What is different in the Alpha-bets of Vintage Samplers than current Ones?

Over the years, I have seen many copies of vintage samplers that little girls learned their alphabet from making them. However, depending on the year, you will note that the letter appears to be missing. Then no longer. It is simple really. There was no such thing as the letter J for a very long time and the I was used in place of it.

So if you really want a sampler that you are embroidering to look authentically old, leave that J out and just use the I.

Curious and want to learn more? Check out these links:

https://www.rd.com/culture/last-letter-added-to-the-alphabet/

https://www.dictionary.com/e/j/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J

Want to make a Machine Embroidered Christmas card?

Want to make a machine embroidered Christmas card? Starbird stock designs has print out instructions to help you out and currently they even have a free design that you can use! I know I have wondered about what steps to take to make them. Now I know! You can use the above design or buy the design pack or individual designs from the designs. There are designs for anyone to use during this holiday month.

Thrift Store Score!!!

I have seen projects using these threads for years as well as advertisements to buy Watercolour by Caron threads for embroidery and needlepoint. At their high price, I never thought I would be able to afford one or a couple skeins for a project, especially since I would have had to order them by mail so tack on a shipping cost to the price. I have never seen these for sale anywhere in my area, but then I don't know all the smaller sewing shops in my county. When I saw a great big bag with these plus some other items stuffed into I couldn't believe my eyes, so I just snapped them up! In total, 114 skeins, 49 different colors, although two of the colors with same thread color name, came from two different dye lots and were two different colors. I pulled one of each color for myself, and as soon as I have time will be listing the rest of them for sale, by color.

 

In the big bag were also 30+ of these cards of Ultra-Suede or Super Suede. I had never even heard of them before or recall seeing them advertised, so I'm not really sure how they should be used. They do seem to be rather delicate strands. As they don't particularly trip my trigger, they will all be going up for sale. If any of my readers know what these should be sued for, please comment and let us all know. A source for designs using them would be very appreciated.

 

 

I found these goodies at the beginning of my day of thrift store rounds with Steve, and I got some other terrific items as well. All in all a great day!

September is National Sewing Month! Get your Patterns 25% off!

Get some patterns and pull out your sewing machine if you haven't done any sewing for a while! Even if you have done some sewing, get some patterns that are on sale. It is National Sewing Month and we have put all our sewing patterns on sale 25% this month. We have never reduced our pattern prices this much. We have a huge collection of sewing patterns in all sizes and styles at Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts at our eCrater store. I'm not positive that I got Amazon discount correct yet, but you can see our or patterns here.

Shhhhh! a little secret, part of why the patterns have been reduced so much is I want this machine and the only way to get it is to sell LOTS and LOTS! Help me out here! This machine has several features that will make life easier for me and my arthritis while sewing even more so than my 7700 does.

 After seeing the Janome Skyline S9, I am in love with the machine and want to get one and sell my other machines as needed. It is a combination sewing/embroidery machine. It was nice to see that although The Skyline S9 doesn't have the biggest hoop possible, it's biggest hoop is 6.7" x 7.9" (170mm x 200mm) compared to my current 5.5” x 7.9” (200mm x 140mm). That bumps up the sizes I can download from Embroidery Library quite a bit. One of their new designs that comes in 5 sizes, the size that would fit the Skyline hoop is an inch bigger in both directions than what I can usually sew out which is great for making a quilt blocks etc. Anyhow I'm in love with this machine. It has some tremendous features that even their top of the line Janome 15000 doesn't have! If you haven't checked it out yet, here is a link to the page it is featured on in the Janome website: Skyline S9  I have been singing it's praises enough, I think I deserve a free one as a commission at this point!

Also don't foget to download your Embroidery Library September designs. There are three of them this month for a total of 15.

The Inside Stori

I just discovered an very nice blog that might interest some of my readers. It is called The Inside Stori by Mari Stori. She specializes in handwork and embellishment, fabric art, quilting, etc. She has several books published that you can buy at Amazon. She is an active member of my Janome 7700 group. I've posted some links for her books below and she has several others as well. I always like meeting up with other quilters and needle workers, even if only on line!

Embroidery Library August Free Machine Embroidery Designs

The above design, 'But First, Coffee' that is one of Embroidery Library's Free designs for the month of August 2016, I'm sure many of you can relate to. I'm now coffee drinker, seriously, but I've been around enough of them to know this is truth for them! This design comes in five different sizes so if you have a machine that can do any size you want; wouldn't this look great on a T-shirt or tote bag. Even with the smaller sizes hoops you can make some great dish towels, pot holders, quilt squares or anything that you can think of.

