograms with animals, monograms with buildings, well, you get the picture. Thank you for the ebooks!
This is tough! Animals….
I just love stitching flower designs – stylized or otherwise!
I stitch a lot of geometric and stylized designs in cross stitch and needlepoint.
My favorite type of embroidery is counted cross-stitch. My favorite subject are Oriental motifs, flowers, birds and cats. Also love regular embroidery, stem stitch, etc. and especially fond of making French knots.
I like florals and samplers. I have done butterflies and a bird or two. Enjoyed doing them but found the stitches a bit more difficult.
MONOGRAMS and more monograms. Merry Christmas to you Mary
My favorite thing to embroider is flowers and woodland animals. Whether that is crewel work or counted or surface embroidery depends upon what I am going to do with the once I am done. I also enjoy adding extra stitches to my quilting projects when I get the chance. Merry Christmas!
Geometrics, blackwork, canvas work, and counted patterns that are intriguing. Cross stitch, samplers, hardanger and such are relaxing. But it is the process of doing the piece is what I enjoy.
I would say I’m a floral, geometric, and holiday in that order. Of course my blue anemone which I’m stitching for my royal school certification is giving me fits.
What’s your favorite subject matter for embroidery? Flowers and nature themes mostly
Are you a floral person? yes
A bird person? Not so much. Certain birds like hummingbirds and sandpipers.
Stylized or geometric designs? I like both. I’m fairly new to embroidery; so I am working on simple designs.
A sampler person? Not so much.
A people or character person? No yet; too complicated for me.
What subjects do you like to stitch, or what subjects do you find yourself stitching most frequently? Travel, seasonal, nature scenes and flowers; beach scenes, some birds. Water, mountains.
I am not drawn to a particular subject for embroidery. All kinds of designs appeal to me. Right now I am alternating between a geometric, a sampler and a scene.
My favourite subject for embroidery seems to change with the seasons. Just now I am enjoying working on snowflakes,reindeer and Christmas trees. In the Spring and Summer I like to stitch and cross stitch flowers, fruit and wood land animals. My stitching is one of my ways of expressing the joy of the season, each in its turn.
My embroidery is all over the place because the majority of it is done for my two daughters and their children. Right now it is all about the sea since my granddaughter wants a stitchers pocket and needle shell. Next year it will be all about bunnies since our fourth grandchild will be arriving and the theme for her nursery is bunnies. I am looking for patterns now and will start them after the first of the year.
Thank you Mary and Needle in a Haystack for this delightful gift. Needle in a Haystack is a really nice store and the staff is always so nice whether on the phone or in person. I live about 90 miles from them.
What is my favorite subject to embroidery ~ definitely flowers, especially when most of what I stitch is Brazilian Dimensional embroidery. When I do surface work on my towels it is Tea cups with flowers on them, fruits and vegetables or chickens.
Keeping my fingers crossed to win this gift, maybe it is my turn to win.
Sharon ~ Modesto, CA
I like a plethora of needlework — from Jacobean to needlepoint — and a variety of projects (pillows, kitchen towels, center motifs for quilts, wall art, gifts, and table linens to mention just a few).
This give-away would be a grand way to start a new year of projects. Thank you so much for this opportunity.
My favorite subject matter for embroidery is samplers, specifically 17th century style. I love the work done during that time period.
My favorite embroidery subject is whatever strikes my fancy: bold, colorful, beaded, flowers, shapes, or what I think someone will appreciate. I want to enjoy what I stitch (though I’ve stitched somethings that I couldn’t wait to finish!). Thank you for this wonderful series of drawings!
I love the Needle in a Haystack emails and keep most of them as they are full of great tips and info.
I love to stitch samplers and I find birds to draw me in. Of course, a beautiful rose also gets my attention. Sometimes, I am drawn in by something such as color useage or technique on a subject I would never have considered stitching prior. I love to see what others stitch and love to get good techniques or ideas.
Thank you, Mary, for the chance to win. I love to embroider leaves and acorns, so I want to work up your Autumn Kaleidoscope, thank you for the pattern.
Good luck to all and Happy Holidays!
I so enjoy stitching scenery but then there’s vintage Christmas things like angels and snowmen and–just everything! Thank you for offering this wonderful giveaway!
