Remember these darling needle tins from a couple weeks ago?
These little slide-topped, vintage-style needle tins are a perfect solution for storing bulk needles. You can read all about the journey of how they came to be here, if you’d like some background information on them.
Last July, I reviewed these handy Needle ID Cards, that will help you discern which needle is which in your vast collections of hand embroidery needles.
Today, because it’s Tuesday and the sun is shining, I’m giving away a set of needle tins and a set of Needle ID cards to two lucky winners!
This means two participants in today’s give-away will receive a set of four tins and the whole set of needle ID cards (they come in a handy little plastic case).
Give-Away Guidelines
Ready? To join in the give-away, please follow these guidelines:
This give-away has now ended. Thanks for participating!
1. Leave a comment below on today’s article on Needle ‘n Thread. For e-mail subscribers, please click on this link to go to the website and leave your comment. Comments via e-mail or left on another article are not eligible.
2. In your comment, please answer the following:
What’s your all-time favorite type of embroidery / needlework, and why?
3. Please leave a recognizable name either in the “name” line or in the comment box when you fill out your comment. For example, if your name is Hepzibah, you might use “Hepzibah in Halifax” to differentiate yourself from other Hepzibahs out there who might leave a comment. That way, there’s no confusion when the winners are announced.
4. Please submit your comment by Monday, June 10th, 5:00 am Central Daylight Time, because I’ll be up very early sorting everything out to announce the winners that day. Check back on Monday to find out if you’ve won, so you can send me your mailing address.
And that’s it! Simple-pimple!
The give-away is open to anyone, anywhere.
Good luck!
I love needle-painting in long and short stitches. It is soo challenging and since I prefer to work with silk, the colours are luscious.
I would love the needle tins and I would even more love those needle identification cards, since I have a tons of needles I have no idea what is.
Tania
Love the idea of a needle organizer. Once they come “out of the pack” I never know what’s what!
My favorite type of needlework, and I’ve tried all kinds, is counted cross stitch, especially making smalls and three dimensional pieces.
Stasi B.
Good Morning from Jacksonville, Florida! As of right now counted cross-stitch is my favorite. As a child of about 8 or 9 my grandmother started teaching me to cross stitch on printed pieces, then moved on to embroidery and now counted cross stitch is my favorite. I would like to venture out to learn some hardanger next. Happy stitching to all!
Great giveaway. My favorite type of needlework is blackwork. There is just something about it that calls me. I love the challenge of stitching it so it is reversible, but more than that, the look of it, the traditional designs, speak to my heart.
My favorite embroidery is that which was historically created on clothing in the form of silk and goldwork. The detail and weight of such embroidery is impressive, as is the time involved to create such beautiful work.
My favorite kind of embroidery is the kind I actually manage to do. 🙂 My dream is to get up to goldwork some day.
Rachel, goldwork is lovely to do. I had always wanted to try goldwork, then last year, one of the Ladies in my Embroiderers’ Guild held a goldwork class at the city’s art gallery. I went, and had a wonderful time. It is not very difficult and I was quite pleased with my little brooch which was finished within the 2 days of the class.
My all-time fav embroidery … must be blackwork! The complex geometric shapes have always enchanted me, somehow looking utterly old-fashioned and yet perfectly modern at the same time! As a child, I tried to copy the style but had no concept of even-weave fabric. Once I understood that … the whole thing gained a beautiful simplicity!
Hello!. I’m Victoria, from Valencia (Spain). I have no much time to embroider but when I do my favourite stitch is chain stitch, it’s simple, easy and makes a lovely embroidery. I like it!. Many thanks for this giveaway which I think I’m the first in comments jajaj. Good day!
To be honest, I haven’t tried as many types of embroidery as I would like. There are many techniques that I am dying to try. BUT Brazilian is my favorite. It is the only one that I have received formal instruction for, which may be one reason I like it so much, but other reasons are the fantastic 3-D forms you can make, the smoothness of the thread and the brilliant colors. It is so much fun to try something new with Brazilian and see what happens!
Cross stitch is y very favorite needlework. Since the first day my needle and thread met on my “canvas” nothing has made me happier in the sewing department of life! Hardanger comes in second. It is fun and gives my needlework a much different look. Thanks for the opportunity to win these handy additions to my sewing basket.
That’s like asking which child is your favorite!
Simply put, I haven’t found a stitch or technique I haven’t enjoyed attempting. Right now, because it’s summer, I’m doing a lot of whitework in between my obsession with all things from the 17th century. I may move to goldwork, or surface, or counted thread, or canvas. If it involves a threaded needle . . .
I love chicken scratch embroidery…find it really interesting for I love to incorporate beads and sequins in between the stitches.
Thanks for the gorgeous giveaway.
You are such a darling! Anything to help me get organized will be greatly appreciated.
And, as to my favorite needlework, if you’re going to make me choose it must be cross stitch. Simple, yes; but sometimes the simplest is the most elegant. At least that is what I tell myself as I binge on supply purchases!
Thank you, Mary xo
Hi
I love brazilian embroidery which is beautiful. Keeping the needles straight is difficult, but the tins would be a nice addition for my new sewing room. I do other embroidery and have all types of needles and keeping them identified is a challenge. Hope I win.
Nora
I still love needlepoint, especially charted geometrics!I’ve tried just about everything but always come back to this. I also do painted canvases with embellishments and different threads and stitches, but the fun of watching a pattern develop from a chart is the best!
What a lovely prize! Perfect for the beginning needlewoman like myself :*) I am a quilter who has recently discovered how much I enjoy embroidery. This past year I embroidered enough blocks to make a quilt using my small repertoire of simple stitches. But I’ve been following your blog and practicing, so I hope to someday advance to some of the lovely stitched designs you make!
Hi Mary!
My favorite needlework is blackwork. I have seen such amazing artwork and I love the simplicity of color that lets the complexity of design really shine. I’ve yet to attempt my own for fear that I would lose my awe of it.
Jen @ Sew Jenaissance
Hello, from Bemidji, Mn
Love Counted Cross-stitch, feel so relaxed nothing like seeing blank linen come to life while working on a pattern!
The needle tins are great as I work with multiple colors and am always changing needles the labels are necessary to keep them organized what a wonderful tool.
I love counted cross stitch and usually I am drawn to reproduction samplers from the 1800’s.
My favorite is counted cross stitch. I love this because you take a blank piece of linen and create your dreams through floss. The discipline of it helps to keep my chaotic mind in check and melts away all the days troubles. While my needle glides in and out of the fabric, my mind flows just like the silk…smooth and effortlessly. I do so love that saying: My day is not complete until needle and fabric meet!
Thanks!
Nancy
I’ve gotten into moods over the years, preferring various types of needlework for a few years, then getting a hankering to try something else. At the moment I’m trying to decide what to do next, and I’m at the info gathering stage. The job really gets in the way of my free time, though. 🙂
Boy is that a tough question to answer. I really do love all types of embroidery / needlework. My top two would be crewel and goldwork. Of those two, in a mental arm wrestling session, I think crewel would win out. The variety of patterns, colors and stitches used in one piece amazes me every time and I like that homey feel it has.
Thank you for the giveaway. I have just started collecting different types and sizes of needles and these would help me be organized from the start.
Thank you! I think the idea of the tins and cards to organize needles is genius.
I love needlepoint projects like eyeglass holders. Easy to take along and finish quickly
Cross stitch because it is just easy and relaxing and I can think – I call this my thinking/processing time. I love this and would love to win. 🙂
What’s your all-time favorite type of embroidery / needlework, and why?
Well, what I really like doing is applique so my favourite type of embroidery is the design needlework that I use to finish and embellish the edges of the applique. I’m doing some pattern work currently to make a coif but it’s not as much fun as the open play work I get to use when I’m finishing applique.
Kelly Wyatt in Ontario
I was taught embroidery at a young age and was a teen in the time when it was “cool” to embroider your hip pickets on your jeans…love those memories…and love cross stitch now for the magic of watching your design unfold-
My all time favorite needle work is crewel work. I remember when I was twelve years old,my mother introduced crewel work to me. It came in a kit with everything I needed. I am 51 years old now and I still remember working on it.
Sung Pak
My favorite type of embroidery that I do regularly is canvas. I love the holes so I know where my needle goes and all the fibers available for use.
My favorite embroidery of all is stumpwork. I love the dimension. I have embroidered several stumpwork pieces, but need to practice more because there are no holes.
The needle tins and identification cards are wonderful. I would love to have either of them to help me organize my needles, which I find hard to do.
I would love to win these, I love little tins and containers for allot of my handwork tools, so these would be perfect.
I am a real beginner, so I love embroidering along on the printed patterns for quilts. I am also really enjoying crazy quilting which I am just getting into. Kathy
My favorite? goldwork! because of the richness oft he color and the way the light glances on and off it. And because I feel so in touch with the history of our art and all the artists who’ve gone before us when I’m engaged in designing and stitching it.
Hello:
My favourite type of needlework is canvaswork. I love canvaswork because of the play of textures which can be created with the many different stitches and many different threads which are available today. I think overdyed threads are the best thing ever!
Thanks for your column!
Linda Lachance
I seem to have tried all types of stitching – however, never as intricate or as beautiful as yours. Because of arthritis, I can now only do embroidery and work every night on my Redwork tea towels. I love these little tins and needle cards- they are just plain “needful.” Thank you for a most generous opportunity. Judy C in NC
Thus far, my favorite type is hand surface embroidery. I’m currently working on the Bayeux Tapestry kit a friend brought me from from the shop in France where the Bayeux Tapestry is displayed. I’ve nearly finished all the stem stitching outline-just the soldiers and horses left. Then, I’ll begin padding. The kit came with Madeira wool, which I’ve been told is discontinued.
Mary, I have to say that your website is the ONLY reason I’m embroidering at all. Always wanted to learn, but my brain couldn’t make sense of diagrams in books and I’d quit in frustration. But, your videos have made every stitch clear to me. I’ve learned so much about fibers and fabric and tools and process from you. Thank you!
Although I have done several, and there are others I would like to try, canvaswork is my current favorite.
There is so much you can do with it – the seemingly endless variety of thread types and colors, the conucopia of stitches including stumpwork, surface embroidery, beadng and needleweaving, blackwork, pulled and drawn threadwork, the painted canvases to stitch completely or sparingly, counted geometric patterns, 3-D ornaments and stand-up figures…
And the accesories – beautifull wodden and glass laying tools, cute, quirky magnets, and lovely, vintage needle cases Hint, Hint
Rosalie
“What’s your all-time favorite type of embroidery / needlework, and why?”
I love all needle art… So to narrow it down to just one or two is very hard to do. I Love and do crazy quilting and use many different types of embroidery and needlework. But I think the one that gives me such a feeling of accomplishment is Stumpwork.
It stands alone on a piece or as a added touch in your design. It brings out the love that is put into needle-arts when you are doing this form of work or just looking at it.
Japanese Kogan. It was the common person and poor person’s way of making beautiful patterns on everyday items. Very artistic, effective design.
I’m a fan of hand embroidery. I like small projects that I can finish in a week and carry in my purse. Tea towells, Tee shirts, Jackets, Quilts, FOB’s, Notebook Covers, small Wall hangering, etc…have a splash of my embroidery on them.
My favorite needlework-that’s hard because I love them all but I have to say cut embroidery is my favorite. It’s just crisp and clean with only one color.
My favorite type of needlework is counted cross stitch as it’s the only kind of needlework I’ve done, with the exception of a counted canvas-work designed by Kathy Rees which I’m currently working on. I find it to be very relaxing and almost Zen-like in the way I can lose myself for hours while creating something lasting and beautiful. My mobility is very limited and I suffer from chronic pain ever since an unsuccessful back surgery in 2004. For the past 8-9 years, needlework has provided an outlet for my stress, frustration and pain, and it has grown into a full fledged addiction now that I’ve had to stop working. I’m also a “floss junkie” and love your blog and its articles on various fibers and types of needlework. Thanks for this giveaway! Kevin Tober
Love the ID cards! What a great idea!
Hi Mary,
I am not very experienced in the different types of embroidery – the one that I’m drawn too the most, is needle painting. The long & short stitches. Learning from yours(printed out the complete set from way back when) and Trish Burr’s dvd. Just love it.
thanks
Jean
I haven’t got a favourite yet, I’m still so new at this although I am partial to whitework. I do have one that I don’t favour and that is crossstitch.
Right now I am very intrigued with learning SASHIKO Japanese Embroidery. I love the Indigo blue fabrics with the crisp clean white Sashiko threads creating the geometric designs. I am in the process of making Sashiko embroidered coasters as my first project. I would love to have these great tins to keep my different kinds of needles separated.
I have been thinking of ordering both of these items. Would love to win them.
My passion right now is Hardanger. I used to Rosemal but Arthritis won’t let me do that anymore so I am doing Hardanger. I sometimes try other forms of embroidery but always go back to Hardanger. I love your newsletters. I am learning so much through your articles. I use my little “red” eye scissors everyday and they make me smile.
I love cross stitch, being a “quakeraholic”.
I also love traditional stitches and being Portuguese I like very much ours: I am doing my second attempt in “Castelo Branco” embroidery and have stitched some “Arraiolos” rugs.
Thanks for the awesome give-away.
Happy stitching!
My favorite type of needlework/emboidery is shadow work. (I was thankful for your article about the type of ground fabric yesterday!) I like shadow work especially on garments because the surface is smooth; fingers, and/or jewelry won’t get snagged on it. I make a lot of children’s clothing, for my own, my friends’ kiddos, charity sewing, etc. You can take a cartoon type drawing and turn it into shadow work embroidery easily. It’s the perfect embellishment on a child’s collar, or on the yoke of a baby romper.
Oooh these are SO adorable, I’ve been wanting on since you posted about them! I love ‘traditional’ looking things in my sewing box. I may also have a teeny-tiny fetish for tins of any shape and size 🙂
completely forgot to actually answer the question.. my favourite embroidery types tend to be crewel and dimensional embroidery – I love both the textural effect and the colours that can be used.
I am growing fonder of doodling type embroidery – things like your lattice stitch sampler appeal to me, just sort of rambling, flexible, whatever takes your fancy!
My favorite embroidery technique is “thread painting”, it allows a lot of freedom in interpretation … I did a bit of machine embroidery and digitizing designs… the process led me to the handwork of “thread painting” and I just keep going and learning…
Now I’m deeply interested in the study of some of the Portuguese Embroideries. But I only feel well about Guimarães Embroidey so far!
Thanks for this chance
I would dearly love the little tins and organizer cards for needles. I am constantly trying to keep my needles in check, and I can’t go into an LNS or craft store without buying more.
As to my favourite type of stitching, I’m addicted to samplers so that I get a great variety of stitches to experiment with. I got hooked on embroidery stitches at the grand age of 58 in a personal class with Thea Dueck of the Victoria Sampler in 1998, and I love her work, her variety of stitches, and her projects. Of all the different techniques I’ve tried though, I love hardanger the best. It is a challenge to do all the kloster blocks and end up in the right place. And because there are many varieties of stitches in hardanger, I am always learning something new there too.
I love your newsletter because I learn something new with each one, or you also enable me tremendously. I am a great one for gadgets or things to help my stitching. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to stitch, but I’m enjoying it all to the utmost right now.
Thanks for your wonderful contribution to the stitching world.
