Shrewsbury Abbey, located in Shropshire, England, has been around for a Long Time! Founded as a Benedictine Monastery in the latter part of the 11th century, the portion of the Abbey that is still standing serves as a parish church.

For those who aren’t local to the area, but who are fans of British mystery shows, Shrewsbury Abbey (technically, the Abbey Church of St. Peter and St. Paul) is well known as the setting for the Cadfael mystery series.

When Virginia, a reader of Needle ‘n Thread, visited the Abbey recently, she took pictures of some of the embroidery she saw at the Abbey and sent the photos along. I thought I’d share them with you today. They’re beautiful!

Remember last week, when we discussed the angle of viewing this wool embroidery sample, where I’m playing with tambour embroidery in wool, along with a few other stitches?

Well, I fixed the long & short stitch filling on that little paisley shape in the center, and I thought you’d want to see it. And as things like this always go, once I fixed that, I started in, ripping out another section, too.

Don’t worry. Eventually I’ll get it.

We’re in the last month of 2013, and although I’m probably not the most organized person in the world, I do actually attempt to keep a semblance of order and organization in my life, by way of Planning Ahead.

I find that if I have some kind of plan to follow – some kind of long-term schedule and short-term schedule so I know where I want to go and what I need to do to get there – I’m a much happier person. And this is especially true here on Needle ‘n Thread.

Planning ahead is super-essential, if I want to keep Needle ‘n Thread alive. And I couldn’t do it without you. I would have no interest in keeping Needle ‘n Thread going, if I didn’t have such an interesting and engaging audience.

And that brings me to how you can help me do what I do, better than I’m now doing it.

I have some questions for you, and your answers may very well determine our direction on Needle ‘n Thread in 2014:

What do you need?

What do you want?

What’s your needlework wish?

Because it’s Monday, and I Love Mondays – and because Christmas is coming – and because we all need a little light in our lives – today, I’m giving away a Beam ‘n Read light, courtesy of the Beam ‘n Read folks who make it!

If you’re unfamiliar with this little light, you can read my review of the Beam ‘n Read light here on Needle ‘n Thread. It’s definitely a handy light, especially if you’re prone to electrical failures right when you’re in the middle of stitching – not too uncommon during the winter months!

I know it’s hard to believe that embroidery and Scotch tape have much to do with each other.

But I’ll tell you what! If you don’t have a at least a small reel of Scotch tape somewhere in your stitching supplies, you should!

It doesn’t have to be Scotch tape in particular – as long as it’s an easy-release tape. I think it helps, too, if it’s at least somewhat transparent.

Allow me to demonstrate…

I’ve been stumbling about on the Mission Rose project, doing the goldwork embroidery on the outer frame.

I have (er…I had) high hopes of finishing it by Christmas! But in the past two weeks, every time I’ve started working on it – and I mean every, single time – the same thing has happened that has hampered my progress. It cracks me up!

First, let me show you where I am, and where I’m going.

I’m excited to announce the two winners of last week’s give-away of four of Trish Burr’s beautiful needle painting kits!

I was sliding the kits into packaging so they’d be ready to mail quickly (I hope the winners get them before Christmas!), when it suddenly occurred to me that they really should be wrapped and bedecked with bows. And so, two of you are going to receive nice little packages you can slip under the tree for yourselves – or … you can just tear ’em open and launch right in!