If you’ve been hanging out with me for a while on Needle ‘n Thread, you might recall that last August, I ran a give-away for some really fun over-dyed embroidery threads from LES Designs.
Recently, Lorraine overhauled her embroidery thread business, renamed it to Colour Complements, and established a bright and beautiful new website, which has a blog attached, where you can keep up with her thready news.
And what better way to celebrate a new beginning, than to spread some color around?
And the best way to spread some color around? Well, to have a give-away, of course!
I told Lorraine I’d be happy to host a give-away, because, after all, I know my readers are about as thread-crazy and color-loving as any group of people, anywhere!
And besides, it’s a great time of year to splash some color into our lives. Whether you’re still stuck in winter, crawling out slowly towards spring, or transitioning from a toasty summer into autumn, bursts of color are always appreciated!
So, today, we’re giving away five skeins (the winner’s pick!) from the Colour Complements shop. There are lots of colors, groups, types of thread there.
Awww, just imagine the poor winner having to make a selection!
(By the way, there are some nice colors of perle cotton #12 in there, that would work pretty well with the Secret Garden project, if you’re following that project and are inclined to use over-dyed threads!)
Give-Away Guidelines
To take part in the give-away, please follow these guidelines:
1. To enter the give-away, you must leave a comment on this article, on the Needle ‘n Thread website. If you’re not sure how to get to the comment section on this article, just follow this link and it will take you directly there. Comments left on other articles on Needle ‘n Thread or sent via email are not eligible for the drawing.
2. In your comment, answer the following:
Which thread in the Colour Complements shop is your absolute favorite? And if you win, what do you plan to do with the thread?
3. Make sure that you leave a recognizable name either in the “name” line on the comment form or in the comment box. For example, if your name is Alice, please make sure that you qualify which Alice you are. Something like “Alice in Albuquerque” or Alice W. would work. This helps eliminate confusion when the winner is announced. Thanks!
4. Submit your comment before Friday, February 21st, at 5:00 am Central Time (Kansas, USA). I’ll announce the winner on Friday morning.
The give-away is open to anyone, anywhere! Just keep in mind that, if you’re in another country besides Canada (where Colour Complements is located), you’re responsible for any customs fees, duties, taxes, and whatever and so forth that your package might encounter. Needle ‘n Thread and subsidiaries (I don’t have any subsidiaries – I just like to say that…) are not responsible for lost, stolen, or misdirected mail. Neither Needle ‘n Thread nor subsidiaries were paid or bribed or cajoled into doing this give-away.
I like Lorraine’s threads, and I’m happy to tell you about them!
Have a wonderful, colorful weekend!
How beautiful these are to brighten a spring much needed in the snows of Tennessee.
I am taunted by your Secret Garden project. It is sooooooo cheery. I said I wasn’t going to do it but I find myself really into it already. Some of these threads would really be great to brighten my Secret Garden project.
I love these big projects Mary. Keep on doing them for us all to try and enjoy.
Sharry J.
Mary and Lorraine;
They are all so beautiful. How does one choose, like saying one child is your favorite over all the rest, it is difficult indeed. My heart always wins out with the sea foam and mint greens mixed with the pinks. I have my work room decorated with the sea foam and mint greens. Pink is my very favorite color. Thank you for the chance to win some lovely threads and may your website store be very successful. Collette in KC
There is some thing beautiful about floss and embroidery threads. Thank you for the giveaway.
I love the hand dyed sampler#7. I will use it to embellish an appliqued quilt block
My very most favourite hand dyed thread, amongst the many pages of contenders, is Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #4.
I love the mix of green and deep rich blue twirling together which would make for stunning wisteria, salvia or even grapevines in my cottage flower garden embroideries.
Wow, they all look so amazing, but that twisted silk is out of this world beautiful, and I love color #18 right now, as I am surrounded by snow and grayness. It looks like it would be so fun to try, I would try stitching with it on a handknit scarf. Something luscious.
I just started receiving your emails and I’m really enjoying them. Some free embroidery floss would be wonderful.
I just love working with overdyed threads; they are so exciting and add interest to any design. My favourite type has to be perle threads. I find it so versatile and gives depth and a beautiful sheen. The colours available are beautiful – no, scrumptious is more like it. Colours for stitching the whole year round – Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. The whole year in gorgeous threads.
I can’t pick out a favorite color at this time, They are all so happy and colorful. Needs more studying.
Not sure what I’d do with the skeins, if I won, I am working on a kimono in NP and want to start Twister.
I need some good luck this month..
Hi Mary
I love the hand dyed twisted silk – the colours are beautfiul and would certainly brighten up rain-and-flood-soaked-and-wind-swept Britain. Think I would use them in a piece of needlelace to reflect spring ….
love your postings.
best wishes
Lena
Thank you Mary for offering this wonderful opportunity. I was not aware of this blog/website. It is magnificent. I love the hand dyed sampler #10. I have some towels that I would love to use this thread for hardanger embroidery.
This article was great because I saw sooo many beautiful, different colors of thread! And I am in awe as to how so many colors can be created by one person! What a gift Lorraine has and all of us stitcher scan benefit from her gift!!!
I really like the #12 sampler I would like to work these threads into some canvas work they are very eye catching
The greens and corals! A difficult choice because I love them all and have an affinity for working with variegated threads. Love watching the variegations merge as I work certain techniques. But for this give away the greens and corals grabbed at me because here in the Northeast we are all anxiously waiting for Spring! What would I use them for? Most likely the Secret garden which I am eager to get started on as soon as my ground fabric arrives.
Regards,
Doreen from Maine
The threads are just gorgeous! I especially like the Hand-dyed Fwisted Silk #24. I think it would work well in my plans for an embroidered flower garden, maybe for my front door or my bedroom wall.
Oh wow, Mary, these are beautiful threads! After viewing the Etsy shop, I would choose #22. What a gorgeous color! Reminds me of water and sky, and Spring! After all the snow this is a color that just says blue skies and happy hearts!
Thanks, as always, for the opportunity and the wisdom!
Sue
Ooh the colors! They make me want to think spring! It’s snowing here again and the contrast between the white and the colors is boggling. I’m thinking a really colorful garden…
Oops forgot to enter my fav color!-so many to choose from but the winner is -chainette #11. I am quilting a Downton Abby quilt & it will look great with using this thread for embellishments!
Oh MY God! So hard to choose…
May be the size 12 #22… I’ve a project with a nephew to make some bag designed by him and embroidered by me. I have to choose different kinds of threads. He’ll will paint some canvas and tiles with the same designs. It’s a family project
It will be a good birthday gift if i win 😉
Once more thanks for the chance Mary! You are a very pretty person!
How beautiful the threads. One will have a hard time choosing among them. My favorite would have to be the yellow/green/orange selection, and I know exactly how I would use them. This month on the Just Cross Stitch magazine there are three adorable needlepoint carrots, and one in particular would benefit by being stitched in a bright spring overdied floss.
What exciting news to learn of new thread colors. The wonderful colors are an inspiration to bring one out of the winter “blues”. The article makes me want to stitch some exciting spring flowers in the sunny yellows.
Oh Mary – what a tough decision. But the one that beat everything out was #37 in the perle cotton #12. Thank you and Lorraine for a fabulous give away.
What a wonderful opportunity to try some different threads. Thanks to Mary Corbett and the Colour Complement s Shop. I am gaining new knowledge every day from this site.
Love the thread sampler # 7!!!
I have welt felted some squares that are just crying out
to be embellished!!! These threads would fit the bill
perfectly!!! Oh the possibilities!!!
After nearly fifty years I still love the fall colors that I chose for our wedding. I would love the new threads so my stitching project will be awesome and my stitching group will be SURPRISED—just kidding.
I love #37. I’ve been looking for thread in this colorway or something similar. I have a quilt pattern with a lot of embroidery and I would be able to select fabric for the patchwork using the thread as my jumping off point.
Colour Complements are gloriously to look at! My favorite is Hand-dyed #5 which is made of blues and greens. I would love to use this thread in my experimental embroidery designs. I also have it in mind to use in a thread-painted landcape design to color an absolutely beautiful and outrageous sky! I love to put a streams of green in bluish skies and sometimes pinks, but this thread would be magic to work with.
Meg P
I would choose the hand-dyed size 12 pearle cotton #7 to use in my pink garden wall quilt which is a combination of embroidery, stumpwork, bead and button flowers in, as you may guess, various pinks.
Pick a color.. Wow -I had to put #’s in a bag and pick one that way.. Beautiful and rich colors. I choose #27.
I’m having total knee replacement Tues and have been lining up projects to do while I recover. Your site has a wealth of knowledge… You have been instrumental in my renewed interest of embroidery.
Thank you
Dear Mary,
Gosh! These threads are beautiful!! One of my favorites, and it’s hard to pick just one, is the Hand-Dyed Twisted Silk #2. Anyway, I meant to write you anyway to thank you so much for your blog: I have learned a world of embroidery with you and know that it’s just the beginning! Everyday, there’s more to learn from you. Your tutorials are not only very clear, they are darn right generous and patient. Please, never stop your blog!
Thank you!
I absolutely love Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #4..the marriage of the colors is gorgeous. I have an absolutely beautiful piece of Japanese silk from an antique Obi and I would use this yarn to embroider the lovely pattern on the Obi.
Beautiful!!!The Hand Dyed Sampler # 10 called out to me right away! I feel the need to do something with a Tiger Lily motif. I’m in dire need of spring-we’ve been trying to leave for SC and the weather down Highway 81 and 95 just wont co-operate. These lovely threads have raised my mood. thank you
Love hand work and can’t get enough thread and fibers. Love it all
Love the colors of thread they are all so pretty.
Beautiful threads, and so many to choose from! I can’t resist variegated threads and yarns!! I would love to try the perle cotton in leafy greens and pinks, oranges and purples for flowers. The silk twist!!! They are all so beautiful it would take a long time to choose. Thank you Needlenthread for all your generous instruction and inspiration!
Color! Color! Color!!!!!! I love the overdyed colors, can’t get enough of them. They work ordinary designs into something special. Every time I think that I have enough color variations, I see another that I can’t live without.
What an impossible task! I finally flipped a coin and my favourite is Perle Cotton size 12, colour 16. I would like to use it as a fringe in a machine-embroidered scarf that I’m making.
The site is new to me and looks wonderful. You can’t really choose a favorite. I would use it for stitching or canvas work.
Love all the colors and all your book reviews
A great idea, Mary, which any needle worker will love to have. Thanks to Lorraine at Colour Complements for the generous gift!
Wow, How can we choose just one of these fantastic threads. It was a difficult choise but thinking of the Secret Garden Project, I think the Perle Cotton Size 12 #15, is the one that jumps out at me and says stitch me, stitch me. Those Blues and Greens just pop out at me and seem brighter than another one that I loved. I would use the Blues on the birds and the Greens on the vines. I also loved the Chainette bundles, I bet they would look great on a dark background with it used on a waterfall. Thank you for the opportunity again. Take care.
Julie P
I love the vibrancy of the threads. I am an active Brazilian embroidery enthusiast. I plan to try the rayon threads for my projects. Right now I am stitching a dress on a southern bell complete with sun hat and parasol. I am also creating my own designs of which right now is a garden angel. I’m hoping these threads are a better weight than the ones I am currently using. I have found my current select tion is getting thinner and trays and breaks while doing simple stitches. Thanks Cheryl from Florida
I am a sucker for Lilacs and Purples and Lavender! They look so iridescent mixed together. And so many lovely floral things can be stitched!!
I love your site. It has inspired me many many times over the years.
Heather R
The threads that really caught my eye were all the lovely yellows, golds, and pinks. Can you tell I live in snow covered Maine? I need some warm sunny colors! So, my favorite is Hand Dyed size 5 perle cotton #11. Thanks!
oh wow-I don’t know how I will choose a favorite-such gorgeous colors-I would choose a pearle cotton or silk-should I be so lucky to win I will use it on an 1830s reproduction quilt I am going to make with wool appliques on cotton. Kathy
Wow ! These are what I need to bring me out of hibernation ..the weather has been quite frightening here in Cornwall England as you may have seen on the news. Let me see…hmmm..my favourite is the hand dyed sampler #17…I would use it in a forest medley scene that I am planning to do .
Hugs ! Daisy Debs Cornwall England x
I would love to see the sparkle chainette. I think it would work well embellishing boho bags. I couldn’t select a favorite thread because that are all vivid and beautiful.
Mary, I am so glad that you bring such a wealth of beautiful work and resources to my attention. thank you.
If I had to pick just one thread from among all those luscious colors I would go for Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #18 with it’s rich warm violet fuchsia pumpkin hues. I love the sheen of silk and I think it would enrich my crazy quilts.
Thanks for the opportunity,
Beth N
Which one do I like the best? Which chocolate is the best? Which symphony is the best? The purples are luscious; the coppers are delectable. But I can envision the hand-dyed sparkle chainette No. 10 in a wool applique design on black with flowers, leaves, and bugs as just super. What a way to put universal green into a design!
Love the threads and know what I would do if I win. We are doing a “Thread Play” using a variety of silk threads at our EGA chapter and the Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #4 would be PERFECT. Thanks for the chance.
Even the pictures picked up this snowey, white day — what would the real things do! I love blue – so I think my favorite would be the choice in the upper left corner – the shades of purple. Some would go into the Lattice Sampler for sure.
Carol at Notre Dame
Favorite fiber…..it’s so hard to choose. But, since you are MAKING me do it, it would have to be the Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #2. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it, but I have a beautiful pale green linen blouse that could use some embellishment to jazz it up.
I must have over dyed silk #2. I have been working on a quilt that shows my dream place to live. Since I am pretty much home bound I buy everything I need online. This color would be perfect for my meadow which is bordered by a deep dark forest. When I am done it will surround me and take me away. Well not literally, but you know what I mean. Thanks so much for bringing amazing Fredrick color into our lives.
All the samplers are wonderful, but my favorite is Sampler #10. The colors remind me of spring. I am starting to work on a spring landscape and these colors work well with it, so would add them into the piece.
Thanks for showing us these wonderful threads again and for offering them as a give away.
Hi Mary
I just spent a long time trying to pick a thread from the Colour Compliments Shop. I’d like a skein in each colour, but this is the shop description of one of my favourites:
A beautiful 20 meter/21.87 yard skein of hand dyed #8 DMC perle cotton thread in varying shades of purples, red violets, blues with a hint of moss green. This perle stitches very smoothly.
If I win, I would use the thread to stitch a quotation to hang in our family room.
Thank you for an always interesting, informative and instructive blog.
Zarina
My favorites were the twisted silks! Number 17 really caught my eye.
I’ve always wanted a room full of glass containers, various sizes and shapes, full of embroidery floss. All of the colors in full view where I can just “eat them all up” as I gaze upon them. What a feast they would be. When I saw your give-away it reminded me of my dream of colors. I would choose the hand dyed sampler #5 with all of the beautiful blues. I love the sea and all that it holds and these colors remind me of the water, the fish, the coral. I would love to be a mermaid and swim about the ocean and be friends with all that’s there. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful information you share with us. Pamela from EAA country
Thanks for the giveaway! I like the 12 perle cotton #31 – I think the green will make some nice vegetable embroidery on my kitchen apron 🙂
Any one with red. I will use it on my Noah crazy quilt.
I would pick Hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #33 to use in reverse appliqué of a skirt I’m making — plus some other colors!
I really like the hand dyed tubular ribbon in viscose, colour way #4. I am taking a class with my guild using hand embroidery particularly with the sorbello stitch and we are to try stitching with different types of threads and this ribbon is perfect. I also love the colour.
Ruth Ann in London ON
Oh, wow! I’m definitely bookmarking her site! Such beautiful colors!!! One can never have too much thread! :). I think my favorite right now is the pearl cotton size 12, color #1…. It’s been so cold and gray here in MN for too long…I can see the yellow-red-fuschia thread making some awesome bullion knots around velvet and wool shapes. Thank you for this opportunity! –Mary in MN
I love the purples. I am working on a pretty Iris and I might be able to use these to add dimension to my project.
The Secret Garden project is beautiful. I just love your emails everyday. Thanks for doing them.
Warm weather is on the way!
Debbie from Sweetwater.
I just love the sampler #7 – It screams summer – beach – sky – water – and a bit of seaweed. Love it!
Thanks for the wonderful chance.
My favourite thread is the perle cotton #12. Its one of my favourite threads for crazy quilting and Lorraine’s colours are scrumptious.
This is an informative and inspiring site. I look forward to each email. Sincerely,, Barbara Clinton
Wow!!!!!! I want them all. If I had to choose it would be hard, but someone has to do it and it might as well be me. If I win, I know I will choose the colors with great care and do a project around those colors.
Absolutely beautiful threads to get me in a state of mind other than knee deep snow and dreary skies.
I would order the bright Rainforest Crunch palette to be used in my Secret Garden project. It is all white here except for some beautiful red Cardinals. Thanks to Lorraine and to you, Mary, for the giveaway.
Connie in snowy Columbus, OH
I love the perle cotton size 12 any color but seeing as you want a specific one I really like the #27 — I use size 12 for big stitch hand quilting
The colors are all beautiful. For my nyzynka project, I would love to have Hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #4. It will look marvelous and create a different effect.
Thank you for introducing Color Complement to me.
Oooo hand dyed parle cotton #35….I love blues and a variegated would be lovely for a project that I have already prepped for embroidery but have not gitten the thread yet…..waffling….but #35 looks like I real possibility!
I simply love Hand Dyed Sampler #12. They remind me of summer flowers…and that’s exactly what I would use them for. I am thinking of a stitchery of flowers using these exact colors. Thanks for this giveaway–so generous!
i follow you for some time…i am thrilled and greatfull for all you have shared…due to your precious posts i was able to find and buy the most usefull books i needed for a long time.
i prepare a collection for fall winter based on new tecniques i learned during a master completed last year guided by one of Azzedine Alaia ex-assistant.
i would be more than happy if i could use these fantastic threads on some embroidery parts of my collection.
i am located in Italy and i use the best tissues specially branded from latest high fashion collections…
purple is my favourite colour…and is selected as the colour of the 2014….next blue and red…
good luck to everyone…
thanks a lot,
happy creative life!!