 


This Cameo Limes motif if part of the continuing series of fruit in cameo frames that they have been doing all year. If you have been following along getting the free designs, then you should have 8 designs in the series at this point.

With my Janome 300e the largest motif I can sew out at one time is 5.5" x 7.9", or I can combine 2 designs that size in the giga-hoop. It has been replaced by the Janome 500e  with a maximum embroidery area of 7.9”x11” or the Janome 400e with a maximum embroidery area of  7.9” x 7.9”.  I do wish more of these larger size designs came split for those of us that do have embroidery limits. One embroidery design company that is good about that when selling sets is Hatched in Africa such as this design called Summerfields.

I did want to bring up one point here and that is I get NO compensation from Embroidery Library at all for featuring and talking about their products which I do so often here! I talk about their products because they are great, the company is extremely generous with freebies and I have never had a single problem with any of their designs not sewing out correctly. I have had problems with designs from other designers that didn't come out correctly and when I wrote them and told them of a problem with a design I never got so much as a thank you for letting them know! When I write to Embroidery Library for any reason I get my email acknowledged within the first 24 hours. I know that designing or making crafts to sell on line can be a daunting task so when I see an error, I write the person. Did that yesterday to a seller in Dublin and got a reply back. She was happy to have a chance to fix a spelling error that changed the whole description of an item. When you find a good vendor of a product on line, be sure to let others know so they can also use the vendor.

Remember:

For the month of August 2016, ALL our inventory has been reduced by 10%! This includes our Amazon and eCRATER stores. On Amazon I have finally been able to figure out how to give a shipping discount for those buying more than one pattern at a time. Almost everything listed on Amazon from Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts is in my eCRATER store and if it isn't, it can be. For the most part eCRATER charges no fees, so it doesn't cost me nearly as much to sell on eCRATER. So if you see something you want in the Amazon store and can't find it in the eCRATER store ask me and I will list it at eCRATER for you.

 

See our eCRATER store here:  http://www.MoonwishesSewingandCrafts.com
See our Christmas Store here: http://moonwishesstore.ecrater.com/c/2058415/christmas-store
And our Amazon store here: http://www.amazon.com/shops/moonwishes

Here are some machine embroidery supplies that you can get through Amazon. They have just about everything you need without having to go out in the car. I love being able to shop any time I want to. I got a discounted Prime membership this past year and I did appreciate not needing to worry about shipping costs for most items that I bought. Plus I got free books to read each month on my Kindle! I have found I love the Kindle for reading these days as I doesn't hurt my hands to hold it like other books.

New Free Embroidery Designs from Oma's Place

Here is a chance to get a new free machine embroidery design of a summer sun as well as a complete font: capital letters, small letters and frequently used puncuation that is about 3/4" high.

You can upload these designs as well as others than were introduced earlier at Oma's Place. Oh yes, you can even buy designs there. Many of her designs cater to little ones and the need for littler designs, although in the case of today's sun, it was part of a Summer Time mug rug. A nice, easy looking summer project when there is lots to do other than sit by a fire and stitch!

Embroidery Library Free machine Embroidery Designs through July 4, 2016

Hey machines embroiderers, Embroidery Library has some really cute ice cream and popsicle designs for free in several sizes each, thrugh July 4, 2016. Each design comes in three sizes and there are four designs which makes 12 designs to download. Remember my mantra? When it is free download it anyhow even if you don't have the ability to sew out that size yet. Maybe someday you will.

Today is also the last day for their June designs and the new July designs are up -- two designs in 5 sizes each. So July designs you can get a total of 22 designs and if you don't have the June ones yet and can download them tonight, you will get 32 designs. How awesome is that??

Want to be able to sew out those bigger size designs? Check out Janome's 500e or 400e at your local dealer or you can buy on line through Amazon. I espeically like the looks of the 400e after studying the manual and that is a someday, maybe machine for me. Currently I use my 300e and it works for me although to be able to embroider out the really big designs would be fun! I found a Clothsetter 10000 at a yard sale the other for a really good price. I haven't had one all this time, but since I am anticipating a large embroidery project, I think it will pay for itself pretty quickly in helping me line designs up. I'm just about done cleaning up my sewing room so I can start getting some new projects going in a bit.

Me and My Sewing Room

For awhile other than to continue sorting out and cleaning up, I haven't gotten much done in my sewing room, then I had the chance to review some items from Amazon that were good 'blanks' for embroidering on. So I have been doing more sewing, but running out of time for posting. I'm not sure how others find time to post so much.