I have stitched a lot of samplers and birds, but lately I’m more drawn to geometric designs. The journey continues…
Repro samplers are my first love with anything floral second.
I like to stitch stylized designs the most. They can represent almost anything, but I particularly like the human form, plant life, and birds.
I love doing all embroidery, but I seem to be drawn to Flowers, Birds and small Animals. I like to try different things, but if a friend mentions something specific, I love to do them as a surprise present.
Years ago I got hooked on the Markek Angel series and have done quite a few of those. So it was a given that I followed Marilyn Imblum Leavit (hope I got her name correct), Lavender and Lace and Mirabilia. The Angel of Hope that Marilyn designed for the Polly Klaus kidnapping I did in memory of our daughter, Anne Marie, who had cerebral palsy and died right before her 5th birthday. She is framed and hanging in my living room. My other angels framed and hanging in my hallway. In my current wips is Adia the Garden Angel which I am doing for my granddaughter, Adia.
I love to do samplers because they can contain flowers, animals, alphabets, buildings, trees…you name it, a sampler can have it! It provides an opportunity to do a variety of stitches and one will never get bored!!!
I like to stitch samplers but most recently I have been stitching geometric abstractions. Right now I am doing one all in French knots with colors taken from as vintage postcard of Greece that was sent to me by my Aunt Noanie.
My favorite subject for needlework is definitely florals. It makes me happy to observe the way the light plays across each completed area. And I love how using different types of threads impacts the total picture. A beginner, but loving every minute of this journey!
My favourite stitching designs have to be samplers.
I love to do flowers and butterflies. I also plan to get into stitching zen tangle inspired art. So many ideas, so little time.
I find that geometric designs are the interesting for me, especially quilt patterns. Animals (mainly birds) come in a close second.
I enjoy stitching Christmas ornaments.
I love to give them to my family and friends.
I’m wondering if anyone else can’t provide a single answer to this question! I have 6 wonderful grandchildren so there is a good bit of embroidery done for them – outfits customized with monograms or whatever is the current favorite of each child. Love to create “smalls” as gifts for friends and for myself, usually something more challenging – quite often Jacobean in wools, So I;m thinking my answer needs to be whatever is the current project since the variety makes each one the Favorite of the moment. How’s that for a prevarication?
I’ve never really thought about it before, but I have done quite a few animals in my stitching. I also enjoy landscapes.
Looking at my past projects, my favorite subject seems to samplers or projects that have sayings on them especially if they have to do with children, dogs, or cats.
My favorite right now is floral, recently I have seem some intriguing 3 dimentional bugs and butterflies I would love to try also…..goldwork is on my bucket list but I don’t want to invest in all the supplies until I get to retire and have more time on my hands…I find that once I start stitching I need to continue to keep my stitching consistent. My personal stitch regulator gets better the more I stitch.
animals of all kinds, particularly bugs!
I can’t think of a more pleasant and healthy way to reduce the stress of one’s daily routines. A needle, some thread and a design to embellish brings great calm and happiness. Embroidery gives me strength and solace.
This is a wonderful and generous Christmas gift for two ladies! Of course I hope to be one of them, but in case I’m not…Merry Christmas to the winners!
Over the last few years I seem to have stitched quite a few animals – ducks, elephants, small Kantha style animals and different birds. There has been a sprinkling of flowers too. Thank you for this opportunity.
As a rule, I really enjoy stitching nature in a realistic way. I guess that I don’t have whatever it is that other people have where they can turn an inspiration into a design. I don’t have designing in me. It is quite a shame, though, because I adore triangles (which is odd… I’m aware…) and I love to stitch them (crow’s foot, raised fish bone stitch, satin stitch, sprat’s head, raised close herringbone stitch: as named in the A-Z Of Embroidery Stitches 1&2 by Search Press.) All of that aside, needlepainting animals is my jam. Getting the eyes right is so important and so satisfying.
Hi Mary,
My favorite thing to stitch would have to be flowers. I often make up my own designs, and I usually follow an improvisational approach, making things up as I go. There are so many colors, textures, and shapes in flowers the possibilities are endless — like making a painting.
Warm Regards,
June
I am a particularly engaged by geometric patterns. I love to work them in overdyed threads and enjoy the challenge of manipulating the threads to create an effect. That effect could be shading or balance between sections or highlighting a particular element.