Perfect timing! I was just commenting to my husband that I had to do something about the renegade needles in my sewing box! As to my favorites, I’m torn. I love black work. Designing black work is both a joy, and a sort of puzzle and I get this “ahhh, aha!” Moment when it goes right. Also the look can be elegant and eautiful. But I also love plain old workhorse surface embroidery for its sheer versilitility. Good old stem stitch just worked its magic on a set of quilt blocks in my sewing room, so I have to say I love both.
My favorite type of embroidery is couching. I like it because it allows me to attach fibers and threads to a fabric backing that otherwise would be too thick or delicate for the surface. I also like couching because it allows you to use a single thread and make a pattern in that fashion. It also allows you to take less conventional items (e.g. pieces of cloth) and using a favorite stitch attach it to the fabric. I think that is my most favorite part of all — The fact that you can use a whole array of favorite stitches and couch with them. I never find couching limiting rather I find it quite freeing.
My favourite type of embroidery/needlework is crazy quilting because I can use lots of different stitches, threads and embellishments
After years of other kinds of needlework, I love applique most right now.
My favorite is counted cross stitch, simply because its what I’ve done the most of. I’m looking forward to branching out and doing more surface embroidery soon. I want to start with your needle painting sampler and play with the long and short stitch.
And I’d love to win! I was thinking of ordering the needle ID cards recently. Maybe I won’t have to!!
I love just surface embroidery and redwork, I am learning so many new techniques though that I find what is my favorite today may not be my favorite tomorrow. LOL. and i love the vintage look of the tins and the wonderful needlecards, would make my month to win them…
I would love to win these! I love to hand quilt and cross stitch. I am learning to love embroidery since I found a book for left handers. These tins and needle cards are so cute! I have a new sewing room they would look great in! Thanks, Mary, for the give-a-way!
I grew up doing crewel and then counted cross stitch. When I “discovered” heirloom sewing, I “discovered” shadow work embroidery, which I enjoy very much. It adds such delicate charm to children’s clothing and although it’s a relatively simple stitch, there is a pride I take in mastering perfectly placed, even stitches. (Love those needle tins! I currently use an old mints tin to store my pins! It reminds me of these needle tins.)
I love the idea of sorting and actually finding the needle I want for a particular stitch or project. I love crewel embroidery, but also enjoy adding bead work to skirts and blouses. It’s a short time “creativity fix”.
I love all kinds of needlework but I always come back to cross stitch. So, I guess that would be my favorite!
My all time favorite embroidery is red work. I love how I can outline the design and then add special stitches to showcase them. It really puts emphasis on the special stitches and for me is a WOW factor in my work. This also let’s me try out new stitches on a regular basis without the worry of how a new stitch will look with other special stitches.
I have been wanting the needle cards for awhile but haven’t ordered them. Since I am learning the stitches, it can be hard to keep my needles sorted and I may not remember what kind of needle they are just by looking if they get jumbled!
Mary, These little items would come in very handy, and not just for needles! How about using them for beads when travelling, or other little bits and pieces that we all have around.
To answer your question – my own favourite type of embroidery is anything counted. I have a ‘thing’ about symmetry so any kind of embroidery that is based on a grid is for me. LAR
I work mostly at “paint embroidery”. I have many of Helen Stevens’ books, I love her work.
So I guess that would be my all-time favorite type of embroidery. My favorite stitch to work, would be the “Stem Stitch” and the many variation of that stitch.
But it is not so much the type of stitch or embroidery I do, as the memories I create in my stitchs, that give me the most joy.
Thank you again Mary, not just for your great giveways but for giving of yourself to others.
God bless.
Bonjour Mary, I did lots and lots of cross stitch in my youth but since I found your site, I learned needle painting and I am hooked. I also like blackwork and would love to learn Bayeux embroidery.
Thanks for everything,
France from Canada.
Such darling tins, and those ID cards, they are the icing on the cake.
I love all kinds of needlework, but my favorite is my current one that I have come to love. Tatting with a shuttle. It is so pretty to make up trims and things in the vast array of thread colors available today. Haven’t tried it yet, but I would love to embroider up a pretty handkerchief and put a tatted edge on it.
Oh how to pick one type of favorite needlework? I have two extremes but they have something in common. Old English stump work and free form art embroidery. Both show the work of the artist’s hand. I am working on doing the later and enjoy looking at the former. Thanks.
My favorite needlework is stumpwork. I love the dimensional look and it is so much to do. Of course, I like all forms of needlework and gold work is so rich looking. Thank you Mary for this website. I have learned so much. I look forward to your emails.
I just love everything ‘white’ … I’m fascinated by the huge variety of white needlework techniques, but I particularly enjoy counted methods such as pulled thread or drawn thread embroidery. It’s partly the ingenuity in creating something beautiful with just two materials – white fabric and thread – and partly because seeing the pattern gradually emerge on the fabric is as enjoyable as solving a puzzle.
Good morning! I love your site and all of the information that you so freely share. Thank you! Thank you! I so admire EVERYTHING that you do. I love the look of dimensional embroidery, but also enjoy just simple stitches as well. I use the stem stitch the most often yet I realize that I need to branch out much more than I do. Again…. thank you so much for sharing such valuable information with so many.. that’s what I define as one who has true passion and love of the art of embroidery. Blessings!
I absolutely love “free style” hand embroidery because it is so relaxing and the possibilities are endless!
While I like cross stitch for mindless pleasure, I also like doing samplers that mix up stitches. It’s nice to learn things out of my comfort zone.
Hi Mary, My favorite type of needlework changes with every new project I begin. From pulled work, to needle painting, to cross stitch each project is a passionate endeavour. On my current project I am copying stitches from a very old European doily- changing placements and colours. No matter what the result it will be proudly displayed as my contribution to art.
KaycJo
As far as what I like to stitch, I’m definitely a long-and-short needlepainting kind of kid. It’s forgiving of mistakes, easy to blend colors, and feels intuitive. I often don’t really work with an exact pattern, just a general idea of shape and size and stitch where it feels “right.”
When it comes to what I like to look at from other people, though… goldwork, all the way. I adore the texture of it, the opportunity for complexity in layers. (I just don’t have the craft budget to join in myself! Someday, though…)
My favorite type of embroidery is needle painting/thread painting because of the beautiful details subtle color blending it produces.
Warm Greetings from Kansas!
Counted cross-stitch is my favourite. It is very relaxing, MY time.I would like to learn brazilian embroidery.
The needle tins and identification cards are great. Would be nice to have either of them to help me organize my needles.
Have a great day and happy stitching to all!
My favorite kind of embroidery is Ukrainian counted-thread work because it is a souvenir of my early days of marriage when I lived in the East Village of Manhattan. It was a dirty, dangerous place to live, but the Ukrainian Museum was an oasis of beauty. I spent untold hours enjoying their exhibits and their embroidery classes. While the black and red colors are most common, these days I improvise my own color schemes.
My favorite type of needlework is counted cross stitch but with specialty stitches. I like the texture the specialty stitches add to the piece. They really give it depth and especially if you use an over-dyed floss or a metallic!
Oh, what a lovely giveaway! I have a bad habit of jamming my needles into whatever spot I have handy and always forget what they are.
So far, my favorite type of needlework is Blackwork. I love the double-sided nature of it, and the clean lines.
Hi,
I have a love for many differnt styles of embroidery, but a couple of favourites would be Elizabethan for its fineness and history, together with modern Thread Painting with its realistic shading and dimension. I use a range of differnt types and brands of needles for my work so any help in identifying my loose needles is appreciated.
LizF in Brisbane
I love needlepoint and cross stitch. I also love series design which I often altered to look 3 dimensional. I can sit and just do that for a long time. I love it so much, my husband is making me a bigger frame. My dream is the gold work, and I would love to learn more on the crewel embroidery. Anyway, its nice to have a community like this. Thank you for sharing it to us. More power to you all!
My favourite needlework is still cross stitch. The first I tried out and became competent with. Still love all types of needlework, but I find the amount of concentration is just right for me, absorbing and rewarding, just like filling in a jigsaw puzzle.
I love Stumpwork. So many stitches, threads and a multitude of possibilities for using this technique. I’m currently working on a needlework box for a friend, and using Stumpwork to decorate the top.
The tins and identification cards would be a welcome addition to her gift, as well as for myself.
My favorite needlework is simple, vintage embroidery patterns. I have such fond memories of my Grandmother and my Auntie sitting beside me and carefully showing my little hands how to do various stitches. I still keep my very first set of embroidered pillow cases on hand for occasional use 🙂 These needle tins and ID cards are a great idea! I have needles of all kinds floating around and often cannot tell which is what! Thanks for the ideas 🙂
My favorite type of needlework to look at is silk and gold work combined. My favorite type to do is counted cross-stitch or black work because I have the most experience with those. Alessandra in Connecticut.
Eu borda bastante ponto cruz, mas estou me aventurando no hardanger, então no momento é este bordado que estou amando!!
Amei as latinhas e ficaria muito feliz de tê-las para organizar minhas agulhas!!
Over the years I have come to really enjoy the process of whitework. There are time when I can not do enough of it, because it is my de-stressing method . There is something satisfying about creating texture in one color.
wow..i love these tins. checked them out at the website and they are so cute. my favorite type of embroidery is crewel work and counted cross stitch. i want to try them all . The crewel work has lots of shaded stitches such as long and short stitch and the split stitch.
had a kit a long time ago that was almost finished and kids spilled orange juice on it that would not come out. Just found the same kit on ebay and am working on that
My favorite needlework of the month is smocking because I have a new grandson. I’m wanting to try the beautiful shadow work, as well. However, there are so many lovely types of needlework, it’s just difficult to choose.
I love the needle ID cards. After they pack is opened, they seem to look like all the other needles. I really need this!
I often find my needles on the couch using posterior (ouch). So this giveaway is ideal for one who needs needle organization.
My favorite type of embroidery is redwork. I love that is a style from 100 years ago, but it still looks fresh, crisp,and modern. I’ve used it for pieces with coelacanths, Florence+ the Machine, and it looks fab!
I love to do needlework of all kinds. I have a bag for each type of project ready to go in the car while I sit at voice lessons, dance lessons, sports, etc. I do hardanger, tatting, embroidery,cross-stitching,crocheting,and knitting. The needlecases in this prize would be very protable and I would not lose so many needles and notions. I take my creations to the county fair each summer. I make things for myself and my family.
I love this website for all the creative ideas I get. The progress photos spur me on to work harder on my crafts.
Doing needlework is a great stress reducer for I am a teacher. It is difficult to turn my brain off from school when I get home or go somewhere else. I keep thinking aout all I could be doing for the children.
I am not entirley sure what my favorite type of embroidery / needlework, is, but i have these beautiful little hankies that my grandmother hand embrodered. She passed away when my mom was only 10, so I ahve no clue what technique she used. but they have pretty flowers in one corner, and its a set of four, each with a different flower!
My favorite type of needlework is probably counted cross stitch. When I began I used the requisite 14 count aida cloth but quickly discovered other methods. I have used waste canvas to create fun motifs on childrens clothing. I have used afghan cloth to create cozy comforters. I have used high count linen to create beautiful pictures and 3 dimensional objects. It is easy to at first discount cross stitch because it seems to be a simple art and yes it can be. But cross stitch is only as simple as the pattern you chose, the stitches and technique you incorporate and the cloth you chose to stitch it on.
As with most needleworkers, I have dabbled in multiple techniques and enjoy all of them. Also, as with all needleworkers, I love stitching gadgets. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to win the adorable tins and the ever so useful needle cards.
I love ALL embroidery – preprinted, silk ribbon, counted cross stitch, embellishments. I have 2 sets of embroidered quilt blocks to put together in a quilt and picked up another set (on clearance) yesterday. But my most favorite is when I am embellishing an applique quilt. I am currently working on an applique quilt that has very little embroidery by the designer – well it will when I get done!
I can’t seem to pick a favorite type of needlework. If it requires a needle, thread, and fabric, I love it.
Ah Mary! I am sure you must be bored, bored, bored of hearing me go on about my favourite embroidery – Japanese embroidery. I’m sure I have told you how I love the designs and simply adore the silks and metallic threads. So why is it my favourite form of embroidery? Well, I think because it challenges me, and when I do it well, it makes my heart sing!
Thank you for another great give-away.
Hello,
My favorite type of embroidery is Stumpwork. I get such joy embroidering, like meditation. This helps me in other areas of my life by refreshing my brain and help me think more clearly. The end result of embroidering Stumpwork is a good thing too.
Bunny Goodman
Nanaimo B.C. Canada
I love the freedom of crewel work–I like coming up with the pattern and colors and just going at it however I want. Though I will say, there is something extremely satisfying about Swedish weaving. I’ve done one dishtowel and it was so relaxing and gratifying to watch the colored threads stack up and create the pattern.
I’m really glad to know about these–and thanks for the chance to possibly win a set! I do wish there were an East Coast distributor. I would rather purchase these locally than out of state with shipping.
My favorite type of needlework changes from time to time! Currently I’m loving Brazilian Embroidery, however I am also doing a lot of needlepoint and crazy quilting right now! However, if I had to pick one type, it would have to be crazing quilting, because it allows me to combine all types of needlework on one project, including embroidery, silk ribbon, beading and applique!
I need these, because I am so disorganized. Once I get all my random needles identified, I can put them in their proper tins, and I’ll never be confused again!
Needlepoint on painted canvas has to be my favorite, as it enables so much creativity from choosing types of threads, colors, stitches. And the canvases are so pretty, one can hang them I stitched as they wait their turn in the queue!
A year or two ago I got into crazy quilting. Love the versatility of being able to use many stitches in different ways and being able to embroider motifs on them. Since I’m still working the small areas go relatively fast for me. Thank you.
I love needlepoint! But not just simple basketweave. I love to incorporate different stitches, blackwork, and stumpwork on a needlepoint canvas. Why? Well, I’ve been needlepointing for over 30 years, so it feels comfortable working on a canvas ground rather than linen or silk. Thanks for such a fun giveaway! Monica from California
My favorite needlework is Jacobean crewel work. I love learning new stitches from your website. Thank you for the opportunity of winning one of these items. It would make my life easier since I get confused on which needles to use or where I have placed them. Organizational items are very helpful.
My favourite type of needlework is gold work; I just love the glimmer and shine. I find this form of needlework just so elegant.
I think these little boxes are just delightful. As a Jane Austen fan their design is in keeping with my taste and I can’t wait to put needles in them, and help me to get organized. The Needle ID Cards would be such a great help, because once I have taken a needle out of it’s package I have no idea what size it is.
Mary thanks again for a wonderful give-away.
I love needle-painting.
Ah, I love little tools and storage like these. Can never have too many (x + 1 is the perfect number). I started early on with surface embroidery however, I became hooked on stitching when I started counted cross stitch. I enjoy seeing images emerge as I stitch along. I work in financial analysis so maybe it is the orderliness in this stitching that keeps me captivated.
oh my – my favourite type… after trying several types over the years, I always seem to come back to cross stitch… it is so relaxing – for me anyway… I can feel the stresses of everyday life drop away as the stitches grow on the fabric…
Elizabeth in Saskatoon
Dear Mary
Thanks to Access Commodities and thank you for this lovely give-away.