Cristina
Such lovely beautiful threads and as per your usual a great giveaway for all your readers.
I would choose twisted silk # 18 lovely hues and I would embroider a pillow case with it.
So absolutely lovely!
I am drawn to the size 5 pearl cotton #3, with greens, blue/greens and aqua. All of the choices are beautiful!
I would use it on a piece of crazy quilt or free-form embroidery. Mary
The Perle Cotton 12, #36 Purple-Blue-Magenta is my favorite. I would make a lavendar scented pillow. The design would be a basket full of flowers. My four other choices would be 38 Purple-Blue, 33 Yellow-Green, 21 Blues and 12 Purple-Green.
Caroline Weber, California
It is so good to find a Canadian source for hand dyed threads of all sizes. I have been ordering from Australia and the USA to get what I want. I love the colour samplers #5 and #7 because I do a lot of work in blue tones. I belong to a division of The Canadian Embroiderers Guild in Ontario and do a lot of textile pieces using a variety of techniques and I add hand embroidery to them. I have more than one on the go right now, but some blues and hot pinks would fit in very well with the next one I plan to start.
The yellow wave for Easter embroidery
With so many colors to choose from, it is really hard to pick just one but #16 Size 5 Perle Cotton is really beautiful. I could see this thread in a couple of my projects on the to do list.
Thank you for such useful information. So many threads that I didn’t know before! Your blog is very helpful.
The threads of “colour complements” are very beatiful. I like perle cotton size 12 most. Reds and yellow (like #26) are gorgeous! I would use such threads for blackwork-style-sampler or blackwork-style-shadow-project. I like blackwork in color.
Good luck to the winner with such promising project, whatever it will be!
I just love seeing your work and the progress as you work on piece! The Secret Garden will be Stunning when finished! X
Hand dyed perle cotton #2 is my favourite. I love that magenta fuschia. It always makes me smile and brightens my day. I would start by using it on Mary Corbet’s secret garden project and if there was any left over I would try it out on some stumpwork which I am exploring. Of course now that I have had a peak at how gorgeous all the colours are I would be more than delighted to try out any one of them. 🙂 thank you so very much btw for all the love and passion you put into your art.
It’s so difficult to pick a favorite!!! The purple pulls at my heartstrings here tho—just a lovely color combination!! I think it would make a perfect lilac garden!!!
Thank you Mary for your kind giveaway!!
I love the thread bundle with the purples in it. It looks so spring like. It screams to be put into flowers! Thank you for sponsoring this give away.
So hard to coose but my eye was captured by 12 perle cooton color #25. I can’t for the life of me say what I’d use it for… Crazy quilying, maybe? But it’s such a cheerful color!
My colors are the purples and the blue/greens. I am working on designing a piece that will depict the New Mexico beautiful land scape . The Purples will go for the Mountains and the Blue/Greens are the Sky and low green scrubs that make the scenery beautiful when we get enough rain in the Sprin.
Oh they are stunning! I think I would have to go with the beautiful green and purple combination! Very spring garden 🙂
I am pretty besotted with your current project, but perhaps a less ambitious, smaller section of it would be perfect for these threads!
I love hand dyed sampler #4. I make small quilts (36′ x 36′) as a volunteer ministry for the sick and dying in my church. I design my own pictures of biblical events and have even learned how to make pretty fair face pictures of Christ. The mix of purple and reds and other colors in hand dyed sampler #4 is glorious and would solve many problems with making cloaks and robes for people of this period in history.
It’s so hard to pick color combination! They are all so beautiful. But after close examination and some pondering, I decided that what I like and would use right away, is the brown to pink combination in the first left hand row. I can see a Japanese Kimono made from those same colors or a brightly flowering Cherry tree. Again, many thanks for your blog and the wonderful instructions you share with us!
I have been following Needle ‘n Thread for many years. Mary, I am always amazed at the detail and beauty, plus the great how to’s on your site. I love the chance to win some beautiful thread from Colour Compliments.. the hand dyed size 5 perle cotton #19 is my choice for an Iowa State sampler… GO CYCLONES… Hope I win…thank you . Sally in Minden
#34 is my favorite this am. Reminding me of a FL sunset. I would like to create one on fabric.
The Perle cotton in blues and violetes would be wonderful on a huck towel for my kitchen! Love those colors.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Carrie G. Plane Nut
Hand Dyed Perle Cotton size 12 No. 33
The sunlight seem to lie within this foliage. It will be used on the Secret Garden Hummingbird or other Secret Garden GARDEN!
Thank you, Color Complements, for your generosity.
Thank you, Mary, for your inspiring Needle’N’Thread,
Oooh, what great colors! I love playing with over-dyed threads! If I had to choose one type of thread offered over there, it would be the sparkle chainette, because I don’t have any and they would be so much fun to add to my crazy quilt projects.
It’s really difficult to pick just ONE favorite, there’s so many beautiful colors and combinations but Sparkle Chain #7 really caught my eye to embroider some small flowers on my white denim jacket
Mary, you find so many interesting sources.
Terrific colors! Hard to pick a favorite. When price is no object, I opt for silk, Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #4. I’ve been doing more needlepoint these days. Have a sampler-style canvas project from an online course that I’ve picked some colors for – mostly purples, but thinking of adding greens, and this looks like it would fit right in.
Interesting thread weight choices. Not sure how thick 1800 rayon is — close to PC #5?
These threads would be so nice for some small Hardanger projects. Love the colors variations.
Mary:
Such lovely, bright colors! I think I would go for the chainette – I’d love to add the sparkle to a project I’m working on!
Jan
Oh boy…..difficult to choose just one colour.
I love the purple and blue and the pale yellow with olive green and brown. I could go on for a long time as there are so many beautiful colours. I have been looking at the array of colours and it just fascinates me. I am in great need for thread right now and this would be a great win for me.
If I am lucky enough to win the Colour Complements thread, I will choose #17 (hand dyed 8 perle). I usually choose pastels & do flowers & birds but for awhile now I’ve been wanting to do an African project & the #17 colors are perfect for the pattern I’ve chosen from African Inspirations. The orange, yellows & red violet shades are beautiful!
These colors take my breath away! Spring must be in there somewhere as it is nowhere to be seen around here. Shoveling would be so much easier if I could return inside to work on a wool sampler quilt I am making for a wedding. I love to do fancy embroidery around each precious piece of wool applique. Sigh…….I can dream….
I love them all. Color is the BEST! It brightens my mood, my day, my projects. I think I would pick Sampler #12 (today any way – lol)& use it to embroider some quilt blocks!
Lee Ann in IL
Wow!Seaford green/are some incredibly beautiful color variations in that shop! I have to say though, my favorite is The Seaford green/purple/lavender
What would I do with it? I would stitch something beachy! It would be great for a mermaid design!
Whoops! Lots of typos there! That should have been seafoam green!
I love silk ….so the hand dyed twisted silk (orange) is a favorite color… and using it for decorative stitching…”YUM”
I find all of those colors to be so beautiful, it would be hard to choose. I have always found, though, that I favor blues and green and all variation of such. Maybe I should branch out…. I’ve not experimented with those type of threads before, so I would be very excited to try something different. My mind is swirling with ideas!
Hi Mary and Lorraine!
Ooohhhhh…..what a fantastic give away! I would love the hand dyed twisted silk…and the pearle cotton….and the hand dyed sparkle chainette…..colors yet to be decided for a surface embroidered gift for my daughter.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Judy in VT
I liked the Hand dyed 8 perle cotton #17.
I will give it to my daughter(13 -year old).She is doing her school home-econimics project.She is doing a patch-Quilt which is going to be patched on one face….and embroidered on the other..
She chose a nice page from The SECRET GARDEN…..fishes and sea weeds!!!My girl is a very creative hard work girl!!!she deserves my gift.Thanks Mary ..Thanks Lorrine
There are so many to choose from! But my absolute favorite Color Complements thread is Hand dyed Size 12 Perle Cotton #20. If I win, I will use the thread in my next project, which is a Stumpwork design I’m working out now, based on a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (wearing an elaborate red dress.)
I haev been enjoying reading your blog and how you make decisions. I was very interested in your discussion of the cotton threads.
My favorite color is hand dyed twisted silk #18. It looks like it would fit in with a patchwork heart that I am stitching this year.
I would love to experiment with sampler number 11!
This group reminds me of the evening sky which I would use on my elegant heart evening bag I have just designed.
They would blend night violets, sparkle and subtle deep tones creating a rich surprise of the evening sky, all captured in the different embroidery threads Lorraine has stunningly put together.
Thanks for the chance to dream…
Melinda
Wow! What colors! What choices! My head is spinning and with the winter we are having in Vermont I found that I kept returning to the perle cotton thread in bold yellow with variations of fuchsia. That’ll brighten up a new project I have my eyes on. Thank you both so much.
Such beautiful colors , it is very hard to choose but I really love handdyed sampler #17 and I think it would make beautiful leaves and flowers .Thanks for the chance .
I’m sitting here looking out my window at the grey, snowy, sleety, nasty weather. “Yuck” comes to mind. I’ve just returned from the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, now so very far away. Turning my attention back to my emails, I get Mary’s on the Color Compliments. Gorgeous colors! Warm, sunny, lovely colors! NOT the grey muck outside. My imagination starts going wild on how to use these. Will LNS have them? Won’t venture out today but will stare at computer screen longingly. Even if I do not acquire any of these gems, they have inspired me to turn off my computer and pull out sunny colors and stitch. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hand dyed #8 Perle – but I love ALL the colors and
probably don’t have very many of them – would go into
my ‘stash’ until I could get with my needlework friends
in Oregon (Nancy, Ann etc) who would get me started.
What a wonderful opportunity to add to my threads.AND I can hang them on my magnetic wand (love that idea too)
Thanks. AND thanks too to other comments which are
giving me some wonderful ideas – I’m starting a BOG coat
challenge and WOW any of these would be fantastic help.
When I clicked on the Colour Compliments website, my drool instinct clicked in! What a gorgeous offering of colors! I especially like the sparkle chainette threads. If I were to win, I definitely would choose one to use in a crazy quilt that centers on my family’s ancestry. The sparkle chainette would add a beautiful pop!
Thanks for all you share with us, Mary!
I love the overdyed threads and colors. I am working on a Bargello challenge project, and will use an overdyed to tie three color families. I thought of the DMC 926-930 series, some coral pinks, and maybe beiges or grays. If I had an overdyed that had those colors, it would tie them all together. Thanks for your lovely photography and urging us to challenge ourselves!
My favourite type has to be #12 perle threads. I find it so versatile and gives depth and a beautiful sheen. The colours available are beautiful and almost impossible to choose one but I love #37. My eye goes right to pink and purple. Secret Garden here I come.
So hard to pick from so many luscious colors. I’ve narrowed it down to almost any of the #12 perle cottons since my embroidery group is doing a year long project of one of her spot samplers. The motifs are small and #12 perle is the perfect size, but hard to find in overdyes where we live.It could be problem solved.
But…then I have a personal project-a 2 parter which containing many trees so the same rule applies- I need a wide assortment of greens and overdyes are perfect and again the siren song of the #12 perles is calling my name.
I love the the autumn type colors of bright orange/yellow/browns….I just purchased Carole Lake and Michael Boren’s new “Idea Book: Printed Canvas Embellishment” some beautiful scene awaits me
All are beautiful. I am most familiar with pearle cottons so would lean to Sampler 18, and expect to use some in the Secret Garden project. I do a lot of embellishing on wool appliqué and think the larger sized pearles would really look great on those projects. I am always on the look out for new fibers to use and you offer some great choices. Thank you.
My favorite is hand died sampler #10. I am working on a series of vividly colored tropical birds, for which these beautiful threads would be perfect.
I don’t think there is a color or a thread I would reject from this site 🙂 I love the perle cotton 12 #35. For years I’ve been wanting to make an icy winter scene with a bright red cardinal as the focus, I think # 35 would work well for some of that icy atmosphere.
The threads are so beautiful. The ocean colored blues are my favorite. I could see designing a piece just to fit those colors. Thank you for the giveaway.
I love #30 perle cotton 12. I am making crazy quilt block pillows for my 3 sisters and 3 brothers for Christmas next year. I am thread painting birds for each block. One of my sisters loves parakeets and I think this would work beautifully for her bird.
Surprise me with the color combo so I won’t have to choose. (how difficult that would be). I am new to your web Mary so I would have to meander through your patterns. I am drawn to your flower patterns but the humming bird intrigues me. I love when they come to visit in June to my 7 feeders and Trumpet vines. Happy Embroidery! Louie
Good morning,
This was a hard task but my favorite is the Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #24. I think those colors are beautiful. I can see for embroidering a pretty bird or leaves on an autumn scene. I just added Lorraine’s Etsy shop one of my favorites so thank you!!
Twisted Silk to use in my ‘inspired knitting club’ projects. This small amount of thread is perfect to use as an interesting texture to throw in for interest. Wow, favorite, I could incorporate any of these gorgeous threads in my knitting for embroidery accents! Thank you for your opinion, I now have anther favorite in etsy!
I would love to win the thread giveaway. I want to try some floral embroidery with the variegated perle cotton. The pink-red-burgundy looks like colors found in a garden. I follow your emails and appreciate your comments and the latter.s resources. Thank you for all you do to keep the needlework passion alive.
To just pick which thread is so hard. It’s been in the minus 24 and colder with the wind chill.but these threads brightened up my day made me think . Yay! Spring is just around the corner.
Since we need to pick I would have to go with #5
I love the Viscose Tubular. My daughter is getting married in April and think they would be perfect in the table favors.
All of the threads are beautiful. I have just started embroidery. Did it as a child and am now beginning again. I love the twisted silk #24. I am going to incorporate embroidery in my fabric collages and will be using the thread that way.
Jackie N
I purchased some of Lorraine’s twisted silk at the CQI retreat and would LOVE to have some more. The colors are luscious and it is a dream to work with – soft and lays beautifully in the stitches.
I’m just getting back into embroidery (thanks in part to this website!!) after a few years away, so how great would these be to play with!!
Ooops – forgot to say which was my favourite colour – how to choose? I recently painted my kitchen a pale green, and I think the chartreuse/violet perle cotton would be a fantastic choice!
Love the vibrant colors! The perle cotton is my favorite for the Secret Garden project that I hope to tackle real soon. Thanks Mary for introducing these beautiful threads.
I love all the colors, but I just have to go with the lavenders and purples in the first picture.
If I win I will do an embroidery wall hanging for my grand daughter. she loves purples and she just moved to her own apartment and has no pictures to hang. The wall hanging would cover some of that empty space for her and I know she would love it. She loves all my projects!
Thanks Mary….again for your give aways. They are fun.
Everything in her shop would look so beautiful for secret garden! The twisted silk #2 would be perfect for what I had in mind for the wings of the hummingbirds.
Great giveaway, Mary and Lorraine! I was hoping to see some of that overdyed chenille that Lorraine experimented with a while ago. But there are many other great choices! My favourite is Twisted Silk #9 (purple and orange), closely followed by #2 (purple and green). Mainly because I’m trying to use more purple these days. But in both cases I can see a mass of French knots — a sunny orange garden with the purple shadows built right in, or a heathery hillside!
What beautiful Spring colours! Any one of these would remind me that Spring is just around the corner. After this winter we need it. Virginia, coastal, is not used to these dismal winters and this one has been a doozy! I love the #8 and #12 threads and plan to make lots of embroidered Easter eggs.
Peggy from Portsmouth
What beautiful thread. Hard to choose, but if I have to , I like sampler #10. Thanks, Neena
Don’t make things tough, do you, lol? I think I would love to try the threads in Sampler #12 – I’m sure I could work some into the Secret Garden when I start it, and how much fun is that tubular to try! I love the fall tones and that splash of aqua! Thank you for the chance to win!
Love these, like rays of sunshine… My favorite is perle cotton #12 – #34. Beautiful sunshine colors – think I am tired of winter? LOL I would use this on the Secret Garden project on some of the flowers
Wonderful colors! Favorite (right now) would be the group of orange, green, yellow and brown! Imagined project would be a geometric design of circles and ellipsoids (not my design: by Connie Ann Root)
I await your decision!
The threads are gorgeous! I am working on a crazy quilt at the moment, and the variegated threads add a lot of interest to the embroidery. I love the hand dyed perle cotton # 2, the colours are so saturated and vibrant!
Such lovely colors in the Twisted Silk threads! My absolute favorite is the Twisted Silk #4 in the beautiful soft greens and violets. This thread will look stunning in the embroidered monogram on the needle books that I am making for my daughter and daughter-in-law.
after a long winter seeing the variety of beautiful colors is eye candy for the soul. The thought of working with them is fuel for imagination. Please enter me in this scrumptious give-away!
I love Lorraine’s thread! I have some of her #12 perle cotton and want more. I really need some light blue. At any rate, the thread sews up beautifully. Barb W, MO
Yummy colours!! I like the opportunity to see how to purchase threads from somewhere other than the big box stores. So nice to find variegated threads with such interesting combinations!!
Good luck with your business. I’ll be back soon!
I love Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #22! It would be perfect for a pillow with autumn leaves on it!
My favorite is Hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #35, because my husband’s favorite color is green, my stepson’s is blue, and mine is purple.
So, I could use this one to make a decorative hanging (or part of one) for the house on some of the silk I still have laying around. I’ve been wanting to make an embroidered version of the “Welcome to Our Home” sign that’s in Norwegian (“Velkommen til vårt hjem.”)I’d love to be able to display something that represents our family even more.
Mary,
Your Secret Garden project is fascinating. I look forward everyday to see what you are doing, and have created a new mail folder called “Mary’s Secret Garden” and am saving everything. I dream of attempting this project, but will take your advice and wait until you are finished. It is difficult to pick a favorite color, so thinking of the “Secret Garden” I would pick Sampler #12.
Thanks for this wonderful give-away!
Karen from Des Moines
Thank you for this great offer! I can’t pick one color right now, but I do love the Sparkle Chainette threads. I would use them in any of my projects to add just a bit of sparkle here and there.
Good morning,
I can’t decide between Sampler #4 or Sampler #5. I get my drooling with oh’s and ah’s following your website/daily emails and Sharon B’s “Pintangle” website. I hope to stitch some of the samples and pieces you show.
