Here’s a free hand embroidery pattern for you, just in case you’re looking for something fun to work on over the weekend.

This is a little doodle I doodled up, using a Jacobean design from an old book as the basis of it, and then altering it as I doodled along.

The original design can be found in Jacobean Embroidery: Its Forms and Fillings by Ada Wentworth Fitzwilliam & A. F. Morris Hands, which is available free in many formats on Project Gutenberg. You’ll find the original Jacobean leaf design here, plate 16 in the book.

You might also recognize hints of the design in my Jumble Lattice Sampler, which was originally called a Jacobean Jumble. Believe it or not, this design played a part in the original doodle for that.

Lighting is one of those subjects that should be near and dear to every embroiderer’s heart.

And eyes.

I needed a little light – something I could use inside the house in the evenings that wouldn’t bother the rest of the family, something I could use in the car, and something that would work well in hotel rooms, without having to tote a larger light around with me. (Have you ever noticed that hotel room light is never adequate for needlework?!)

Enter a little light that’s bright, bright, bright – the Beam N Read light. It makes a great little traveling companion for the needleworker. If you want a portable light that’s usable in the car, that’s easy to take to needlework classes, that doesn’t take up room in your living room, and that’s affordable, you might take a look at this one.

Here’s my review of the Beam N Read light as used while embroidering, with pros and cons.

Cotton tulle is a machine made, hexagon net used in lace making techniques such as Carrickmacross lace, Limerick lace (which often involves tambour chain stitch), Coggeshall lace, tambour lace in general, and in all kinds of other embroidered laces made on net grounds.

I used cotton tulle in the tambour embroidery video that I shared with you the other day – not so much because I use tulle as a ground fabric very often, but because you could easily see what’s going on behind the fabric.

But the use of the cotton tulle generated some questions, which are worth addressing.

Do you ever find yourself, mid-embroidery-project, facing a problem that you knew you should have addressed much sooner?

Well, that’s where I’ve been lately with the Mission Rose. There is a problem with it. And, like many problems that we run into on needlework projects, just the mere thought of the problem and how to rectify it was slowing me down.

But, just like with many problems we face in life, if we avoid it, it just gets bigger! Before you know it, you’ve got a proverbial Mountain where there should just be a wee Mole Hill. And most of that mountain is built in our minds, more than in reality. That is certainly the case with this problem on the Mission Rose.

The problem needs addressing. I can’t fudge it and make do. I needs must correct it, in order to move on with confidence in a decent outcome.

And so… here’s the problem, and my solution.

Good morning, peeps! It’s a lovely Friday here in Kansas – cold, but warming up later today. The sun will shortly be rising, the kids will shortly be walking past on their way to school, I will shortly be doing some needful chores, and shortly, the weekend will be upon us.

I’m not sure why, but Friday always seems to be the shortest day of the week. It’s the day I want to savor. But there’s never a chance. It flies by – and the next thing I know, bam-o! It’s Monday again.

Today – the 15th – is the day I sit down and work out wonderful things for Needle ‘n Thread. I brainstorm article ideas. I sketch in a publishing calendar for the next month. I write up lists of things to do and prioritize them. I see if I have all the supplies I need to accomplish what I need to accomplish in the next month, and if not, I order them. It’s the mid-month prep for the next month (and sometimes, beyond.) And I love doing it.

Which brings me to the point that Christmas is coming – I’ll be preparing my To Do Calendar around that fact today – and if you didn’t win today’s give-away, you should definitely put one of these beautiful and exceedingly handy tool caddies on your Christmas list! I’ve grown really fond of mine. It’s a terrific tool for any workspace, but especially if you have a tight workspace. It keeps a lot of tools together in one neat space, and it does it while lookin’ good.

Rarely do I look good when I’m being serviceable, but it’s nice to see that my tool caddy can manage it!