What’s my all-time favourite embroidery, mmmmmm thats a difficult one as there are so many types of embroidery to enjoy and there are those that I haven’t tried yet like shadow work or cut and whitework which will be my next project. But for the types of embroidery that I have already attempted and which I really enjoy are needlepainting with Soie silk thread and all different types of goldwork, they go together so well. What I like about needlepainting or long and short stitch is the gradual mixing of different shades of thread I love watching the different shades take shape and the sheen of the silk adds to the texture ending in an elegant, beautiful embroidery almost like a painting. I then like to add goldwork to the needlepainting as this adds another elegant dimension and compliments the needlepainting.
My other favourite embroidery is eggembroidery which I tried recently using River silk ribbon I hadn’t used ribbon in embroidery before but River silk ribbon is so soft to touch and has a lovely sheen to it and is lovely to embroider with. With the discovery of silk ribbon I will definitely incorporate silk in my future linen projects. I feel the same about beedwork which I discovered recently while embroidering eggs, there are so many types of beeds that you could incorporate in your embroidery that the possibilities are endless and one which I am considering on my current project as well as adding gold to the beedwork which would add another lovely dimension to the embroidery.
Regards Anita Simmance
I’m still a novice, but I love stumpwork. I love texture and working with various threads and yarns. The needle organizer would come in handy for this as there are various needles used for beads, bullion knots, etc. And as I said, being a novice, I’m constantly looking things up. (it’s all getting familiar, now though)
Crewel embroidery is the love of my life. The traditional stuff especially Phillipa Turnbull was my 1st love and I will always have a soft spot for it, but the modern stuff has also grabbed me firmly, the Talafarro and Hazel Blomcamp has got the wow facter too for me. Those needle tins would be like manna from heaven. Ooooh that I should be so lucky.
I went to a fantastic Goldwork workshop organised last week and I’m really enjoying finishing the project. I can’t believe I’m actually doing Goldwork! Really need to be able to identify my needles as I haven’t got a clue which one I’m using – I just choose one with the smallest hole. That I can get the thread through while squinting through magnifier!
My favorite is actually something I am newly discovering in myself – free stitch is what I’m calling it. Sometimes taking a blank piece of cloth and “seeing” something in it and bringing that to life through needle and tread. I also enjoying taking stamped cloth and making it my own incorporating different types of thread and stitches. From someone growing up to following patterns this is huge. And fun!
Thank you for offering this drawing.
I love all kinds of needlework, but cross-stitch is probably my go-to craft.
I like all kinds of embroidery but counted thread is my favorite.
I love and do most types of embroidery. I am most comfortable with counted work and very hesitant with freehand embroidery. My most favorite needlework is white work–mostly pulled and drawn thread work. The textures and patterns that appear are fascinating to me. I’m not the most creative person, but I always feel like I’ve created something quite unusual when I do pulled and drawn thread work.
I love your column; it makes me want to stretch my abilities–even to include more freehand stitching.
I would have to say that ecclesiastical embroidery is my favorite! I really enjoy the pieces that blend both goldwork and silk (although I have not actually tackled a piece like this yet)and simple whitework on linens. I just finished a slightly altered version of the Marian medallion in whitework on a pall.
I seem to be leaning towards crewel embroideries more and more. I bought every color of DMC floss. I did do a few projects and enjoyed them. But last year I received a crewel kit and so enjoyed it that I soon did another. I picked up Hazels Crewel twist the other day started a flower and just wasn’t happy with how the floss was working. I right away put it down and now am currently engrossed in a Phillipa Turnbull pillow! During all this going back and forth i have pulled out sever needles. Would love to have a chart to help know witch is witch lol.
My favorite needlework is the hand embroidery I am currently using on a month-by-month crazy quilt. I get to use intricate stitches on the seams, beautiful stemstitch and outline stitching on the lettering, and fun and challenging stitches on the various flowers and designs.
My favorite is definitely cross stitch. I have so many good memories of it, and it’s a craft that my dad and his mother both do! It feels good to continue a tradition 🙂
The needle tins are gorgeous! I definitely need some storage for mine.
I like all kinds of embroidery, but redwork is my favorite. I love the look of its clean lines and use them in my other passion, quilting. Those little tins would surely help me stay organized. Thank you for a great giveaway!
Needle ID Cards! What a fab idea. Lots of times I am not sure what type of needles I have and it would be great to have a card to ID them.
I would love a set!
My favourite embroidery has been cross-stitch during a long time.
I recently discovered tambour work (point de Beauvais) and I’m getting hooked (the right word, lol !).
I would love those ID cards and the boxes too… because when the needles are out of the pack (and they never willingly go back into it…) I’m unable to sort any needle from the other, except tapestry needles… But none of them ever spoke to me, saying “I’m nr 26” or “I’m the 28 you’re looking for”.
Thanks a lot, Mary !
Although I have played with numerous types of needlework, my favorite is counted thread, specifically samplers. I have been known to use stitches not commonly found on samplers in my designs. I love the variety of stitches out there and have even reworked a few to fit the project I am working on. I also the love history behind the samplers and the girls/women that stitched them. Whenever I buy an antique sampler I spend hours trying to find any of history of the stitcher. Thank goodness for the internet!!
I love crewel. I began stitching in 6th grade and have never looked back. Mt first crewel project was a sampler done in oranges…so 70’s but now in vogue again! Thanks for offering such a great and useful give-away 🙂
I have tried so many different types of embroidery, but I seem to keep going back to needlepainting and stumpwork. Being able to combine the two gives me double the pleasure. Alison Cole’s work is particularly good for this. Wonderful giveaway, thank you.
I guess I like basic surface embroidery, because I’m a beginner and there’s lots to choose from.
I would love to be the one to win those precious needle tins and id cards.My favorite type of embroidery is cross stitch with ribbon embroidery coming a close second.Carol B aka backporchcarver
Jacobean, I have always loved it. I guess it is to me a touch of whimsy. I would love the needle id cards and tins. Thanks Mary.
My favorite embroidery type is surface embroidery because of the variety of stitches, threads, and fabrics available. So many possibilities and combinations to explore. I like having options and surface embroidery is perfect for that.
Hello, I’m Lora from Silver Spring and I love Hand “Free Style” Embroidery. I’m relatively new to it but enjoy the challenge, the meditative quality and the fact that I will have left something beautiful behind long after I’m gone. My first pieces were red work curtains for a tiny log cabin that my husband and I renovated and lived in for a few months.They are now throw pillows in the family room. I’ve just completed a pair of linen pillow cases for our anniversary and I’m now working in black work on linen for an authentic English smock in the style worn in the 18th century. These make beautiful and comfortable dresses.
I call embroidery a “life sport”. Children can begin at an early age and continue learning and perfecting throughout a lifetime (as long as your eyes hold out and the arthritis in ones hands is kept at bay) .
I like to sit and embroider while listening to music just about more than anything else I can think of.
I’ve developed a love for pulled work along with surface work and seeing the beauty gradually emerge really keeps me motivated.
My favorite needlework at present might be called “Rescue Work”. I enjoy finishing found quilt tops or blocks, repairing household linen and, most of all, embroidering and embellishing faded flour/feed/seed sacks. Their sturdy fabric and bold or detailed graphics inspire me to mix threads, flosses and cords and to keep learning new stitches to give them renewed life.
I have a couple of needlework that are my first loves – Blackwork and Counted cross stitch. Blackwork I love the way you can stitch a straight line and a wonderful lacy pattern appears. The Counted Cross stitch I love the way with each little colored X you see a wonderful picture appear before your eyes. I do work on other projects such as surface embroidery, pulled work, white work, bullion’s, shading, smocking,Crazy quilts and so many more. But most of these I am still learning and what fun it is too.
I would love the needle tins to organize my needles neatly – right now they are in a few different places. The needle tins would help keep them organized.
The Needle ID cards what a great way to learn how to use each needle – this I could really use as I am always lost on which needle to use on which project.
Thank you
Ronda Smith
Hi Mary, I really enjoy crazy quilt stitching with silk buttonhole twist. I stitch on lots of things other than quilts – dolls, runners, doll clothes, my clothes etc. Silk threads are so gorgeous and require just the right needle, so these cards and tins would be much appreciated and put to good use. Thanks for a great giveaway!
I love Richelieu embroidery. That’s my favourite. It’s difficult, so that’s a challenging.
Love the tins! Crazy, maybe, but I love doodling, trying new versions of stitches, as I go along. I’ve had a few surprises that have turned into interesting pieces. Some have become gifts to dear friends. My best work takes place on the lovely linens you have brought my way. Thanks!
Hi Mary, I follow your blog everyday and really enjoy what you have to say – my favorite needlework used to be Cross Stitch but I have moved on to stitching Crazy Quilt blocks. I am learning so much about basic embroidery stitches on your blog that I can use on the blocks. Thank you, Judy R from Buffalo
Love embroidering – but still doing the “old way” (60 yrs!!).
Also enjoy doing cross stitch Christmas socks on burlap for [grand]children
Much to my amazement, everyone seems to enjoy the finished projects!! – and I enjoy that too.
The tins and labels are such a great idea – would love to add to my sewing nook!!
Thanks for all your ideas.
Pat
Link in email is broken, but you were easy to find anyway. Thanks for the very nice giveaway–although you give away knowledge and information every day. My favorite form of needlework is needlepoint. I have always had problems with my tension and have found that the stiff canvas allows me to achieve good results with less effort than other grounds.
Crewel then cross stitch are probably the most projects I have completed. I want to start little gold work. But have promised everyone not to drop and run into another form UNTIL I finish what I already have.
I love the idea of organization. The tins and ID cards just might do the the trick.
Karole in Texas
My favorite variety of needlework is old fashioned hand embroidery in crewel stitches with cotton floss. I enjoy the variety of stitches, the unlimited color palettes, the relative inexpensiveness of the supplies, and the availability of patterns. I’m not talented enough to design, but I can execute designs I like and create long lasting pieces of everyday art that I and others can enjoy for many years.
I love shadow embroidery for anything little girl related or for babies. I’m currently doing a lot of just regular hand embroidery for pillow cases for my granddaughter and family.
All-time favorite–that would be hard. I loved doing silk-ribbon embroidery on my daughters’ prom dresses. And I have enjoyed canvas work as well.
Your giveaway is a wonderful one that anyone would love to have. thank you for the opportunity to win!
These needle tins and ID labels would be just the thing to help me sort and identify all my different types of needles I use. I have needles for knitting, applique, embroidery, hand quilting,beading, and regular sewing, as well as other types I use on occasion. Thanks for the opportunity.
My most favourite needlework technique of all involves anything that adds surface beauty to a ground fabric. As a Home Ec teacher with a special course in textile arts and crafts I was constantly changing varieties of embroidery throughout the year as I introduced new techniques to my students. And as samples for each new techniques came out of my storage closet, I was reminded of how much I liked that one. (Putting all away at the end of the school year was a task!). I like to teach students of all ages and to see their wonder when they discover of how to make magical stitches on fabric.
Mary–thanks for another great giveaway! I would LOVE a set of hose needle cards.
My favorite embroidery would be something three dimensional, either stumpwork or Brazilian embroidery. I like them because everyone thinks they look hard, but they really are not.
Carol S.
Goodness, my favorite? Well, I’ve done a lot of cross-stitch and I’m very good at it, but I don’t know that it’s my favorite. I also really enjoy my more recent skills at bullions and other surface embroidery. I think I might like that better, yes. I’ve only done a tiny bit of needle-painting in wool, which I really liked, but I’m too new at it to know yet.
I suspect that I have not yet discovered my all-time favorite kind–it’s probably goldwork or silk needle-painting or something equally budget-unfriendly. 😉
Thank you for another lovely give-away opportunity. Oh, this is an easy question! I love stumpwork. It is a delight to create tiny garden elements. The transformation of thread and beads into creatures and flowers is magical.
I love the ID cards. Having so many needles it would be nice to be able to distinguish them and divide them in separate tins. I cannot say that I have a favorite technique because I always want to try something different. I like doing needlework, but I also like making things with plastic canvas. I have recently looked through my large box of kits which I have bought but never done, and have been inspired by stumpwork and a kit concerning the bayeux stitch.
As you all can see I am a totally confused person who when she is doing something has her mind on something else to try, which means I have a lot of entusiasm but very little to show for it.
Thanks for your wonderful website.
Regards
My all-time favorite style of needlework is crewel. I learned this as a child and I continue to do it today. I love working with the wool yarns.
Needle identifiers would be fabulous. I’ve got lots of orphaned needles here and there and it would be nice to know what they are.
My favorite type of embroidery is ribbon embroidery. It totally impresses people with the colors and the 3D effect. Plus, it takes less time because the ribbons cover more territory than thread would. It’s great for gifts. I also like counted cross-stitch and crazy quilting.
My all time favorite type of embroidery is Brazilian Embroidery or BE(www.bdeig.info). I love the sheen of the threads and the dimensionality of it. While I also think the flowers are very pretty, I find myself attracted to the other designs at least as well. BE is durable too and can be put on clothing for adults or children.
I am fond of most counted thread. I think Hardanger is the tops.;
It would really be a thrill to win these super gifts. Imagine, having all those lovely needles so nearly and well-organized.
Embroidery – any kind as I like the variety and learning as I do a project. But my fall backs are counted cross-stitch and stamped embroidery. Actually just learn learning about the different needles is fascinating.
My favorite type of needlework is redwork embroidery. I guess that is because it was one of the first thing I learned to do. The needle cases are really great.
My absolute favorite form of embroidery is cross stitch. Some may turn up their noses, but I have seen cross stitch used to create everything some simple primitive designs to large, complex works that can take years to complete. Utilizing materials ranging from screen doors to fine silk gauze and cotton embroidery floss to beautiful overdyes, cross stitch is for everyone. I love it 🙂
My favorite all time embroidery is… omg I love it all: samplers and making smalls and little boxes covered in stitching. I love hardanger, I love whitework, I love blackwork, I love it all. I just keep trying new stitches and improving my skills. Thanks Mary for the opportunity to win the needles tins and/or the identification cards.
Mary,
Do I have to choose one? I love needlepoint especially charted. I like playing with the colors and the threads. I think needlepoint gives a greater opportunity to try new threads and new stitches. But I still do cross-stitch, surface embroidery, hardanger…You get the idea!
I love crewel using wool threads. I love wool. A close second would be cross stitch. The fabric and the stitches feel satisfying to my order-loving brain.
My favorite form of needlework is cross-stitch or counted thread on linen – I do like some specialty stitches to add interest, but cross-stitch is the most entertaining and relaxing form of work for me! I am always working on a piece when watching TV in the evening after work or if I have some time on the weekends! Friends have said walking in my house is like walking into a needlework store as my walls are covered with my work! I would love to win a set of the tins and the needle cards! Thanks for having the drawing!
Tedra in Phoenix, AZ USA
Hello mary,
im mary varma from india. I love surface embroidery, mountmellick (because i love white color) and brazillian embroidery (because it uses bright colors.) lovely giveaway. Thanks.
Hand quilting is my all time favourite. I use polyester batting and I love watching the patterns show up on the fabric. “It’s not a quilt until it’s quilted,” is what my quilting buddy always said.
That looks like a great giveaway, Mary. My favourite type of needlework is stumpwork. I love its dimensionality and texture.