My favorite are geometric designs with lots of color and variety of stitches. I guess that is the mathematician in me.
I really like stitching samplers, especially ones that use only one color of a shaded/variegated thread but I do multi-colored ones as well. I also like to make what I call boudoir pin cushions. I use tea cups and make a ring of flowers for the top . It’s usually a free style kind of thing and I add beads and sparkling blending filaments. This style translates well for ring bearer pillows for weddings. Ah, heck, I just like to stitch and would love to win this package. At any rate, Merry Happy Christmas and Holidays.
Wendy
I love Art Nouveau designs and have lots of ideas for abstracted, swirly designs — but what I end up using almost always, and have a great fondness for, are florals. Lots and lots of florals on just about everything! (including one of your free floral border patterns that I’ve just adapted for the centre panel of a blouse – hoping to finish that before the New Year!)
I think I will choose a sampler to stitch since it will give me a connection to historical needleworkers as well as give me a variety of stitches to do.
I tend toward flowers. There are scads of ways to represent them.
Flowers. I’m always drawn to needlework with flowers, and the floral elements are the first thing I notice about a design. I’ve done mostly counted work for a while, though, and not much of it is floral. But I have a few surface embroidery projects planned, and they all involve flowers.
Birds–always birds!
I love stitching anything flowers!
At 86 years young, and having been stitching since my Mom and Gran taught me about 5 or 6., and having dabbled in many types and styles of stitchery, my very favorite are Samplers. I have done them for Births, Weddings, Anniversaries, etc. I reslly enjoy “just Samplers” on all subjects, Some are reproduction copies, some are very modern, but I love them all !!!
I love to sew flowers and landscapes.
I’m very excited to enter the contest. I love stitching. My favorite stitching is miniature creations. I love Christmas stockings and samplers in miniature. Thanks for the contest. Peace.
Wonderful giveaway! My favorite subject would be baby animals. Who doesn’t love to look at a cuddly little fuzzy baby!
I enjoy embroidering flowers and birds. I have recently done a scene with butterflies which I also really enjoyed doing. This looks like such an amazing giveaway – I would love to own it! Thank you, Mary, for your exciting run up to Christmas!
Flowers and birds by far!
I am more inclined to stitch geometric designs, but I have just recently learned to transfer photos so my daughter’s image will be my next big project. Starting slow with that — blacks and grays only. Hope to learn it quickly and possibly try with colors.
Merry Christmas Mary – and all stitchers. Looking forward to ideas, tips and just plain old reading of the info in 2019.
Fav thing to stitch is leaves
It has actually been quite awhile since I did serious embroidery work, but I always loved to stitch animals. My grandmother was my teacher, and that is what she did mostly, too; although I never did as wonderful a job as she did!
Favorite
Stitching Trying new stitches
What’s my favourite embroidery subject? Well, I like geometric designs: I have done “Sands in the Desert” twice – once for my friend, and then again for me, because I enjoyed it so much.
I love the appearance of little fluffy birds, although I haven’t done any yet – but I will get into them some day. If someone could design me some New Zealand birds I would be very happy – there are heaps of Australian and American birds to do, but only simple counted cross stitch NZ ones.
I enjoy landscapes with lots of flowers. I also do lots of tea towels with kitchen motifs, fruits, and veggies. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.
Dianne
my favorite subject to stitch is samplers and smalls.
I am a historical person. I adore those Bayeux tapestry patterns, the Celtic knotwork copied from the Book of Kells, the Cluny tapestries….if I could do Opus Anglicanum, I would!
I also like bunnies and geometric patterns.
I seem to be most interested in landscapes recently for stitching. It used to be flowers but I just finished Trish Burr’s miniature landscapes and enjoyed them so much I found anther landscape painting I liked and am in the process of needlepainting it.
I just love florals. They are different all year long and can be as simple as a daisy or complex as a rose.
When it comes to embroidery, I’m drawn to animals, birds, & bunnies. I love to do needlepoint geometric samples. Stumpwork takes me to flowers and small insects.
My Children always said that my brain is square. I guess it is so. I love geometric charted needlepoint pieces. And Hardanger is a favorite also. but on curvy days I work on angels from Lavender and Lace.
