Good morning, Happy Friday, and welcome to the weekend! November is slipping away, isn’t it?

Here’s a short video tutorial for the beaded cable chain stitch. It’s been a loooooong, long time since I’ve added a stitch video tutorial to Needle ‘n Thread, but this one will come in handy shortly, for all those who are following along with
Twinkle, Twinkle, the latest stitch-along that we’re working through together here on Needle ‘n Thread.

Welcome to Part 1 of Twinkle, Twinkle, a Stitch Snippet stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread, where we will explore together how to create a very pretty Christmas Star ornament.

The stitch-along will be published here on the blog in installments. Unfortunately, we are sold out of materials kits, but of course, you can source your own materials or make substitutions if you want to follow along.

And even if you don’t want to make the ornament itself, you can certainly follow along for stitching tips that you can use in any of your own embroidery projects!

If you’re a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, you have already received this installment, plus the next one (with the first stitches), all in one PDF.

Today, we’ll talk tools and materials, design and set-up.

Here’s the Project Index for our current stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread!

As the stitch-along for Twinkle, Twinkle progresses, I will add each lesson to the list below, in chronological order, so that you can easily find each lesson as you need it.

This project index will be available under “Tips & Techniques” in the main menu on Needle ‘n Thread. If you’re following along and working this project, you might consider bookmarking the Project Index page, so that you can easily find it.

Needle ‘n Thread Archives from A – Z is a series I’ve been running over the past may weeks, popping up here and there, to share articles, projects, tutorials, and more that are hidden deep in the website archives and that haven’t seen the light of day in a while.

We’ve done A through F so far, and today, we’re on G.

G is for the Granito – a great little stitch!

The granito is what I consider a rather undervalued stitch, especially when you use just the right thread for it. Let’s look at it!

Woohoo! I’m excited!! Today, we’re launching the materials kits for Twinkle, Twinkle: A Christmas Star Ornament, so we can get our last stitch-along of 2026 underway!

You can find the materials kit for Twinkle, Twinkle: A Christmas Star Ornament available right here in the shop.

If you’re wondering what a stitch-along is all about, I’ll explain below how they work. I’ll also show you what’s in the kit.

Additionally, we’ll chat about a new aspect of this particular stitch-along – exciting news!

Here we go!

Good morning, and welcome to November, my friends!

Today I’ve got some exciting news for you – we’ve got kits coming out on Wednesday! YAY! (I love it when a plan comes together.)

Besides the materials kit for the upcoming stitch-along for Twinkle, Twinkle (more below on that), I’ve brought it some other cute, crafty Christmas kits that we’re also putting in stock this week, so I’ll show you those first and tell you a little about them.

And then I’ll let you know the details on the release of the materials kit for Twinkle, Twinkle – when and what you can expect.

Let us commence the chatter…

Today, I’m reviewing a book produced from a clever angle. It offers a unique way of examining crewelwork by combining the expertise of two well-known names in the world of embroidery, each of whom has a contrasting approach to the topic.

Newly published, Crewelwork Then & Now by Hazel Blomkamp and Phillipa Turnbull is a project book that offers the reader the opportunity to experience both traditional crewelwork and contemporary interpretations of crewelwork.

Let’s take a look at it…