Thank you,
Mary
What a beautiful selection of colours, very difficult to choose a favourite! I think I would go for #22 sampler, gorgeous colours and a selection of different threads, the chainette looks interesting.
I have Abi Gurden’s Summer tree of stitches pattern to start and these colours would look amazing!
Fingers crossed I get picked!!
after all the dreary, rainy and cold days it would be lovely to have some gloriously bright threads. They would be perfect on my crazy quilt blocks. Your newsletters are always so cheerful with all the lovely colors and designs the I look forward to reading them daily.
WITH SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM I THOUGHT IT WOULD NOT BE EASY. NO PROBLEM – I LOVE SILK, AND MY SOCCER CLUB PLAYS IN GREEN AND YELLOW, SO IT HAS TO BE TWISTED SILK #11.
Well, that was a treat for a still dark NW morning. It has got to be 12 perle cotton #14. What would I do with it? First I’d flaunt it a bit with my fellow quilters who have turned in to mostly stitchers and then of course I would share it. I can see it going in to many fall projects … just another thread that binds us together.
Mary,
Your thoughtful project ideas coupled with searching for the best products, makes your site one of best I follow. These colors are inspirational and brings out the creativity in us to get through this winter!
Keep the passion going and enjoy the holiday weekend!
Diane
Wow! Wow! Wow! So hard to choose. I am new at needle work and crazy quilting. I’m working on a crazy quilt patchwork shower curtain. This is my practice piece and my hope is that I will improve my needle work skills with this project. Since I don’t have a large stash of threads, this give away would be great for me. I love how the twisted silks looks and the sparkle chainette. I love anything that shines. Thanks so much for the generous give away.
I love Lorraine’s threads and just received an order from her. I had to use them right away!
Right now I’m in a purple phase for a special project, so any of her purple blends would be my momentary fave, but since I love colour, all her threads would be in my stash if I was rich enough! 😉 But, I would choose Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #36 or the purple chainette #4.
Thanks for the chance to win some lovely thread!
I like the hand dyed 1800 rayon #22 and #18. #22 is shades of purple my favorite color, always like having plenty on hand. #18 would make a great night sky.
In reality, they are all wonderful.
The Hand dyed 12 perle cotton #22! I love the greens and oranges together! I bought the Secret Garden book and there is an Owl in the book that I would love to stitch. The colors would work beautifully for him!
Thank you for the fun give away!
Melissa Bird
This is my favorite colorway! https://www.etsy.com/listing/176145027/hand-dyed-1800-rayon-13?ref=listing-shop-header-0 but there are several others that are just as beautiful 🙂
I would use it for crazy quilting seam embroidery.
I would love some of the perle cotton size 12 threads! They would be so lovely on a crazy quilted item!
I think I would pick Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #35. I is lucious shades of lavenders with hints of blue. I have a wall hanging that I started in a class with Sue Spargo that I need to finish. I think this would add some pizzazz! Thanks for a great giveaway!
All of the colors are gorgeous! I don’t know how to choose, they’re all my favorite! I am inclined toward earthy tones with a touch of purple, though.
I have found that if I add a bit of purple in a project it brings in a different dimension, the color purple adds life, whether you’re painting or stitching.
I would use the thread in a crazy quilt stitching project. One can never have too many thread possibilities for stitching. Love your newsletters!
Doris S.
What lovely threads. They would sure brighten up my winter. Although I do not mind winter, it has been a long, cold and snowy one. I would particularly like the blues, purples and pinks. I wasn’t going to start another project until I had finished my present one, but I am enjoying your Secret Garden project, and what better place to use these threads than to paint a garden. A little summer in this long, long winter!
These are all beautiful colors! Hard to choose a favorite — any would be great! Thanks for a great giveaway!
All the threads are wonderful – just what I have been searching for. Any combinations are fine, but if I need to choose then I like the orange – blues.
I would use them for my Temari, know they would look stunning, as well as for decorating fleece shirts with medallion combinations of stitches.
Thanks to Colour Compliments – would like to have their location in Canada, please. Many thanks for your daily help and my great enjoyment of what you share with us.
Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette #3 is so unusual, would really light up a piece.
OMM! Oh, My Mary! Thank you for sharing this wonderful opportunity to view what consider a whole new chapter for me in colours for my needlework. I live is Northern Ontario, Canada, where there is limited access to products like this. I am currently on my first rip away from home and spending a month in Mesa, Arizona. I am totally captivated by the ‘new’ colour combinations of the surrounding topography, fauna and flora, local artworks (breath taking). I have been taking many photographs to capture anything that I set my eyes on. I am inspired to branch out into different colours, ideas for creations for my embroidery on crazy quilts, felting, etc. I am envisioning the threads I see from this website as a greater part of my creations. I can also see a lesson or two for my other three embroidery friends and I to expand our ‘horizon’ and use these colours and types of threads for wonderful things to come. I follow your site daily and appreciate the knowledge that you share. Thank you for another company that I can use as a resource for my self-expression.
My name is Suzanne Lalande and I call home, Englehart, Ontario, Canada.
P.S. Only because I am the Secret Garden artwork. However, I love to read your daily reports on the progress of your project….much like the other projects that you have done.
Blessings, Suzanne
Hand Dyed Sampler #6 is my favorite – these colors make me thing of spring and summer, when I see sooooo much winter in the news right now!!!
I think they will be fun to play with on a piece of colorful Liberty of London fabric! I usually use floche, cotton a broder 25 or stranded floss, so this is a nice way to get me out of my ‘box’!
What gorgeous colors!
It’s so hard to choose just one, but there’s a hand-twisted silk in there in purple and green that’d be wonderful for Brazilian embroidery. I’d love any of them, though.
The threads are all so very beautiful. I would love to win the hand dyed twisted silk. I have never worked with silk and I feel that it would be a new adventure. As far as choosing the color, that is difficult but the blues and purples have my heart. I hope I win.
Marie H.
The silks are gorgeous! But I would love any of the threads! 🙂 I love bright colors and these threads do not disappoint!
I also love the hand dyed twisted silk. These threads are delicious and make me happy just looking at them. If I was to be the winner, I would add them to my surprise gift bags I give away to those who can’t afford or don’t have the ability to purchase such beautiful items. I love sharing!
Love the purples! Can’t go wrong w them.
My choice color thread in that group would be the purples because it is one of my favorites. If I win, I will use it on a “Lavender Honey” project I purchased from Mary.
These are beautiful threads! I think my favorite has to be perle cotton 12 #24. I’ve had a free form embroidery project kicking around my head recently, and this thread would be perfect for it!
I love them all. I am a follower of her blog. I would love to win anything she has in purple.
The hand died sampler has caught my attention. Have a project that I want to do that will go well with the variegated threads. Love all of the threads. My eyes love the colors and combinations.
Sally H
Hello,
So many lovely colours, I really can’t decide. I love the Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #30, some how it makes me want to sew autumn leaves. Also loving the Hand dyed size 5 perle cotton #31, makes me think of butterflies.
Love
Rachxx
These threads make me a child in wonderland. Joy and creativity combined! I would love the purple bunch to stitch a valentine for my sweetheart, Ava. She is four years old and loves purple. What fun to share with her.
Thank you for this great giveaway. I love the Hand Dyed size 12 perle cotton #25. Love those colors! I am not sure what I would use it with probably some embroidery or crazy quilting.
Have a super great sewing and stitching day!
I would choose the purple/lavender color range.
I am planning on embroidering the top of a stool my mother in law gave me for my bedroom. The lavender would match the wallpaper in there.
Your web site as been a great resource for me for this project.
From Jean, the Quilter…..
I have a long-waited project of making 12 embroidered Texas-theme blocks for a quilt. The suggested color is brown which is SO boring. All your colors are just beautiful!! I think your Hand-Dyed 12 perle cotton #8 would be just perfect and would add so much ‘life and interest’ to the project!! It was a tough choice because all the colors are wonderful!!
My favorite is the twisted silk threads. I have many designs that I would pick from at home to use these threads on.
I love the Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette #5, especially the icy blue colours. I think it would work really well in a needlepoint design.
All of the threads packs are so beautiful, I would have to go with the sampler pack #5 to try them all (in blue!). Thanks for the fun give away!
I like the perle cottons. I would choose size 5 perle cotton #17 and if colourfast, would do some huck weaving on a towel or place mat. If not colourfast, I would prefer smaller perle cotton sizes for hardanger or weaving on aida.
I love all colors . if I won these I would use them in mary;s latest project which I plan on doing. I love the oranges and browns..lush rich colors for autumn
Thank you Mary! I’m going to get a cuppa and sit and paruse all these lovely comments!
I love all the beautiful colors but today my favorite is your hand dyed #30. The orange, yellow, turquoise & lime just makes me smile. If I win I would use my thread to stitch some beautiful, colorful designs onto my handmade wrist cuffs. With your yarn I know they will look amazing!
Oh my!!! How do you choose? After looking and looking….and looking some more I think I would choose twisted silk #24. Luscious!! Not sure what I would end up doing with it, but I would start by putting the skein in my beautiful sewing room (decorated in similar colors) and just wait for the inspiration to come. —————–>
PS…I am learning so much from your blogs. I also expend many moments watching your “how-to” videos. They are so easy to follow. Thank you!
Willa in Mt Vernon
Do I have to choose? I love them all! I am drawn to the reds and purples, but would love to get my hands on the greens and yellows. The fiber that interests me the most is the flat viscose tube. What is that?!?How could I use it?!? What would I do with my new threads? I am taking a crazy quilt class next month and would use them in that project. Thanks for sharing with us.
#27 🙂
I will be taking my first embroidery class next month……so excited…have learned so much from you…but think having a hands on will help me greatly……..these beautiful threads would make anything I do look great.
Thanks for another super giveaway.
For me it’s got to be the Hand Dyed Viscose Tubular Ribbon #7 – I love tubular ribbon anyway – it’s great to crochet, either as is or stuffed with yarn, and can be fun in embroideries too – and the colours in this one are just fabulous – all my favourite colours in one hunk of gorgeousness.
It is very difficult to choose just one color, they are all so beautiful. In this moment I’m doing some little flowers and I thought that I would like to make some stems and vine leaves in green and cherry (dark purple) so I would prefer Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #2. I hope one day to have the opportunity to buy all those beautiful threads.
The colors are all vibrant and picking a favorite is an amazingly difficult task. I am particularly fond of the 8 perle fibers in autumn colors. But the rich reds are the ones that I most often stitch with. Until today I hadn’t discovered Colour Complements, thank you for the giveaway, and also for the link to a fun fabulous shop.
Terri
Gorgeous thread! Hard to decide on a color but I think #18. However, I would be happy with any. I would lo e to do a stitch sampler or perhaps a crazy quilt. Thank you for always inspiring us.
Egads. How am I to choose? The green silk w/ yellows and rust really appeals to me. That would be wonderful embroidery on a coat I’d like to make.
It’s impossible to choose a favorite, but since you are asking this question today, I’ll say my favorite is Size 5 perle cotton #10. The reason is because last night my Valentine took me out to a nice seafood dinner. As we left the restaurant and walked to the car in a westward direction,I looked up and exclaimed to him, “Oh honey, look at the sunset!” It was exquisite…but just like that, it was gone…within minutes.
That is why we are so lucky having lovely threads to capture inspiration like this. The colors of the above mentioned thread remind me of that sunset last night. I would be thrilled to have a collection to work up into a beautiful piece for my home to remind my husband and myself of moments we’ve shared.
I love the colors in sampler #5. I am working on my first crazy quilt that I hope will reflect a vacation spent on the seashore. The blues and greens are reminiscent of the beautiful colors found on the shore and sea.
I think color# 35 is beautiful.. I would use it to do some type of needlepainting–maybe a ‘summer at the coast’ kind of scene.
Thanks for the chance to win these wonderful threads.
So hard to choose a favourite but I would have to go with the DMC 12 perle cotton #26. It is so juicy! I am a quilter and I love to embellish my quilts with little details so this thread would be perfect for little berries! Thank you for the opportunity to win!
Karen H of Faeries and Fibres
What gorgeous threads!
I would choose the hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #34–yellows and oranges. I’ve been thinking about doing a summery pillow for my living room, and these colours would be perfect! I sooooo need some colour–sick of all this snow!! :o)
Hi Mary,
What beautiful colors. Can’t you just see the flowers, birds and butterflies in all of them?
I had a hard time choosing my favorite. #1 was a surprise with those colors, beautiful. I finally got it down to #12 and #10 and chose #10 because of the soft greens and how beautiful all the colors blended. Thank you for showing us so many new things we would never see.
What a dilemma! Sooo many beautiful colors and thread choices…it’s overwhelming. In the end though, I lean toward reds and I have always wanted to stitch with silk. My choice? Hand dyed Twisted Silk #18. I’m planning and dreaming about a free form project in a monochromatic color scheme. If I were to win this, it would fit in very nicely with what I’m visualizing.
Thanks so much for the opportunity Mary!
Hi Mary! I love Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #2, I think I would use it in one of the Secret Garden designs!
Have a great weekend,
Nita
The favorite thread for me is from the blue and purple section on the top left. I would choose the thread that is made up of several colors of purple, blue and green, my favorite colors. I’m working on a crazy quilt bear project now and that thread would be a beautiful addition to the embroidery threads I’m already using.
I’d love to have this for our Secret Garden! Her website n blog are so eyecandie!!!
Lynn
Hi Mary,
My favorite of the Colour Complements thread is the hand-dyed twisted silk #6: variations of golden yellows, apricots and rusts with tiny hints of golden green. The colors (or colours)
remind me of the autumn I spent in Boston on a personal sabbatical year studying theology. My experience of autumn will always be “colored” by that immersion into a riot of reds, yellows, and all colors in between with slowly diminishing brushes of greens.
I would use this thread on a crazy quilt that I plan on making with my granddaughters.
Thank you for sharing your projects and your knowledge with us. Your posts are so encouraging!
Liz C. in northern Illinois
Oh these are so lovely. I think my favourite has to be Hand dyed 1800 rayon #13. The colours remind me of woodlands in springtime.
I love Lorraine’s threads! Thank you for offering a give away. (-;
I didn’t leave a favorite color, but I have a few favorites. I will tell you about #30. Believe it or not, I used it on several crazy quilted Christmas decorations because it matched the vintage silkies I was using.
All the colors are absolutely beautiful and would brighten up another snowy day here in PA. Twisted silk #18 reminds me of a beautiful and warm summer sunset. Right now just looking at the warm colors and imagining the tropics would be enough!
The hand dyed sampler #12 is really lovely, though I do like all of them.
Carol b (Cln crs)
Oooh, Mary, how can anyone choose a favorite color? Even though I’m in South Carolina (originally from Boston), I really need some color. It’s been a miserable week, capped off by an earthquake last night!! The purple/green color mix reminds me of my Iris, which hopefully survived the single digit temps a few weeks ago. But then there are the yellows and reds and oranges. How can I choose? – Wendy
Your site is just more and more fun. How beautiful the threads are !!!
I am due to receive my copy of Secret Garden any day now.
Threads ohhhh my purse is feeling a painful resignation. 😉
Wow, what beautiful colors. I love #36 with its lovely blues and purples. I’m working on a Jacobean embroidery with a blossom that would look outstanding in that color.
All of these colors are yummmmy. I would probably choose the shades in the poppy colors, I am in the process of redesigning an applique basket into a embroidery piece it is huge..poppies are the accent color in my living room. I am still toying with doing the secret garden project also. Think it would be a great learning project. Thanks for the give away.
Favorite? Who could choose just one? I love the silks. Do with it? After playing with it and admiring it, I might find something flowery to stitch.
OOOps I forgot to leave my favorite color
The perle cotton 12 color #35 jumped out at me.
Lately, I have been drawn to wisteria, lilac, and lavendar colors with rose and purple accent.
My daughter is getting married and she is leaning that way so mom is too. 🙂
Wow! Would I love to be able to try out these threads! I am a color-holic. My favorite designers are Needle Delights Originals and I love to use overdyes with them and wirh Laura Perin geometrics.
Ellen in Blacksburg VA
I like colour #33 – I’m making a series of small quilts based on the four seasons and this would be great for my hand quilting
I love the 5 DMC Perle Cotton. No, wait! The 8 DMC Perle Cotton. On second thought, maybe the 12 DMC Perle Cotton. But the Twisted Silk is enchanting. The Sparkle Chainette is calling my name. The Rayon will always be intriguing and I would love to get my hands on some Viscose Tubular Ribbon. How to handle this conundrum? Why with the Sampler Thread Packs, of course! My EGA chapter is working on a 14 piece sampler to display at the seminar in Phoenix this year, and I am planning to add some bright splashes of color to my little contributions. Any of these would be the perfect fibers for that.
Hello Mary,
NIce giveaway. Lately, snow and all, I’ve been doing some on line puzzles of landscaping. The blues and greens are magnificent. So, this would be my favorite colors and I will use these colors for gifts next Christmas. I’m presently doing a Phillippa Turnbull project so that is done in wool but I also love Trish Burr’s flowers. But, somewhere in embroidery land I love “The Secret Garden”. My New Goal!
Oh it all looks so beautiful! i would savor the decision of picking…Thank you for the giveaway. Your tips and projects keep me so inspired.
I like the Hand Dyed Sampler #9 & I would make a cheery little (1.5″ hoop from dandelyne) flower embroidery to wear as a pendant. We need sun shiny brightness here in cold South Dakota!
Diana in Sioux Falls
Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #17
Those colours, that sheen! I am loving Kantha embroidery on silk – modern, minimalist, functional. The running stitch is such a homely little stitch but, like pencil lines, it can be used to build up wonderful pieces of art.
If I won I would be rushing off to buy jewel-toned, baroque patterned silk to stitch on.
Fingers crossed!
I truly enjoy your website! Your articles, lessons and videos are wonderful and inspiring. I especially like the different types of threads you discuss and display. For many years I did custom sewing and I had no time for things like this and while many of your kits are way above my means. I still am able to enjoy your talent and ideas come up with my own ideas using your techniques. thank you so very much for all the pleasures that I and many others obtain through beautiful, informative site.
Margo Haynes
My absolute favorite thread is the Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #2. If I win, I’d use the thread in a silk shading project for thistles.
