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
January 11, 2012
Once upon a time, there was a hungry tortoise. Roaming the woods and fields, he came to a stony path. In the middle of the stony path, there rested a great strawberry – the greatest strawberry the hungry tortoise had ever seen!
January 10, 2012
In the Medallion Project that I’ve been working on, the background is stitched in flat silk that is held down by a meandering gold thread in a technique called “vermicelli.”
Today, I’d like to show you how I lay the flat silk, and explain why it’s useful to change the direction of filling an area while doing so. For the most part, I don’t change the direction of stitching, but instead I turn my frame 180 degrees. We’ll look at laying flat silk threads, and then how to fill an irregular shape, changing the direction of the filling process along the way.
January 9, 2012
Here it is – the post we’ve all been waiting for!
Today, I’m announcing the winners of the 12 Days of Christmas series here on Needle ‘n Thread. This was a series of hand embroidery related give-aways, running over the 12 Days of Christmas, from Christmas to January 6th.
January 7, 2012
The 12 Days of Christmasneedlework give-away series is over, though you still have time to enter comments on the give-away posts! So if you haven’t entered yet, jump to it!
I think the series has gone well. Who knows? Maybe this can be the beginning of a Christmas tradition on Needle ‘n Thread!
I hope you enjoyed the series as much as I did. The fun part for me – besides preparing it – was reading all the comments! My goodness, there were lots, and I enjoyed them all! Yes, I do read them – each one – as those who received e-mail replies can attest. They always put a smile on my face, or thoughts in my head, or inspiration in my heart. Thank you for participating!
January 6, 2012
Ahhhh – the Twelfth Day of Christmas! The series comes to an end!
Are you sighing with relief? Or holding your breath in anticipation?
Well, here is the final gift:
Inspiration.
And I mean that figuratively and literally.
January 5, 2012
I love my new Millenium needlework frames. (That’s a link to my review, if you’re not sure what the Millenium frames are and you’d like to read about them.)
It was one of those love-at-first-try sort of situations. I set up the frame the first time and was completely twitterpated. It was so easy to set up a large project: no tacking, no sewing and lacing up a slate frame. Oh wow. I was really besotted! But I knew that infatuation doesn’t always last, so after working with the frame for a couple weeks (and calming down a bit), I sat back to re-assess my first impressions.
And they didn’t change. The Millenium frame is a magnificent tool!
January 4, 2012
For some reason, I am Really Excited about today’s give-away. I suppose it’s because I’m a “tool” junkie – even though I’m not really a collector of tools. Just give me good tools that do the job well and I’m happy. If they happen to be attractive to boot, that’s great!
On this Tenth Day of Christmas, the give-away focuses on a few tools that I find serviceable. It happens that two of them fall into the “good looking” category – and in fact, one is downright gorgeous. So, three tools in all for one lucky winner.
