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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Garden Swirl 3: A Few More Flowers

 

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Happy Monday!

Today, we’re going to move right along on Garden Swirl, by stitching a few more flowers on the piece.

If you’re just joining in on the stitch-along, you can find the Garden Swirl Project Index here. There, you’ll find all the previous installments, including design and materials, listed in chronological order.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you received today’s lesson last week, in a downloadable PDF format. If you haven’t picked that up yet, hop over to my Patreon page, where you’ll find it listed under “Collections” in the main menu.

Garden Swirl stitch along 3: more flowers
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Embroidered Maniturgium: Battling the Indecision of Decision Making

 

I’m having one of Those Weeks. Umpteen attention-beggars. A gazillion interruptions. Unprioritized Priorities taking over every task list. And the Great Battle of Indecision in Decision-Making.

True, it’s all part of the adventure of life! I’m happy it’s Friday, and I look forward to some time to Un-muddy the Mind this weekend.

And how will I unmuddy the mind? Well, for one thing, I’m going to make a decision! I always tackle the questions that need a decision, first. Indecision can be crippling, when it comes to moving forward on a project or plan. So the quicker I can solve the decision dilemma, the better.

In life, there are lots of huge decisions that we all have to make at some point or another. I’m not really talking about one of those biggies. Not at all! I’m talking about a decision that, in the scheme of things, is really rather trivial. But it has thrown a wrench in my forward movement. And so I need to tackle it.

This weekend, I will make a thread decision.

Embroidered Maniturgium: thread decisions
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Garden Swirl Stitch-Along 2b: Leaves

 

Good morning, folks!

Today, we’re going to add the leaves to the Garden Swirl project. If you’re just joining in on this stitch-along adventure, you can find the previous installments of the stitch-along here in the Garden Swirl project index.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you received today’s information already, in the PDF that was posted last Friday. I can’t cover as much in a blog post as I can in a PDF, so usually the PDFs on Patreon have more information in them and they are a little farther ahead on the project. So don’t worry if you don’t see a post on Patreon today – you already have this information!

Garden Swirl Stitch-Along: Embroidering the Leaves
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Garden Swirl Stitch-Along Project Index – and News

 

To keep things organized and easy for you to find, here’s the Garden Swirl Project Index for the current stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread.

We currently have the materials kit for this project available here. The kit comes with the design pre-transferred for you on beautiful white linen twill, plus all the threads, and fine English embroidery needles.

And you’ll find the decorative box for finishing the project available here.

Garden Swirl Stitch-Along Project Index
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Garden Swirl Stitch-Along 2: A Large Flower and the Vine

 

Welcome to part 2 of the stitch-along for Garden Swirl.

If you’re just joining in, you’ll find part 1 – which covers materials, tools, and the design – here.

Next Monday, I’ll be creating a Project Index for Garden Swirl, which will be available under “Tips & Techniques” in the main menu here on Needle ‘n Thread.

Members on Patreon will find today’s information (which also includes embroidering the leaves) already published over on Patreon, with a downloadable PDF.

Today, we’re going to embroider one of the large flowers on the design and we’ll also stitch the vine and all its little offshoots.

Garden Swirl 2: Flower and Vine
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Doodling & Designing: Maniturgium Project

 

Behind all the scurry and hustle for Garden Swirl, I’m spending time designing (more like doodling – but it eventually will lead to a finished design) the maniturgium that I mentioned in this article last week.

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an “artist proper.” From conception to execution, I am just not one of those artists who manages, with seeming ease, to produce some beautiful and intricate work of art, in ideal proportions, using pencil, paint, pen…

Instead, I am a doodler, and I manage to pull my doodles together into some kind of design that will work for the embroidery project I’m imagining.

I don’t consider this a negative thing, and I’m not belittling myself. I’m just stating a fact. I have never developed skill for sketching or painting, for bringing an idea to fruition in the correct proportions and balance, to produce a real work of art in the way that an artist, with training (or with innate skill and talent), can do.

I’m pretty decent with stylized doodles, designs, elements, and text, and so that’s pretty much where my approach to design lies.

embroidered maniturgium
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Garden Swirl Stitch-Along 1: Materials and More

 

Aaaaaaand…. we’re off!

It’s time to start the stitch-along series for Garden Swirl, a decorative embroidered insert for a box lid. It’s a sweet little piece – I love the color scheme! – and it’s not too taxing. The results are very pretty, and the whole finished project is quite satisfactory. I think you’ll have fun with it, and I hope you learn a lot along the way.

As we kick off the adventure, I’ll recap below what you can expect with the stitch-along and how it will progress; I’ll share the embroidery pattern with you; and I’ll share my materials list and tools that I used to work the samples.

If you’re following along using the materials kit, you will have everything you need to stitch the project, including the pre-transferred design on your linen. If you’re working from your own materials, feel free to make substitutions, as you wish.

Garden Swirl Stitch-Along
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