About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

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

Connect with Mary

     

Archives

2025 (74) 2024 (135) 2023 (125) 2022 (136) 2021 (130) 2020 (132) 2019 (147) 2018 (146) 2017 (169) 2016 (147) 2015 (246) 2014 (294) 2013 (294) 2012 (305) 2011 (306) 2010 (316) 2009 (367) 2008 (352) 2007 (225) 2006 (139)
 

Cotton Quartet 1: Preliminaries & First Stitches

 

Amazon Books

Welcome to the first installment of Cotton Quartet: A Sampler Tool Case! I’m excited to get going, and I hope you are, too!

This project is part of the Stitch Snippets Series for 2022 here on Needle ‘n Thread. In this series, we’ll explore several projects from start to finish, so that you can recreate the project at home, at your own pace. We’ve already completed one project – the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion – and we have more coming up!

When possible, Stitch Snippet kits or partial kits will be available to purchase, so that you don’t have to source supplies from all over the place. We’ll do that for you, and put them all together in a tidy package.

Even if you’re not stitching along with this project, you’ll find tips and techniques along the way that you can apply to your own needlework adventures, so please feel free to read along!

Cotton Quartet: Preliminaries & First Stitches, Intro
Continue reading “Cotton Quartet 1: Preliminaries & First Stitches”

A Meditation in Silk & Gold: Online Presentation

 

If you’ve been hanging about here with me at Needle ‘n Thread, you already know that I’m almost giddy with excitement over the fact that two of the panels of the Loreto Embroideries from the Royal School of Needlework are here in the US on exhibit.

They can be found at the Marian Library at the University of Dayton through August 26, as part of their Vision of Art and Faith exhibition, focusing on the works of Italian artist Ezio Annichini.

Loreto Embroideries on exhibit at University of Dayton
Continue reading “A Meditation in Silk & Gold: Online Presentation”

Cotton Quartet – Kit News & Updates

 

Thanks so much for all of you who purchased the materials kit for Cotton Quartet earlier this week!

For those who want the kit, never fear – we are frantically making more!

I’m afraid I upset some of you by selling out of kits again. You’d think, after the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion kits, I would have figured it out.

In fact, we prepared twice as many kits for Cotton Quartet.

And yet it was still another epic fail in gauging the level of interest in the kits and preparing enough in advance! (I’m getting very good at getting it wrong, anyway…)

Cotton Quartet Materials Kit
Continue reading “Cotton Quartet – Kit News & Updates”

Cotton Quartet Materials Kit – Launching Tomorrow!

 

Good morning!

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and a happy Easter!

Here in Kansas, we celebrated Easter with family and friends, lots of good conversation and fun. Other than that, it was a fairly low key weekend, which worked out well. It’s always nice to have some quiet time!

And I didn’t get any stitching done, except on my hexie quilt, here and there. I had reticella plans, but alas, they did not materialize – too many other little things to do!

Today, I’m very excited to tell you about the materials kit for Cotton Quartet, the new Stitch Snippets project coming up, which will be available very, very soon!

Cotton Quartet: a Sampler Needlebook & Scissor Keep
Continue reading “Cotton Quartet Materials Kit – Launching Tomorrow!”

The Great Framing Project of 2022

 

Yet another project underway in the Needle ‘n Thread studio this year is one instigated by my rather brilliant sidekick Anna. It’s being completely managed by her as well. It’s one of those projects that has hung over my head for years, that just keeps growing… and growing… and growing.

When I work up embroidered samples of things to demonstrate techniques or to illustrate ideas for the blog, normally, those embroidered pieces end up relegated to a box or a folder. I pull them out when I have classes, or when someone wants to see some work up close.

When it comes to my home, I’m always of a mind that there is such a thing as Too Many Framed Pieces, but at work, it’s a little different. We have a good bit of wall space in the studio, and it’s pretty much blank! Plus, it’s a working studio, not a home.

A Wall (or two) of Inspiration seems to be a good idea.

Framing embroidery pieces
Continue reading “The Great Framing Project of 2022”

Cotton Quartet: The Next Stitch Snippet – Coming Soon!

 

Yay!! It’s time to get ready for the next Stitch Snippets project here on Needle ‘n Thread!

Stitch Snippets is a series of follow-along embroidery projects here on Needle ‘n Thread. We began the series this year with the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion project.

The idea behind the series is to explore projects that are small enough to be completed within a relatively short frame of time. Developing from start to finish, the result is a completed work that is either functional or decorative (or both!), that’s not languishing in an unfinished state. So whether we construct something (like the pincushion or the project below) or simply prepare a small and beautiful piece of embroidery in a frame, we will do it together, from the beginning to the very end.

With each Stitch Snippet, there is an instructional or exploratory “angle.” For example, with the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion, we learned how to work with beads in embroidery and we learned how to build a pincushion.

Cotton Quartet: a Sampler Case
Continue reading “Cotton Quartet: The Next Stitch Snippet – Coming Soon!”