Wow! My mind started ticking away with ideas when I spotted the thread samplers. Nothing I like better than planning a new bargello project (my favorite needlework), and such yarns are my chocolate substitute.
I love your hand dyed twisted silks #4 or your hand dyed silk #2. I’ve begun a quilt. I’s a combination of applique, beading, embroidery & silk ribbon embroidery. I love the sheen of a silk thread. I did custom sewing for many years and am only now able to begin to do things to please myself. I truly enjoy your newsletters and site and all of your informative videos and instructions. thank you so very much.
I am new to your website and find all the projects fascinating. I would like to start one soon .I am currently working on a project . I would like the seafoam grreen and blue threads to embroider a towel set for a gift for my daughter. She lives in the Jersey shore and it would be beautiful there. thanks.
Color helps us all to cheer up our lives. I love the multi-color strands. I started craft work late in life and I find the multi-color strand cover many mistakes as one learns the new skill. I would pick any multi color of purple, green, yellow, on and on. Thank you so much for your web site, you bring knowledge and smiles.
After shoveling 14″ of snow, Color #25 just shouts summer! Send the warmth,the sun, the flowers, if not in fact send it in thread. Thank you for this wonderful rainbow respite. Connie in Virginia
Creative juices flow looking at all these threads and dreaming of my new grandbaby’s embroidered quilt-to-be! My favorite is the hand-dyed size 5 perle cotton #27, but it was really hard to choose. Thanks for the giveaway and the chance to see your new business- best of luck to you! Thanks, Mary!
Great giveaway, Mary! I love the chainette she has on her website – any colour. Texture always gets me.
Heather M.
Ohhh, Mary!
I love them all, but most especially the ones from the cool side of the color wheel…violets, blues and greens. Then toss in a little pink or yellow just for fun. They are all beautiful and I would love the chance to try to choose only five. Lately I’ve done a little entrelac knitting and the photo from the Colour Compliments Blog of the colorful little squares sort of remind me of that. So I think I’d like to try making possibly a pillow cover with that design. Thanks to you and Colour Compliments for the opportunity to win a bit of that colorful lusciousness!
With #27 I see Koi and Lilly Pads. With #14 I see Orchids, Water and maybe a Daffodil or two. That’s as many as I could narrow it down to. All of these threads are wonderful!
Love the subtle lavenders and blues of #35. I’m a huge Sophie Digard fan and want to make a baby blanket similar to her heart blanket. I have been looking for hand dyed cotton and this is absolutely GRAND!! Thanks so much for pursuing this talent of yours. Thanks from JB of the California desert.
Oh Mary, you ask the hardest questions! 🙂 After much consideration, I would say I’m most drawn the lavendary, aquary, silvery colour combinations of 8 or 12 perle thread – particularly colour #35. I have some pieces of grey and lavender coloured linen which I would like to use for drawn and pulled thread embroidery. I think the shaded threads would lift the embroidery with a subtle hint of colour, but without overwhelming the openwork areas. I can really see those threads working well. Thank you for the lovely give-away.
When I look at size 12 perle cotton #31 my mind fills with all those wonderful vines and leaves in the Secret Garden project…
Barbara in SF
My favorite is hand-dyed twisted silk #18. I can just envision how beautiful flowers in these colors would be on a canvas ground. Roses, dalhias, mums–and many others would work with the beautiful combination of red, purple and coral.
I love hand-dyed threads. Since my next project will be with varied florals, I would love to win Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #6 as I have never worked with silk thread before. Choice was made after spending much too much time picking only one. Will have to place an order soon. Thanks to both of you for presenting a chance on this wonderful give-away.
Linda in Central VA
I’d have to say that today, with all this snow on the ground and the temperature not having been above freezing for at least six weeks, my favorite thread would be the size 5 perle cotton #28 with all the bright yellow, orange and green. But…..all of them are beautiful!
Thanks so much Lorraine and Mary for such a great give away.
Opening up your email this morning and seeing the visual feast of all these beautiful threads was like seeing the first spring crocuses.Honestly, I do not know what project I’d like to use these threads for besides an antidote for a long, dark, Great Lakes winter. I am especially drawn to the green and purple hues. Thank you Mary for such a lovely give-a-way.
Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #36. I am just getting into embroidery. I have been doing cross stitch for quite a while. I love all purples and I think this thread is very beautiful. I do not know what I will do with it, but know that whatever I decide, it will be beautiful.
I love the hand-dyed sampler #⃣ 12 / but in fact I love all the hand-dyed colours and to make a choice is just a lovely torture.
I would use it in my sampler of Tast stitches of Pintangle – should I be selected.
I am the Stitching Lady – Anneliese in Germany
I am recovering from a car accident right now and love the look of the red violet and green to brighten my days of bed rest.
Lovely shop. I am going to order a sampler pack.
And apparently the meds are making me loopy because I forgot to mention I am working on a free designed hand embroidery to help my hand coordination as I recover!
BEAUTIFUL!!! I think my favorite is “SPARKLE” because what girl doesn’t like to sparkle? and I would use it in my “Secret Garden” piece of the flowers and sparkling bits coming out of the watering can, I could see it now glistening and sparkling in that piece! Thanks Mary for thinking of your readers once again
Oh. Wow. How to choose??? I always gravitate toward fall colors, but they are all so beautiful. I don’t use many purples in my embroidery, but they are even rich and beautiful in her shop. As far as using the threads, there is a complicated, old-fashioned surface embroidery project I’ve had in my to-do notebook for too many years. These threads would be perfect for that project and would probably be the tipping point for me to finally get the nerve to start that project. Thank you for the exposure to these threads and the opportunity to win some!
Oh my! These are awesome. I just love the perle cotton thread in greens, turquoise/greens and orange/rust/apricots – that combo just speaks to me.
Helen
Mary, you have done it again! I was able to resist buying into the tambour world, and though I’m learning a lot from the Secret Garden project, I’m not doing it, but now you have introduced me to a world of thread that includes rayon tape!!! This variety in threads and the wonderful color combinations will make me a customer for sure, whether I win the samples or not. I would like color sampler #10, should I win. I will use the threads on a beaded and embroidered 8″x 10″ padded sandwich with a bird applique and a background of flowers and grasses. I am doing a series of backyard birds.
Thanks for all your work. Gaye E. Elder
Oh, I love those colors, and I was just ready to start on the scissors holder from your on line book on bees and lavender. What fun it would be topic the colors for that project. My daughter and her husband are bee keepers, and I love lavender, so your book is much beloved. I’ve been down with the flu and was able to finish some UFO’s, so now can start on the scissors project.
Again many thanks for your stupendous blog. It makes each day opening my computer a pleasure.
All of the thread colors are so beautiful, it was really hard to pick a favorite but I think I would have to go with. Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #36. What I would do with it if I won? Hmmm….I think I would use it for the dresses on some of those Colonial Belle ladies I want to make into quilt blocks.
Your thread is absolutely beautiful or I should say yummy. I have enjoyed needlework for over 50 years beginning with embroidery. Through the years I learned how to crochet, knit, cross stitch, quilt and now I am returning to embroidery. Unfortunately needlework stores are a thing of the past and there isn’t an opportunity to see the different threads that are available—isn’t the Internet wonderful. It is hard to pick a favorite but there is one that reminds me of Key West, the Twisted Silk #11—-the colors put a smile on my face.
Lovely threads! My faves would probably be either Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette #11, Hand Dyed 1800 Rayon #8 or Hand dyed 1800 rayon #13. Would actually not use them for embroidery, but for jewellery making. Perhaps knotting beads or creating thick necklace/bracelet cords.
I love purples, mauves, lavenders , lilac, violet, deep purple shadows. I feel I could get lost in these luscious colors. I would use them to make a hardanger sachet with a complimentary color for a Brazilian rose.
I had not heard of the Colour Complements threads at all until the article on your newsletter.
Canadian,eh? Delicious colours.. Mmmmmmmmm! Silks, rayons and cottons… Oh my! Does it get any better than this?
Had a browse thought the website and then the blog. There is a lot of eye candy there.
It was difficult to choose a favourite among so many. I had to consider to what use it would be put, and finally made a choice. Hand dyed twisted silk #2. It would be lovely stitched in stem stitch as the outline of a damselfly or dragonfly, and used in a die cut card.
Why that use? The vibrant colours seem to glow and really attract the eye. Where thread is used single strand, colour and sheen are most important. The die cut cards I make are turned over to the Canadian Embroiderers’ Guild, London to sell at our end of year Showcase.. The proceeds are in turn used for bursaries to help support educational pursuits of our members.
Jackie
I like them all but the hand dyed variegated blue is my fav. Can’t have too much blue.
Thanks. Thanks a lot! Now I have another set of threads to get hooked on. Am sure my husband will be so….pleased at my new find! 🙂
My favorite (right now) besides the samplers which are gorgeous, is the size 12 perle cotton thread in a blend of seafoam green and purple/lavender. Just beautiful. Am working on a story applique quilt with surface embroidery right now and they would be striking against the background.
Thanks for the giveaway (and the new hand dyed thread find)! And thanks for all the time and effort you put into your blog. A highlight to my day.
Maureen in Rockport
I LOVE overdyed threads! Bright spring colors sound wonderful to me right now with nothing but grey and snow to look at.
I see the colors of Hand dyed size 12 peele cotton, in the scrumptious shades of orange with touches of red, as poppies in a field, illustrating a shakespeare play or sonnet.
I am currently designing and executing a Shakespeare teaching quilt with embroidered panels highlighting specific props/themes from 12 of his plays. I see the poppies in this luscious color way.
Jonell Cadman.
The colours are all so luscious! I think my favourite (right now) is sampler # 5. I would like to make a sampler using the different thread types & practice with an assortment of stitches.
#27 is my favorite today. I love all colors and find myself going in seasons when putting colors together for a project.
Thank You for the opportunity.
Absolutely love all the colours in the Colour Complements site, but I would have to pick #26 as my favourite, it reminds me of summer and sunshine, which seems like a long way away after another snowstorm. I have a great piece of hand dyed fabric I would love to use this colour with and do some hardanger.
Thank you Mary for introducing me to these gorgeous threads.
Love, love all of your posts I’ve learned a lot from you and appreciate all the knowledge you share.
Wow! I love the colors. Ideas popped into my head as I looked at all the combinations and thread types.
How would I use them? My local ANG chapter has a “Sampler Challenge” this year, and the canvas I chose to stitch is a Lee Designs cat. It has big, colorful flowers on it, and the silk perle would be purrfect for it! I adore silk perle, for the colors really pop and the sheen is unmatched.
I plan to share this Etsy shop with my chapter. Bet you get orders from the Chicago area very soon!
Thank you for the lovely give-away! So hard to choose! I love the size 12 Perle Cotton #36 – those wine, purple and blue violets are some of my favorites. I’ve been putting crazy quilt stitches on lots of things lately and this thread would be perfect for some pincushions. Or maybe in a bobbin lace project – that’s where a thread fanatic can really have fun! Thanks again, Lynn
An impossible task — choosing one out of so many, but the twisted silk #2 or the twisted silk #4 or … I love the blending hues of the blues, greens and purples. And right now looking out my window any color other than white or gray is welcome. I have a couple of projects that they would look good on, crazy quilt blocks or even the hummingbirds on the Secret garden project … Thanks for the opportunity to win more thread and on a day when I’m semi snowed in and inventorying my thread stash
I can’t seem to take my eyes off the Hand Dyed Viscose Tubular Ribbon #12. I love those colors. Not sure what I’d do with it, but I like the ideas presented in the shop’s description, so I’d play around with something 3Dish, flowerish, whatever.
I am planning an organza embroidery piece. The yellow selection would make beautiful flowers.
My favourite is #20. It is a vibrant red with hints of orange and maybe pink. It looks like fire! I have had a stump work dragon in my head for quite sometime. I think this colour would make a fabulous dragon.
Wow, I think it would. I like dragons too.
WOW! What a terrific giveaway. Thanks to you both, Mary & Lorraine.
I narrowed it down to 6 favorites that really took my eye. If I have to choose only one, it is Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #4. I look at it and see flowers -lots of flowers!
What I traditionally do with colors like this: geometrics on canvas,linen, or perforated paper; borders for a floral piece in cross stitch. With this one, I think a biscornu, with multiple borders in this and complementary silks surrounding a floral design.
Thanks again for this opportunity.
My choice is the Hand dyed Twisted Silk #2. I love silk and I love purple. I would use it on the Secret Garden Hummingbirds project, perhaps on the birds themselves and maybe on one flower.
Mary, thank-you for the opportunity for thread play with the latest project. Have received my book and love it. I love the greens and deep purples to roses, would also love to learn to use the colours of rust, orange and blue in my designs.
Linda from Nova Scotia
Absolute favorite? You’re kidding right? They are all gorgeous and it would be really hard to decide. If I were placing an order today, I would have to order some of the samplers. I particularly like Sampler #5 – the blues remind me of the beach. How I would love to be there instead of digging out from the snow here! I do a lot of paper embroidery for cards and I would like to try some of this these threads for that.
Thanks for the opportunity to win such a great prize.
My favorite has to be the Hand dyed 1800 Rayon #18 http://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/167285969/hand-dyed-1800-rayon-18?ref=shop_home_active_24
The colours of the turquoise and blue remind me of a cool ocean where its deep with a soft breeze. I’m working on a blue costume, and these colours would look just beautiful as complementary embroidery on the navy jacket.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us, it certainly brings lots of inspiration to our hands. I just started to learn English paper piecing, I have more experience on embroidery though and I just love it, so I would use the thread to embroider hexagons and make something for my daughter. Hand dyed Perle 12 #10 is perfect because goes with my fabric colors
My favorite color is #37. Clean, fresh, totally doable.
Hand Dyed 1800 Rayon #4
If i vin i will make 3D, butterfly for a box
Birgith
I think my favorite in the hand dyed sampler #22. This summer I want to try my hand at embroidering fantasy designs. I found some old dragon pictures and thought I might try making my own pattern. That will be a challenge!! I have never tried anything so ambitious.
I just checked out Lorrain’s site & blog… Wow she is close to me here on the soggy “Sunshine Coast”… no wonder her colours jumped out at me…rainforest,ocean,sky,& mountain shades… I love them all but I think my favourite just at this moment would be the twisted silk #11 which I think would be perfect for a surface embroidery on a piece of antique velvet that I have been hoping to work on for some time.
I love color #36 in Perle 8 – purple. I would use on everything – wool felt applique, canvas work, the lot! Thank you for the opportunity.
I’m going to have to go with Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette #9. Really, is there such a thing as too much sparkle?
What lovely colours! My favorite is the sparkle chainette. If I were to win thread in this contest, I would use it for a mixed media piece I have sketched but not started. It is a washing line with white aprons blowing in the wind. An overdye would be ideal for the stone wall of the house the line is attached to and the tree at the far end. I’d also use sparkle chainette for some of the flowers in the flower beds by the house.
What lovely colors! The collections are just beautiful and very hard to choose just one. I use a lot of blue so #5 is my choice. I’ve been having great fun with Huck embroidery and these colors would be lovely on towels. Thank you for all your great info you share with us. I love your articles. Ganet B
I love so many – but perle cotton 5 #9 really caught my eye – I’ve been contemplating a project of a cityscape at sunset and the colors would be PERFECT for window reflections!
This would be great as one of my daughters is wanting me to teach her embroidery and cross stitching. I think these beautiful colors will encourage her even more.
So I read your email blog and saw my name……hmm Mary Corbett is getting fancy ..customizing emails… and then I hopped over to the Colour Complements Blog…….written by Lorraine.
hmm I guess it’s not always about ME. You do have to admit it is kinda funny since I don’t have a commonly used name. 🙂
BY the way my favorite color in the collection is “Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette #3”.
The hand-dyed twisted silk #18 looks like it would be soooo pretty. I want to try it on the Secret Garden project.
Lots of beautiful skeins to chose from, I love the fuchsia, red violet with hints of orange (sz12), but I think I would want one of the lovely orangy ones to embroider one of the fall (looking) designs from the Secret Garden book
What gorgeous thread…If lucky enough to win it, I would probably use it to do some canvas embroidery, which I have not tried yet. I think the jewel like colours would really suit needlepoint.
Wow, what beautiful thread. I’m starting to crazy quilt and would love to win the thread to start my stash. So many to choose from I think Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette #11 was my favorite. Thank you for hosting the giveaway
I love the rayon threads for my Brazilian embroidery…. I have a piece that I am doing for a friend that the blue/violet combination would be perfect for.
I absolutely love your website! My favorite thread is a variegated perle cotton #8 in my favorite shades of pink. If I win I would probably try them out on the secret garden project since you suggested it. I am following along with you.
This is so difficult since they are all beautiful but I think any of the ones that have a robin’s egg blue or some soft greens and yellows like daffs or colors of tulips would be perfect since I am longing for those colors outside my door right now!!
Oh Mary, how cruel, to make us pick just ONE! 😉
I would have to say that after drooling, ehrrmmm, I mean looking over Lorraine’s threads the one that jumped out at me was Hand Dyed 1800 Rayon #21. All those blues and purples reminds me of summer and the wild lupins that grow here. I would love to stitch up a few with this. Thank you and Lorraine for sharing.
I haven’t been able to choose a favourite colour but the one that I think I would use straight away is Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #14. I can just see a sunrise coming into my embroidery hoop!
I love the Perl cottons in 33 with its grassy greens and 14 with its violets and blues! Somehow I think if I keep working in spring-esque colors the weather will take the hint.
all of this dyed thread is so beautiful and I would love to try a sampler pack later on but for the “Secret Garden ” I would love to try #2,#13,#36 to start with in DMC #12.I think that some of the colors would be grand on the hummingbirds also,after all they are very colorful in different parts of the world.Pat Rand
What a tough decision! I guess today I’ll go with the Hand-dyed #12 perle cotton #32, because if I should be the lucky winner, I will use it to make a wedding sampler for a nephew who’s getting married in the fall; I know nothing of his fiancee’s tastes, and this color looks as if it would be at home in almost any decor. Thank you for the give-away, Mary & Lorraine!
I feel like a kid taken into a candy store and told to pick one. I pick the whole store!