One of the first things that I got to embroider on were these lime green towels that if you are a regular customer you get your pick of colors, but if you are a Vine reviewer you get what you get. Of course I found that the lime green went great with the Project Linus frog quilts that I haven't gotten finished, but I embroidered the frogs from Embrodiery Library and used the lettering in my Janome 300e to write on the other end, Burp Baby Burp. I did this one in blue to go along with the quilt, and the next burp rag will be in pink lettering since the quilt will be more pink. I think I have enough of the frog fabric and coordinates to make at leat two more quilt tops and happy to say I have two more lime green towels too so I can make burp rags to include with those quilts as well! I know when my boys were little they were champion spit-up kings so spare burp rags are always welcome.

In the midst of the sewing I got another addition to my sewing room courtesy the Vine prgram. It is a bedside stand, but as far as I am concerned it is making a great stand to hold my Janome 300e at the proper level. No more stretching my arms up to thread it. Beautiful isn't it?

Then I got this great set of placemats and napkins. I didn't attempt trying to embroider the placemats as they were woven and seemed pretty thick, but I did embroider the napkins. With a niece getting married, it seemed appropriate to embroider their monograms on the napkins using a design that has been built into all Janome embroidery sewing machines since the first 8000. It isn't like I don't have more lettering and wreath styles to enclose them, but as the years have gone by, the software for manipulating designs on the 300e it has become harder and more time consuming to transfer designs to the machine. So I always end up with the default designs. If I had my druthers, I would upgrade, but don't have the finances to do so at this point in my life.

I also got a set of two black butcher aprons. I wasn't real impressed with the weight of the fabric or the construction, but sufficient if you need some colored aprons for a one or two time event. So for the newlyweds I embroidered their name on each apron, the letting again from the 300e and I appliqued the free-hand cut heart on each apron. Not even sure if either cooks but trying out their aprons might inspire them.

I also got in two different sets, one was a set of six purple tea towels and several weeks later a set of purple and white zig zag pot holder and oven mitt. This was great as I got some items that coordinated. This afternoon I embroidered the curvy lines on the towels using my Janome 7700 stitch #149 on the default settings. I used the cloth guide to keep me sewing straight as I didn't want these lines going all over. Some people complain about not being able to draw a straight line, I can't sew a straight line without a little help! I do wish that there was a stitch like this one only more pointy like the zig zags on the pot holder and oven mitt. Maybe some machine have them. Mine don't.

I also tried out Embroidery Library's Wild Rose Spray on one of the towels. These towels really embroidered easily, just be sure to use the right stabilizer behind it. I still have three more of these towels to embroider, but not quite sure what exactly to do with them.

I was just happy to be in my sewing room more than I had been in a very long time. I'm feeling much better than usual. I don't know if it is the Remicade IV I get every six weeks, the warmer summer weather or the fact that I have been cutting out a lot of chocolate out of my diet. Could be all of them or none of them, just happy for each day I feel fairly well. I'm even trying to push myself to take extra steps as much as possible each day. They say with RA it is important to exercise but it is so easy to go too far and end up not being able to move for the next couple of days, so I'm trying to 'sneak' the exercise in! Hey thanks for reading.

My latest on my wish list of machines I would like to have. They also have a new Janome 9400 out but doesn't look like it is currently for sale at Amazon. What can I say, I love sewing machines and the fancier the better. With our current family economics, these are just dreams. I'm fortunate to have a great dealer in my town where I would buy my machines from, Super Stitch in North East, PA, but for those that aren't that fortunate isn't it great to be able to buy something like this on line?

Hand Embroidery

If you love hand embroidery, do I have the website for you! Mary Corbet's Needle n' Thread is the ultimate site for hand embroiderers. I just spent an hour looking at her postings on variations of the chain stitch. Not only does she post really clear photos, but post of the variations had videos that were also clear and easy to understand. See the photo for just a sampling you will learn to do and the chain stitch is just a sampling of what is available on her site.

Borders & Motifs

Here is another book review of a great book that I purchased for myself.

Borders & Motifs by Michaela Learner ISBN 9781844489091 Published by Search Press 2014 UK, Printed in China. 96 pages of text with color photographs of completed work and diagrams for color use, plus 32 pages of 84 iron on embroidery transfers. Softcover Book. From the Ready to Stitch Series.

