Over the centuries, silk thread has been particularly favored for fine embroidery for a number of reasons, but the dominant reason is this: it is a naturally beautiful thread. No other fiber compares to silk for its natural, age-defying beauty.

Most cotton embroidery threads have a sheen to them. But under the glaring eye of Time, that sheen – which is chemically produced through a process called mercerization – fades. Not so with silk!

The natural sheen of silk is especially beautiful because of the way light plays off it. I’ll show you what I mean, while we chat about a project I’m working on.

When I think of Hungarian embroidery, I generally think of bright, multi-colored embroidery. From region to region in Hungary, though, different styles of embroidery dominate. Some of it is multi-colored and bright. Some of it is whitework. As with many countries that have a needlework heritage, there are many different styles of embroidery in Hungary.

My favorite type of embroidery from Hungary is a kind of “peasant” embroidery, worked in red, red and blue, or red and black, on heavy, coarse linen. I’m calling it Hungarian redwork, because really, that’s what it is – it is often all-red embroidery, worked heavily in a combination of buttonhole stitch, a kind of closely worked open chain stitch, some satin stitch, and sometimes other stitches, too.

If you enjoy blackwork – or if you haven’t tried it but are keen to – here’s a wonderful online resource for an extensive collection of blackwork filling patterns – and it’s free!

Over the last few months, we’ve looked at some pieces of old embroidery featuring silk and goldwork. The three pieces we’ve examined so far (this example of Chinese embroidery, this gorgeous tambour and goldwork embroidery panel, and this goldwork and silk on velvet piece) are all in fairly good condition for what they are.

Today, I’m going to show you another old fragment featuring silk tambour embroidery and metal threads.

It’s not the most beautiful piece of embroidery you’ll ever clap your eyes on. In fact, as far as my preferences go, I’d say it’s a bit on the ugly side, the poor thing.

There are some intriguing things about the fragment as well, though, and the whole thing begs to be examined more closely. But let’s start with a brief look.

I don’t know why I did it. Perhaps it’s because I couldn’t get over the orange kick, after playing with orange Trebizond silk and plaited braid stitch. (Remember that? I’m not really an orange person!)

More likely, though, it’s because everywhere I look right now, someone is proffering the latest Pumpkin-Something, and I am beginning to feel Oddly Short of Mainstream. To solve the problem, yesterday I took five minutes out of my already off-course day and fiddled with orange thread to create a pumpkin.

If you want to add a of Petite Pinch of Popular Pumpkin to your embroidery, here’s an easy and quick way to do that!

I haven’t done a “Top 10” list of embroidery books in ages upon ages. One reason is that it takes ten forevers just to collect the stats and figure them out. But since I was updating my Embroidery Book List the other day, I took the plunge and did some real work… for a change!

So here’s my list of Most Popular Embroidery Books on Needle ‘n Thread for 2012 so far. I’ve included 15, because numbers 15 through about 9 all rank very close in popularity. They’re all excellent books in their own way, and worth having for reference or instruction.

I’m eager to know if you agree with the popular consensus! What books are you surprised to see on the list, or not on the list?

Maybe you’ll find something here to add to your own library (or at least to your Christmas Wish List). Each entry on the list is linked to my book review for that entry, so feel free to browse!

Yesterday, we looked at embroidering a tree trunk, and today, I’d like to show you how I added leaves to my silk gimp tree. I would’ve included all the information in one article, but holy cow! I was up to 2,000 words, and I figured no one needs that much of me in one day!