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
Contact Mary
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
Contact Mary
December 27, 2011
Today’s give-away is courtesy of Berlin Embroidery Designs. Tanja Berlin has put together two beautiful collections of goldwork threads for the 12 Days of Christmas give-away series. That means that today, there are two winners to draw!
December 26, 2011
Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas Needlework Give-Away series! I’m very excited about this series of give-aways, each of which is sponsored by the designers, manufacturers, retailers, or artists featured in each give-away post.
For this series of give-aways, entering is very easy. Just read each article completely and follow the instructions at the end of the article.
For the First Day of Christmas give-away, we have three beautiful needle painting embroidery kits from Trish Burr, along with a set of her needle painting instructional DVDs. The winner will receive all three kits and the DVD set.
December 25, 2011
To all my Needle ‘n Thread Friends, I wish you and yours a Christmas full of joy and many blessings!
December 24, 2011
Brown paper packages wrapped up in string, These are a few of my Favorite Things…
Do you ever wonder why that song – My Favorite Things (of Sound of Music fame) – makes it into the Christmas music line-up every year? It wafts through the air in shops and on radio stations, nestled cozily between Jingle Bells and Sleigh Ride. Is it just the mention of brown paper packages wrapped up in string? Surely it’s not the dog biting or the bee stinging that gives it rank among Christmas favorites. Perhaps it’s those snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes? Or the silver-white winters that melt into springs? If they’re melting into spring, why isn’t it an Easter song? After all, there’s that mention of girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, which sounds much more like a spring wardrobe than a winter one!
This is something that baffles me.
December 22, 2011
With Christmas hastily approaching, it seems almost mundane to go back to the whole subject of thimbles, doesn’t it?
But you see how it is! And if you don’t, I suppose I shall have to tell you…
December 20, 2011
A kind reader sent me a quick e-mail yesterday, with a link to a new addition to Antique Pattern Library – Sajou Album No. 612 – which is a gorgeous collection of monograms for hand embroidery. The monograms are presented in three sizes, and along with them are several very pretty border designs.
December 19, 2011
When Erica Wilson died last week at the age of 83, I thought about writing a tribute to her. She was, after all, the most influential lady in the needlework industry in the last half century here in America.
But I was a little daunted at the prospect of writing about her. I cannot say that I ever met her, because I never did. I cannot say that I ever spoke with her, because I never did. I cannot say that I ever attended class with her, because I never did. What do I know about Erica Wilson, and who am I to write anything about her? How could I pay even a remote tribute to her and to her impact on the needle arts?
