Have you ever heard of “woolies”?

Woolies are embroidered images of ships worked by sailors who were usually on those ships. Although they’re mostly a British thing, it’s not unusual to find woolies worked by sailors from other countries as well.

My interest in woolies was piqued some 15-ish years ago, when visiting DC. There, I saw the sailor’s embroidery that’s on exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Unlike woolies, this piece is worked on linen with silk, and it features, along with a ship, many land-based scenes memorializing the Civil War. On the bottom of it, the sailor embroidered “Worked at Sea.”

Contemplating that piece, I thought, “Embroidery by sailors made sense – it would be a great way to occupy time. And surely this isn’t the only piece of embroidery ever done by a sailor!”

And that thought led me to…

…woolies. (Don’t you just love the name?!)

As promised yesterday, we now have a spot where you can share your own photos of your progress on your Secret Garden Embroidery Projects!

The Secret Garden Hummingbirds – my current follow-along embroidery project on Needle ‘n Thread – reached a milestone the other day. A halfway point of sorts!

I love Halfway Points of Sorts. Though not officially The Halfway Point (as there are no embroidered birds in the picture yet), half the flowers are finished.

It’s always nice to step through a mini goal and start moving towards the next one, isn’t it?

Believe it or not, the Hungarian Redwork Runner that I started eons ago hasn’t been neglected entirely, despite the comings and goings of many other embroidery projects on the work table.

And while the progress on this particular project may seem particularly slow, I have good news to report: the chain stitch part of it is more or less completely finished. There are just a few tiny chain stitch bars remaining, that await their intersecting lines of Hungarian braided chain stitch.

As promised last week, when I reviewed Susan O’Connor’s book, Monograms: The Art of Embroidered Letters, today, I’m giving away a copy!

If you’d like to add your very own copy of this wonderful, lovely, instructive, exquisite book to your needlework library, read on, my friend…

You know how it is about embroidery supplies: we all have our favorites…and it’s pretty rare to see fine embroidery goods go on sale.

Because of that, I like to announce it when they do. In this case, I know many of you have been waiting for the annual 15%-off everything sale at Hedgehog Handworks. Guess what?

It starts today! And it’s running for 15 days, through June 3rd. What will you find there that might be of interest? (I probably don’t need to ask that question!) Well, I’ll tell you some of my Favorite Things – embroidery supplies that are hardly ever on sale any other time!

Oh dear. Did I just title my blog post with an ’80’s allusion?

I just dated myself – and if you get it, you were probably in high school then, too.

In any case, I am awash in beetle wings these days. And you might think that’s a little gross, until you delve into the history of beetle wings used in embroidery and textile adornment.