What gorgeous threads, thank you for this wonder of color. My favorite at the moment is Hand dyed 1800 rayon #13. I’d most likely use it for a seascape embroidery that I’m designing (only in my head at the moment). I think the colors would fit in well. If I am fortunate enough to win, I would probably stare at it for a while then drape it around my neck and wear it as a necklace for a while then get to stitching later.
Mary,
Such gorgeous colors and so hard to pick a favorite! I love her size 5 perle cotton in the pink/purple with subtle hints of blue and green. I think it would add the perfect “Spring” touch to a simple piece I am starting which will add a much needed dose of life to a too-long winter season!
Warm regards,
Ruth Lutz
beautiful beautiful colors!
This is my fave:Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #36 in a gorgeous blue to purple shade.
Please enter me in your giveaway.
Thanks,
Jacqueline in Pitt Meadows
I am working on some Crazy Quilting blocks with trees on them all (6 to be exact) and the Colour Compliments colors that would work for me are the green and tans (second row, far right in your picture). Just love those beautiful nature colors. Thanks, Krind from St. Louis, MO
Thanks for the giveaway. All the colours are just beautiful!
my favorites are perle cotton size 12, #2, #26 & #36. but, they all are lovely
Something tells me that next year’s trip to KS is going to be expensive! Trying to decide which one is my favorite is impossible. I love to do Swedish Weaving on towels and for bookmarks for my local EGA and ANG chapters give to local schools to encourage the students to read, so the perle cottons appeal to me. The samplers really call to me, too, because I like to try new threads and some of the threads are ones I haven’t seen before. Decisions, Decisions. I guess my favorite is whatever you would like to send 😛
Kar in WNC
Love those colors. I could use them for my Stitcherie.com February clue “Samba!”
My absolute favorite thread from the shop is Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #26. I just love the fiery combination of reds, yellows, and oranges. If I win, I plan on using the threads to stitch up a flower sampler I’ve been working on.
what a great new blog…thanks for sharing….all colors are my favorites, but pink and purples the most….
hand dyed sparkles of any colors….yum….
Hi Mary, I am waiting for my Secret Garden coloring book and yes, these threads are truly beautiful. I especially like the cotton perle numbers 29, 24 and 5 … it seems my favorite colors are in the pink through blue to purple range. Oh, then some days it’s the orange and reds. Oh, then the greens …. well, you can see my dilemma if I would have to choose only 5. Love your site. Keep writing. Please thank Lorraine and her Colour Complements for donating these threads.
Hand dyed size 12 sampler 37, not sure exactly what I would use it on, but see perfect colored coral!
Oooooh. Pick me! I love them all but #15, #30, #31 really set me to swooning
Oh to win some of these gorgous threads!!!!!
It is awful hard to pick but I do love the
silks and pink varigated ones that would work great for brazillian embroidery!!!
Robin Marks
WOW! All of these threads are the most beautiful colors. I would like to try the #12 perle cottons in the variegated purples, blues, or greens.Choosing one is too hard- I would love one of each. I am definitely tagging this site as a favorite so I can shop there. thank you
Mary and Lorraine,
I love it all, put I especially like the hand dyed twisted silks. I love the silk #2 & 4. I would see making a lovely flower design out of these with the beautiful greens and lavender colors. Also the colors in hand dyed silk #18 and #6 remind me of the hues of a beautiful sunrise or sunset- these would be fabulous in any project.
What is there not to like. Thanks for the opportunity to view these wonderful threads!
Dear Mary,
Oh My!! These threads are sooo beautiful. If I am lucky enough to win, I think I’ll pick something in the purple field. And, I’ll use the thread for crazy quilt projects — maybe for Christmas gifts and ornaments or maybe for something just for me. Lorraine’s website is wonderful and I just signed up for her blog.
Fran in Red Oak, TX
I like #36. I’d use it in some sort of geometric design.
I love the Hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #26. I love its vibrancy and warmth. I would use it to make geometric sampler which I think would play up the shadings in the best possible way, and then I would display it prominently on my wall!
Just one, huh? I guess it would be the greens I would pick today. I’m getting ready to try stumpwork and the greens would be great for leaves and stems.
#36 is my favorite. I imagine a field of blue wildflowers for my next project.
They are all so pretty! It is very hard to choose just one! I found myself leaning toward the deep pinks and purple of Hand dyed size 5 perle cotton #2 or the bright reds and orange of Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #6. The cotton vs. silk.
Just too many decisions 🙂 What do I like about them you ask . . .the intense colors! Such an array of colors! Very beautiful hand dyed assortments! I will be buying a little something for myself!!!
Barbara D.
Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #30 is my favorite selection, but you are right – too many to choose from!!
Wow, how in the world would I choose. I think it would be one of the samplers. That lets me try new things. I’ve never worked with rayon before and the chainette looks like a lot of fun.
If I won I would use the thread on a hexie quilt I’m making. The different hexies contains different kinds of needle work.
I love these threads! So much color and vibrancy. I especially like the #12 perle cotton #8 in the autumn colors. I’ve been working on color ideas for my Secret Garden project and I think I’m liking the idea of autumn leaves with the berries and owls illustration I’ve chosen. This thread would be beautiful for that (and so much more!)
Oh, Mary and Lorraine,
Thank you both so much for this giveaway! All the threads are beautiful, but I’ve just started a “Jacobeanish” tea-cosy that has a couple of snails creeping around the vines and the Perle Cotton #12 number 10 would give them gorgeous shells! In fact, I’m sure that I could find a place for any of those glorious greens, or pinks or…
Mary, All of the advice and information that you have given us with the Secret Garden project has been invaluable. As always, thank you for the gift of your incredible knowledge.
Mary D.
I have been reading your email and have purchased the books “Secret Garden” plus a few other similar book from the same site. I even purchased one for a friend of mine. I was very pleased when I saw that you were working on a small piece from the book. I would very much like to incorporate the designs in the Secret garden booklet in a embroidered and pieced quilt I am making for my daughter. Therefore the threads would be very useful being put to work immediately
Thank you for your interesting email
Cathy
I’ve been a fan and a user of Lorraine’ s beautiful threads since the last time she was featured on Needle n Thread. Not only are her colors amazing, but her textile choices are fabulous and unique. I find her rayon easier to work with than the industry standard….it doesn’t roll, knot or kink. And anyone who has ever done bullions, cast-ons or dimensional embroidery in general knows that is saying something.
Her viscose ribbon and sparkle chainette are interesting mixed media fibers that can actually be used. The silks are sumptuous. Then there are the perles which form the backbone of the collection…dyed on a DMC base they end up silkier and shinier than the usual more matte DMC appearance.
My favorite color at the moment is the hot pink perle #31. An artist friend convinced me that hot pink is the happiest color on the planet. For those wishing to brighten the doldrums of winter, well pink, pink and more pink is my suggestion. It really works.
If I win, I will add the threads to a Dimensional Embroidery project I’m working on of a coral reef and seahorses already using a lot of these threads. I recently used a piece of the viscose ribbon for the ridge part of the seahorse and it worked great even in the experimental stage.
I’ve experimented with the 8 and 12 perle cottons in cut work too to bring a new flavor to a traditional technique.
Ok, I’m gushing a bit but the colors are really lovely, using them brings pleasure and more ideas and I’ve had a lot of fun with them. I know the lucky winner will too. Anastasia
So hard to choose a favorite! I think Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #6 is the one for me though. I am new to embroidery and have only played with the dmc cotton floss so far and would absolutely love to try out some silk threads! I was thinking a sunburst of some kind would be beautiful in these colors. It was a hard choice for me between this and the #4 which is also wonderful.
I adore the choice of textures and hues, my absolute favourite is the hand dyed orange and yellow perle no. 9. Yellow and orange lift my work and make me and the viewer happy. I am a a Sculpture, Performance and Installation, Honours student at UNSW College of Fine Arts, Sydney, Australia. Should I be lucky enough to win, I will use the threads in my embroidery work for Honours this year, perhaps I’ll win the S.P.I. C.O.F.A. Prize for Excellence as I did last year; with access to thesehand painted threads and some talent, I may even make First Class Honours at the end of this, my most difficult year.
I can’t decide if I like #6 or #7 better. But I know what I’d do with it.
Something like this: http://www.needledelights.com/index.php/store/details/TM/7.html
So many beautiful choices, but in all honesty I love all of the purple/lavender variegated ones. I have a couple of patterns, that to me, call for variegated floss, with a metallic for accent.
Plus I just purchased Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden and I’m looking to put a couple of them on fabric to stitch.
Blessings,
Gloria
Those are so pretty!
I would love the Hand-dyed Sampler #5. The blues would be perfect to make something for my bedroom. They’re all so lovely.
Oh my. They are ALL gorgeous! I think some of
The green shades need to go in my appliqué and
embroidery that I’m working on. Thanks for such a fun
giveaway!
I am so looking forward to getting started on your Secret Garden project. I have been following carefully your emails on this and they are absolutely fabulous. The work and detail you have gone into in this project is amazing. Therefore I would be choosing the colours that will work in this project if I was lucky enough to win them. Your emails are so inspiring, educational, reader friendly and thought provoking.
Oh what great colors and beautiful thread. Just beginning with the Secret Garden project. The hummingbirds would look so vibrant in them….
I love the selection number 10…no matter what happens, i will have some of these threads in my collection…
Thanks Mary for such wonderful introduction
What fabulous colours!! I am personally leaning towards the blues as it is something that I don’t normally choose. I have in mind a great canvas project for which I have the pattern but really detest the colour selection shown (it was the stitch combinations that grabbed me) and I haven’t yet had a chance to sit and work on an alternate colour scheme. This would be perfect.
Thank you for the opportunity to win this and for keeping us apprised of sources for our fibre needs.
Heather
Oh, I love the Sparkle Chainette #11. I have a project I started as a gift for my mom an couldn’t find the perfect fancy thread. This is it.
I have always liked Lorraine’s thread and have purchased a number of them. Right at the moment, one of her reds, probably a #5, is my favorite as I am looking for a good red to make a stumpwork strawberry. This gray dreary day has been brightened by looking at these beautiful threads. Thanks to you and to Lorraine.
Hi Mary,
My absolute favorite on Lorraine’s site? So difficult to decide, until I came upon hand dyed 1800 rayon. I’ve never heard of this thread before and would like to have a skein just to try. My absolute fave of these hand-dyed beauties is #19. The intensity of the purples reminds me of colors viewed with a “blue” light; they simply glow.
What would I do with this prize? I’d incorporate it into a crazy quilt wallhanging that I’m making for a dear friend’s birthday using fabrics in her favorite color: purple.
Thanks for the opportunity to win!
So many pretty threads. The samplers would give lots of texture to a crazy quilt block.
Re your article “Embroidery Thread Give-Away – Luscious, Fun Colors!”, Colour Compliments’ Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette #6 is my absolute favorite thread! And several more are first runners-up!
I have an abstract design (not my own) that I would love to use this thread in. Thank’s for featuring it.
Irene
After looking over the colours on the website, My absolute favorite is #28 in the #12 perle cotton. It is a combination of lime green, golden yellow and orange. I love the green and yellow together and the orange ties it all together. What popped into my mind was finding a citrus still life, matching the colours in the skein and stitching it all in stem stitch filling for a wonderfully vibrant and textured embroidery. Thanks for giving us this opportunity to try these wonderful threads.
oh my! SUCH WONDERFUL COLOR COMBINATIONS. I LOVE TO DO ALL KINDS OF EMBROIDERY, IT MAKES MY HEART HAPPY. JO MCHENRY
I really like the Hand Dyed Sampler #10. It has some beautiful colors in it that would work in the southwest picture I’m getting ready to start on. Thank you for the beautiful giveaway!
I love Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #2!
Beautiful color combination that you don’t see everyday.
WOW ITS HARD TO CHOSE’ I LIKE THE PINKS AND PURPLES AND THE GREENS. I DO ALL KINDS OF EMBROIDERY . DIMENTIONAL IS MY FAVORITE. I AM WORKING ON A SAMPLER OF STITCHES AND THE 8 AND 12 PEARL WOULD BE GREAT ALSO THE CHAINETE. JO MCHENRY
IMary & Lorraine think I died and went to heaven! The colors of these over dyed threads are luscious. Picking a favorite is near impossible — but I love the blue sampler pack #6. It would be fun to use all of these threads in one needlepoint sampler. The different shades and textures will make an interesting composition.
My favorite is Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #11! I have wanted to make an art quilt in this colorway but for some reason I haven’t! I love adding beading and hand embroidery to my art work and would surely use this beautiful green/purple combo in an art quilt!!! Thanks so much for this give away! And good luck to all!!
Robbie from Michigan but in sunny Florida at the moment!
Enthused daily by your emails, which lead to new projects. Projects from letters and laid work to butterflies and a secret garden. From lessons in floss to the burst of colour that brightens up my day and gives me renewed energy to stitch, stitch, stitch!
I know it’s expensive to overseas ;)so happy to help out with dollars.
The twisted silks look amazing (especially #4) but, as a Hardanger nut, I’d have to go with the #35 perle cottons — maybe on a bright white linen.
I totally fell in love with one of the perle cottons. Number 24 I guess, it is a blend of fuchsia, dark green and red. I am a beginner so if I win, it probably wouldn’t be used in something very flashy but would find a loving home;)
I also want to thank you for this great website. I am a 32 years old and until now my every attempt to learn a craft be it crochet, knitting or else always ended in disappointment (I might be a bit of a klutz). So friends and family alike are waiting the end of this latest endeavor.with baited breath. And with your help, I might just surprise them this time!
Regards, Merve
They are all so beautiful that it was very hard to decide which I liked best.
I loved the Hand dyed size 12 perle Cotton #36 purples are my favorites but then again I love glitz and glitter for Hand dyed Sparkle Chainette #4 really caught my eye. If I were to win this I would most likely used the threads to start a new crazy quilt. I been thinking about doing one in pinks, purples and spring greens. Those colors remind me of spring and lilacs, iris, Easter, Etc. Thanks for sharing and I really hope I win.
April
I love the twisted silk #2 and would love to pick out some complementary pearl cottons for a project I have in mind.
I pick the Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #4, which is a mixture of greens and blues, shading into violet. Wowee! I’d love to experiment with silk. I’m working on a sampler right now and I would put it in.
I got so distracted by all the pretty threads that I wound up buying one of the sampler packs – it was just the perfect sorts of purples for doing something for the Pantone Color of the Year quilt challenge.
That said, the colours I’m most drawn to right now are the chartreusey yellow-greens, but especially the size 12 perle cotton #10, which is a chartruese to deep grape purple – I have no idea what I’d do with it, but it’s beautiful.
Pick one favorite from this luscious array? I’d love some to just keep and stroke (as I do with fabrics). For a project I’ve been planning, though, I think perle 5, #10. The images would be kaleidoscopic designs of women worked on black. I can just imagine the shifting, changing colors blending around the circles.
Thank you, Mary, for presenting these vibrant threads and braids. I don’t so much mind the 32 inches of snow but that grey sky is the pits.
Such a hard decision. Maybe Hand dyed Size 8 Perle cotton #35. I love blues and greens together. Thank you for the chance.
Ilove #8 DMC perle cotton thread in pale yellow greens with hints of olive green/browns. I am making some canvas scissor keepers and would use this for the stitching and tassel.
Thanks for making the offer available
Love those beautiful threads and would love to stitch with them.
Hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #36 is my favorite, but I love almost all of them. What beautiful threads! Thank you for the chance.
Rhonda from Montana
I forgot to say what I would do with my choice of thread…I would use it in something for my daughter, she would love it.
My favourite is the gorgeously scrumptious Hand dyed 1800 Rayon #18. It would be an inspiration for my Sea Theme for my Intermediate certificate course in the Art of Stitch with the Embroiderers Guild.
Cheers
Gillian
Lovely. I really want the orange/turquoise in her logo. Since I don’t see it I will go with the #12 Pearl in color 29. All those pinks and oranges are warm and happy. I would use it in one of a series of drawn thread work flags. They are a primer on resiliency, stitched on hand dyed linen. The wonderful crayon colored fabric deserves really beautiful hand dyed thread.
Of course, the rayon #17 or 19 could get a surface design piece out of the sketchbook.
Thanks for introducing me to Color Compliments.
I like the Perle 12 #13- blue/violet, lavender with rust/orange. I’d use it to add some embroidery accents to the throw pillows I’m designing for my living room.
Wow! The colors are amazing in this shop. I was immediately drawn to the Hand Dyed #33…there has been so much snow here lately and the brightness of the green is so pretty.
I am a beginner and am diving into the Secret Garden project, but I think I would use this thread to embroider pillows for my living room. I want to do ginkgo leaves and think this color would be perfect.
Thanks for hosting this give-away!
I like the yellow and fushia over dyed pearl cotton. It has been a long cold winter here in Kansas and those bright beautiful colors remind me of what is coming next month. I will use them to make a page in my fabric book that I am working on this year.
Oh my goodness how to choose is the big question! I’d have to choose sample #5 or maybe #15? Love all the colors & they’d be great for flowers.
So many favorites to choose from! I’d say if I had to choose only one favorite, it would be Rayon #4. Although tomorrow it could change to one of the other ones on the list!
If I was the lucky winner, the thread would be used in my crazy quilt squares and/or embroidery projects.
Oh, mercy! I just can’t decide. I’ll probably end up getting every one of the samplers, now that I know they’re there. If I had to pick one right now, though, It would be one of the viscous tubular in shades of summer, if it wasn’t snatched up already. I noticed there’s only one. I would use it in crazy quilting, couched down, or maybe threaded with some contrasting yarn. I’d have to play with it to see what all could be done with it. I bet you could use it like ribbon to a degree…hmmm…I feel another collection starting…
Thanks for another great giveaway! I just love the Secret Garden project. Thanks for sharing your process in such depth.
Mary,
Those threads are gorgeous!
I like Perle 5 # 29 because it reminds me of a New Mexico Sunset.
But I also love perle 12 hand dyed set #1
For the same reason and if I win I want to use the threads on the hummingbirds and flowers on my Secret Garden embroidery picture, of course!
Robin in New Mexico
The colors are fabulous! I love the purple and green apple variegated thread and the turquoise and orange the best. Don’t know what I’d do with them yet but the turquoise and orange one would be for my daughters room.
