I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more
Contact Mary
I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more
Contact Mary
September 22, 2015
Last week, I shared the printable for letters A – D in this tulip monogram alphabet with you.
If you missed that article and you want to collect the alphabet printables for this set, or you want to see one of the letters stitched, feel free to jump over to the A – D article. You’ll find the printable at the bottom of the page.
Here are the next four letters, E through H.
September 21, 2015
Last week, I asked you all how you organize threads for large needlework projects – because, you see, I’ve gone off the deep end and I’ve set up a pretty ridiculously large project that will probably take me three hundred years to complete.
When I asked the question, I was already hooked into organizing the 200 colors required for this project – there are 95 solid colors in it, and 105 blended colors.
I found that the organizational aspect was actually kind of fun, but it took So Much Time. It was a project in itself! Still, I figure if I’m going to subject myself to a super-duper-long-range project, it makes good sense (based on the Principle of P’s: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance) to organize thoroughly in advance.
So many of you offered great suggestions for organizing threads for projects! A couple of you mentioned the system that I’m using, which is called Annie’s Keepers. Today, I’ll show you that system, the parts involved, and how I’m using them for this particular project.
September 18, 2015
As we wind down the week, I thought I’d share with you this twin set of embroidered Farmers Market bags, made by Melissa for her sister and her farmers market sidekick.
I’m a sucker for farmers markets, especially in the fall! Here in the Midwest, we have an abundance of good ones that are heaps of fun to potter around early on a Saturday morning.
But I don’t go to them in style. When I go, I pretty much crawl out of the house, looking pretty much like I just crawled out of bed.
I don’t have embroidered totes to tote around my stuff, like these two adorable bags. I think they’re a great idea, and I thought they’d serve as inspiration for other FM enthusiasts out there!
September 17, 2015
So, I mentioned the other day that I’m setting up this crazy-big needlework project.
It’s essentially a counted cross stitch project, but I’ll be working it in tent stitch on a 30-count linen.
Last night, as sleep was wafting over me, I found myself contemplating switching to a 40-count silk gauze, by the way. When I awoke this morning, I instantly recalled the thought, and then I forthwith brushed it aside as a nightmare.
The project involves 200 colors, a little less than half of which are solid (only one color of thread in the needle at a time) and the rest, blended (two colors in the needle at a time).
Now, when you’re dealing with This Much Thread for one project, there is no way around it: you must come up with a reasonable, logical, efficient organizing system for your thread.
I know this. You know this. But the question is, what system to use? How does one go about organizing this much thread for a project of this scope?
September 16, 2015
Back in July, when I originally showed you this embroidered monogram in floche, I had a lot of requests for the tulip alphabet that I used for that particular letter.
This is the embroidered monogram, in case you haven’t seen it yet:
September 15, 2015
Lately, I was hornswoggled into a needlework project.
Hornswoggled, for those who aren’t familiar with word, means the same thing as bamboozled or hoodwinked.
Not very helpful, I know. But you just have to love that group of words: hornswoggled, bamboozled, hoodwinked! They all mean approximately the same thing: tricked or deceived into doing something – but they say it in such a fun way.
So, yes. I was hornswoggled – pretty much by myself – into a project.
September 14, 2015
When I was a wee lass – some 35-ish years ago! – my mom made me the Best Birthday Cake Ever. It was a carousel cake, with carousel ponies all around the edges, topped off with a striped tent over head. I thought it was a magnificent thing! Just dreamy!
I’ve always had A Thing for the color and flash of the carousel pony. The carousel is my favorite ride, even now, at any fair or amusement park, especially to take little kids on, or just to watch them enjoying the ride. It’s tame, but it’s fun, and it’s always great for smiles. And there’s nothing better than visiting a city park that has a permanent carousel.
Carousels, after all, are happy things!
(Unless, of course, Stephen King gets ahold of one and turns it into something creepy…)
So, when Sarah, a twelve-year-old reader here on Needle ‘n Thread, sent in photos of her recent fair entry – an embroidered carousel pony – I thought sharing it with you would be a cheery way start to the week!
