January 28, 2021
Let’s Go Chat on Stitchery Stories! and Other News…
Early this week, I had a really fun, fun chat with Sue Weeks over on Stitchery Stories! Stitchery Stories is … Continue reading Let’s Go Chat on Stitchery Stories! and Other News…
January 25, 2021
Early Modern Embroidery & Lace Pattern Books
Good morning and happy Monday! It’s a bleak and rimy day here in Kansas, with a bit of a winter storm going on. In short, it’s a perfect indoor day!
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been digging about online for old embroidery inspiration, concentrating mostly on early 19th century and before. It’s really unbelievable how much information about early textiles is available online, right at our fingertips, through vast collections of old print material, made digital.
It’s a blessing… and a curse. It’s a blessing, because – wow! We can learn so much and see so much that we otherwise would never see!
It’s a curse, because… well, I call them rabbit holes. Once you head down them, it’s easy to go farther and farther and farther, and it’s hard to crawl back out.
But these online collections are such a good source of inspiration for embroidery and other forms of needlework. So I’d say they’re much more of a blessing than a curse, don’t you think?
January 22, 2021
A Fine Tradition – It’s Gorgeous!
A Fine Tradition: The Embroidery of Margaret Light hit the market a little earlier than expected, and once I saw it was out, I was so anxious to get my paws on it!
It was the exuberance of the cover of the book that caught me, of course.
Yes, yes! I know! Never judge a book…. But! You’ve got to admit, if you’re an embroidery enthusiast, if you like historical embroidery but with a contemporary flair, if you are fascinated by stitches and the way they work together, if you like crewel work, if you like interpretive possibilities… the cover on this books speaks volumes.
So, yep. When I first saw it announced, and being familiar with Margaret Light’s projects that I’ve seen off and on over the years in Inspirations Magazine, I was pretty eager to get the book! And I knew, deep down in my little heart, that it would be a fine book, indeed.
Let’s take a look at it!
January 20, 2021
An Embroidery Hodgepodge
Every year, I have this idea that January will be a quiet, calm, peaceful month. After all (at least in Kansas), it’s usually the doldrums – that part of winter that’s just gray and cold and not much is going on. It’s a good time to reflect, to calmly approach the year, to get one’s proverbial ducks all lined up.
But it never actually works that way. I think it’s a matter of ideas boiling over and that feeling that it’s time to act on all of them. Then, of course, I get into a bit of a frenzy, with loose ends going everywhere, and I find by the second half of January, I’m desperately trying to evaluate where I am and where I’m going. I have to slow things down, prioritize, organize, think things out.
And by the end of January, I generally feel a little more together.
This happens every year.
Today, I thought I’d share an embroidery hodgepodge with you. This mix represents a little bit of where I am and where I’m going right now and then heading into the next couple months. I’m at that point where I’ve put the brakes on and I’m prioritizing and working in a more systematic way to get things together! There’s no particular order to this particular hodgepodge.
I suppose that’s what makes it a hodgepodge.
January 18, 2021
Project Progress: Changing Colors Midstream
Towards the end of last week, I tucked into my Sea-to-Stitch Monogram M project, to try to finish up the background color on the M.
I didn’t get as far as I wanted to (isn’t that always the case), because I found myself pausing the play with around with colors.
If you caught up with the project last week here, you’ll see that the water elements on the monogram were finished, and I was just starting to stitch in the background color. Today, we’ll talk about where things went from there, and why!
This is where I am now:
January 15, 2021
Needle Identification and Organization… & a Morality Tale
We’re revisiting the topic of the ‘umble needle today – that little tiny, but mighty, little tool.
Truly, it’s the only tool that those of us into needlework really couldn’t do without.
Imagine if needles disappeared. Poof! No more needles!
It would be hard to indulge in this art that means so much to us, wouldn’t it? Sure, we could figure out how to make one to get by, but … it wouldn’t quite be the same. I want to be embroiderer, anyway – I don’t want to be a needle manufacturer!
So now and then, I like to talk about needles. I have a healthy respect for them, for many reasons. Today, I’ll recap some information on different types of needles and how to identify them, give some suggestions for organization, and to top it off, I’ll share a little morality tale with you.
January 13, 2021
A Project Update: Sea to Stitch Monogram
I’m determined that this monogram from A Sea to Stitch by Elisabetta Sforza (you can read my review of that project book here) will be finished before January comes to an end! (Update, May 2021: yes, well, that didn’t happen!)
But then again, there are two more projects underway that I keep saying the same thing about. Oh dear.
Here’s a project update. I’ll tell you a few things I’m doing differently and share some whys and wherefores. Come, let’s take a look…