My favorite type of embroidery is floral. Or monograms. Or floral monograms. Flowers can be elegant, sweet, silly, or fun, depending on the design and thread choice.
I have, up to this point, stitched mostly monograms and floral designs. However, I am currently working on a butterfly design and hope to stitch more birds & bugs in 2019. I’ve really enjoyed your website as a resource for stitch guides and vendors for embroidery supplies as I’ve gotten back into embroidery over the last 2 years.
While new at embroidery I do feel drawn to Jacobean style especially florals. However, I love countryish crewel work. I love the wool threads,the colors and the nature themes.
At the moment I am obsessed with embroidered landscapes, detailed and realistic embroideries on layers of fine fabrics with an overly of organza as taught by Judy Wilford whose book is called Embroidered Landscapes.
I have always had a strong fondness for anything with sheep on it but find that I am attracted to birds as a subject matter more and more now. I think that is due to retirement (yay) and having more time to stop and observe them. I love samplers that include a variety of birds and if there’s also a sheep or a dog, all the better.
I am particulary drawn to flora and fauna – I like the medieval tapestries and the modern takes on them.
Wow that package of tools sounds like a dream come true! Thank you for the opportunity to win.
Oh by far I love stitching flowers!
I do enjoy decorative monograms but I also love critters and botanical pieces. Christmas ornaments are always in process. Many interests and not enough time.
Hi Mary
Flowers, flowers and more flowers. I just love flowers of any kind – real or embroidered. I love the different colours you can choose when doing embroidery, also the different textures and stitches you can create.
Flowers, leaves, anything botanical, would be first on my list of preferred items to embroider. But doing border stitches and pulled threads are also enjoyable. Chicken sctratch. Just to sit down and pass a needle through fabric is a joy. However, many tiles, it’s not what , but for whom. That is often the greatest gift of being able to embroider. Somebody who is waiting for that item with anticipation.
Oh my goodness! I am a sampler person, and I’ve stitched many of them! I tend to work reproduction samplers, “specialize” in samplers with cats, and samplers where the original sampler maker is a name connection – usually Sara(h). One of my Sarah’s is Sarah Elizabeth Brooke, and it has lots of name connections: obviously I’m Sara, but also my daughter is Sara Elizabeth, my niece is Sara Brooke, and my mom’s (Sara) maiden initials were SEB. I’m really excited to be receiving in a few more days a reproduction chart of Sarah Dean (my mom’s married name and my maiden name). I have also stitched Mary Applewhite; Applewhite was my grandmother’s maiden name. So far, I haven’t come across a Sara or other name connection of a reproduction with a cat.
I have completed a lot of cross stitch samplers but I do more floral designs when working free-style hand embroidery.
It’s hard to say just what would be my favorite subject matter. I am definitely more traditional in my work. However, as I look around at much of the embroidery I’ve kept for myself (because every crafter knows that most of our work ends up as lovely gifts), I have landscape and nature. One is a beautiful valley with mountains in the background and a majestic eagle. Another is a countryside scene in Fall colors. So… to answer this question in a long about way…. I’d have to say landscape and nature.
I’d like to add that I’ve really enjoyed your e-mail newsletters and I use your website stitching tutorials all the time. You are an amazing instructor. Thank you for all the time you take helping others, like me. Have a wonderfully blessed Christmas!
Absolutely love shapes- random colourful, scattered, bunched. Always something that needs a handful of happiness.
Flowers, flowers and more flowers. So nice to have them indoors in the cold winter.
Carrie PlaneNut
My favorite is animals as I love them and they add a lot of character to a piece.
Cats are my favorite, but birds and hedgehogs are also on the list.
I generally stick to florals and samplers.. Maybe as I become more proficient I will branch out!
Thank you for putting together these giveaways. Please enter me for the one for the tools from Needle in a Haystack. My favorite subject matter is botanical – I have taken many many photos with the hopes of making them into embroidery projects someday.
I love embroidering samplers. Thank you for all you do for us, Mary. And Merry Christmas!
I love to stitch cats. Found a cat in the street and brought it home. Haven’t had a cat in thirty years. Forgot how much fun they can be. So…I am now drawn to stitching that features cats.