I would give the ever popular: “I love them all” but I have discovered over the last years that I DO have two preferences: I love ecclesiastical themed embroidery. (I say themed, because I have yet to to tackle a piece for actual use in a church, except things like baptismal cloths that go with the parents as a keep sake). And I love monochrome type embroideries: whitework, blackwork, redwork…
I must say my all time favorite needlework is silk and metal. I find it challenging and at times frustrating so that I wonder why I do it; but when it is all said and done, it is the most satisfying and rewarding for me.
I absolutely would love to have the cards. I don’t do a lot of needlework with smaller threads I often have a difficult time knowing what size a needle is.
Hi Mary! Now…I’ve heard “easy peasy”…but…”simple pimple”!…too funny!
My fave is surface embroidery. I was taught to embroider by my mom when I was only four years old and have been stitchin’ ever since. Thank you for the chance to win!
Have a beautiful week.
anything white work … Hardanger, pulled work, drawn thread … I like the timelessness of it.
I love the tins almost as I love surface embroidery. Crazy quilting is my favorite. I love to embellish my blocks with lots of stitching.
My favorite type of embroidery/sewing is probably smocking, but I do all sorts of embellishing on items that I sew (blouses) or knit (purses, sweaters for granddaughters). I just have fun creating designs, even though they don’t always look the way I thought they would … oh my. So your gifts today would be a wonderful way to keep me organized. Thank you so much!
It’s always so hard to pick favorites! Free form embroidery is my favorite. I like being able to play with the different textures different stitches produce.
I love red work! I like to do other embroidery but Redwork is my first love , it’s what I started with and my all time favorite to do on a cold wet day or evening.
Thank you so much for this great opportunity! How fun it will be for us!
I love x-stitch. But am getting back into embroidery. I just love some of the new ideas. I use 28 tapestry needles for both.
My favourite needle work is canvas work. I love the mathematics and symmetry of the stitches. I also really like that once an area of the design is complete you then move on to the next. I really love the feeling of satisfaction of “completing” a section as compared to other types of needlework where it is not “done” until the whole of it is done. Little mini rewards as you work through the piece.
I still do most other types of needle work and have some projects for methods I have not attempted yet (Brazil work, needle painting, tatting) but if I had to give up all but one I would keep canvas work.
Heather from the Sunny Canadian West Coast
I really love crewel embroidery so much. I used to stitch samplers as a child, but for some unknown reason, I drifted away from it. Earlier this year, on a whim. I decided to try both it and needlepoint again.(I did needlepoint in high school.) There is something just so incredibly soothing about crewel embroidery, and I delight in trying the different stitches to create different parts of the picture I happen to be working on. What’s a bonus is that is totally portable; I can take it with me when I travel, and I need so little!
I feel in love with embroidery when I was young because both my grandmother and mother quilted and embroidered. I remember mother buying the stamped pillowcases from G. C. Murphy and the floss for me at Christmas. So that type holds a special place in my heart. I also love to do counted cross-stitch. I like the rhythm of the stitch. I have recently had the opportunity to return to embroidery and take lessons from a masterful teacher in my area. I guess you say I have come full circle.
Stumpwork! I love metal threads and needle painting, but stumpwork is my all time favorite! I dream of being able to make a 17th century style stumpwork casket, and even the possibility of studying one up close!
Crewel embroidery is my favorite kind of needle art. Why? Because I can imagine, design, and execute with so many wonderful stitches. I am addicted to crewel, hence my classes at the RSN (again!) later this week.
Thank you, Mary.
I do simple embroidery, backstitch and French knots. I love the simplicity of the tools, that I can take it everywhere, I can design anything, trace from anything and make it my own. It’s amazing how even a simple embroidery can add so much to a pillow, a sweater, a quilt. Not to mention that it is so relaxing. P.S. I love your e-mails. Your work is amazing and your output absolutely incredible.
I love these little tins!!! They will be so handy for travel. The ID cards would allow me to know what needles I alreay own so I could stop always buying new ones for each project!
I love the needle tins, I have one and would love some more. I have not tried the needle Id cards, so that would be great to be able to try them.
Hi my name is Diane and I am from Tampa, Florida area. My
Favorite needlework is Ribbon embroidery. Something about
It just calls to me. I just love those tins and those needle cards
Would be WONDERFUL to have, as I have tons of different needles
But no clue what they should be used on/for. Also those tins would
Really helpmeet get organized a bit more and be pretty to see daily!
It is just too hard for me to name a favorite. I have always loved all types of needlework as it was passed along to me for many years now by my loving grandmother and mother. My mother is almost 93 and in hospice care in her home. I often walk around her home while she naps off and on and I look at all the beautiful needlework she has hanging in every room… most were hers. Some were made by her mother and even some from her older sister who both are no longer here with us but looking at these treasures bring to me such fond and loving memories and some inner comfort, seeing their fine stitching and Mom would add to her work beautiful touches of tiny beads as she loved to do. I have many of their sewing needles, thimbles, and needlework which I cherish dearly and hope to continue to pass along for many generations to come. I thank you for your lovely website as I continue to always learn something new. Barbara M.
My favorite is surface embroidery but for many years I did counted cross stitch. Love the tins it is always nice to have cute accessories.
What a great idea. My favorite needlework is any kind of counted thread work. I love specialty stitches. Over the last 50 years, I think I’ve tried almost every kind of handwork – sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, crewel, needlepoint, counted cross stitch, ribbon work, Hardanger, Brazilian – you get the picture! I love them all but counted thread work remains my fav. I still want to try tatting! So little time – so many types of needlework to enjoy.
I really love stumpwork. The 3 dimensional build up of embroidery stitches to create sculpture truly takes needlework from craft to art. Some of my favorite pieces are knotwork gardens that I have seen made by friends and acquaintances who have created boxes that you look into that box and find yourself carried off to a little wonderland.
I have been working on trying to get photos of our local quail, because I have a stump work project in mind featuring them. The problem is those little monsters are fast on the ground. But seeing a brood running across the street or a field is just so cool and my hope is to capture that someday in needlework. Maybe, as a garden.
I love to do needlepoint on canvas because I get to use all sorts of fun threads, stitches, and embellishments to make a piece uniquely mine.
My all time favorite needlework is embroidery. It’s super easy, super fast and can be done while carrying on a conversation or watching a program. I LOVE it!
I love cross stitching but visually I love the look of silk needlepainting.
I like the coloring/embroidry combination
You get to use different stitches and have some colors in addition. having fun making quilts with this new technique
Sendo sincera sei muito pouco de bordado. Gosto e admiro todos que vejo mas só faço os bem simples, chamados aqui na minha região de “bordado livre”.
Adoraria ganhar estas caixinhas organizadoras!
Um abraço!
Egléa
Favorite needlework? Boy that is a tough one…I’ve done cross stitch the longest…but then I’ve also done smocking for years and met such wonderful people…and now I am on to quilting and especially needle turn applique…or I could say that my favorite is whatever technique is next to learn! Thank you for the chance to win!
What a delightful giveaway.My favourite form of embroidery is shade painting.I haven’t been doing it for long, but I love it and I am improving
technoturt@yahoo.com
Mary,
My favorite type of needlework is Jacobean embroidery. I’m fascinated by the colors and intricacy of that. I don’t often do that type of needlework, but it is what I consider the most beautiful. What I enjoy doing most is hand quilting and counted cross stitch which gives me some type of peace almost meditative feeling with the repetitive motion of the stitching.
Thanks for offering those needle cases and cards. They would be very handy in my tool box.
My mother tried to teach me counted crosstitch for years. I never could get the hang of counting things and would always screw something up.
Lately I’ve started to do more historic types of free-hand embroidery due to my playing with the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, sca.org) and I love it.
No counting, just fill in with a stitch I like and viola, wonderful embroidery that everyone seems to be impressed with.
Love the ID cards, keeps you so organized.
Good afternoon Mary!….My favorite type of hand embroidery is the “free style” surface embroidery. I love this because I can just take up any pattern or create a pattern of my own and put together loads of embroidery stitches and create a beautiful finish piece. Using this type of embroidery also give me the advantage of doing just about any little thing and be able to give it away as a gift or put it up for my own decorations.
I love reading your daily post and I have learn a lot from you, I really appreciate it especially the way how you explain in depth how to get the stitches done.
Thanks much! Keep up the great work your doing Mary!
I really can’t say that I have 1 favorite form. Anything that I can do with needle in hand is my favorite for the moment. It could include all types of needlework. I first learned surface embroidery, from there I’ve tried and completed most types on needlework. I have needles in almost every room of my house…depends on what I’m stitching on at the time and where.
I was flipping through a needlework catalog the other day thinking to myself, “why do I keep returning to the hardanger section?” so I do believe that is my answer!
Although I do far more cross stitch than any other kind of work, I think my favorite is crewel work. I love the realism that you can achieve with it.
Thanks for the chance at these, they would be so useful!
Crikey what a difficult question. I have been a machine sewer for the past few years so just returning to hand sewing. My favourite is usually whatever project I am working on right now so that would be a tapestry piece. I find it restful to fill in the colours and as I am not good at designing but I can follow a pattern beautifully this really suits me! I love the look of sashiko though and hope to try that out soon if I can get the supplies here in deepest Africa! If not I am sure I can “make a plan” which is our way of making something work even if it isn’t 100% “proper”. Hoping to start a sewing club at school as well so I am sure I will soon be enjoying whatever the kids want to get into – probably beadwork!
My favorite type of embroidery is Crewel, but I have yet to try it myself. I’m new and have only delved into letter embroidery on my quilts so far. I would love to win these beautiful tins and needle cards as I continue my embroidery interest.Thank you for offering them up for us to win!
Hi Mary, I simply adore Goldwork!. Plain and simple. I think it’s the glitz and sparkle that inspires me. To think how they made Goldwork threads hundreds of years ago amazes me.
I love these little needle tins ,
Jane from New Zealand.
Hi Mary,
Favorite embroidery? Oh, they are ALL so much fun to do and learn as I go along, but my personal favorite is surface embroidery. I love to experiment with stitches and different size needles. Surface embroidery gives me a chance to play with lots of colors and threads and have fun with designs. I’m recently into needle painting. Such beautiful results with patience and time. I love reading what every one else enjoys! Neat question, Mary! Thanks! Roxanne in MN
I would love to win the needle tins! My favorite form of needlework is needlepoint on painted canvas. I love to see the canvas come to live with the texture of the threads and different stitches. I also like thinking that I’m making something that will hopefully outlive me.
That’s difficult to answer, all look great. I am probably most addicted to samplers, especially copying antiques, so those old counted thread stitches are probably my first love. I have to thank you for the wonderful videos, they are by far an inspiration hard to resist. Am currently working on two crazy quilts for my granddaughters and check your videos constantly for ideas.
There are so many different types which are all beautiful in their own way. I really like Richelieu, but also colored embroidery, like the portuguese Castelo Branco style, or also Indian embroidery. Needle painting, too can be simply gorgeous…
Thanks for the beautiful give-aways, they look really practical, and pretty to boot -I’d love to be the lucky one
tina
For me, nothing is so full of adventure & possibility as needlepoint. I love working a variety of stitches to create texture & using a large color palette. I usually create my own “sampler” type designs. What fun!
I always manage to control & store my yarns properly, but needles are hopeless. Thank you for the giv-away!
I’m relatively new to needlework, but I’ve become enamored of gold work over the last several months. There are lots of things about it that I like–the connection to history and multiple cultures, the dimensionality, the variety of materials used and the resulting different styles achievable. I’ve always loved mixed media art, and to me this qualifies!
Oh boy, would I make good use of the needle ID cards. Through many many years of hand embroidery, crewel, counted cross stitch, etc.i have loads of needles that were just thrown in an envelope. My all time favorite embroidery was red work until I discovered needlepoint. Now that is my favorite. As for the needles, it is hard to know what size they are anymore. Your giveaway would be great.
I only ever do crewel, it seems like, Although I am collecting books on other kinds. I’m really anxious to try Goldwork.
The style to which I’m most drawn right now is Jacobean. The colors and the patterns are so beautiful.
I learn so much from your Blog. Thank you.
My favorite is surface embroidery. I did it as a small child, the took a 40 year hiatus from it. I picked it up again 2 years ago, and have not looked back!!! The tins and cards would be the “bee’s knees” for helping me to organize and store my needles. Thanks for the chance to win!!
Hello from very warm Red Oak, TX.
My favorite type of needlework is counted cross stitch because of the huge variety of threads that are available, linen, cotton, silk in so many colors and so many beautiful design.
Needle tins and ID cards are great ideas. I try to be organized but need all the help I can find.
Thanks Mary for everything you do.
Fran
Crewel embroidery is my favorite need kart technique. Why? Because I can design, create, implement,using many different stitches. My embroidery addiction keeps me coming back to the RSN for more classes! Later in the week I will be taking classes with Helen Stevens. It will be wonderful!
Thank you, Mary.
Oops- Mary, I just discovered that my first post did “take.” I didn’t mean to post duplicates. Please delete this second post. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you
I love white work. The beautiful elegance of the tone on tone white is unbeatable in my book!
I love Elizabethan embroidery. The complex combination of stitches, colors, patterns and metals makes it fun visually as well as fun to work. I also love how really easy it is to do and how you can let yourself go and play with it.
My favorite type of needlework is counted thread, particularly samplers. I think it appeals to my type A personality because of the orderliness & meticulousness of the charts.
My favorite embroidery is probably tea towels. They are not such a big project and fun to have to do when I am not in the mood for a big project. I really enjoyed doing a redwork crib quilt recently anticipating the baby to come and loving that I didn’t have to choose a color! I like cross stitch but really have to concentrate when I do that. So doing embroidery on tea towels is my favorite.
These needle cards look like a great thing to have to keep track of needles. I could sure use them and thank you so much for giving us a chance to win!
I love stumpwork. I think it adds so much to a piece when there are 3 dimensional aspects to it.
I would love to have the needle ID cards as I have a huge set of vintage needles that look like they were from a salesman’s set but I am not sure what they all are.
My favorite type of needlework seems to vary with my humor. Sometimes, it is needlepoint. Sometimes, it is surface embroidery of varying types. I prefer to have a project, always ongoing, that uses a needle.
Thanks again Mary,
Shelia in Oklahoma
My all-time favorite needlework is cross-stitch. It’s not very “cool” to like it, but I really do. It’s the combination of strategy to get all the stitches in one color done optimally before the next color and the mindlessness in following a pattern. Total bliss.
What a lovely giveaway!!! I could really use those tins to keep track of my needles. My all time favorite is counted cross stitch.Even though I have tried just about everything out there I always go back to cross stitching.
Happy Stitching
Denise from South Dakota
As I love doing lots of different embroidery, it’s rather difficult to choose a favourite! I guess I always seem to be dreaming about silk ribbon roses so they must be right at the top of my list. I love the amazing textures and life-like structures that can be created with beautiful silk ribbon.
Thanks for such a great giveaway.
My needles are stuck in several different places. I never know what I’m going to pull out. It would be nice to get them organized!
Do I have to pick just one type of needlework? Ok, fine. Crazy quilting. Because that doesn’t leave anything out!
I love the vintage needle tins! That being said, my favorite work is vintage hand embroidery. I do many pillowcases just as my Grandmother and Great Grandmother did. I love their vintage look along with dresser scarves and hand towels. When I sew, I feel like my Grandmother is looking down on me and smiling. She would be proud to know I carry on her tradition.
Malissa F.
Hello, I love all kinds of embroidery but, I am also trying to learn needlepoint. Love your blog, keep up the good work!! Thank you.
