Koala Conventions is a business in Australia devoted to putting together pretty spectacular needlework events. Twice a year in Australia, they host workshops that pull in some of the best tutors from Australia and around the world. The workshops cover a huge variety of techniques, and they look deliciously tempting and downright fun!

This is where I’ll collect all the posts on developing an embroidered spot sampler, so that you have easy access to each post, and so that they can be viewed in order. You’ll find a link to this post (the index for the spot sampler project) under Tips & Techniques, too. If you haven’t visited my Tips & Techniques page, you might want to check it out. That’s where I list articles on Needle ‘n Thread that either teach a specific technique, or that index various series of articles on a whole project.

Selecting colors of threads for an embroidery project can be a pretty daunting task! On the bright side, when it comes to working a spot sampler, you aren’t restricted in the same way as you would be if you were embroidering, for example, a picture.

I’ll tell you right off the bat that I’m no expert in color theory! But I’ll show you how I went about selecting colors for the spot sampler, in case it helps.

Over the years of writing Needle ‘n Thread, I’ve tried to keep careful track of needlework questions that I’ve received through the website. I always think that some day, I’ll categorize them and publish all my answers! But Wow, there are lots! I have over 1,000 e-mails saved that fall under the “Question and Answer” category! But this is understandable, because the beginning embroiderer faces quite a few challenges, especially when going it alone.

For those interested in following the Spot Sampler that I’m currently developing with my Needle Arts Class, I’ll be publishing a Spot Sampler Series over the next several weeks. If you are interested in developing your own “learning sampler,” you’re welcome to stitch along at your own pace, using these mini-tutorials as they develop.

Keep in mind that there are plenty of other ways of working your own sampler. Here, I’m simply outlining how I’ve been developing mine. These are just loose ideas that you can adapt and alter to fit your own style!

This series of free monograms for hand embroidery is taking a bit longer than I originally planned, but at long last, I’ve gotten to the M, which is half-way through the alphabet, right? Some day, I just might get to the Z!

There’s a small version and a large version below, plus a PDF you can download and print.

Spot Samplers can be a lot of fun to embroider! I’ve gotten a few requests about how to create one, and that’s the whole fun of it, really. The purpose of this type of sampler is simply to practice and get the “feel” for stitches, motifs, and so forth. It’s not necessarily something that’s planned out meticulously ahead of time, or that follows a stitching chart. Still, the stitcher, while working on it, kind of gets an idea of where the next spot should land.

I’ve added a few more spots to my sampler since you saw it last, so I’ll show you what I mean by being “unplanned” but still planned ahead, in the head.