I love to embroider beautiful flowers because of their soft lovely forms. They can be shaded and colored to note their dimensions and textures. It is surprising how different they can become by simply changing their colors and positions in a piece. I never tire of stitching beautiful flowers.
I like to embroider words and phrases. Names for gifts. I also embroidered a poem my mom wrote!
I’m very eclectic, the tyoe of embroidery depends in yhe oerson receiving it. For the most part, although I orefer more textural or dimensional versions of whatebpver I make.
Lovely set in this giveaway.
Although it seems that I stitch a lot of flowers, particularly Susan O’Conner’s Elizabethan designs, I really love stitching birds like Trish Burr’s wonderful lifelike birds. They look like they could fly away anytime.l”
At the moment, I am in a Unicorn phase. I am stitching the Unicorn in Captivity and next up are two of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries (the petite point ones on silk gauze.
My favourite subject matter for embroidery is Samplers as you can do a wide range of stitch techniques and make it personal for the person who you are makeing it for.
I am inspired by all sorts of things to stitch – but mainly scenery, flowers, trees or geological specimens rather than people or animals
I stitch whatever suits my fancy at the time. Right now I’m stitching the 12 trees of Christmas. It’s a great project but I thought it would go faster as they are only about 3″ tall. I’ve learned a lot of new stitches.
My favorite subject matter changes, but one of my favorite ways to approach projects is based on coloring books. I love the adult coloring books, but have also used children’s coloring books to make quilts for friends and family members. I love bringing the printed pages to life.
I like to do unexpected animals! How many embroidered buffalo are there in the world?
Greetings! I love to embroider Islamic calligraphy. Satin stitch, outline stitches and even filling stitches work perfectly with the soft curvy lines of the Arabic alphabet . Plus, the content is prayer, so each stitch is a blessing .
My favorite subject matter for embroidery is animals! I love animals, I’m going to start stitching a portrait of my dog with her own fur I’m spinning into yarn.
I love to stitch birds, small birds, big birds, any kind of birds………
I am drawn to a variety of subjects, but the natural world provides so much inspiration. I think flowers and insects will always be high up on my embroidery design wish list. Realistic or stylised designs are equally appealing … I love silk shaded florals, gold work beetles or scrolling white embroidered flowers and leaves.
This is really hard. I really love to embroider things from nature, so favourites are anything from the outside, flowers, animals, even seashells on the beach.
I love stitching flowers. I love using new, to me, creative stitches to create them. I recently stitched a bird which I enjoyed, but flowers are my first love.
Along with many embroiderers who also love the garden, my favourite theme and subject for embroidery are flowers, flowers and more flowers…life’s wonderful adornments!
Hi Mary! Merry Christmas. By far, I am attracted to symmetry in all things. I am not sure if that limits creativity or not (I love Jackson Pollock and that seems anti-symmetrical… who knows). So, I like geometrical forms and William Morris and Frank Lloyd Wright. Aren’t we fortunate that there are so many styles from which to choose?
I really like to do flowers, some butter flies and dragon flies. Though I’m kind of new at this, I find it very relaxing and I really enjoy things that are colorful.
Since joining my local Embroidery Guild I’ve learned so many new techniques and am still learning that each new type becomes my new favourite. Until I try the next thing
I most like stitching flowers:-along with all the bugs and creepy crawly things that live in and around them.
I love abstract stitching. I just stitch a curve, and follow it, building texture and pattern with different threads and stitches.
What a great question! My first answer was flowers and birds but when I thought about it the subject I stitch the most is Christmas. Whether it’s ornaments, Christmas cards, or gift bags, I stitch Christmas projects all year long. It’s such a jolly time.
I am a sampler person. I love to try out new thread, thread not meant for embroidery, thread that might be good for embroidery, and thread I have dyed some odd color that might be nice as a bottom layer of some brighter stitches. The size needle I use makes a world of difference in the stitched result, though the fabric is almost always linen (upcycled from thrifted clothing). I have, quite literally, notebooks filled with samples of stitch variation and thread possibilities, others are stretched on wooden stretcher frames and hang on the walls of my studio. Asking “What if . . . ?” and then digging into all the answers I can come up with is my way of exploring this wonderful world of textile craft and art. I have always wanted a job as the official sampler-in-residence, but no one knocked on my door and offered me my dream job. *sigh*