About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

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

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All New Studio: A Photo Tour!

 

Amazon Books

Before we start today with a tour, I have a quick announcement! For those waiting, I do have a limited number of Christmas Tree Ornament kits ready to go right now! I wish we could have gotten more together, but we’ve done our best, and I hope you are able to get one if you’ve been waiting. I’ve also restocked Christmas Flowers and Snowy Cabin, two 4″ kits that sold out quickly.

On to today’s topic!

I sorely wanted to use video to walk you through my new studio space where all things Needle ‘n Thread now happen. Alas, video wasn’t in the stars.

Instead, I’m going to take you on a little photo tour, where we can walk through the space together and I can tell you about it.

Be not alarmed! We didn’t clean up before this! We’ve been working hard and we have stuff out. Shock, horror! It’s inevitable. We’re a workshop more than anything else, and some days, we just don’t have a chance to do a thorough put-away at the end of the day. So things might look somewhat cluttered here and there.

Enough excuses, right? Let’s go for a stroll.

New Needle 'n Thread Studio space, 2022
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Glorious, Lovely Silk Ribbon Galore!

 

Good morning, my friends, and welcome to Yet Another Monday!

I was at a design meeting at the end of last week, signing a contract, and I had to ask what the date was. When the fellow said “12 / 1,” I thought he was referring to some future date, when our project would begin. And I said, “But what’s today’s date?” I was entirely befuddled. How did we get to December? Did we even have November?

It’s time to slow down, isn’t it? At least a little, as we approach Christmas. This is the time of year when I like to retreat a bit out of the rush. I hope you’re having a chance to do just that!

Today, to help spread a little pre-Christmas cheer, and thanks to the generosity of Di van Niekerk, who is absolutely the Queen of Silk Ribbon Embroidery, I have a gorgeous give-away for two winners.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Silk ribbon from Di van Niekerk
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Christmas Tree, Part 2: Prepare the Ornament

 

Good morning, my friends! For those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend, I hope you had a very happy holiday!

I apologize for being a little late with today’s article. It should have been up yesterday, but there were unforeseen circumstances popping up all over the place! There are still a few brewing in the background, but I’m determined to ignore them until we get our Christmas Tree ornament prepped and ready for the final assembly.

So let’s get started!

Preparing the Christmas Ornament
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Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Tomorrow, here in the States, it’s Thanksgiving Day!

When I was a kid, Thanksgiving break was The Best. We had a four day weekend – the first of the school year – and it was full of family, fun, food, friends, and frolicking about.

As a kid with few responsibilities and lots of older sisters to do dishes, there was never any pressure. Aside from a few chores here and there, we “little guys” in the family could pretty much do what we wanted. We usually watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning, and then we played. Eventually, we showed up for dinner. And we played some more.

It was very uncomplicated.

Happy Thanksgiving!
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In the Studio: Developing a New Skill Set

 

I’m still surrounded by a bit of mayhem, but we are slowly getting organized and established in our new studio space.

Fortunately for me, Anna is the Queen of Organization – she keeps everything in check when I start unraveling project materials all over the place. And she has done a great job making sense of the new space and getting things set up for reasonable and efficient work flow.

But we aren’t there yet!

Last week, I developed a new skill set. I think I could officially be an IKEA furniture assembler for hire… if I liked assembling furniture. Which I don’t! But we did manage a good day’s work, setting our main organizational area for our workroom.

Today, I’ll tell you what we did and why we did it.

setting up organizational space in the studio
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