(smjohns63 at yahoo dot com)
If it is done well, I love thread painting as it looks so real you would swear it is a photo. But the one I am always drawn to is white on white Mountmelleck Embroidery. It is so fresh and clean and in my head, when I want to, I can see the design in any color(s) I wish to imagine!
Cross Stitch is still my favourite form of “comfort stitching,” that I come back to again and again.
I was speaking with a fellow quilter a few weeks ago, who was saying that she just likes to buy a quilt pattern and sit and sew without any further thought. I realized that’s the same thing I do with cross stitch. I am constitutionally incapable of following a quilt pattern, because I always think I can improve on it, but with cross stitch there’s little opportunity for embellishment, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need. 🙂
Although I have not done it in some time I like crewel embroidery as my favorite, I like working with the wool threads/yarn they seem to want to be manipulated. I also like to embroider on muslin (such as pillow cases & clothing, with cotton thread/yarn. Thank you for making these offers and give away …. hope springs eternal, though I’ve not won a thing! LOL
I love wool embroidery. My very first project was making a cashmere bear which I embroidered with wool. Your extraordinary website was recommended to me by a friend and it is my embroidery guide for ALL things needlework related. You are so giving with your knowledge and instructions are so very clear – makes learning to embroider an addictive joy. Thank you.
Whitework combined with openwork is my favorite. I love the texture and subtle contrast of all one color with open spaces. And if it is trimmed with tatting. crochet, or other lace, so much the better! (ps, I am a needle connoisseur, so this giveaway is right up my alley) Cassie in SE KS
I love stumpwork and goldwork – I love the history and tradition, and I love working both of them and thinking how to take them in new directions. I need a good way to identify and organise my needles – these are perfect!
I’ve just been reacquainting myself with hand embroidery over the last year or so and I’d have to say that surface embroidery is my favorite with silk ribbon running a close second.
I have a very hard time NOT making things symmetrical so it’s been a real challenge for me, which I love. But the surface embroidery with the variety of stitches and threads (love the threads) almost make me drool.
There are still a lot of techniques I want to try but I’m having so much fun with this right now…..they’ll just have to wait.
Thanks for all the work you put into this site! I find myself here everyday learning something new.
My favorite needlework is just plain old embroidery. I used to love counted cross stitch but, now find that rather boring. I do love hand English smocking but since I have no little children to smock for right now, I can’t seem to motivate myself to do it.
Hi Mary, They look lovely. As I am still in the beginner stage I haven’t acquired those lovely extras but it would be exciting to have one. It would make me feel like a real embroiderer.
P. S. Forgot to say that crewel work is my favourite because I can learn a lot of different stitches in crewel. I have some lovely kits from Hazel Blomkamp. I prefer the modern crewel because I am allergic to wool so work mostly in cottons. I am going to try some silk threads when I get a little more confident.
Love the tins. The cards would be wonderful to make sure the needles are marked. Hard to tell one from the other. Love to work on Embordery that I use in my quilting.
JoyM…Australia
Bullion stitch is my favourite embroidery …….especially grub roses as it lends itself to all of the romantic projects I enjoy doing. Baby clothes, coathangers and Victoriana articles which touch my heart.
I love learning and doing all kinds of needlework but I always come back around to blackwork. There’s just something about mapping out and working the “paths” that really appeals to me. Also, because it’s just one stitch and repeating patterns I can go a little crazy experimenting with floss colors and it won’t end up looking like the dog’s breakfast.
Your giveaways are always fun, thank you! I enjoy reading everyone’s answers to your questions.
I’m fairly new to embroidery, so I’ve mostly done split stitch to “sew” writing. I’m looking forward to trying other stitches, but I’m not good at finding an application for them. I’d like to try the shadow work monogram on a hand sewn handkerchief, but I’m not sure of the scale or how to finish the edge.
Carrie Plane nut
I love sewing, quilting, and embroidery accessories! These are sweet! And they sure would help a gal get organized. My very favorite type of embroidery is wool embroidery, especially now that I’ve discovered Aurifil’s wool thread (though I won’t be giving up my Valdani!). Combining wool embroidery with beads for hand-stitched projects is the most satisfying type of handwork I’ve ever done. I have my different types of embroidery in different baskets with all I need for each project, which makes it easy to pick one up and get started, or get going. Good luck, everyone! And happy summer…
My favorite type of embroidery used to be counted cross stitch. I was an avid cross stitcher for 30 years but have made the switch over to crazy quilt embroidery and other stitcheries. I would love to try some stumpwork or other dimensional embroidery!
My favorite type of needlework is shadow embroidery. I found your last article very interesting. I usually use Nelona or batiste and embroider on nightgowns or baby/toddler dresses. It is so magical!
Oh, Mary, I love the simple whimsical embroidery from Aneela Hoey and your wonderful Fun Stitch patterns – Thank you for this WONDERFUL giveaway chance.
Blessings!!
I’ve tried a lot of kinds of needlework and I always return to my first love – “plain” old regular embroidery. Of course with cotton or silk floss, but also with all those fun fibers out there.
Those little tins are just so cute and handy
YOu could use them along with the ID cards and store a different type of needle in each.
So hard to choose a favorite. I love crazy patch but also enjoy the simplicity of red work when you just want to sit and stitch and relax
lap in Brisbane
My favorite is freehand embroidery. Why because I can make it mine design . i usually use a outline picture traced onto muslin and choose different stitches and different colors for different areas.
Joanie M. in West Tn.
My favorite type of needlework is whitework. I love the elegance of it; achieved by its simpleness. But my absolute favorite part of whitework is trying to achieve depth, texture, and dimension by using different stitches and threads. All the while it still retains a simplicity even when done with elaborate techniques.
Carolyn Rose from Ma.
Hello Mary! My all time favorite type of embroidery is surface embroidery. Because you can choose your own pattern, thread, and fabric, surface embroidery leaves you to create a one of a kind masterpiece!
From,
Sky Kim
I am primarily a quilter but a number of years ago fell in love with crazy quilting which led me into the embroidery realm. I love exploring the multitude of traditional stitches and the amazing combination patterns that come together so beautifully on crazy quilts. I have just started dabbling in “picture” embroidery (versus just stitches) and recently bought a Trish Burr kit. I’d also love to try stumpwork as a next step.
Favorite needlework – that’s a hard one. There are so many, but I think my favorite is applique. Those have been my favorite quilts.
Crazy quilting runs a close second, though. That gives me the chance to use many techniqus.
Thanks for the lovely giveaway.
Needle Tins are so cute and useable. They’re a great idea for a gift for a friend or yourself.
FAvorite needle art? I do enjoy nice simple designs (not brave enough or skilled enough for the really spectacular designs), but I have to put my vote on Redwork. I think it’s gaining in popularity again and it’s perfect for the beginner.
Elisabeth in Connecticut here…My all time favorite technique? Hard to say, but it’s probably Blackwork; I sort of approach the work almost as a pen and ink piece, which is very satisfying… and after that needle painting with silk floss, because it is just plain gorgeous – but today I tent-stitched some 54ct linen with YLI 100 silk thread (and I liked it!)
I just started embroidery, and I really like it so far. I would love to win these tins and cards so I could be more organized. Thanks for the chance. vicki seals
My favorite embroidery type is definitely crewelwork, specifically Jacobean crewelwork. I love the colours used and the designs are so beautiful and organic looking. They have a set kind of structure t them, but it doesn’t look at all out of place for a Jacobean crewelwork piece to have elements that fall outside the main body of the piece. Runner up would be the kind of folk embroidery found on a lot of Eastern European traditional garments. It’s always so lively and colourful, and I love seeing it translated into other applications, like some of the illustrations from my favorite storybooks when I was a little kid.
Such a nice giveaway!
I love seeing all types of needlework, but have only done cross stitch. Nit being very artistict, a chart & linen allow me toproduce something I can be quite proud of.
I love doing handwork – I find it very relaxing, it reduces stress & helps keep my weeight in line ( I will not eat while stitching!)
My favorite type of stitching (so far – as I haven’t yet tried all the techniques and styles out there) is the modern take on crewel work, I love the designs but also love to experiment with threads, beads and embellishments rather than sticking with the traditional 2 ply wool thread.
Lee from Australia
I am a newbie to embroidery so I like everything I see. In the past I have done cross stitch and needlepoint. So I am starting with blackwork. I saw an exhibit that reminded me sketching. Even though I cannot sketch I am sure willing to give blackwork a try. Who knows where it will lead.
Right now I am really loving needlepainting. I am a beginner, but I am excited to learn more.
My absolute favourite type of needlework has to be crazy quilting in all its forms. I love it because it can encompass pretty much any type of embroidery and needlework. There’s a great recycling element to it because the fabrics you use can be gently-already-loved and you can also use broken jewelry and odd buttons. There are no rules and it’s nothing but sheer fun to create. Yet another lovely giveaway Mary!
What a pretty, useful give-away!!
I love surface embroidery and when they’re offered will be taking lessons on silk ribbon embroidery.
How wonderful it would be to know what type of needle, I’m picking up!!
My favorite in cross stitch, because it’s so easy and sort of rhythmic and relaxing. Plus it’s pretty versatile.
Hi Mary, if I have to choose just one technique, I would choose what is now known as naive suface stitchery and I would choose this for sentimental reasons – this is the style of embroidery my late Mother taught me.
However, since joining my local Embroiderers’ Guild in May 2009, and completing my college degree in Dec 2009, I have attended a few classes/workshops to try a few other techniques – goldwork, Schwalm, Temari, silk ribbon embroidery (actually I had been doing silk ribbon embroidery for a while, but I only attended that class last year to meet and learn from Helen Dafter), just to have a go at something new and different. Next up on the “New” menu – Quaker and 17th Century samplers. I’m going to stitch a small Christmas decoration for my tree this year.
Thank you for anaother wonderful Giveaway, Marian (NZ)
OOps, I forgot, I also tried Needlepainting, and my first completed piece is now part of the 50th Anniversary wall hanging for my Embroiderers’ Guild.
I have needles here, there and everywhere but have a hard time figuring out which is which! These would be fabulous to help sort them out.
My favorite embroidery is Stump Work. I just love the dimensional aspect and the small scale of the pieces. And the variety of stitches makes it an adventure.
I also love to do the miniature French Knot rugs. Love Love Love French Knots! They are very meditative and just plain fun. 🙂
Jean in San Diego >^..^<
Without a doubt that would be ribbon embroidery. The luscious colours of silk along with a few simple stitches can create a flower garden guaranteed to last long after the snow flies!
My favourite technique is Hardanger. I did my first piece when I was 13 years old and over the years have done more complex designs. I always have some hardanger as a Work in Progress as I find the five stitches over four threads very relaxing to complete!
The needle tins & needle cards would be a most welcome addition to my stitching tools. They would help me to be much better organised!
Kath
My favorite type of needlework is something I think is called counted thread work. It’s not just cross stitch, but includes other types of stitches on an evenweave or a linen fabric.
I would love to win the tins, but I bought the needle ID cards a few months ago. If I win, you can draw again and give away just the cards.
I just love your give-aways Mary, and I will keep entering although I am not one those lucky people who ever win, but we know that there can only be one of those, don’t we.
I would be delighted to have these items because I am tired of not knowing which needle is what, and of having needles rust in our (oh-so-slightly) humid climate. My Dearly Beloved bought me a lifetime supply of silica gel, but it is difficult to pin a little cylinder of it inside a felted needlebook, lol. A tin would be so much easier.
Thanks again, and this time I am really crossing my fingers.
Live your site!
Not sure that I have a favorite, just regular old hand embroidery. Also, love smocking, and would live to learn shadow work,
Hugs,
Gina
My favorite stitch is the Stem Stitch. Kudos to the stem stitch. It is the prettiest stitch I can count on to come out beautiful. It is not complicated, has a gentle flow, lovely around corners, used all the time. The very first stitch I learned so I respectfully say I love to embroider. If you start with something without frustration the rest is a breeze. This is how I got started on embroidery and how beautiful the finished, inspiring projects are when completed. The compliments and thank you’s are sweet too. Embroidery bring rest and refreshment to me. This is why it is No. 1 on my list of favorite needleworks. Quilting-2nd, Crochet-3rd. Sewing-not on the list-too frustrating.
I love counted cross stitch and Brazilian Embroidery as I find them relaxing. I also like Japanese bunka, a form of needle painting.
I really enjoyed cross stitching. I say enjoyed because I started having trouble seeing to stitch. My opthamologist has determined that I have an eye muscle problem which he says we will figure out – so I am optimistic that I will be able to see to stitch again and not be seeing double. I love the colors and how the design comes to life. I learned to cross stitch from my paternal grandmother. She did beautiful embrodiery and cross stitch. I remember a beautiful embroidery “C” she did for my mother for a dress. It was done in white on a plain blue cotton. My mother made put in the bodice of a dress. The dress was all done in the plain blue cotton. The “C” was for our last name. I think white embroidery floss is diffult to get to look beautiful. My grandmother’s work was one of perfection to me. Her cross stitch was also wonderful. The last Christmas presents we exchanged, she and I each gave the other cross stitched pillow cases and the ones she gave me also had embroidery on them. One can tell she was failing by then. Thank you for the give away and for having me recall the great memory of Mema, my paternal grandmother and her lovely handwork.
Hi Mary, my favorite needlework is stumpwork
Dear Mary,
It took a while to come to my answer. At first I was bewildered. The thought of choosing just one type out of the many fun and beautiful embroidery styles …. well that would be difficult. Should my choice be the style I like to look at and admire most? That would be different to the one I would choose to actually work ….. and that would depend on my mood. When things are going well I like to challenge myself with detailed intricate work. When things are a bit difficult I like less strenuous techniques where I don’t have to think very much. But then I realised that my all time favourite embroidery needlework is not actually a technique but a quality. It’s the one that stands out from the rest. The one with the best. The most sumptuous materials (fabric and thread and/or embellishments), the most perfect stitching and a brilliance of colour choice and design. In short, an awesome piece of needlework. I seek them out in books and needlework shows. Someday I’d like to make one. Thank you Mary!
My favorite changes….based on I’m not sure what. Right now I am very taken with white work of various kinds. I love the exceptional variety possible with just the single color and am especially taken with the patterns formed with pulled and drawn thread work.
My favourite kind of embroidery is surface embroidery – I like to use lots of different stitches. I definitely need to organise my needles and this sounds perfect. Thank you, Mary!
While I like to do a lot of different things my all time favorite embroidery is counted cross stitch. It’s probably my favorite because it’s the one I first learned. And seeing some of my first pieces (which I get to do every year because they were stockings for my family) makes me feel sentimental.
It’s creative surface embroidery all the way for me. But I do draw on crewelwork, Mountmellick and various other surface embroidery styles in my designs. And I like to throw in a bit of applique and the odd bead as well.
I’m forever forgetting what size needle I used when writing up instructions for patterns, so the ID cards would be a huge help. And I’m a sucker for a tin of anything…
Thanks for the great giveaway.
Kelly from South Africa
Kelly, sure would love to see what you do!
I loved doing penny squares my grandmom would give me when I was a child to keep me busy, but I also love doing cross stitch!
