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 12, 2021
Happy Monday!
Today, a quick bit of Thread Talk – the perfect Tonic for a Monday Morning.
Last week, for Easter, I posted this Spring Eye-Spy image and jigsaw puzzle, and it generated some thread questions.
Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm… Embroidery thread! Oh yeah. Favorite subject. Let’s talk about it!
April 9, 2021
Time to take a break from Strawberries!
I thought I’d show you how I embroider the wee ladybugs on the Garden Party ready-to-stitch towel sets I released a couple weeks ago.
I love little garden critters, and the ladybug (or “ladybird” depending on where you’re from) is always a favorite to add to whimsical floral designs like Garden Party.
At the end of the tutorial, we’ll talk about when and why you might make a slight alteration in technique on these little buggy dots.
April 7, 2021
After a nice little break over the holiday weekend, it’s time to get back to stitching! And what better way to do so, than to forge forward with our embroidered strawberries?
This is the second-to-last installment of this project. Today, we’ll look at the last strawberry – the small one, embroidered in long & short stitch – and we’ll see how to stitch the very simple blossoms.
Next time we visit the project, we’ll talk about stems and the large leaf.
This is a quick little episode! Ready?
April 3, 2021
Good evening (here in Kansas, anyway!) and Happy Easter tomorrow!
I’m sending my Easter greetings out a little early, because I’ll be off tomorrow and Monday, celebrating Easter with my family here in Kansas.
From my house to yours, I wish you and yours the glory and joy of a beautiful Easter!
Just in case you’re looking for something Really Exciting to do this weekend, you’ll find this year’s Spring Eye Spy game and accompanying jigsaw included below. I hope you enjoy it!
March 31, 2021
Today, we have to deviate slightly from our normal course of embroidering strawberries.
In this installment on How to Embroidery Strawberries, we’re going to stitch Strawberry #4 – which is the largest strawberry in the design.
But two things happened that detoured the original planned approach:
1. A photographic oversight – there are no photos for Strawberry #4 as it was worked on the original project (whoops!); and
2. Since I had to re-stitch Strawberry #4, I ended up adjusting the design a little bit.
I’ll explain as we go – but don’t be alarmed that this particular strawberry looks a little different from the one in the original design, or that it is isolated.
You can apply all the concepts you learn in this lesson to the original strawberry, or you can adjust your design to match this strawberry. I supply an adjusted design at the end of this article.
March 29, 2021
Every year, I find myself preparing some kind of embroidery project in anticipation of Spring – something I can enjoy while winter slides away. Something that promises sunny days and cheery blooms ahead!
Over the past few years, I’ve turned these projects into ready-to-stitch towel sets that you can enjoy, too.
This year’s ready-to-stitch Spring collection is called Garden Party! It’s a light, colorful, whimsical design set, replete with lady bugs, a butterfly, and bright stylized florals scattered along a series of swirly vines.
March 26, 2021
Are you ready for Part 4 of this series on how to embroider strawberries? I am!
Our last installment focused on Burden Stitch as a stylized filling for a strawberry.
But before we go any further, I have two things to tell you:
1. Hallelujah! It is Friday!
and
2. There’s now a specialty thread pack available for the perle cottons I’m using in the strawberries.
So read on, and I’ll tell you all about it…
