About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more

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Stitching for Christmas – Upcoming Delights!

 

Amazon Books

I love stitching for Christmas!

And when it comes to this time of year, I love stitching for Christmas as we get closer to it. It’s hard for me to think about Christmas stitching in July. Even in September, it’s not foremost on my mind.

It’s funny – come mid-January, I can stitch ahead for spring without a problem. But there’s just something about the longer nights of late fall and early winter, the inside weather, and the anticipation of the Christmas season that makes me want to stitch particularly Christmassy things right now.

I’ve got a few new things coming out this year for Christmas stitching. All of them are relatively “quick” projects (for hand embroidery, anyway!). I tried to vary them according to how they might appeal for different levels and interests of stitchers, and I hope you like them! Here’s a little sneak peek, and some information on when they’ll be available on the website.

Mini Sampler Christmas Stocking ornament kit
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Stitch Fun! Beaded Fly Stitch in Two Variations

 

As we move into the weekend, I thought it might be fun to explore some stitch variations. Maybe these will get some ideas flowing for some weekend stitching experiments!

Stitch Fun! is a series of embroidery stitch tutorials here on Needle ‘n Thread, where we explore combinations, composites, and variations of embroidery stitches. There’s a hefty list of photo tutorials in the series, if you want to check it out here.

Today’s tutorial is the result of working on the instructions for these Mini Sampler Stockings I showed you last week, that go with my Christmas ornament kits that will be out in about a week.

Some of the stitch explorations didn’t make the cut, simply because I didn’t end up using them on the models for the e-book. Even so, I’ve included lots of stitches and ideas for variations in the instructions, so that you can explore and experiment to your heart’s content. It’s a great way to end up with a finished ornament or two that are uniquely you!

In the meantime, this is a fun way to play around with fly stitch and beads…

Stitch Fun Tutorial: Beaded Fly Stitch Variations
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Arts & Crafts Christmas Festival – Virtually!

 

Don’t you find that the happiest people you know are the people who have a creative outlet of some sort?

They pursue an art, a craft, a hobby – something creative that brings a consistent, quiet joy to their own lives and to the lives of those around them. They generally tend to be optimists. They have things to look forward to! Plans and ideas occupy their minds, taking them outside, and above, the often-drudgery of the world around them. They see things differently. The Mundane becomes interesting through their eyes.

One positive thing that has happened in 2020 is that many people are rediscovering – or discovering for the first time – what it means to be creative. As a result, the virtual world is hopping with all kinds of ways to tap into creative pursuits.

With the holidays coming up, you might think it’s the wrong time of year to pursue creativity or to discover new creative paths. But even though it can be a busy time of year, it’s really the ideal time to slow down, calm down, and focus on some quiet pleasures that help bring the joie back to joie de vivre.

To help you do that, there’s a really fabulous-looking Virtual Art & Crafts Christmas Festival coming up, organized and hosted by Search Press. When I heard about it, I figured I better share it with you, because it sounds pretty darned good and I think it will be a lot of fun!

Search Press Virtual Art and Craft Christmas Festival
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A Passion for Needlework: Blakiston Creamery

 

So many wonderful needlework books made their debuts this year – one very positive aspect of 2020! – and perhaps the most beautiful among those books is the third edition of A Passion for Needlework at Blakiston Creamery.

A Passion for Needlework is a developing series of project books published by Inspirations Studios. You’ll find my review for the first book in the series here, and my review for the second book, Factoria VII, here.

Each book features unique and exquisite needlework projects to stitch. The photography and the settings in which the projects are displayed for the purpose of the book are a feast for the eyes. The books are a combination of art forms, really: needle arts, art, architecture, and skillful photography.

While they make wonderful projects books (the projects are fabulous!), they also make perfect coffee table books – the type of book that you’d set out as decor on its own, that friends and family can browse through and wonder at, even if they aren’t inclined to the needle arts.

Today, we’re going to look at the third book, photographed at Blakiston Creamery in South Australia. The book features a dozen projects, so I’ll show you each one and let you know what you can find in the book. It’s not all about the pretty pages, after all – there’s much to learn herein!

A Passion for Needlework: Blakiston Creamery
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Free Embroidery Design: Lace Reinterpreted

 

More often than I like to admit, I come across half-started embroidery projects floating around my studio, or half-conceived ideas for embroidery projects floating around on my computer.

I was scouring through my collections of embroidery designs, ideas, scans from old books, and whatnot, desperately looking for a design that I know I have, that I’ve even embroidered, but that I can’t seem to find! I can’t remember what I named it. Something clever, no doubt – so clever that it evades me.

But when I’m on a digging mission like that, I come across these half-conceived ideas that I had Once Upon a Time, but haven’t yet had the time to pursue. And that’s what this design is.

Lace Reinterpreted hand embroidery design
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Mini Sampler Christmas Stockings! I couldn’t wait…

 

Over the last many years, I’ve tried to put out some fun designs and projects to stitch for Christmas. This year, I had six ideas floating around in my head.

But only one really emerged. And once it did – well, it became an obsession! I kept coming back to the notion of little projects that combine fun stitches, a bit of sparkle and bling, and an easy finish into something usable … and these little mini stockings are what developed.

I’ve been dying to share them with you! You’ve seen a few sneak-peeks now and then, but I didn’t want to go all out until I was sure that I could do with them what I wanted to.

But they’ve been So Much Fun to stitch and to develop into finished ornaments, that I just can’t wait any longer. I haven’t even taken Christmassy photos of them yet – I just want you to see them now!!

Mini Sampler Christmas Stockings
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Beeswax for Goldwork Threads – Heavenly Stuff!

 

Quite a while ago, we chatted about thread conditioners used in the needlework world, and I gave my two-cents’ worth of profound thought on the subject.

I’m not a fan of thread conditioners – you can read the article to see my reasoning – but I am an unabashed fan of beeswax.

But, before there’s any confusion, I’m not a fan of beeswax for conditioning or taming cranky needlework threads. Not at all! (I mention why in that article, too.)

But I do use beeswax for goldwork, to strengthen threads and protect them from abrasion from the metal threads. (And, yes, we talk about that in the previously mentioned article, too.)

It just so happens that I have a beehive in my backyard. And that beehive produces honey and beeswax. It’s my brother-in-law’s hive, and this past year, he harvested some nice wax. I got a little bit of it.

This weekend, I was beset with a headache that kept me from stitching and from computer work, so instead, I set about preparing little wax pats for goldwork kits.

Preparing Beeswax for Goldwork Threads
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