My favorite color scheme is that of a sunset on Chautauqua Lake New York. If I win, I would share some of those threads with Sheila and Brynn! (I miss chatting with them!) I would use some of the threads in the Stitch Play Sampler that Sheila created and I started. I bet I would finish it if I got some new threads to “play” with 😉
I like the #12 pearl cotton in color #28. I would use it for the Secret Garden embroidery project. I have the book but have not gotten any further. Also thank you for introducing me to that web site. I love most of the threads.
My favorite is Hand Dyed size 12 Perle Cotton #8. I love the fall colors. Thank you for this fun give-away!
I love all of the different colors and fiber types so hard to choose. I would pick #26 pink shades. I would love to use it on a blouse around a neckline.
Hi Mary – me, again…from Ontario, Canada. I was re-reading the entry instructions for this give-away and realized that I did not include the colour numbers, type of threads that I thought were to die the for. I re-visited the website and have concluded: I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT ANY OF THE COLOURS OR SAMPLES!!!! I love the idea of samplers because they include a variety of shades within the colour. As well, I see there are different sizes and types of threads in the sampler packages. What a wonderful way to explore. Well, that is what I wanted to attach to my initial email to you. Thanks again, for offering this great opportunity. Suzanne Lalande
I love the hand dyed perle cotton 12 #8 – I love fall colors and want to do a fall sampler! thank you!!
Dear Mary,
I have never used over-dyed threads as I’m concerned about their lack of colour fastness even for items that are not intend to be washed but may later accidentally get moist or need to be cleaned. But you are absolutely right, who could fail to be enchanted by the colours of the colour complements threads in an enchanted forest kind of way. Yes, the poor winner having to choose! It makes my head ache just thinking about it. It’s difficult to decide, but right now I really like the cool silk and cotton in greens and green and blues (it’s summer here and … HOT). I’d stitch something really special to hang on the wall because it’d be an amazing treat to win! Thank you Mary!
Silk #4 has my heart as well as my new found love of hand embroidery. I never thought I would find something in life that would content me so. To know at the end of my day I will have the opportunity to sit down with my embroidery project and my slowly developed collections of threads makes me so very happy. Thank you Mary for all the help along the way. I would be lost without you and you’re wonderful website.
Thank you for another wonderful giveaway. I think my favorite is the sampler no. 5 though it is difficult to choose from so much splendor. If I win I will probably start your current project since it has been calling to me.
It has been a difficult year and this is just a wonderful way to lift the spirits. Thanks!
Vivian from Milton, Ontario Canada
So hard to choose all very beautiful. I bookmarked the site, will be ordering thread soon. I feel like a kid in a candy shop looking at all her threads.
My choice is hand dyed pearle cotton 8
#34.
Love Loraine’s thread colors for Crazy Quilting. My favorite is the 1800 rayon in #4. The color variations are amazing and look beautiful when stitched.
These are the most beautiful colour combos I think I’ve ever seen!
It’s very difficult to decide, but I think I’m drawn to the size 12 Perle Cotton #37. The blues and purples remind me of the color of the spring sky in the evening. I’ve been working on smocked Easter eggs for my God children, and these colors really speak SPRING to me.
The hand-dyed rayon is just gorgeous, and the colors are so vibrant! I think it would work wonderfully in a charted needlepoint piece, especially one with Jean Hilton-type stitches.
You would make me choose? I would hug it and love it and name it George.
It is so hard to choose! I think I would pick Hand Dyed 1800 Rayon #21 because I love the purple and pink and it would work wonderfully for applique and free hand embroidery on the craft bag I am planning on making.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway.
All of the colors of floss are gorgeous, but I really like the colors in Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #2. I just recently tried silk in a project and I have fell totally in love with the feel of it. I’m sure I could find another piece with specialty stitches that would show off the beautiful greens and purple.
Ooh, I have the perfected project for the sparkle chainette #11. The muted colors of greens and lavender will blend beautifully in French knots that I will be doing on a sea of flowers on a pillow. Cannot wait to get started. I’ve had the fabric since early December….now I know what to use. When might I expect my package? I know I shall be a winner!
These hand dyed threads are so pretty. I would use them for your Secret Garden project. One of my favorites is the Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #2 which is a combo of purple and green. So pretty. thanks for another great giveaway.
these would be so nice to brighten up some embroidery I want to do for my granddaughter in me and my dolly outfits.
I love these threads. I have always liked the look of the perle cotton #8 for my smocking so that would be my favourite. These colours are amazing and it’s hard to pick one but I really like #36. Thanks for the chance to win, and if I happen to be the lucky one I would be using it for my next smocking project, thanks Mary, I have learned so much from you.
so many lovely colours – my favourites are any in the pink to mauve range. if I win, I’ll share them with my daughter who is also an embroidery fan Elizabeth in Saskatoon
Hi Mary and Lorraine
Wow talk about mission impossible how does one choose. Recently in Australia we have had some devastating bush fires and I have begun an embroidery using both threads and some textiles to portray how hot and violent these were, so I could send it to my sister in New Zealand. I have chosen Hand Dyed Viscose Tubular as the vibrant intense colours will fit in so well.
I have only recently been introduced to the internet and all the amazing sites dedicated on embroidery and I am rather overwhelmed by all the projects I want to do, I am definitely following the secret garden project – love it.
Thanks for all the inspiration and hard work Mary.
Regards from down under
Katharyne
Love bright colors – especially the yellows
You are right – we all need color in our lives during this season! And you are also right that it would be difficult for a winner to pick favorites among all this lusciousness! But my favorite is the Size 5 perle cotton #37. I love the heathery purples and greens! I have an art quilt in my head that features a meadow of lavender. I would definitely use this thread for embroidering that! Thanks for the lovely chance to win, and for all the inspiration on your site!
Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #30 is the color I love and would use it on a quilt I am making that has these colors in it.
My favourite colour is pearl cotton #12, 37. I’m following the Secret Garden project. I have the book. Colour 37 may be ideal for the humming birds. These threads would make the project exciting to stitch and produce a beautiful result.
I can’t say yet what my favorite colors are because I love them all and I can’t wait to get on the new website and spend a few hours petting the threads. I sure would love to win these because I am thinking that I want to do the Secret Garden project and what a good way to start!
I have some of Lorraine’s threads and they are beautiful!! I also had the pleasure of meeting her last year and she is as beautiful as her threads, she has a wonderful glowing personality. I would love to try some of her rayon threads to use in my crazy quilting projects. Thanks Mary and Lorraine for this give-away.
Any of the sampler colours would do me just fine because I have a box of hand dyed silk scrapes that compliment all the colours you are overdying. The variety of styles of yarn would be great embellishment for crazy quilt samplers or silk scarves or shawls. The posssibilites are endless, especially after seeing the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum today. OMG!
Wow, lots of colors to choose from. I would like to try the #12 pearl cottons, my favorite is collection #21. I’m working on a whole cloth quilted wall cloth with embroidered animal scenes. These threads would sure be useful and beautiful.
These colors are wonderful. The bright colors are a good way to push away this snowy and daunting winter blues. Thank you all for making stitching fun again.
Hi Mary, I can’t resist this one … I love colour. Lorraine’s are so delicious I want them all.
At the moment I am working on an undersea round robin in a group, so the blues #5 sampler would be good, but I keep going back to the silk #18 for its gorgeous glow.
If I won, and it was the blues, it would be used for the RR – watery stuff. If it were the silk, I reckon it would have to be a flower or something abstract which is my new favourite thing, lol.
Good luck to me, first, then everyone else.
Thanks to Mary and Lorraine, and Mary’s subsidiaries.
Perl 12 #36 would haveto be my favorite. The pinks and purples are so bright and I love th overdyed threads as they come out different from the way they look in the hank. I would use them in my version of the Secret garden which I am stitching at this moment. I also love the silks but sometimes we have to make a choice. Very hard. Thanks
The colors are so beautiful and bright. It makes my hands itch to start a new project. I am thinking something in needlepoint so I can use different threads and blend and contrast colors. I have not been stitching long and would like to try some different threads. Thanks for the newsletter. I have learned some new stitches and techniques.
Jean C. from frozen OH
I love the lavender and purple colors! I like to embroider my clothing and linens with the lavender plant and flowers motif. It would be wonderful to use this fabulous thread to embroider my favorite flower.
I love all the colors and can’t pick just one favorite. However, any of the pink threads would probably be my first choice. Winning these threads would be the perfect starting point for any needlework project.
How beautiful. For each of my grandchildren I’ve been giving a wooden box with interesting canvas work on the lid. The next one to work is for Bi who is almost 10. I plan to give it to her when she starts high school in 2016. I love the purple/green colour range for Bi, the colours she chose for her plaster cast when she broke her arm. A number of these threads would be suitable but I’ve just had a closer look at the “Viscose Tubular” and think some work with this could work well supported by some perle 5. It’s fun and so absorbing planning with colour & design. Thank you for this opportunity.
I went to her Etsy site, and my favorite is the hand dyed twisted silk – even though there’s a limited supply, it just looks GORGEOUS! And she says the plys can be separated…so that’s my favorite – Thanks for making your site available for a give away and introducing me to another quality source for unique threads.
oh yeah…my absolute favorite? The Twisted silk #18. The whole shop is like trip for an ice cream sundae—and #18 is the cherry on top!
And if I won? Why use it to embroider cherries and primroses in a stumpwork project!
I have fallen in love with all of these amazing threads, but, at the moment I would go for hand dyed #5 DMC perle cotton in the soft pastel hues. I am planning to make a baby blanket in a soft pale neutral colour and this thread would compliment it beautifully.
Thank you for the opportunity to win, I love following your chats, I’ve learned so much.
Mary, thanks to ypu and Lorraine for the give-away. My favorite is the #35, the verigated tropical color. The options are endless. Probable Mary, thanks to ypu and Lorraine for the give-away. My favorite is the #35, the verigated tropical color. The options are endless. Probable I
would use it to i would use it to to do crazy quilting seams.
12 Perle Cotton #13 what a fantastic combination
I love a flower in my garden called Siberian iris – the purple is so intense and can have just a little red tinge some years. Would like to include that in my secret garden piece – along with a morning glory vine clear blue with white throat.
If my name were chosen the #13 intense purple is the one I would choose.
Charlotte
Wow, Mary, what a wonderful shot of color on a dreary winter day.
I love the perle 12 in color #36 (purple/blue). I love it so much I bought it.
Giveaways are wonderful things and there are about 60 more skeins there I’d love to have- but purchasing Right Now is a guarantee I’ll get my favorite!
Thank you for introducing this great artist to us.
Kathy
A grand choice of threads. I have always been fond of blues/greens together or oranges/browns.
I love variegated threads in Crazy Patch, where I automatically have colours for the embroidery.
Many thanks for the chance to win your “give away”.
Lesley
I love to work with this thread! It comes in such beautiful colors and your embrodery looks the best!
Thank you for sharing these threads with us. They are all lovely, but my
Favorite is the Rayon #18. The shades of blue and turquoise remind me
So much of the shades in the ocean here that I would use some in a
Seascape should I be so blest as to win! I will be sharing this website with
My stitching guild! Thank you again.
Sue in Bermuda
What beautiful thread. I think my favourite has to be #27. So evocative, the way the orange and the green vibrate with each other. I can’t wait for the draw, I’m putting an order in now!
Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #30
Lime green yellow orange and turquoise. Yummy! I would use this in my art quilts. So beautifu. Thanks for the chance to win some!l
I PORED over her selection for about an hour, unable to decide. I wanted the silk to learn how to use it, but I have too much orange/pink/red already. It’s very close, but I think I would pick color #15 in perle 8 size. It’s such vibrant greens with a really bright blue! I would like to do a Jacobean piece with laid work. I’ve done a little but not a whole piece.
I love yellow and fushia! This would be perfect for The Secret Garden project
169221816/hand-dyed-size-5-perle-cotton-#25
#25
Perfect for any project! So beautiful!
They’re all favorites, Mary! All absolutely gorgeous. My first choice would be the Hand Dyed Sampler #13 and honestly, at this time, I would be adding it to my stash. I’ve got so many UFOs, this would work in many of them.
I really love this flame-colored perle cotton: https://www.etsy.com/listing/155124997/hand-dyed-size-12-perle-cotton-26? (Number 26). If I won some beautiful threads I might use them for some blackwork ideas I’ve had simmering for a while, canvaswork, or folk-patterned surface embroidery.
First visit to your blog and Lorraine’s site! Can’t tell you how inspired I am by the hand dyed colors. I’m new to needle point and am looking to start with a Laura Perin design… if I could only decide on a color palette. All these bueatiful options are a bit overwhelming but my eye keeps returning to the #5 DMC perle cotton thread in variations of grape and chartreuse. Just love it! Will definitely be returning for additional inspiration and purchases!
Wow, so many stunning colors and kinds of threads there. Hard to decide on one color. I really love the lavender and pinks in the 1800 rayon #21. I would use the thread in crazy patch quilting.
Lorraine’s colorway’s are bold and beautiful. They would enhance any hand embroidery project. I am eagerly awaiting your next blog on the secret garden project. Wonderful choice.
Thank you for brightening up what has turned out to be a dreary difficult winter.
A snow bounded New Yorker.
Hi Mary,
I like earthy colours. But I picked up pearl cotton No12 hand dyed in yellow and red from the lot. I like all colours because they become meaningful when all colours or some colours come together.
Thank you Mary for an opportunity to win. I
simply hope that I might win.
Sarah from Bahrain
Wonderful colors. It is really difficult to choose a favorite. But I would go with the fall earth ones. The number 12 cotton. It would be used on a on-going project-Mother Earth Sampler.
Mary in Oregon
I Love the hand dyed sparkle chainette no. 3. I would probably use it in a flower Garden. Although the no. 31 is very pretty as well. So is no 34. for sunflowers. I would also need the no 3 for leaves and stems. I better stop, im getting confused.
Hi Mary! My favourite is nr. 26, from yellow to pink orange and I would like to embroider the nasturtium as in the stumpwork flowers book of S. Morimoto. Ciao from Italy
I’m so intrigued by the chainette. I’ve never seen a thread like this, and am curious as to how it will stitch up. I love finding new threads and experimenting with them.
Thèse threads are so beautifull! that my fingers are thrilling of impatience to embroid tropical flowers with so rich colours. ! Thanks alot for discovering such variety , for me I prefer the perlé coton colour 7 size 12.love.Bea
Such delicious colors! I’m usually all about the blues, greens, and violets and Lorraine has some lovely ones. But today I’m so completely sick of the 50 shades of slush outside that I’m nearly drooling over her yellow and fuchsia combo #25. It doesn’t have a name but I suggest we dub it “The Opposite Of Winter”.
Those over dyed threads look wonderful!
They would make some beautiful projects!
I’ve never had the chance to use such fancy threads!!! I’d LOVE to try one of these….they look so luscious and rich! FUN FUN!!!
I love the Hand Dyed Size 5 perle cotton #9. It looks sunny and bright. If I had beautiful thread like that at my disposal I’d probably get up the nerve to follow one of your projects (Secret Garden) and do it myself. So far I’ve only done iron on transfers….pillow cases, etc…..
🙂
Thanks for the giveaway. One can dream! I love the #30. It’s a bit outside my comfort zone but it would add some splash to a temari ball!
Thanks!
Mary, you have managed to get me totally hooked on embroidery…:-)
Instead of keeping a watch on incoming work, I end up peeping at my inbox to see when your daily email arrive, and what’s the latest tasty morsel of embroidery news.
And it always ends up pointing a finger to what I need. Like an embroidery frame – I ordered the Millenium frame (with extra side supports) and am impatiently awaiting it’s delivery… Pity their stands are still out of stock:-(
Likewise, I am awaiting the delivery of my Secret Garden book, so I can start my own project…
I have just received my tambour hook and will be doing a few jabs to try it out this weekend, while waiting…
And in the mean while, thinking of thread….
And Ohhhh, Lorraine, I have to admit, it is utterly impossible to decide on a favourite here… The all leave me drooling…:-)
Mary, thanks for guiding my life in a new direction – one I like:-)
Marietjie in South Africa
I absolutely love color! These threads are all sooooooo wonderful. I have been following your newsletter for quite some time and am ready to start my own embroidery project using either something from the Secret Garden book, or something maybe from a collection of coloring books that I have. These threads along with the myriad of stitches that you give tutorials on will help in creating a very special original project. I would most likely select several samplers of threads and definitely one of the sparkly skeins. What a delightful way to Spring into Spring!
Christene T
Hi,
I like the shades of pink and purple because these are very bright shades.Pink colour is for girls and my faughter love both shades pink and purple.
Iwould like to make beautiful bedsheetfor her.Ican also use it in her dresses fo embroidery. Ican use it in doing embroidery in hand bags which I used to stitch for her.
After choosing about a dozen as my favorite 🙂 I had to finally settle on Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #2. The greens and purple are just so perfect in color. I’ve long been thinking about an embroidery of leaves on a branch, and I think this would work in a wonderful way for the leaves. Thank you for offering it! 🙂 Karen Gass
Pearl Cotton #35. I love the blues and greens. I would use this in my Woodland Creatures Quilt project.
Hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #12 – that was my favourite although it is very difficult to pick one – they are all gorgeous. I am so happy to know of a Canadian source for such beautiful threads. Thank you for the information!
I am starting to explore canvaswork so I would use these lovely colour variations to make some ATCs in different stitch samples.
Hugs,
Kerry
What a wonderful assortment of colors. it is truly hard to choose just one, but it would be this one – Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #36 – it has all the wonderful lilacs and periwinkles that I love. Should I win, I have a Quaker that is calling for finishing.
La couleur de ces fils de colours complement est de toute beauté. Ils ont l’air vivant. Il metteront surement de la vie dans mes broderies. J’aime la soie mais le perlé 12 pourrait faire de belle frivolité. Merci de nous faire connaître ces beauté.
Bonne journée.
Carole R. Montréal
Here in the frozen Midwest we need reminders of the bright and beautiful colors of Spring! I absolutely love the colors of all of Lorraine’s hand dyed threads, but I think my favorite would be the Hand Dyed Twisted Silk. Because it can be separated I think it would have tremendous versatility and could be used for many kinds of needlework. I love the sheen of silk and I’d love to embroider flowers with this thread! Thanks for creating such great stitching options for us Lorraine! And thank you to Mary for letting us know about all of the treasures out there!