Hi Mary 🙂 First thanks for the chance to win! Inlove cross stitch (which is how I started), then tried Hardanger and specialty stitches, which I love. I am by no means an expert and still have so much to learn, but I am loving the process. Thanks for all your help and videos! They have saved me on more than one occasion 😉
I love the needle id cards. What a great idea! As for my favorite needlework it’s a tie between counted cross stitch and just a free form embroidery. I don’t really know what it’s called.But I like more open areas and outlined designs. Kind of simple but I love how you can suggest an object with a few well chosen stitches.
Jacobean has to be my favorite. the colors, patterns that are fanciful and beautiful, it’s all just a beautiful, embroidered fantasyland.
I just recently began receiving your blog in my email and now I look forward to it every day. There is so much to learn. My favorite type of needlework is counted thread work, especially the various specialty stitches. I never can remember the names of them but I love doing them. And I love the little tins and needle ID cards. What a great addition they would be to my stitching basket!
Vera in WV
I’ve been trying and trying to make a comment, I can not get here now for some reason from my email, even following the instructions to come to the website. But today I got a “comment” from a really old post! And I could get to the website thru that. Goodness!
OK, I always loved counted x stitch, but I must say, now that I’ve discovered needle painting, that is my very favorite.
I would love to receive those needle organizers. I so totally need to get my needles organized and ofcourse, always forget when I’m anywhere near a store as I go crazy looking at “stuff” I forget what I need to be getting! I live far enough away that it is such fun to be in the store, I lose my mind! LOL.
Hi, Carol – you can always click on the red bold title at the beginning of each newsletter, to get to that days article on the website. The link was broken to the comment section in the newsletter – it went out before I fixed it! Sorry about the confusion! -MC
Hi Mary!
Only the second day and already so many comments! Wow! But I’ve got my eye on those ID cards for a while so what the heck, I’ll give it a try…
I’m from Austria, and here cross stitch and many other forms of counted thread embroidery are very big, so naturally every kid (more or less) learns it in school, as did I. I haven’t done embroidery in a long time (been knitting in the meantime) but recently I discovered free embroidery, especially Crewel Work, for myself (thanks for all the helpful tips and tutorials by the way!). I just love the flowing designs and the woolen threads. They’re so soft and beautiful and the possibilities you have, mixing colors and stitches are nearly endless.
But unfortunately crewel work isn’t really known in this part of Europe, which makes it very difficult to come by decent supplies.
I have thought quite a bit lately about my mother and grandmother as they are the ones that taught me everything I know about sewing and needlework. I in turn am teaching my granddaughters the art of counted cross stitch. If we don’t pass on our skills to the next generation, we should be ashamed! Obviously counted cross stitch is my first love, but I have done just about everything else. I also love needlework accessories and would appreciate having the needle tins and needle identification cards to add to my “stuff”! Thank you for sharing your skills and treasures with us!
I remain a huge fan of simple, outline-focused surface embroidery in bright cottons . . . I’d like to branch out but I already have the supplies & I don’t need a dedicated area or clean hands the way I would if I used more expensive supplies!
What a lovely give-away. I love to embroider and have lots of different needles so a needle-case or card would be very handy.
It is a good thing to keep the needles sorted.
Marjo
I love to do handwork while I watch TV or movies. It relaxes me and completes my day. The kind of hand work I like the best is working on projects that let me combine different techniques. I did the ring pillow for my daughter’s wedding in hardanger and embrodery. I have been trying out vintage looking projects with photo copies of old family pictures detailed with different embrodery stiches and buttons and lace.
When my mother passed away I inherited her vast sewing room things and fabric. I have pins and needles I didn;’t know existed and some I can’t identify. The needle cards would be a wonderful addition to my growing needlework passion. Thanks for your daily blog. I look forward to it every day!!
My all time favorite technique is stumpwork. I love the endless possibilities presented by this fascinating form of needlework. 🙂
My favorite type of embroidery is counted cross-stitch – it is calming for me to sit and stitch. My favorite type of embroidery to look at is needle painting, but I’m just not very good at it, so it is frustrating for me (not relaxing and calming) to try to perform it 🙂
I would love to win, I’ve wanted those needle i.d. cards since you showed them to us a few months ago!!
-Brittany W. from Logan
Cross stitch but I am currently hooked on hardanger althouge I am still learning. Live this site
I learned the basic embroidery stitches when I was just a little girl from my mother, fell in love with cross stitch in my twenties and with ribbon embroidery in my thirties. When I found crazy quilting a few years ago, I began learning some of the more complex stitches and was so excited to find your newsletter. I’ll be sixty years old next month and feel that I’m still learning different styles. So you see, it’s hard to say what my all-time favorite needlework is since I love them all, but for the moment, as I’m working on a memory quilt, I’d have to say I’m very fond of ribbon embroidery.
My all time favorite is counted thread embroidery. In this category I include drawn thread embroidery on linen baby clothes and towels, as well as canvas work to make etuis and framed pictures and samplers. And of course I always need all the help I can get organizing needles, so would love to win the tins and cards.
I like most kinds of needles… but my favorite recently changed from tapestry needles to long darners, used in temari stitching.
Jane
My all time favorite type of needlework is cross stitch. I do love others, and have visited them, but always come home to cross stitch! So relaxing and peaceful, and productive, too.
I love heirloom embroidery on clothing and anything on linen with rich lovely colors! Shadow embroidery is always beautiful as well! I think there is something very special about art made from thread and cloth and willing hands. It has so much more personality than things made from machine. I love all your posts showing the various stitches 🙂
Mary, Would be great to win something on one of your giveaways….
I had to think about your question about favorite type of needlework….normally my answer would be Japanese silk embroidery BUT lately I have reconnected to a lot of techniques and now my answer has to be a bit different. What I really enjoy most about my needlework lately is to shade, add dimension, add texture, add in essence character to whatever I am stitching – may it be realistic technique, blackwork, goldwork, whitework, even cross stitch…it is fascinating what one can achieve with a needle!
Mary, I am hopeless when it comes to needles- but I hope to win a needle tin & ID cards. I had trouble getting to this point – links in the email resulted in 404 errors.
Becky in upstate SC
I’m a history buff so I love the Bayeux Tapestry. The “Tapestry” isn’t really a tapestry it’s embroidery done in just a couple of different stitches but encapsulates so much history.
It’s hard to say which is a favorite. I’ve dabbled in various forms of embroidery. I really love whitework, chicken scratch, needleweaving and lately english smocking. Thanks for the giveaway.
My “most” favorite would be Blackwork. I spend most of my time creating quilts and the blackwork is fabulous to highlight and fill in around the needleturn applique. Right now, I’m working on a blackwork dragon for the center panel of a pieced, black, red and white wall hanging. So many really fun areas to fill with all sorts of stitches! I would love to get my needles organized, as they are presently “stuck” all over the place. Much to my husband’s irritation!
Hello Mary
Thank you for another give-away!!
My favorite embroidery is crewel. My next project is a kit from Phillipa Turnbull – I am going to take some vacation time to work on it! It is fun to try out different types of stitches.
That are the cutest needle tins ever 🙂
My favorite is cross-stitch. I like the way to make a picture one cross-stitch at a time.
Hi Mary, thanks for the lovely give-away! My favorite type of embroidery is needle painting – probably for the same reason my favorite paintings are the realistic ones. Nature and life are so amazing, it just wonders me when we can replicate them in art. But I have to say, cross stitch is the most I do. Long and short stitches I still have a long way to go. 🙂
My favorite needlework of all has to be hardanger. It looks simple when you view the process, but to go around an entire piece and not miss a thread is a challenge. cutting and needle weaving present another challenge. The finished project is always worth the time I spend ripping out and doing it over.
The needle tins would be a welcome addition to my stash.
thanks for the opportunity.
What a terrific giveaway! I would love to win the assorted needles. As a newbie to embroidery and needle work, having the right needles to do a project can make the experience so much better and I’ll feel like a real pro! The needle tins are a sweet way to store them instead of having needles stuck in spools of threads or whatever “tomato” happens to be nearby.
Goodness, I replied earlier and forgot to mention my favorite type of work. I love simple “bluework”. I have the cutest 50’s style patterns to work on for my little grandson of little boys playing. Can’t wait to make them into pillows for his bedroom!
How delightful these needle cases are! Thank you for this wonderful giveaway! I am in love with thread painting although I find it challenging to get it perfectly right… I also love doing classic embroidery on a black linen background! Although I am a seamstress, I will NEVER own an embroidery machine – I much prefer the look as well as the “statement” hand embroidery gives!
Ruth Lutz from Florida
I love to do all kinds of surface embroidery. I also love to do punch needle sometimes. I love to work with wool and so I do crewel. Now I am taking the Cabinet of Curiosities class and am learning about stump work. I just love to embroider.
My favorite is silk shading. So beautiful!
My favorite type of needle work is embroidery and cross stitch. I love back stitch and chain stitch most of all at the moment.
My favorite type of embroidery is Hardanger, but I dabble in all sorts of techniques. I’m intrigued when I see a new stitch and just have to try it out. Somehow, I always end up with needles that don’t get put back into the correct container, so the Needle ID cards would be FANTASTIC. Thanks for the giveaway and for all the great articles.
Surface embroidery is my favourite and I love it beyond reason almost the exclusion of all other needlework. Not only that, I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t feel the same about embroidery as I do.
I’ve tried a lot, but embroidery is my true love. And I’ve got a lot of needles that could use tins! 🙂
I have discovered some French embroidery sites which have fascinated me because it’s the type of embroidery I like to do, sort of crewel but with many different variation of stitches and mostly yarns and ribbons rather than cottons or…I needlepointed many needle cushions for every different embroidery project that I have, therefore, needles are always in the right place where they belong and pins have their own resting place.
Hi,
I saw your giveaway on needle tins and needle ID cards. The needle tins are cute. I’m new at embroidering(1 year). I’m taking a wool crazy class in my area and just love learning new stitches!Ti’s just the basic stitches but they are new to me. I hope my embroidering knowledge grows.Thank you for your website, it’s great. My teacher told me to check it out to help me with the stitiches.Thanks, Carol
I have recently become interested in the embroidery of different flowers. I really love
the raised effect of the buillion stitch. But watching you work on your pieces really makes me want to start a large piece. Thanks for the inspiration you provide with every newsletter.
My favorite type of needlework is freestyle embroidery. If I work from a design, it’s usually my own, from a sketch..or idea. I can incorporate any one of the stitches I’ve learned, with Silk Ribbon embroidery, and a crazy quilt sampler block. I take what I’m working on to the VA when my husband has appointments. People like to see handwork,and I usually get to hear a treasured memory from someone, about grandma’s quilt, or a pillow. A great way to remember family members and loved ones. I like the ease of taking it along, one bag! ( better than lugging a 30 lb easel,paints, brushes and canvas’around!)
viji from chennai
Hi mary,
I love surface embroidery mainly on dresses….I love all stitches…learned and learning from your website and also sharon’s blog. It is quite interesting and satisfying results… Liked the idea of a needle organiser which will be an asset to all embroiderers…thank you for your big heart of a great giveaway….
viji
I enjoy all kinds of needlework but think my favorite is samplers. I like learning various stitches on one project and the variety keeps it challenging and interesting.
Enjoying your progress on the flower….it is beautiful.
Grace
I love surface embroidery and especially the outline stitch. This is the first type of embroidery I learned as a child and it is always comforting when I do it. Sort of like comfort food 🙂
Hello, I like having my needles very neat and more if it is in vintage boxes! I like embroidery and painting with crayon tradcicional! Hugs!
I love doing handwork and first started with needle turn appliqué which led to my interest in Baltimore Album quilts. I found I could get more dimension in blocks by using embroidery and I happened upon your website and news letter. Your tutorials for stitches have been easy to follow and inspirational I am so glad I found your website! Thanks for inspiring me! Jane from ND
I would love to be able to keep up with my needles. What a great idea!!
Thank you.
Hi Mary, Love these little tins and the needlecards. I have always been attracted to small things (is it a remnant of childhood?) and, that goes for embroidery too! Although my favourite technique is whitework, as I get older I am more and more attracted to smallish pieces … something I can carry with me and finish in a reasonable lifetime!! Thanks again for your great site and the give-away.
I enjoy your blog and tutorials so much.
I don’t know very much about the different embroidery styles. I enjoy embroidering pillowcases, tea towels, etc. I am very much a beginner.
Hi Mary,
My favorite kind of stitchery is anything counted, even though I sometimes have trouble counting to four! I love the idea of the little needle storage tins: in fact I love any kind of container, box, basket that I can put to good use.
Thanks,
Marlene S
Ontario, Canada
I love mountmallick, drawn thread, smocking, cross stitch, stumpwork, quilting , hardhanger and tapestry. So your blog is just wonderful as you have amazing information on everything I love. And learning about all ours tools we need is so interesting and really a joy.
Thank you so much for adding so much joy to my life.
Mariana.
My favorite needlework is anything done in
satin stitch, preferably monograms. I suppose
this is because my grandmother introduced me to
stitching and she did beautiful satin stitch
monograms on pillow cases for everyone in the
family.
Pat from Lebanon
Although I do, and enjoy, all sorts of needlework I find myself time and again coming back to various forms of counted work – either straight cross stitch or more complex “speciality” stitches.
I think that the orderly approach appeals to my logical brain and therefore I find it the most relaxing!
My first love is crewel. This web site of information is fascinating.
I’m a beginning embroiderer and have been using your tutorials to learn the craft. As for my favorite…at this point it’s whatever stitch I am currently trying to master! While just getting started, I already need help organizing my materials so the needle cases and cards would be grand. Thank you for all the hard work you do on this site!
I’m completely enthralled with 17th century needlework – samplers, embroidered panels, caskets, goldwork, blackwork – I love them all! It’s so wonderful that so much research has been done in the last few years, there are so many beautiful books published in the last few years.
As far as needles, anything that would help me figure out what size a random needle is would be so helpful, any organizational tool is always welcome to my stash. Right now I’m working on a repro sampler on 55 count linen, so needle size is important.
My passion for embroidery covers every technique I can lay my hands and eyes on….something new? YEH!!!!!
If I’m forced to choose I would have to say NEEDLE PAINTING. It is so satisfying to do and it makes me feel proud of myself…not to mention that the results blow non embroiderers away. If only they knew how easy it really is. I hasten to add that I love passing on my knowledge to others. I so enjoy your articles Mary, they make me feel thankful to have a tutor at hand .
What a great idea the little needle cards are. My needles are everywhere, and I would love to organize them with these little cards and beautiful little tins. My favorite embroidery would be counted cross stich, redwork, crazy quilting. I am in an Embroidery Guild and
also tried and love Hungarian embroidery with all the beautiful colors.
Thanks Mary for all your sharing.
Fabulous give aways – thanks Mary! “Take-along” conveniences to afford us all the spare time we can muster to finish our projects.
Thank you for the excitement of another give-away! It’s wonderful reading the comments from stitchers! My favorite embroidery is surface embroidery. I’m starting to get into long and short stitch more, because I like the realistic look and the detail that can be added.
I am very new to this site and blog, but luv it. Great info and inspiration every day. I really like watching a piece develop. As a relatively naive stitcher I am learning a lot here. I am still experimenting with techniques but my favorite so far is stumpwork. Thank you
I have been doing surface embroidery since I was a little girl. My friends and I even had a “sewing club” for a while. We would take turns hosting the club and providing refreshments(cookies). Since then I have tried to learn new stitches and methods and finding your web site has been a great help. Since I love Victoriana the needle tins have caught my eye and who wouldn’t want the needle cards to help sort out all their needles. Thanks for all the fun you provide and helpful info.
