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
April 25, 2022
I’m still plugging away on this reticello sampler that I started several weeks ago. It’s not a formal piece of embroidery by a long shot – I’m just testing techniques, ideas, and the like – which is the exact purpose of a sampler.
April 22, 2022
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…)
April 20, 2022
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!
April 13, 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.
April 11, 2022
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.
April 8, 2022
Just a short little visit today to point you in the direction of an interesting conversation on the Bayeux Tapestry, hosted by The British Museum.
I love little bits of exploration on topics that have to do with historical needlework. There’s no doubt that the Bayeux Tapestry is one of the greatest extant pieces of historical needlework, so this discussion is right up my alley. I’ve always had a fascination with the Bayeux Tapestry, and I know many of you do, too.
April 6, 2022
On Monday, I showed you the little reticello sampler I’m dabbling with. It’s an exploratory thing, just for my own information at this point. Many of you have asked if this will be in the Stitch Snippets series this year. No – no no. Oh no. Nope! That’s not to say it won’t develop into something else, but the Snippets for this year are pretty much planned out already.
This piece is really just for my own information, learning, trials and errors, and so forth.
I have a question I want to ask you about it, though, so I’ll do that at the end of today’s article.