I would be delighted to have any and all of Lorraine’s threads! The hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #35 is my favorite this morning. The periwinkle and greens would be gorgeous on a felt bag I am currently planning. Thank you for your incredible website and this giveaway!
These are really gorgeous. I have recently been doing some Hardanger embroidery with over-dyed thread and have been looking for colours which I don’t usually choose. I usually go for blues and pinks but the orange/yellow #26 thread has inspired me to go for that combination.
Hi Mary,
There are so many beautiful colours/threads to choose from, it’s a very difficult job to decide on which to stop.
Some time ago I embroidered a tablecloth in all shades of green and different stitches, and was very pleasantly surprised with the result. Now I would like to do another one for my daughter who is moving into a new house and I think that the No.12 perle cotton would be ideal. We can’t find 12 perle cotton where I live, not even in black or white. So, keeping fingers crossed…
I like the hand dyed twisted silk. I make small free embroidery pieces on hand dyed cotton fabric and do quite a bit of needlepoint — the twisted silk would be suitable for either one and the colors are beautiful.
My favorite was the hand dyed twisted silk #2 in those lovely shades of violet and green. I would love to put it to use in a free form embroidery just to see the colors play out!!
what a wonderful discovery! I’m bookmarking Colour Complements’ page for future reference. I love the pearle cotton # 26, I have an idea to stitch some fall leaves and those oranges and yellows would look wonderful. The purple and blues of # 36 are gorgeous also. They are all achingly beautiful.
These threads are absolutely gorgeous. I would love to use them for a tatting project – given the vivid colors, butterflies and florals come to mind.
I like the purple colorways the best….although it is very hard to choose a favorite! My plan for this year is to try new techniques, new threads, and colors outside my usual color choices. These luscious threads would be perfect! I love your blog……keep up the nice work!
Totally addicting. The most difficult part of threads on line is that one cannot touch them. However, I work hard at drooling on my computer screen! I believe my favorites are the twisted silk #5, and #6. Being able to work with our Pacific Northwest colors of greens for trees, leaves, etc, then moving to summer pops of color from branches on shrubs to flowers, allows me carry over into the gray days of winter. Thanks for the direction to the site.
Sydney
Gorgeous colours; I love the sampler #5 the best because blue is my favourite colour and my grandmother used to embroidery little blue flowers and birds on Barbie dolls’ clothes she made me by hand. She even made Barbie some sheer stockings and put a blue seam down the back. I’m just getting back into stitch work after too much time in the corporate world and then a life-threatening illness that almost took the rest of my time from me. I’m going to make drawstring purses (my grandmother called them reticules) and use the blue embroidery to stitch flowers and birds on them.
My favorite is Pearl cotton #36. I am learning blackwork and I would use this to make a pattern from my class.
Those threads really call to me. I am a big fan of multicoloured overdyed threads the brighter the better especially the greens blues and purples and use them as often as I can. I can think of a dozen places that I would use them already including the secret garden project. Since it is my birthday this week I have already bookmarked the web site and plan on giving myself an extra special birthday treat now all I have to do is find the time do do all I have planned
Such beautiful threads! I haven’t had much opportunity to experiment with different materials, but I would certainly welcome the chance. I am thinking of doing the Secret Garden, and would probably follow your recommendation of perl cotton # 12. Living in this snowy landscape has me starved for color and gardens!
I love: #5- the 20 meter/21.67 yard skein of hand dyed #5 DMC perle cotton thread in variations of purples/red violets. After draping it over my shoulders and skipping joyfully about for a day or two, I think I may use it in a wildflower project. A field of Lupine seems to be calling out for this thread! Thanks Mary for offering such a beautiful giveaway ♡♡♡
I never thought about overdyeing embroidery thread! What beautiful work Lorraine does. It is hard to choose, but I think I would pick #26 – Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton in red/orange. What would I use it for? I have a cross stitch pattern to work on for my son and that would be lovely in it. Thanks!
I love hand dyed sampler number 5 the sea colors are gorgeous and I’d use them to embellish a quilt I’m making with a sea theme.
Wow, they are all soo pretty! love all the colors, but I really liked the most Hand dyed size 5 perle cotton #12. I am planning on making an embroidered cup cover for me and a friend.
Thank you!
Forgot to add that I would be delighted to find any new threads for my wool appliqué habit!
Hello Mary,
Thank you for all the beautiful projects; you inspire us every week with new embroidery.
I really love Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #10 and I think I would do the Gitta’s Bisconue.
Keep up the excellent work; we just love it.
Johanne
What beautiful threads! My favorite is Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette #1, which is a beautiful sparkly green that I would use for an embroidered family tree I am working on.
I can hardly wait to be the winner of these luscious threads. My preferences are Numbers
28, 31, 36, and 38. But how it is possible to pick? Well, I did for I plan to make and follow you in your current Secret Garden project. Thank you again for your classes and work that you do.
It is a joy to “sit” at your feet to learn.
Hi Mary
I love receiving your blog and have learnt many valuable techniques from it. Thank you for introducing me to Lorraine’s website. I will soon be going to the annual Otago Embroidery School to work on a doorstop project. Some of the colours on this website would be great for that project.
I hope to hear from you.
Thank you,
Di
these threads are so beautiful! As a member of both the American Needlework Guild and Embroiderers’ Guild of America I have many projects that these threads could enhance.
I am thinking geometric canvas designs!
Wow nice threads
just imagine what you could do with them
thank you for all the wonderful info on your page
have brought a lot of the books that you review
and they have all been wonderful
Absolutely gorgeous colors. I love them all, however I think the #12 perle cotton in color #33 would be great for vines, tendrils, and stems for a floral combination on wool blanketing.
These are all so beautiful! It’s hard to choose just one! 🙂 I really do like the Sampler #19. This would give me the chance to use types of threads I have not used before. They would be beautiful in the Secret Garden project. I haven’t started it yet, so this could begin my color scheme. Thanks for all you do on your blog, it has allowed me to learn so much!
the twisted silk number 7 I like the rayon too
your student in stitching the happy stitcher
I love the size 8 Perle Cotton, #24. I have a wool applique project with flowers that would be perfect with that thread. Thanks,Mary, for all your fun giveaways and stitching ideas.
What a hard decision. I really like Perle cotton #36. I think I’d like to do a Blackwork project. It would be interesting to see how the colors play with each other.
How beautiful colours!!!! These give-away’s are always so welcomed!
Thank you for the idea!
Nancy
I forgot to tell you that I dont have any preference in a colour or thread. Im just a stash-addict so anything would be really welcomed 🙂
Thank you again!
I had a hard time deciding which was my favorite…decided Sampler #1. I haven’t been doing embroidery for awhile, but I’d like to do a small crewel style picture…maybe from the Secret Garden book! Just love the variegated colors!
Oh my goodness! So many beautiful threads to choose from! It’s so hard to pick just one, but #35 size 12 perle cotton is calling my name. I would love to use this on my currant hand embroidery project, as I reproduce some of the lovely antique embroidery on pillowcases I own. Thanks for offering this give-a-way Mary, and a big thanks to Color Compliments as well.
OH MY! There is no way to choose a favorite. They are all so-o-o beautiful! Best of all, I just finished transferring the peacock design to the linen, but I have not chosen the colors for the threads!!! Oh, I’m gonna have so much fun with these threads!!!
You are not kidding about this being a difficult choice for the winner, all the threads are absolutely stunning. I would love to try all of them but I especially like the Sparkle Chainettes and some of the tubular ribbon colors. I also like the sampler choices but didn’t notice any in purples (my favorite color) but I did see a blue selection that looked like it would make some really pretty birds. Thanks for the chance to get some of these beautiful threads. Lois A in Mackay.
If I had to choose just one, it would be #27. I thought the color combination of those sea foam/rust shade was unique and brilliant. I don’t usually go for overdyed thread, but some wonderful needlepoint sampler comes to mind when I browse the catalog of her collection.
Hello. My favorite is the combination green and lavender in silk. I think that I would embroider some hand towels for my bathroom which is these colors. Thank you for the opportunity to win.
There is a lot to love there, but right now it has to be the perle cotton #19. It is so snowy and dreary right now and it looks warm like the sun!
I have no clue what I would do with it, but isn’t that just wonderful? The dreaming is the best part of a project sometimes!
Scrummy lolly shop, now how long have I got to choose. Umm I think I’d like some of the spring blue,green,orange ones. Oh and could I have some of the xmassy ones, and then there’s…………..
Wow – I love multicoloured threads and these look beautiful – it would be great to win these and they would work beautifully with my multicoloured silk fusion pieces.
It will certainly be difficult to choose if I should win. But I would certainly take up the challenge of choosing happily!!!
Beth Abbott
I love all of the Pearl Cottons, I would use them on a Hardanger piece that I would design.
Take Care & Happy Stitchin’
Hugs, Sandy
Hello Mary,
What a lovely giveaway, who doesn’t love thread. I definitely need a bit of colour in my life at the moment for more reasons than just the weather. I would probably choose one of the hand dyed samplers because there are several threads, like the sparkle chainette, No.12 perle, and the Rayon that I have never tried and it’s easy to pick what I would use it on, I’m about to start a piece of autumn shaded crazy patchwork.
Kind regards
Mandy
I really liked the size 8 #31. It looks like a one and fuchsia blend and is beautiful! I’m going to be working on a Victorian ladies brunch and it would look great in this.
Oh I just adore the #8 perle, #37. The blends of the soft blues and greens just speak to me!
Would use it as a leaf, a flower, dragonfly or even part of a sky.
A little confusing that there are a couple of different colorways that appear to share the same color number, though.
Wonderful colors! I always love pink, the mix of pinks in #29 is perfect for spring flowers in my project! Thanks for all the information you share with us. I really enjoy your site!
This is a popular giveaway!
My favorite of the colors is the hand dyed size 5 perle cotton #2-dark purples and bright pinks.
What would I use it for? I’m not sure! It would be really great for a “nearly before sunset” kind of scene, or for some sort of Halloweeny design. Now that I think about it, I do have a canvas in my stash where this thread would work.
Thanks for the great giveaway!
Carol S.
perle 12 in purples I would make something for one of 3 granddaughters!
What delicious colours. A feast for the eyes. I work on Canvas and Perle Cotton #5 is a thread I use a lot. So my favourite #10, purples with orange and a touch of pale blue. Amazing. I will use it on piece based on Sudoku.
Gorgeous! It’s so hard to pick! Hand Dyed Sampler #10 & #13 jumped out at me. If I were to win I would stitch up something from the Secret Garden book using the threads.
Thank you so much for your informative and great reviews!
Do you have any idea how tough it is to pick a favorite? 🙂
I settled on #30, it’s used on the size 12 perle cotton and it is chock-a-block full of color. Lime green, turquoise, yellow and orange. Yummy stuff!
I’d use it for tatting. I have a pincushion that needs some pretty on it.
Thank you for introducing us to this range! I love variegated, over-dyed threads. They give interest to my embroidery without me having to do anything harder than choose one or two of the beautiful threads. I’ve already bought colours from the Cottage Garden Threads range you wrote about a few years ago… and now more temptation! In the Colour Complements range I am instantly drawn to the colours of “Hand Dyed 1800 Rayon #13”. I love the cooling combination of mauve, aqua, soft grey-blues & greens – so attractive after a scorching hot summer here in Aus. They evoke images of cool shade under a flowering Jacaranda tree on a sunny day, beside a beautiful stretch of aqua water… cool, calm bliss! What to do with the thread? I’m thinking a simple, swirly design like the “tangles of vines & flowers” from the Secret garden book (yes, I bought that too) on natural linen. A cooling antidote to the heat and my scorched garden.
Kind regards
Jeannette
Hello Mary,
My absolute favourite is Sampler #22. I am about to start a class in textured freeform contemporary hand embroidery. This thread selection will be a beautiful way for me to learn about colour, texture, design and using different types of stitches to create a beautiful piece of embroidery.
Best wishes,
Dianne
I am a blue/green person-maybe because I am a Pieces. I have a canvas work sampler that I have beenitching to do and overdyes would be perfect.
Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #30 is the favorite color. I would use it to crochet some tiny flowers for quilt embellishments. These perle cotton colors look luscious.
All of the threads are beautiful, but I like the warm rust and plums that Lorraine has dyed. I would not hesitate to use any of her palate. I ususally use a size 12 or 8 perle cotton for wool embroidery, but beautiful threads of any fiber are always a treat. Thank you!
The threads at Colour Complements shop are beautiful!! I love all the size 8 threads for my crazy quilting. The blues are my fav! Thanks for sharing this website.
These threads are simply amazing and the colors are so vibrant, choosing a color was really tough. I think my favorite would have to be the #12 peale cotton #34 with the Yellow, Orange, and Rust. They remind me of a sunrise and a spring morning here in Texas. I would say I would use them for Celtic Knots done for the Renaissance Faire (not period but who cares and its way fun!!!) I would try and use them for any other project as well. The colors are that awesome! I am glad that these have been shown to me and I will make sure to add them to list of so wants!
Thank you for running this give away and letting us know about some awesome new threads!
NaomiJ
My favorite thread from Lorraine’s beautiful threads is Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #30. All my favorite colors together. I would use them not only for sewing but tatting which I now have time for! Thanks for the give-away opportunities.
I feel like a kid that’s been taken to a toy shop and candy store all rolled into one!! How can I choose! Pure cruelty :)I love the purple blue and pink shades of perle 12 #36 But the vibrant hues of perle 8 #29 is so alive!And that gorgeous perle 8 # 35 that reminds me of the sea……
I can’t decide between them! Those are the 3 I love love love the most!
I’m just starting to explore hardanger so could easily see those threads being used in my new adventures!
Maz BP Aust.
I love all types of embroidery but the favourite at the moment is counted cross stitch, especially Winnie-the-Pooh so yellows,browns & orange will do. Really any colour is my favourite, it’s usually the one I’m using at the moment.
Maz BP Aust.
What gorgeous sumptuous colours! I especially like the Sampler Pack No. 6. I would use it on a crewel work piece I have standing in the wings just waiting for some gorgeous threads to be played with.
Oh my, Hand Dyed Sampler #2 would be my first choice!The colors are so rich and full of energy. The three different sizes in the same colorway, what a treat that is.
These would go lovely with my CQ blocks for CQJP 2014 work.
I prefer the 12 DMC perle cotton #33 and #34 as these would make my version of the Secret Garden project really pop! Such vibrant colors are an easy way to lift one out of the winter doldrums.
Thanks so much, Mary!
Oooh, I must pick just one??? They are all so lovely but I must say that the twisted silk sets my heart aflutter. I can imagine those beautiful threads in a floral project that I’m currently working up. Thank you for all of the giveaways you do and for taking on the Secret Garden project. I’ve often wondered what your sequence of steps were in planning and working through a project.
I am a big fan of all of these beautiful threads, but my favorites are the ones with both purple and green in them. Something about those two colors together just thrills me. I think they would look stunning as part of a geometric design on dark fabric, remeniscent of stained glass windows.
Thanks so much for the giveaway chance!
Hi Mary,
What a really nice give away…again! I think my favorite thread is perle cotton 12 #37…it’s a mix of purples, blues, aquas and soft greens. This is just perfect for some paper embroidery birthday cards I’m planning to make this year. Thanks to you and Lorraine!
Sheila from CA
I would have to say Hand dyed size 12 perle cotton #33 — perfect for my current project.
I love the oceany greens and blues of #35 the best.
I love variegated purples and lavenders. To me they go everywhere.
Love your Newsletter, Mary. Thank you so much – I cannot begin to tell you how much I have learned and am learning.
My favorite is Sparkle Chainette #4. It was hard pickng just one as a favorite. I picked it because it would go well with a project I have in mind, for which I have started gathering materials. What a wonderful site, and relatively close to where I live. One day I’d like to visit her studio (if she allows vistiors).
Mary, what a motivational piece this has been for me. I have not been stitching of late and just had to start. The information and tips you are showing are so helpful.
Thank so much for this gift.
Jackie T
I have been sitting and pondering about this for the last few days and it is very hard to decide which colour combo I like because I love them all. I can see colours in every combo for a project. Oh sure can use the blues in Trish Burrs bird embroidery. Or the beautiful oranges and browns in a Fall scenery cross stitch. Or take them all and use every one of the colours in a patchwork quilt like embroidery with some wonderful canvas work stitches. Oh to decide just can’t I Love them all. Thanks for the great giveaway Mary. You sure make us think.
Sorry I was so excited about this project I forgot to tell you I just love sampler # 8
I would love to try it on the humming bird and also some of the butterflies in the secret garden book.
Jackie T
I love Hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #30
Peach and bright pink! Beautiful!
I would use it to crochet some stars to sew on a bag.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Wow, what beautiful threads.
The purples in the first box are yelling irises to me. My mother will be 94 in April and she has aways grown irises. It is one of my fond childhood memories. I think stitching her an iris out of the purples would be a great birthday surprise.
The Secret Garden project is pulling me in — maybe!!
Favorite color (colour!) – presents a true quandry as they are alll pretty/gorgeous/stunning! But the size 8 perle cotton #24 really rings my bell. Not sure whether I’d name it Virulent Spring or Spring With Attitude. As for how to use it, I’m torn between needlepoint (I can see it work in a Kathy Rees design) or as fiber on a decoratively painted tassel. Thanks for introducing me to yet another source for lovely threads.
Goodness, what beautiful colours! Choosing just one as a favourite is very hard; I would have to go for either the twisted silk #18 in pinks or the twisted silk #6 in yellows and apricot. I would use them in an embroidery of garden flowers – think herbaceous borders brimming over with drifts of plants in flower all at the same time, the way they behave only in your imagination.
I have poured over the selection of fantastic threads and have picked the Rayon 1800 group of threads as my favorite group. I really like the cooler colors and pick #10 (turquoise with a hint of muted green)as my absolute favorite.
Because of my very small apartment, I do my designing as collage in Photoshop Elements, and then have the resulting ‘whole cloth’ printed off, ready for surface embellishment. I have a project going in Elements that is utilizing shades of bluish greens, and #10 will be perfect for surface threadwork.