I really like Crosstitch because that’s what I learned first, but now I am really enjoying surface because it is so pretty! Would love the needle tin! Thank you!!
My favorite type of needlework, that I’ve been doing since taught as a teen by my mom, is counted cross stitch. There is something so satisfying about taking a piece of blank fabric and some floss and making a piece of art appear on it. I love the ability to change up colors and parts of designs to really make them my own, and that and any inevitible ‘errors’ from the design really make each piece unique. Depending on the pattern, it can be simple and soothing or very challenging, which WIP I choose to work on always depends on which I’m looking for!
Thanks for the opportunity to win a set of these, they look like fabulous tools! Ever since you posted about the needle tins, I’ve added them to my wish list. = )
These little tins and needle cards are perfect “must have’s” for me. I’m an organization freak although I admit to getting into some real messes from time to time. It always comes back to sorting it out and neatening things up. If I don’t win your gift, I plan to purchase them.
I was unable to get on on the original day and Now I for get the question. I am a lonng time stitcher-mostly counted- but some canvas and now I have discovered beading!
Mary, I have fallen in love with free-form surface embroidery. I took Karen Ruane’s “Embroider, Embellish, Create” class and I am working on a wrapping cloth of my own. Adding a little bit of needle tatting, too, really makes the pieces I’m embroidering my own style. It’s fabulous fun and I’m hooked! I’d love to win the needle tins and the ID cards. Thanks for the opportunity.
I love hardanger. For whatever reason it soothes my jangled nerves when I work on a piece. There is a rhythm to it that appeals to me.
My all time favourite style embroidery has to be thread painting using long and short stitch – I have recently learnt how to do this well and need to practice lots more to improve my technique. I love the detail and smooth shading that you can achieve with this technique. I think the needle tins and cards look like a very useful addition to any embroiderers sewing box.
My favorite type of embroidery is they type done in company. Embroidery hoop out and conversation flowing, maybe sharing a favorite trick or two.
Jen
What luck I have to have found your website! I just started hand embroidery and right now I like the chain stitch because they look like they are suppose to. I reference your site for the tutorials frequently and one day I will get up the nerve to do the stitch that looks like a braid but is raised up – the stem stitch I think.
I have wondered how to keep the needles straight and the tins and needle cards look like the answer. I like to be organized and it would be nice to know what needle is what. I can’t seem to tell from looking at the needle. I have tried keeping the needles in the packaging they come in but I am failing miserably. I do believe the tins and cards would help organize and keep me straight. Back to stitching!
Hi Mary,
My favorite type of embroidery is Hardanger embroidery. I think the reason I like it so much is that it requires a lot of concentration (especially when you are cutting threads) and your mind can’t stew on everyday problems or concerns…you must concentrate. Plus, it is beautiful!
Sheila from CA
Oh the ways!! I did a lot of cross stitch and some old fashioned embroidery on flour sacks, when I was younger. But, now that I have time (older now :), am interested in learning so much more. I love your emails everyday and am inspired by them. The choices are endless and I am new to them, but oh, the colors and the challenges are remarkable. I can not choose a favorite!! I love the peaceful time with whatever stitching I choose today. Thank you for the opportunity to enter the contest for the lovely tins and needles!!
The most elegant embroidery is Satin work in all types of patterns but whitework is the most elegant of all in my opinion. I’m betting that it was a stitch that was greatly admired in Victorian times and they probably perfected it. I love doing the stitch rather the thread is cotton, silk or wool. I have many needles and have never had a way to identify them and this would be a great way for me to do that. To have the addition of the tins to store them in would be perfect, that would sure help my organizing skills.
My favorite embroidery stitch is stamped cross stitch. But I have been learning some new (for me) stitches lately, chain, back stitch etc.
Well, I have done counted cross stitch for years and always enjoy “painting” a picture, so it is my first love. I also love hardanger embroidery, and am expanding into surface embroidery and canvaswork, so my next love may be one of those.
It would be nice to have something to organize my needles, as I find it is hard to tell which is which after a while. These tins and labels would be just the thing to keep me organized.
Crewel/surface stitchery. Sheer variety of choices. Needlepoint next.
I would have to say that Brazilian Embroidery is my all time favorite, even though I am not that great at it. But secondly I love the long and short stitch because of it’s ability to paint with thread. I am an ex painter due to tremor and find that I can now paint with thread. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to embroidery and most of all to sharing it with us!
Fantastic give away, thank you
Favourite needlework…hmm tough one, but at the moment it is counted Cross Stitch. This is because my beautiful daughter gave me the most amazing Christmas gift of a Unicorn standing by a pond/waterfall in the twilight, on black Aida. It is a major work with so many threads to blend, I’m so excited to see it finished and framed, hopefully before Christmas rolls around, lols.
I enjoy several different kinds of needlework, but I think I enjoy counted stitch needlework the most.
1. It was the first type of needlework that I attempted seriously ( it was fairly large reproduction of an antique sampler). I now have a sizable collection of reproduction samplers which I love. 2) I like the precision of counted stitch needlework.
Some of my later samplers introduced me to other types of stitches (non-counted) and from that my love of all-things embroidery grew.
I haven’t done any counted stitch for quite a while as I am trying to learn more sophisticated stitches.
My favorite embroidery isn’t embroidery I suppose, but I love to do smocking because I can take it anywhere with me.
Thank you for the opportunity to win this give away.
Am so intrigued with the needle tins that, if I don’t win a set, I’ll have to purchase for myself. Other than tapestry needles, I’m never quite sure what needle to use for a particular stitching task. It would so help to have them identified.
I am particularly fond of counted work on linen. I do try other techniques but always seem to come back to the counted work. Is it the perfectionist in me?
My heart belongs to cross stitch becausef that is what I first learned to do. But I still have the very first embroidery flowers I made in 1975 in the appropriate oranges and browns and golds of the time. I have learned to love needle painting and feel it is important to try all kinds of “needle mania” as I call it. Thanks for the giveaway…you are so kind!
My favorite type of embroidery is Blackwork .
Because: dramatic effect, reversible, traditional designs and long history a little mystery.
I’ve always really lived white work embroidery. I used to work for a lady that had an eBay business importing vintage items from Europe to sell in her online stores. I always thought the white wit embroidery told the best stories and had the most beautiful and classic look 🙂
I have tried many types of needlework but my favourite is always canvas work. I love your needle art and often find tips about threads or stitches that I can use or adapt to canvas.
Thanks for doing the draw!
Regards
Thanks for offering this draw! My favourite type of needlework is any counted-thread technique. I love working on the lattice provided by a linen fabric, and the texture created by different stitches.
I would have to say counted cross stitch. However,since I have discovered your website I have enjoyed trying new techniques and stitches.
Janice in TN
I love the thread painting that I have recently discovered. I bought an antique embroidery transfer pattern of a ABC quilt, and I am doing it block by block to make a wall hanging for my three grandchildren who are under the age of five. They live in Papua, Indonesia. The blocks include pictures of animals, toys, and other objects, and I have found it challenging to fill in the shading, not just the outlines.
So far, I am up to giraffe, and hope to finish the wall hanging before the children become teenagers!
A calm mind and heart comes (to me) by walking the pathways constructed of one tiny stitch after another. Your website is the first place I look everyday. Thank you for your kindness and incredible diligence.
I love samplers, the older the better. There is something about a piece of needlework that has been around so long; I feel it is an honor to be able to reproduce it.
Oh!! To replace the little baby food jars,pill bottles, scraps of fabric, with needles stuck in them, would be out of this world.
I love all types of types of embroidery, even the ones I haven’t tried. I just love to read about them, touch them, dream about them. Do you get the picture:)
I don’t have a favorite. It would be like choosing which grandchild I love most.
I don’t exactly “need” these but they are so darn cute I really “want” them. So much so that I may have to jump over to HedgeHog Handworks and order them if I don’t win them.
Hi Mary,
My favorite type of embroidery is Brazilian Embroidery. I love the way you work with the needles and make such beautiful flowers. I get bored easily with repetition and this embroidery makes you think about what you need to do.
Thanks for also having your website and teaching different types of stitches that I wouldn’t have known about on my own.
Michelle Mueller
I enjoy all types of Needlework, but my favorite would have to be free hand flat surface embroidery. The delicate gardens and scenes that can be created with buillions; chain and daisy stitches, to name a few, are just beautiful. I would love to have one of the Needle tins and needle identification card sets. We don’t get things like that often in South Africa and I would love to be able to get so organized! Candy
My favorite kind of embroidery is shadow embroidery. It’s my first love of embroidery and one that gave me the confidence to try other kinds.
The little needle tins are wonderful…they are pretty and a very useful embroidery accessory. I have such a hard time determining which needle is which and where I put them, the I.D. cards and tins are a perfect (and beautiful) solution to these problems!
Linda from Illinois
Tough question for me because I love it all and have tried and do a great deal of the many wonderful ways to stitch;
I have to say, though,to answer honestly, that the favorite for me is the outline stitch. It is the first stitch I learned at a very early age and the most relaxing for me now. If I just want to keep my fingers busy and not have to think, that is what I want to grab.
My all time favorite continues to be white work. Grandma did it and I still love it.
Thank You so much for the exciting chance to win.
Love goldwork, but am just a novice at the technique. I LOVE hardanger and have done many pieces. That’s my favorite, with thread painting taking a second place. I’ve just done a small piece in one of Jane Nicholas’ books. I keep my needles in a needlebook now and the pages are falling out. I really, really could use the needle page and tin. Would solve my problem. I really do not know one needle from another, except #22 tapestry petite which I most often use. Keep up your inspiring articles, Mary….makes me want to stitch the night away!
A daunted novice I am endeavouring to learn the basics of stitching with expectations of producing something beautiful one day if I keep trying and not give up. I have experienced quite a lot of pleasure in the baby steps taken so far, a little red-work and some crewel and appreciate the clear instructions readily available on your site, thank-you so much.
What a tough question! It is usually whatever I am doing at the moment. But I’ll narrow it down to the top three: Redwork, Hardanger, and Crewel.
I love dimensional embroidery and when I experimented with adding beads, I discovered the wonderful world of bead embroidery. I can bead around buttons and cabochons and embroider in and around them to make beautiful purses, picture frames or even cards. I can’t believe the range of different types needles! It’s hard to keep them straight, but worth trying.
I absolutely love short and long stitch. Lately, though, I’ve been experimenting with combining different stitches for their texture and contrast…sort of doodling with thread. That’s what I love about needlework. It’s so diverse when you get bored with one type, you can just try another for awhile.
Thanks for another chance to win a great give-away, Mary.
It’s difficult to choose which is my favorite!? I have stitched with needle and thread since childhood- have always loved all things fiber and textiles- I will be taking a class with Jane Nicholas learning the beautiful stump work technique through my local EGA chapter of which I am a member. I can’t wait to give it a try- I love lots of texture in my needlework- It will be fun! Thanks for inspiring me with your wonderful daily “shot” of embroidery!
I love to do cross stitch, taught by my mother from a very young age.
Sheri
My all time type of embroidery is the one that takes only one color thread and is small enough so that I can carry it with me inside my bag. Thus, I can take it out at anywhere, every little spare time and have my “delightful” moment. Isabel Ávila from Brazil.
I have really enjoyed the Lattice sampler. I’ve followed the entire sampler. Learned a lot.
I’d really like my chance to win the needle cards and tins.
I read your information daily right after 10 AM.
I think my most favorite needlework is cross stitch with specialty stitches. I haven’t done tons of it, but I just love learning the new stitches and seeing them develop on the fabric!
I definitely could use a needle organizer. I find myself just grabbing any needle that’s available sometimes – when I really ought to pay attention. When I teach, however, I am more conscientious, but it does require me to get organized before the class. I could definitely use needle guides. They would come in so handy!
My favorite needlework right now is Brazilian dimensional embroidery, but I also do Hardanger, canvaswork and occasionally, some cross-stitch and beading.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Judy
I have some of the clear needle tubes and for the most part they are good. But the tops get loose and want to come off after use. I like the tins because they are cute and girly and look like they would work very well. Of course any new and different tool makes stitching more fun. Like I said before cute never hurts. Diane
What a wonderful give-a-away! Thanks for offering yet another one.
My favorite stitchery to do is shadow work. I know from your recent posts Mary, that it isn’t one of your favorites, but I love the way the colors fill in the design when I’m doing the stitching. It’s like coloring with threads.
I love crazy quilting because there aren’t any rules,anything goes and I can learn many new stitches and use them. Besides my needles are in a jumble.
Fantastic needle ID cards. My needles tend to get mixed into a pill bottle and then it is hunt and search for the right one. Either the tins to keep them separated or the cards to keep with them would be a great help for me or anyone with needles and the question ‘which needle should I use for the_________ I’m doing now?’ Thanks for all the info you share with those of us just learning to do needle work. Peace, Cyn
I love doing counted stitch embroidery….I like to do the 18th century samplers. Also love the crewel work from the 18th century.
I prefer red or black work, but also do counted cross stitch. I am anxious to try the stitches shown on the newsletter and am excited about the promised guide.
As I am a very math orientated person I am addicted to cross stitching, but to be honest I haven’t tried anything else yet. I am very curious to start on different kinds of embroidery, but I first have to finish the pieces I’m working on now. Recently my mother gave me my grandmothers old stitching stuff which contains some floss, fabric and some unfinished pieces. It also contains some needles and I would love to know what kind they are so those ID cards would come in handy!
Hi Mary,
When I saw the question that you posted for your current give-away I had to think long and hard. The reason for this is that all the embroidery techniques I have tried have at some stage been my “favourite” type of embroidery but now that I have really run it through my mind a few times, I would say Mountmellick is my favourite. The reason for this is not necessarily down to the stitching itself, although the white work is challenging in its purity, and the materials are not the delicate, colourful and stimulating of some embroidery.
The reason is simply, that when I emigrated to Ireland for nearly 10 years I joined a needlework group, to integrate into my new community, and Mountmellick embroidery was the first form of stitching I was taught there. It was also the first Irish embroidery I had ever attempted and I was wooed by it. I learnt about the history, and the evolution of the form that it has taken in different countries, and found many new friends in the process. Thus Mountmellick is my favourite.
right now I am into embroidry/coloring type
the coloring added a different demention to the embroidry. I am just starting on a quit with it and it is fun to color and them add embroidry with different stitches. the pattern calls for just regular straight stitch but I have added different ones where I think they would look good. Never could follow a pattern exactly
How can you have a favourite. Every kind of needlework is sooooooo addictive. I love it all I just wish there were enough hours in the day to do it all.
My all time favorite type of needlework is probably cross stitch. It’s so soothing to make those little x’s. I also enjoy English Paper Piecing in quilting.
Thank you for the opportunity. I have been eyeing these needle tins ever since you wrote about them. Combining them with the ID cards is a great idea for a give-away.
My favorite needlework is black work, worked in blue, my favorite color!
Beverley
Hi,Mary! Thanks for all the work you put into this site and also for the promotion of the craft. I learn something new every day. I’m going to try my hand at the Jacobean Jumble-so excited! Thanks for the inspiration,
Diana from Rock Island IL
These are so lovely but you cannot get them in New Zealand – we are so far away !! So really I have to win them to get them. Many thanks.
Hi Mary
It is very difficult to choose just one of my favourite needlework techniques as the moment I get a needle between my two fingers I am happy and love what I am doing.
