Needlework News Snips – July’s End!

Well, we’ve come to the end of July.

I’m not sure exactly where the month went. Probably lost in the dryer with half my socks, I suppose.

Let’s end the month with some needlework news snips for your weekend reading and enjoyment, shall we?

This is the perfect time to pour yourself a nice cup of coffee or tea and pull up for a relaxing little break. I’ll share some information, inspiration, and new stuff out in the embroidery world with you.

Come, join me. Let’s explore!

Embroidery & Jewelry

It’s all about…bling? Well, maybe not bling. Better than Bling!

Tanja Berlin has a new Etsy shop open, and in it, she’s offering some of her digital downloads and kits, including her new kits for embroidered jewelry made from goldwork threads, including a small brooch and a pendant necklace. They look like they’d be fun to make – and they’d be a great introduction to a whole different finishing skill.

Yvette Stanton at Vetty Creations has also released a line of needlework pendant kits lately, too. Yvette’s are tiny counted thread pendants, in a variety of color ways.

So, if you’re looking to sport a few new accessories with your favorite outfit, why not embroider them?

Inspiration & Ideas

Over on Stitching by a Cornish Sea Shore, Nicola is embroidering a kit by Scarlet Letter (they do samplers) called Chimneypiece. You can see Nicola’s work in progress here and here. In that latter link, if you can get past Aidan Turner in the first photo, you’ll find some stitching tips, too.

What I like about this particular sampler – I love watching it develop! – is the somewhat whimsical, naive design, full of terrific colors and a variety of surface stitches. It just looks like a fun sampler to stitch. And since I’m not stitching it, I’m enjoying reading about Nicola’s adventures with it, instead.

And of course, you know…she lives by the sea in Cornwall. So I like reading those adventures, too!

The Coloring Book Thing

Well. You know about the adult coloring book craze, right? You can’t really miss it, if you read any news sources at all. My Secret Garden Hummingbirds project initiated from a coloring book.

And here’s another one! Jessica Grimm recently finished embroidering a fantastic fox from Millie Marotta’s coloring book that I mentioned here.

Millie’s animals make terrific embroidery designs, and Jessica shows us just how terrific with her finished fox. I love it!

Blackwork Article

Recently, I wrote an article on Blackwork Embroidery over on Craftsy, if you’re interested and want to do some extra…you know… “Mary Corbet reading.” If you’ve had your glut for the week, I totally understand!

And Speaking of Other Articles…

DMC invited me to team up with them to write a few articles for their new website, Commonthread.

I was happy to oblige – I like DMC and their threads. With so many thread manufacturers turning to cheaper outsourcing in China, I’m only too happy to support those manufacturers who continue to produce their goods where they’ve always produced them (in this case, France) and under carefully regulated quality control standards. I think it’s important to support brands that have become a staple in the industry. I wonder where embroidery would be, without DMC?

If you haven’t checked out Commonthread yet, take a look a look! You’ll find most of the DIY articles, tutorials and the like under Discover. The site isn’t populated yet with a whole lot of content, but it’s growing and there’s fun stuff on there!

I’ll let you know when my articles show up over there. The first one will feature the instructions and patterns for the gingham embroidery watermelons I showed you not too long ago.

Silk Garden!

If you haven’t seen Kelly Cline’s latest Society Silk Embroidery, quilted, it’s worth seeing! It’s called A Garden of Society Silk. Pretty!

And then she custom quilted a beautiful vintage whitework table runner.

I think she’s onto something here!

Pins. Old, old Pins.

This article on pins during the Jane Austen era over on Two Nerdy History Girls is very fun and very informative. Read it! It’ll give you an appreciation for all those pokey things currently cluttering up your pincushion.

Pretty Letters, All Embroidered!

Oh, Elizabetta, amore! amore! amore! If you aren’t familiar with Elizabetta’s Ricami a Mano, do check these oh-so-pretty letters. And then go lose yourself, scrolling through the stunning work on the rest of her blog.

Sigh.

A Fun Newsletter!

If you like keeping up with what other people are stitching around the world, you’ll find that Inspirations Magazine’s new newsletter format is terrific! If you haven’t subscribed to it, consider it!

Their newsletter comes once a week, it’s free, and in it, they feature … well, all kinds of things. It’s sort of developing into a multi-topic (all needlework, of course) newsletter. One feature is What are you stitching? Folks write in and send photos and everyone gets to see what everyone’s doing in all kinds of places all over the world. It’s a lot of fun!

You can subscribe to it at the end of their home page.

For Now, Farewell!

I feel as if I have overstayed my welcome this morning! If your coffee is cold, my apologies!

I hope you have a terrific weekend, and I’ll see you Monday, with something snazzy.