April 22, 2011
Ecclesiastical Embroidery Pattern: Cross
Here’s a nice little cross pattern that can be used for all kinds of ecclesiastical hand embroidery applications.
April 21, 2011
Needles & the Lessons of Life
This week, I’ve spent a lot of time (a LOT of time) getting my workroom cleaned up and organized, in anticipation of two things: 1. several Big Projects coming up; and 2. that glorious time of year called Summer, which is when I get most of my needlework-work and major blog work done.
Between cleaning up the Disaster Zone that’s my workroom and an Incident with a Needle, I’ve learned again (for the umpteenth million time) one of Life’s Most Valuable Lessons.
April 20, 2011
Satin Stitch & Embroidered Monograms
Monograms and satin stitch just seem to go together. True, true, there are other ways of embroidering a monogram, besides using satin stitch. But I’m infatuated with satin stitch – it is the Queen of Stitches, in my book. It’s a gorgeous stitch.
Here’s a little monogramming project I’m working on right now. It’s not “little, little” – the monogram itself is 3″ tall – but it’s not huge, either. It’s just a little monogram being stitched onto a lovely linen towel.
I started out using Londonderry linen thread, which is a high quality linen thread (as linen threads go, it’s really the smoothest one I’ve ever used). Londonderry linen thread comes in 5 different sizes (from 18/3 – 100/3), and for this project, I started out with 80/3 (which is fairly fine, for linen thread) in red.
April 19, 2011
Easter Give-Away – Silk & Gold Thread Kit!
Because Easter is coming up, and because you’re all such a swell bunch of readers, and because Access Commodities sent me this beautiful thread kit, and because it’s rainy and gloomy in Kansas and I need to make my own sunshine….
because of all of that….
… and the fact that I somehow deleted the article I was supposed to post today….
It’s time for a give-away!
Silk and gold threads are The Best, aren’t they? And I think you need some!
April 18, 2011
Royal School of Needlework in the News
In case you haven’t seen the very nice and interesting little blurb on CBS about the Royal School of Needlework, you should!
April 16, 2011
Miniature Cluny Tapestry Update
Just a short little update this morning to show you some progress on the miniature “Lady & Unicorn” piece that I’ve been stitching on. Nope, I haven’t abandoned it for other things – even though there are about sixty gazillion embroidery projects floating around here right now!
Still, this little piece has been a pretty good carrot, so I have to keep it going! And, though the progress is slow, with literally just a few minutes here and there now and then being devoted to it – still, it’s getting somewhere!
April 15, 2011
The Agecroft Sweet Bag Thread Kit
Well, I seem to be on a Kit Kick lately, don’t I? Today I’m highlighting a thread kit, which isn’t quite the same as a full-blown embroidery kit, but it’s sort of close.
You see, designers often design a piece of embroidery, and then, if the designer doesn’t offer a full kit but just the design, a manufacturer or a shop might put together the kit of threads for that particular embroidery design, so that customers can purchase all the threads needed to complete the design in one tidy package. And that’s what this is – it’s a thread kit (with spangles), and it’s been put together by Access Commodities for the Agecroft Sweet Bag project highlighted in the last issue of the EGA’s publication, Needle Arts Magazine.