Thank you, Mary, for sharing this thread source.
I would stitch with anything in the green family right now – spring fever! Especially like #33. Thanks Mary for the give-away!
Such colours. After much consideration and to-and-fro-ing between colours, I think I like the size 12 #31. Or maybe the size 12 #21. However, I have a couple of projects in mind that would use the #28, or maybe the #4, or yet again the #33. Now if only she would do coton a broder too.
Oh, these are all so gorgeous. I have been drooling and drooling over them. Hard choice to make. But, I will have to go with “Hand dyed size 5 perle cotton #3”—dusty greens and blue/greens with accents of aqua
My favorite, if forced to choose, would be the 8 perle cotton #2, pinks and fuschias. I would use it in embroidering linen bags to hold special things. Thank you Mary for your wonderful advice and help,
Shelia in Oklahoma
I think the cotton #21 wins, although it is a very difficult choice.
I’m not sure what I would do with it offhand. I do have a “black”work project on the horizon, though..
I really love the greens in this sampler: http://www.etsy.com/listing/176947019/hand-dyed-sampler-17?ref=shop_home_active_5 but I also really love the blue in rayon #20 http://www.etsy.com/listing/178411979/hand-dyed-1800-rayon-20?ref=related-4. I think I would want to do Secret Garden vines with that greens sampler (all in the same thread, of course).
Hi Mary
WOW. These threads are just delicious to look at. It was so hard to choose one strand.
After MUCH looking, my choice would be #15 with the blues, greens and purples. This would be beautiful in any of my embroidery, however, my first thought would be how gorgeous they would be on a Temari ball. MMMMM.
All so wonderful. I especially like the 12 perle cotton # 13 with the blue/lavender and the orange/red colors. I don’t have a particular project in mind at the moment. My exchange student would love the happy colors. Thank you.
HI Mary, These threads really are beautiful! If I could choose my favorite it would be the one with deep purples, fuchsias, blues and lavenders in a perl cotton#5. I think I might design a stumpwork picture-painting and use the thread for the walls of one of Yves Saint-Laurent’s former Normandy Gothic style house — the walls were painted in a Monet water lily impressionist style, (very exact, actually)and I would use the threads to get that kind of impressionist feeling. There would also be stumpwork furniture and furnishings as well as Yves, himself and his companion, Pierre.
Thanks so much for the give-away Mary!
Sabrina of Lawrence
My favorite of those gorgeous colors is Hand Dyed Sparkle Chainette; there is something rich and luxurious about those colors. I’ve been thinking about redoing a sweatshirt I painted years ago of the fall leaves in the CO area we lived back then. Only…..I’ve been wanting to do it with embroidery so it would last even longer. That thread would make some awesome leaves!
I love red/orange/yellow combos, to pick one I would have to choose between, #18, #19 and #26. out of these three I would love to work with #19. I can see it being used in a sun motify or flowers, almost anything to brighten the day.
Ello!
Which thread is my favorite? Ye gads! Thats like asking a chocoholic in a chocolate store to choose! (Mm chocolate). I am drawn to the sparkly thread, but for purchasing purposes Id go with the perle cotton or ribbon since I have never worked with those… and definitely in a burnt orange colorset. The colors are all so pretty, but Im craving some warm orange in this dreary wintertime. Burnt orange and cranberry red, wine red, yum! Hm, now Im famished from all this talk of delicous colors.
Have a good day!
V
Are you kidding? Pick just one color! No way…
Am just starting to trace the Secret Garden project…these would be amazing to work with!
The twisted silks are oh so awesome! Good thing it’s a five skein giveaway, because I love them all! I am making vestments for my brother the Father and I can see using all the twisted silks on a preaching stole, but since I’m supposed to pick one fave I’d be starting with Twisted Silk #24.
Cheers!!!
My favorite has got to be this beautiful blue/grey combination http://www.etsy.com/listing/176876627/hand-dyed-size-8-perle-cotton-36?ref=shop_home_active_15
I think I’d have to make some nice thunder-clouds out of it 🙂
Just wanted to tell you that my idea of Heaven is having an unending supply of georgous, yummy threads, beads and goodies to jump start my passion for crazy quilting. Every year I say nothing will stop me from getting started and 2014 is it. I’ve made a lot of quilts for friends and loved ones, so this one will be for me! I fell in love with all of Lorraines’ threads, but most of all with #’s 7,21 and 37 in her #12 hand dyed wwperle cotton. My first block will have an ocean theme and those blues and lavenders would be perfect!!! Please pick me! thanks for the chance to enter your contest…I check your latest projects everyday! Hand stitching is truly my passion and I can’t really stock up on supplies as I’m on permanent disability so you could sooooo make my year! thanks, Janie
I love pearl cotton of any size and there’s some beautiful colourways! I especially like the grape/chartreuse and the deep purple, lavender & fushia. Yummmmmm!!
Wow so many color combinations, it is very hard indeed to pick. But it must be all this snow, but I need #25. Give me something red, bright and warm please.
I would love the #5 perle in color 22. I like to stitch table runners in cross stitch and/or hardanger using the over-dyes. Over-dyes bring color to my work making them more lively. I am always looking for new colors and these would work nicely.
Debra Puma
I love the very first one, the silk #5. I have no idea what I would use it for yet. Sometimes I need to sit with it for awhile before I decide.
My name is Launa George from Fredericksburg Virginia in the United States. I like the Hand Died Sampler #10. I usually prefer purples & lavenders however these colores remind me of the multicolored scarf worn by my favorite doctor. I grew up with Dr. Who while living in England and thoroughly enjoy it in the United States today. I would use these flosses to stitch a portrait of my favorite Doctor wearing his multicolored scarf.
i would love to win this, thanks
Hi Mary!
What a luscious assortment! I am fascinated by the viscose tubular ribbon. I think I would try some flowers with it. I have a granddaughter due the end of April or first of May, and will be stitching a birth announcement for her. This would be a perfect place to use the special thread!
As always, thanks for the giveaway and for all the wonderful advice you give us!
Mary,
The colors are luscious! I adore the perl cotton #20, brilliant fuscia with bold orange and the #36 wines, purples and blue violets. I’d love to embroider a baby blanket with one of these as center stage 😉
Patricia P
Helo Mary aunty.. Am reena from mauritius..
1st of all i wud grab the opportunity 2 thank you for all your fabulous works and stepwise tutotials which have really inspired a lot of women to go through it,or to have a try as a start..thank you for dat..
And as for the give away,am happy you give everyone a chance to participate… The thread colours in Colour Complements Shop are all wonderful,and i really like the colour Hand Dyed Twisted Silk # 6…if i get the chance to win,i’ll use the precious thread in 1 of my work to enlighten my work mayb flowers would be my way to start my embroidery…
Thank u Mary aunty n god bless u
The twisted silk #18 is my favorite. The colors are so warm and happy.
I quilt, and I’m thinking about making a crazy quilt next. I’d probably use the thread for that 🙂
Color #17, size 5 looks like just what I need to use in a special pillowcase project that I am preparing. The colors will be sensational….but to tell the truth I had to review the whole grouping several time before I could decide. Thanks for the article.
Hello Mary,
It is such a beautiful give away.. The colours are so luscious.. that you cant choose one from another.. However I loved the twisted silks, especially Hand Dyed Twisted Silk #18 , #6, #24. (I need to stop..else I will end up listing all of them!).. Those are so bright and pleasant, will definitely be a beauty to add to any needlepoint projects..
Regards,
Preethy
Love the hand dyed twisted silk #18! Love the richnesss of the colours and subtly of the variations. That would look quite lovely for a geometric that is curruently in WIP status. That being said, twisted silk #2 looks amazing! It’s so hard to find an variagated purple and green thread with that level of vibrancy – would love to use that for a purple and green pillow pair that is also a WIP…
Oh my, what beautiful threads. I would be interested in the rayon thread for a possible crazy quilt project.
Hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #35 is absolutely beautiful. I am working on a Bargello and this would be so beautiful mixed in with the other colors I am using. Thank you so much for this opportunity. All of the threads are lovely. This is a tough choice!
Purples and greens are my favorites and browns. Right now I am just thinking about spring pastels.
Really Mary…you didn’t really think I could choose just one of those fab threads did you?! I would us ALL of them that’s for sure!
To use in stitching on a baby quilt for a little guy, I would choose the hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #37. The blues and greens are so soft looking and perfect for embroidery work for a new born.
Thanks for the chance to win!
#36 (purple/lavender) size 8 is my favorite thread. I look at this site often and drool over all the colors. I am a crazy quilter, so I would use the thread in my CQ projects.
I love all the overdyed threads but I think my favorite are those with greens as part of the threads. When you first announced your Secret Garden project, I went to Amazon and purchased the book. If I win the threads I will use them to create my own “secret garden” project in conjunction with some of the beautiful artwork in the book. Thanks so much for the opportunity to participate in all your wonderful giveaways!
Oh my goodness! Those colors all are soooo luscious,like taffy.Yummy! Anyways. I would love to win all of them.Had a very hard time deciding what pkg. I would take. I guess it would have to be #17 purple,blues hand dyed size5 perle cotton. If I win these that would look great in the projects I have been wanting to work on which is hand made towels with a panel which has embroidery designs on it. Making different ones for spring & summer..Hope I win!! Susan S.
The colors of the Hand Dyed Twisted Silks will be lovely in the Persian wall “picture” I am designing based on the Medieval Persian Manuscripts. The colors are gorgeous and just scream to be used. I enjoyed reading this article and the others that you have posted.
Great Information for any needlecrafter.
Deborah D.
I love the hand dyed twisted silk in red, violet and green
I would love to use any of the Colour Complements threads, but my absolute favorite is perle cotton #27. I love the juxtaposition of the seafoam green and rust! Together, those colors capture the feel of the Turquoise Trail here in New Mexico. I would have to use them to stitch an initial from Mary M’s alphabet series. Maybe an M for me? or an NM for New Mexico? It’s so rare that I stitch for myself…I sense a new project idea growing here. As a military family, we’ve lived in 10 states so far. I could stitch each state’s abbreviation in the color that represents that state for me. Let’s see…OH is carnation red & patriot blue, VA is Mt.Vernon cream and federal blue, CO is red clay & juniper green, ND is sky blue & sunflower gold…I’ll have to pull out a bouquest of fibers and give this some more thought. Thanks for the inspiration!
I would choose #22 in the #5 perle cotton and use it for a border on a wool fall/Thanksgiving runner. The green, turquoise, orange, rust and apricot in #22 are gorgeous. Thanks for the chance to win.
Love variegated threads, they are so interesting. The colours in the photos are simply inspiring.
I just love the mixed green and purple with some gold accents. It makes me think of fairies and spring time. What to make, something fantasy.
Really beautiful colors!
My favorite is Hand dyed twisted silk #4. The greens darkening to dusk colors look like the ocean around here. If I won, I would give the thread to my mother.she adores colors but is too thrifty to splurge on such fabulous threads.
MY FAVORITE IS Hand Dyed Viscose Tubular Ribbon #12
Mary, you are an inspiration! Thank you for all of your sharing. You have enriched my Montana winter.
Oh, dear…
The silks are lovely, but I have to say I love the size 8 and 12 perle cottons the best for their versatility. And the colors!! wow.
I am planning to stitch the peacock design instead of the hummingbirds. I just love the blue/green combos. I see beautiful peacock feathers!
It’s hard to say which thread is my absolute favorite, but Lorraine just posted some examples of using Sparkle Chainette on Crazy Quilt embellishment. I would love to use this thread on a Crazy Quilt block that I’m working on now. This block will used to make needle/tool case.
Mary & Lorraine,
These threads are all beautiful — but I am (always) especially drawn to sea colors. I just can’t decide between the blue-green combinations or the blue-purple. As I look forward to spring, maybe it’s the blue-green that really pulls at me now. I’m already imagining several embroidered egg projects and some sashiko projects with colors that move “outside the box.”
Thank you for opening up the doors even further for creativity and imagination!
Susanna
Thank you for sharing these beautiful new colors. I love the brilliant greens (#31) and the orange pearl cotton (#18). These are the colors that make a project like the Secret Garden really stand out. I can not wait to sit down and find what lovely cottons and silk threads are available as well.
I just recently found your site, Mary. I thought I knew a lot about fine embroidery, however you have taught me how to expand that knowledge by far.
Thank you both for your efforts in advancing the art of embroidery.
Deborah, from Virginia, USA
I love working with both cotton and silk threads and Lorraine’s hand-dyeds are just SO luscious!! To pick just one would be agonizing!! Like taking a child to a candy shop and telling them they can only choose one candy!! I love blues, greens and purples so the hand-dyed twisted silk #4 would be
a favourite, for sure. I would use the “winnings” for crazy quilting…
Thanks for the chance in this wonderful giveaway!
Enjoyed your article. It is a good reminder to sometimes take a step back and reassess…your stash, your projects, etc!
Love the size 5 perle cotton #14. Lorraine does a great job getting such a variety of colors.
The new colour combinations look so vivid and brilliant – my fingers are itching to try the threads. I have a new baby sampler to do for a new family addition that would be perfect to have a try of these colours. Thanks for the opportunity to sample these gorgeous range.
Kindest regards
Maree W-W
So many beautiful colors! I love the “Hand dyed size 5 perle cotton #31” which is the pinks, burgundy and wine. So, so pretty. I love it. I would probably use it to make something for my mom, who also loves those colors. 🙂
I had a hard time deciding, but I’ve decided I want her Sparkling Chainette #3 if I win. I was picking the same color group, but couldn’t decide on the type of thread.
I’m not interested in the Secret Garden hummingbirds, but I like the peacock on the opposite page. That’s what I’d use this thread for.
What a wonderful giveaway, I am looking forward to trying out some of your sparkly chainette!!! I have a feeling this will be one of my all time fantastic threads and yea I will use it on my Cq seams but I want to really use it on as many different applications that I can find
Hi Mary,
My preferred one is the Hand Dyed Size 5 perle coton n° 10. I think I would use it in the Secret Garden project, even if it will not be right now, because I had an accident and broke my right wrist, and of couse I am right handed… But I like very much the idea of this project and plan to stitch it a little later.
Thanks for the opportunity of knowing Colour Complements. It is beautiful.
Diane from Québec
I like the greens, They will make the grass on a picture I want to do, look more realistic.
Such a hard task you set for this give away, choosing a favorite is almost impossible. #10 is a contender as it reminds me of the sea and summer.
G’day there Mary,
I was delighted to see the tubular ribbon, and in such delish colours. I started an underwater scene a couple of years ago in a class and tubular ribbon was used for some of the coral. It makes fabulous coral and textural whatevers for the ocean floor but wasn’t easy to come by, especially in suitable colour ways. Two of the three currently in the Colour Connections shop are perfect for my colour scheme.
The sampler bags that have tubular ribbon included, and the other threads to match, would finish off my underwater embroidery perfectly.
Thank you Mary and Lorraine for this fabulous offer.
Cheers, Kath from Oz.
What a challenge to choose just one! I always fall for reds, and hand dyed size 8 perle cotton #20 makes my eyes happy.I will embroider/quilt a baby quilt with this, i.e. do the quilting with embroidery stitches. My baby quilts are not exactly traditional in colour; babies like bold colours, too. Thanks for pointing out a Canadian source for lovely, overdyed threads.
I just recently tried using some over dyed silk from a local shop and loved it! So – I’d probably go for more like that. I especially love the purple/green one. I used the ones I bought to make some bookmarks using black-work patterns/techniques, so I might do more of that if I won these. Either way, I’m bookmarking the site for some fun shopping after tax return time. Thanks for the opportunity!
Fantastic, oh the things I could do. I am currently obsessed with needle books and hussif, so would use the thread to embroider and embellish one for myself (I give them away as quickly as I make them) My favorite for a project I have in mind are the colors in the Hand dyed #9 cotton, color #24. It’s very hard to choose a single thread though so a sampler is more to my liking. Of the samplers, I love either #22 or #19. I wouldn’t have to think too terribly long to come up with a project to use those beautiful color families/threads in…
Hi Mary! Thanks for the giveaway!
I’d go for the perle nos 8 & 12, because it’s hard enough to find #5 that I use crochet cotton instead!
Wow those are beautiful combinations. If I had to choose 5, I’d go for the perle 12: #37, 36, 21, and the
perle 8: 36, 37. That way the most delicate threads can stand out a little.
Again, thank you so much.
Tessa in Stellenbosch
These dyed fibers are all beautiful, but my
favorite is the Autumn shades in 12 perle cotton
#8.
I would like to make a candle ring using beads,
memory wire, and this perle #8 on leaves in
detached buttonhole.
Pat in Lebanon
Pick a favorite? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? Only if you threaten to take away my needles will I choose a favorite….OK, perle cotton #5???? I plan on tackling my first monogram using Mary Corbet’s guide to make it “raised”. Prayers appreciated! 🙂
Wow! What a stunning collection of colors. My choice is #12 perle cotton 24 that I would use in place of another color in a charted project I’m working on.
Gary
They’re all so beautiful…a very hard choice. But I have to pick #4. I would use it on a crazy quilt block from fabrics that were my grandmother’s. I just recently received them. I’m so excited to make myself something from them. She was a quilter and did tatting. Thanks for a chance to win.
Purple is my favourite colour.
Hand dyed Perle 8 #5 would be perfect for my quirky Charlotte Chardonnay wine bag ladies that I make (NZ designer Sue Thomson). They are fun to stitch, make up and give away as gifts.
Beautiful colors! I like perle cotton #12 especially shade #2 and 35. I’d use them in hardanger and surface embroidery. Thanks for the give away and an opportunity to win Mary.
Hi Mary, I would love to win these threads and the twisted silks are my favorites, I would be tempted to do the Secret Garden project if I were lucky enough to win the threads. Thanks for the chance!
Darn, missed it by 30 mins! Ha ha ha. I love your website – I have finally found a “passion” in my life after many years of searching, and it has become embroidery! Just for fun, I love the MDC cotton pearle number 34, in beautiful shades of orange. I would love to do any project with this thread, I see lovely sun-shaped designs in its future. I can’t thank you enough for your amazing website, it has made a huge impact on my life and my ability to create. Have a great day!
How gorgeous ,oh wow! I will use some of these soon, God willing !