Earlier this year, I had the pleasant opportunity to examine, up close, a really unique embroidery sampler worked by Sheila Iskin, who lives in Sunny California.

Now, this isn’t just any sampler. It’s not a band sampler. It’s not an alphabet sampler. It’s not a spot sampler.

It might not even be recognizable at first as a sampler, but that is indeed what it is – and I think it’s a very clever idea!

This sampler goes way beyond the standard approach to sampling stitches and techniques. It will open up a whole world of ideas for you!

I call this decorative alphabet for embroidered monograms Floral Script.

When it comes to naming things, I have very little pizzazz. I’m afraid I’m the type of person who would name a dog “Spot” without any qualms of conscience!

Still, in my defense, Floral Script tells you pretty much what you can expect from this alphabet: script-like letters with a little floral element for decoration. (Incidentally, the name could be equally applied to hundreds of decorative alphabets out there!)

Brrrrrrrrrrr…… It’s finally chilly in Kansas! I love autumn. I could live in autumn for my whole life!

I say that now. But when spring comes, you’ll hear me saying the same thing about spring.

But I promise I’ll never say it about summer in Kansas!

Summer being officially over, it’s time to move on to fallish stuff, and often, that includes fall and winter craft pursuits. In today’s needlework news snips, I’ve included a few links to some fun fall embroidery stuff, in case you want a seasonal stitching fix!

I’m also happy to announce the winner of Early Hardanger Embroidery today!

So, join me in a cup of your favorite brew, and let’s browse a bit!

You know, I love embroidery thread. But there are times – there are many times – when sitting down with the stuff can be rather frustrating.

For me, selecting colors for my own projects is usually more frustrating than not.

The other day, I sat down under a good, true spectrum light with a Whole Heap of Embroidery Floss on the table in front of me. My goal was to select a range of colors from that Whole Heap – a range that would impart a certain impression or idea that I have in mind.

Do you know, it took me forever to finally say “That’s it. For better or for worse, I’m done.” I sat there picking through floss for more than two hours!

At the end of that ridiculous amount of time, this is the range of colors I came up with:

It’s Tuesday, and since we’re past the halfway point in October, I think it’s a perfect day for a give-away!

If you love whitework, if you love open work embroidery, delicate embroidery, geometric design and drawn thread work – you’re going to love Yvette Stanton’s newest embroidery book, Early Style Hardanger! And if you don’t have a copy of it yet, here’s your opportunity to win a nice addition to your needlework library!

Erica Wilson was an embroiderer, designer, teacher, and businesswoman who hailed from Britain but lived here in the US from … Continue reading Your Weekend Entertainment a la Erica Wilson

It’s finally autumn in Kansas. The nights are chilly, and the days can’t decide between chilly and warm. The skies are a mesmerizing deep blue. The trees are changing. The gnats are swarming (sort of ruins the picture, doesn’t it?), and the year is ticking to a slow close.

With the harvest going on all around me, my thoughts naturally have turned back to Late Harvest, an embroidery project that I started eons ago and that’s finally ticking to a close, too.

When last we looked at this project, the right side was completely finished and I had finished most of the stitching on the left side. I still had one large leaf and two small flowers to work, along with all the beadwork on the stems and the leaves.

Well, the other day, I put my fingers to it and got down to work on the last stitching on Late Harvest, and here are the results.