If you’re following along in this series on developing your own spot sampler, and you’re sticking pretty much to what I did on mine and my students are doing on theirs, then the next step after adding a little Quaker motif is adding a bit of blackwork.

We’re getting close to the end of the counted thread work on this series on the embroidered spot sampler. In fact, everything after this section on blackwork belongs to both surface and counted embroidery, depending on your fabric. So if you’re hankering for surface stitches, they’re a-comin’!

Student’s Sampler

Thanks to all for your participation in this week’s book give-away! I read each one of your 300+ comments and it was great fun hearing about your favorite stitch dictionaries. Your favorites and mine seem to coincide, for the most part – there were a couple mentions of little gems that I haven’t gotten my grubby paws on, though, and with your glowing recommendations, I find myself compelled to check out some of your favorites that I haven’t seen yet.

OH NOOOOooooo! You know what this means, don’t you!!? No! No! I must not succumb!!!!

I’ll just keep repeating to myself, “No More Books. No More Books. No More Books….”

But I don’t think it’ll work.

Well, today being Saturday, and the weather being happily autumnal, and darn it, because I want to, I’ve decided to give away three copies of Stitch Sampler. There are just too many people out there who need another book (or a first stitch dictionary!), after all.

The other day, I reviewed the book Stitch Sampler, and today, I thought I’d give away a copy.

Read on to see the give-away rules!

Last week, we discussed different stitches that can be used for filling larger spaces. I brought the subject up because lots of folks ask whether or not they should fill this particular (large) space with satin stitch, and I wanted to emphasize that satin stitch is really not an ideal stitch for covering a large space, unless the satin stitch is somehow couched or held down by other stitches.

The difficulty is the notion of “large,” I think. After all, there’s large, and then there’s Large. It’s pretty obvious that I’m not talking about Large, as in table-cloth size or something of that nature. The term large being rather relative, let’s take a look at a small design that’s actually “large” and that just didn’t work with satin stitch.

Running out of thread when there’s only four more stitches to go is one of the Absolutes in the Life of the Stitcher.

It’s also one of those wonderful little aggravating trials that makes people of a certain personality (take me, for instance!) want to swear (under my breath, of course…). It’s a Riffemrackemfrickemfrackem Moment!

I’ve been working up instructions for doing the chain stitch and some of its variations, and while I was chain-stitching along, It happened. I ran out of thread with just over an inch left to stitch.

Aha! A perfect teaching opportunity, because you know what? It will probably happen to you some day, too, if it hasn’t happened already. As my Dad would say, “It’s a has or it’s a gonna.” One day, you’ll be chain-stitching along, and bammo! You’ll have about an inch of thread left and four more stitches to go. Instead of cursing under your breath, though, you’ll remember that switching threads is not so difficult as all that and that it’s even – yes – fun.

(Ok, fine. I admit this might be a stretch. It would be easier not to have to change the thread. But we’re trying to be optimistic here!)

So here’s a little photo tutorial on how to change threads when chain stitching. First we’ll talk about the technically INcorrect way to change the thread, then I’ll show you the technically correct way to change the thread, and then… I’ll admit that you don’t always have to be technically correct.