My favorite needlework is embroidery. I love the way it looks when it is finished, and I love doing it. I have always loved any kind of hand work, and embroidery is so relaxing for me! Hope I win!
I have done many kinds of needlecraft. It would be really hard to pick a favorite. Right now I enjoy just regular embroidery and love seeing the different stitches and how you use them.
My mother always did embroidery but I didn’t like it very much until recently. Maybe it’s because there are so many more wonderful threads than there used to be. It seems as I get older, I revert back to some of the older methods of many types of needlecraft. Should that tell me something?
My all time favourite stitching – smocking for my daughter, but I also love hardanger and other drawn thread techniques and needle lace… I
Love needlework in all forms.
Thanks for thre generous give aways you have, and for your sharing of knowledge – it is truly appreciated.
Blessings
Maxine
My favorite would be counted cross stitch and stitching on silk gauze.
Hi Mary,
I started embroidering in Girl Scouts. We had a lovely woman teach us some crewel. For some reason it took me 20 years to finish it. After I finished that piece up I got the bug and taught myself how to cross stitch, a bit of surface stitching a little bit of Swedish embroidery. I am going through your Stitch Fun tutorials and videos no making a sampler for myself to learn more. I still want to do Brazilian embroidery. Right now my favorite is Surface stitching. As a self taught embroider, I never learned about needles. My mom left me a bunch but I don’t know what kind they are. I use them but I’m probably using the wrong needle for the wrong project.
Thank you for this wonderful website full of things I want to learn that is presented in a clear well written way.
I love to organize stuff and can’t wait to get my hands on one of these tins.
My favorite form of embroidery is ribbon embroidery.
I love doing embroidery, my favorite method of embroidery is needle painting. I find it such a rewarding form of embroidery and whatever I have done in the past have all turned out to be beautiful pictures. I have done every kind of embroidery available, but my needlepainting is so satisfying.
Thank you for your most interesting daily newsletters.
Daphne Lovell
My favourite embroidery style is freestyle with lots of textured stitches with beads, shells and/or other types of found objects. I really enjoy making something sumptuous and the contrasts with the low relief stitching or negative space.
As you can imagine such stitching means I have a lot of different types of needles so the needle guide cards would be a god-send.
Thanks for this wonderful opportunity Mary.
Love all the things you are showing
Hi Mary
I just love surface embroidery, I love that you can use lots of beautiful different stitches, long & short, bullions there are just too many to mention. I love to make up my own design too.
The little tins look gorgeous.
Sandy Sthn Highlands NSW Australia
Thank you Mary for the great giveaway, what a wonderful addition to any needle-persons stash.
Arlene
Hi Mary,
I started with Cross Stitch and moved to Pulled and Drawn Thread, Hardanger, Ukrainian. I discovered Reticella and Punto Antico a couple of years ago and would say they are currently my favourites. I have always enjoyed working with beautiful linen and counted techniques. I am enchanted with 16th & 17th century needlework. I am very keen to learn how to stitch Jacobean pieces and Elizabethan with Silk and Gold threads but am not sure yet about using the different types of ground fabric. Hopefully soon I will learn how to set that up and start practicing. I love reading your email each day. Thank you for being so generous in sharing your embroidery experiences/skills with us.
Oh, I need some of those NeedleID cards. I spend too much time comparing needle widths, lengths and eye sizes!
Finally something that will help me identify my needles. Neat, compact and organized!
I love thread painting as it is so Expressive and the skill of blending threads is a challenge and who doesn’t like a challenge!
My favorite is just red work. I like it best because my grandma taught it to me as a little girl. I still love doing this best. Brings happy memories.
My favorite needlework medium is needlepoint, especially on congress cloth or 18-ct and finer canvas. I don’t’ like painted canvas but prefer to work from a chart–especially like geometrics! Such fun and relaxation!
I don’t know if I can choose an all time favourite type of embroidery! I have so many! I’m a practical type of person, so for me, the embroidered item generally has to have a function. I love drawn and pulled thread work for that, they can decorate household items so beautifully.
Hi Mary,
thanks for another great giveaway! Hard to pick one favorite, but I’ve been getting into needlepainting lately. And I love the look of Jacobean projects, though I’ve only stitched one. And I look forward to learning more about silk!
I think my favorite needle work would have to be crazy quilts. It gives me the freedom to play with a variety of threads and practice, practice, practice all the lovely stitches!
When I saw the needle tins and cards I got very excited. My granddaughter is coming for summer vacation and one of her goals is to learn how to do embroidery. The tins would be a nice gift for her to keep things organized at home and the cards an educational reference for needles.
I am so excited to be able to share this art with her. We will certainly be coming to your site for the tutorials.
Thank you so much for all your hard work. I come back over and over to discover something new and get inspired.
My favorite Needlework – that is hard to say. I just love to work with a needle and thread. I do especially like crewel embroidery.
The little tins and needle cards will be great for organizing and figuring out some of the needles I have. Thank you. Enjoy your work.
I love whatever type of embroidery I am doing – mainly because most of it involves making something for my children or grandchildren. So all of it is embroidery from the heart – whatever it turns out to be.
Crazy quilting. I can combine so many techniques together. For my parents 50th wedding anniversary I did a large crazy quilt wall hanging with photos transferred unto cloth and did all the embroidery in silk ribbon. A treasured heirloom with visual and tactile delights.
Thanks for all the great giveaways. I would love the needle id cards as I never know what I have.
TIP: I put a round magnet inside my tin needle box lid to hold the current projects’ needle when not in use. It’s right there when I open the tin!
Crewel is probably my favorite but at any given time, it could be needlepoint. I love the tin idea and use tins now that I’ve accumulated over time and they hold my favorite needles for whatever I’m working on at that moment, but aren’t named.
I love hardanger, I love the rhythm and the symmetry of it
My favorite embroidery is thread painting. I think because it can be so real looking.
The needle case would be a fantastic way to know what needle I had, once it was removed from the packet
Thanks for all you do. Amazing
Hello. My all time favorite needlework is cross-stitch on linen. It’s easy and relaxing.
Your Lattice Sampler is what I tend to doodle on restaurant paper placemats/tablecloths. It looks like a lot of fun.
Thank you for the give-away. I love needlework gadgets!
I believe the comment asked for was one’s preferred medium in stitchery. Really, Mary, that’s like saying one has a favorite child. I have several that are my favorites: crewel, stumpwork, Japanese embroidery and blackwork. Each has its own peculiar charms, but if you push me to it I guess it would be crewel. I think it’s a tactile thing. It’s wooly, warm, homey.
An alternative to the buttonhole stitch for hand applique group just began here in Maine. I forage your website daily!! Mary, you are so generous with your time and spirit. My learning curve is high, rapid and glorious because of you! May sound weird, but I think the ladies at my newly begun applique group would love to share some lovely needle tins as we are beginning this exciting journey together. But most of all… Thank you for all that you Give to your readers. I hope you let us know if you come to Maine. Best, Meg
Thanks for the chance to win needle tins. I like surface “free-style” embroidery best. I just enjoy drawing or finding a pattern/picture and embroidering it in any way pleasing to me!
Until I discovered your website I have been content with my old 1835 Mary Thomas embroidery book and DMC floss. Now I haven’t got enough time to try all the new and wonderful ideas and techniques I’m finding. Thanks, Karin
My favourite form of needle work is English Goldwork. It is challenging and the results are beautiful.
It’s is a great give away, all my needles are shoved in a drawer and they slide around and get mixed up.
Melody in VA
I love surface embroidery particularly samplers and flowers.
My Zen moment comes with beautiful threads,needles,and my favorite hoop.
These tins and cards would be most appreciated in my rather small needle work space! Once again web site offers a give away that all needle enthusiasts
would love to have.
Barbara
My favorite needlework, right now, is long and short stitch shading. I’d like to get that down pat, someday and then try out goldwork. The floorstand really helped a lot in doing two handed stitching, so I am trying to get a new motor pattern now handling the needle. Fun fun fun! Then, there’s bullion knots, boy do I like making flowers outta stitches. I guess that open door to, well, who knows what follows!
Pins and needles;
Needles and pins.
To help me keep track
I could well use these tins!
With my needles in hand, beautiful whitework embroidery — from the many corners of the world with their forms of whitework — would constantly flow from my fingers. I love all whitework and am excited when a new variation from another country or ethnic region comes to my attention.
Occasionally when I need to address the need for color, I turn to Japanese embroidery — not only for the color, but for the wonderful feel and shine of the silk threads! The tins would be especially important then to keep close those individually hand-made needles!
I love embroidery, done mostly counted cross stitch, guess my favorite because I have done it the most. My plans are learning basic stitches and using it on crazy quilts. Cant wait excited.I would love to have the tins and cards. Would be great start for my plans….
I enjoy doing different embroidery stitches, and right now I am really looking forward to doing a beautiful counted crosstitch. That is probably my favorite! I also enjoy crazy quilting and all the different things that you can do with it!!
What wonderful gifts you are giving away, and although both would be desirable, the needle ID cards are such a novelty to me and I could certainly use them. Having recently joined the ANG, it’s all about needlepoint for me now and I noticed in a number of needlepoint books I purchased that different size needles are needed for vertical/horizontal stitches and diagonal stitches, except, once those needles are out of their packaging, I’m never sure what size needle I have in hand. Whoever wins those ID cards will be one happy stitcher.
First I would like to say how much I enjoy your blog and great giveaways. I mentioned it at my bead club meeting today.
Stumpwork Is my favorite embroidery technique because of the dimensional nature of the work. As well as the use of so many needlework techniques like needle lace, bullion’s stitches, bead embroidery, and thread painting. I don’t think there is a technique you couldn’t use in a stumpwork project.
Thanks for the great giveaway! My favorite type would probably be counted crosstitch, because of how it has been handed down on my family 🙂
I like counted canvas work, especially geometrics. I prefer the designs that use jewel tones.
Ahh my all-time favourite embroidery would be any kind of specialty stitching, especially any that look lacy like any pulled thread work. Thats probably becuase I am at heart a bobbin lacemaker, and the pulled stitches look so light and airy!
And yes, I put my needles safely away and then have trouble finding them, I always have a REALLY special place that I can’t remember!
LOL, keeps the embroidery shops in business as I buy needles again and again!
All embroidery is wonderful but increasingly I find myself coming back to Crewel & Jacobean as it allows options for a variety of stitches and threads.
The finished work can be displayed & used in so many ways in the house & in clothing finish. Then so handy for a variety of gift giving ideas
Greetings from Melbourne, Australia.
My favourite type of embroidery is counted cross stitch. I love the exactness of it. I have done numerous samplers, pictures and stalls. I also like smocking.
I am bit of a jack of all trades and master of none. I love so many types of embroidery but spend most time on counted cross stitch nowadays as I love to see the picture come to life as work on it. I can do it while ‘watching’ tv and on a coach. I also love goldwork, crewel embroidery, stumpwork, blackwork but preferably not black, whitework and trying out anything new!
My favorite is chicken-scratch embroidery. I love the simplicity. I would love to win to (try to) keep me organized!!
Becky Gilliam
This is something I have tried a little bit but want to do more.
There are so many types of needlework I love and other types I haven’t tried yet but if I need to pick a favorite it would have to be hardanger. I love how it looks so intricate yet is not that difficult to do.
Thanks for another cool giveaway!
Samplers are my first love. All kinds. They are an excellent source for creating your own motif and alphabet and stitch library. More than that, though, is the connection to history. I love to sit and think about the original stitcher(s)—what kind of light were they working with? What tools did they have? What threads were in their baskets? Did they swap threads with their friends? How old were they?
History and art are something I treasure.
My all-time favorite type of embroidery/needlework changes from day-to-day. My current project is usually my favorite. How blessed we are to have such opportunities!
Thank you for the richness of this website and the orderliness which makes the information so accessible.
Mary,
Right now, my favorite kind of needlework is counted cross stitch. It seems to be the only kind I will spend any time with! (And that does help finish a project, doesn’t it?) I also find myself spending time planning (or day dreaming) my next project.
To do – my favorite type of embroidery is blackwork, it just comes most naturally to me.
To aspire to – my favorite type of embroidery is crewel, it is just so beautiful.
To look at only – japanese embroidery or anything with silks and metals.
I haven’t tried every type of embroidery, but of the ones that I have done, I like them all. I guess I’d have to say regular embroidery (as opposed to cross stitch or something like that which is one stitch or few stitches) because of the huge variety of stitches.
G’day Mary,
It’s a toss up between Crazy Patchwork and Freeform. Both are rather unrestricted by convention but Freeform would edge out the Crazy.
Freeform for me is to start with a smallish piece of fabric that lends itself to my whimsy at the time, and like wise a colour scheme. I usually start with folding the fabric a little, perhaps to reveal the back or utilise a selvage, and I just stitch tuck, gather, and do whatever, where ever until I feel I’ve finished. Sometimes less is more, other times more is essential. If it looks like hills or the ocean I might add a strategically placed vague sort of tree or seaweed etc. Tiny beads and french knots tucked under a fold add a touch of intrigue too.
Thanks for this beautiful and useful giveaway. William Morris would be smiling.
Cheers, Kath from Oz
Mary, you’d have to read between the lines to find the ‘why’ in there…even if you read the 2nd sentence a few times!
Yes, it’s not being restricted by conceived conventional ‘rules’ that opens Freeform so enjoyably to my creative temperament! Kath.
Hi Mary,
My favourite is whitework and its related techniques; colour is a little intimidating, but I love love love messing with texture and light to create subtle forms and shading. Needlepainting is fantastic too, but much more intimidating 🙂
Tessa from Stellenbosch
thank you
Greetings from northern Ontario, (Canada), where we are finally getting some summer-like weather! But, whatever the weather, my favorite embroidery type(s) are thread painting & goldwork. I love to work with silk threads,& am trying to summon the courage to attempt working with filament silk, as, up until now,I have only worked with spun silk. I cannot work, because of neck surgery,& need to make sure all my body parts are propped up sufficiently in order to be able to do any needlework, but I find that the concentration required distracts me from my ongoing pain. Needlework has saved my sanity!
Like many others,I have a large, unsorted stash of needles I would welcome the ability to be able to sort & identify that collection! Thank you for this contest: Amanda
It’s hard to narrow it down to just one – each one has something to offer! I’ve done numerous projects over the years using Counted Cross stitch, Crewel and Needlepoint. Next on the list is Goldwork!
The cards and tins would be an absolutely great give-away to win. Thanks!
I do several types of needlework, but my favorite is needlepoint. I enjoy the process – selecting the perfect canvas, then visualizing what I want it to be. I do mostly small projects such as ornaments, with little room for complex stitches, so the fibers usually have to ‘do the talking’. Finding them is a special pleasure – like a treasure hunt. I’m actually pleased when I don’t have something suitable on-hand, because then I’m ‘forced’ to go out & buy it!
What sweet tins and handy cards, helpful no doubt for embroidery of all flavors, my favorite being freeform that incorporates multiple stitches. I think freeform is my favorite because it allows for endless creativity. Thanks for such a fun giveaway!
What ever one I’m currently working on. Waiting for some ‘spare’ time to try Crewel work as I love the old English embroideries.
My favorite type of embroidery is whitework. Thank you for this generous giveaway. I so enjoy reading your posts. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve been thoroughly entertained in the process!