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 11, 2025
Thanks so much for all the happy birthday wishes! And for participating in my Happy Birthday give-away!
Today, I’ll announce the randomly drawn winners of the give-away items and tell you what’s coming up – especially with next week’s schedule.
April 8, 2025
Today, I’m celebrating another milestone by becoming one day older – because let’s face it: I’m really only a day older than I was yesterday.
In fact, following this line of logic, I’ve decided to start calculating my age differently. By my new calculations, I must be somewhere around 20,000.
“It’s your birthday?! Why, how old are you?”
“I’m 20,000, give or take…”
It just feels so right.
For my birthday, I thought we’d have our own little party here on Needle ‘n Thread, by having a give-away.
Additionally, we’re going to have a sale! Yay! More on that below the give-away!
April 4, 2025
When things get complicated here in the studio and in life in general, I find it helpful to turn to a project that is just for fun, that I’ve been yearning to do but haven’t taken the time, and that gives me time to think.
I do a lot of thinking when I’m stitching – especially if I’m stitching on something that has no real obligation attached to it (yet). As long as it’s relatively uncomplicated (although sometimes, a challenge can kick me into gear on other things), I tend to get in some good contemplation that can lead to workable solutions for the Inevitable Problems of Life and of Work.
(It’s hard to call my job work, but it is work – it’s work I love, but it’s still work!)
This is a project whose parts have been hanging about in the studio for a long time. I’ve been wanting to play with it, I’ve been waiting to play with it, I’ve been willing to play with it… but Everything Else kept intervening.
April 2, 2025
Last week, I introduced you to my misadventures in appliqué, wherein I asked for your input because I just wasn’t finding a solution that I liked for this appliqué project that’s in the works.
Thank you all so much for your input! I was flooded with great ideas and suggestions, as well as some things to heed in the process. I appreciate that you took the time to help a poor gal in a quandary out.
I’ve been testing some of your suggestions and exploring a few ideas of my own. While I’m not in a Huge Hurry on this project, I’m trying to narrow down my approach as quickly as possible. Admittedly, I’d like to get this particular job done and off my plate for good!
March 31, 2025
Last year, we looked at the first three books in a new series called The Handpicked Collection from Inspirations Studios – I reviewed those here – and today, I’m going to show you volume 4, which just recently came out.
Of course, it’s beautiful. It’s packed with a bunch of gorgeous embroidery projects covering a wide range of techniques and levels of skill, so it’s a book that’s suitable for beginners and beyond.
I’ll show you the projects in the book while we chat about it…
March 28, 2025
If you’ve been hanging around Needle ‘n Thread for a while, you already know this. If you are new to Needle ‘n Thread, then I might as well tell you now…
I’m a linen freak.
I absolutely love linen.
I should qualify: I love good linen. It is my One Weakness… among many.
March 26, 2025
Cloth of gold is an interesting “misnomer” today. When cloth of gold was really cloth of gold, it was… well. Cloth of gold!
Today, cloth of gold is more like “cloth of metallic with no gold in it” – or cloth of gold-colored metallic.”
I’m not really complaining, because if cloth of gold were Cloth of Gold, it would be entirely unaffordable. As it is, cloth of gold-colored metallic is already pretty pricy.
In any case, I’m playing around with some fabrics to figure out how I want to appliqué some gold lettering for another “vesperale” or altar cover – similar to the one I made here, but not as complicated, and not featuring heavy goldwork.