This book has many lovely designs that are classic in that they should be as lovely now as in 20+ years if someone wants to use them. One thing I really did like about this book is that many of the samples were stitched in two ways with different colored threads and different stitches so you can get ideas for how you might want to use the designs themselves. I don't recall ever seeing this in an embroidery book before and I do think I would like to see it more often. The only designs which I'm not sure I personally like, are the ones with fairies in them as they look like a cross between cherubs and fairies. Just a bit strange to me. Please note that in this book there are no fonts to embroider.

One of the designs in this book I have seen the UK magazine Stitch, October/November 2015 Issue 97 page 20 being used as a design on a tote bag. Before purchasing this book, I had already flagged this project as a possibility to do. I could flag just about every design in this book as possibilities to make as well. If only my hands could hold up for the job!

If you like to embroider, are looking for project ideas, or just like to read and look at needlework books, this is a very good embroidery book. Seeing the designs embroidered in two sets of colors and stitches makes it even more likely that you will come up with more ideas of how to use the designs.

Needing Donations of Embroidery Supplies for Congo Women

Since I started our pattern business, Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts, my heart has gone out to third world women that do not have the resources like we do to improve their lives and have respectable ways of earning a living to support their families. We have been donating 10% of our profits towards helping these women. One of the projects that we help support is one in the Congo, by way of Carma Nelson who has served as a Christian and Missionary Alliance missionary there for many years. While she is no longer assigned to Congo, she still helps coordinate this small project. This is a grass roots project that started maybe 6 years ago that I have helped when I can.

There is a lady in the Congo that is knowledgeable in embroidery who teaches the other women, who then can sell what they make to help support themselves. To help her and her students out, I have been sending packages of embroidery supplies; embroidery floss, embroidery fabric, hoops, needles and books and booklets on embroidery over the past few years.

At this point I’m asking for your help as well if this strikes a chord in your heart as well. The teacher needs more 6-strand cotton thread/floss especially in pinks and browns but any color would help. Also I’m sure that embroidery needles for hand embroidery and embroidery fabric would help, even those little embroidery scissors so each woman can have her own pair for when she works at her own home. If you used to do embroidery and gave up on a project and still have the floss, we can use it. Not sure if you should send a tangled bunch of floss. Sure go ahead. David loves untangling when he is resting as do I. So don’t let things like that go to waste, and you can feel good about recycling and helping others directly. Any embroidery supplies you may have but no longer plan to use are welcome. Put them to work in the hands of women that can earn a living by using them. If you live in the North East, PA area and can drop any donations off at my house, I would appreciate it as would Carma and the ladies in the Congo. If you aren’t close by but would like to help, You can mail me the supplies (please email me at gailete@hotmail.com for my address). Or you can make a donation of cash by way of https://paypal.me/GailRodgers to the project and I will buy the supplies with my trusty shopping helper, Steve. I want to send the parcel to Carma by way of her mother on Monday, November 16, 2015. If you don’t have time to get something out by then, no worries. I constantly collect for this project and then send the supplies when Carma lets me know that we should have transport of them to the Congo. Their mail service can’t be used as it isn’t trustworthy.

This is not an official charity, so I can’t send out receipts for tax purposes. I have found that I like donating to a project where I know every penny or thread strand will get to where it can be used and this is the case here. 100% of all donations will be sent as supplies to the Congo.

Thank you so much for your support for this worthwhile project.

 

 

Crafting Project Planning

One of the things that has gotten the hardest for me as rheumatoid arthritis keeps sucking up my stamina, is how to stay involved in the needle crafts that I enjoy. I do read much more about sewing, quilting, embroider, etc. than I used to but that doesn't give me the hand joy of working on something. As I see more and more Pinterest pins with all sorts of new ideas, I want to do more and more. Then I realize that I can't finish large projects. So a couple of weeks ago I chased down the directions for quilting as you go hexagons when I found this YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbK09aT9mJ8 While watching it, a light bulb went off in my head. What about making large hexagons with a different technique on each of them? I could try all the different techniques that I want to try, without committing myself to anything more than one ~4" hexagon. When I have enough made, I will be able to hand sew them together and I will have a sampler Hexagon quilt. This way a lot of the work on them will be taking place on my couch while watching TV of sitting propping up my legs which I can't do in my sewing room.



So for my first hexagon for this project, I did hand embroidery onto a doily which was another project idea I had seen on Pinterest from this blog: Ernest Hope. While these lovely pillows were for sale with no instructions for making them, I figured that they wouldn't be to hard to replicate. So my thrift store came to the rescue and supplied me with an old white bed sheet to use for a foundation backing ($1) for the hexagon and a small doily (10 cents!) that would fit into the hexagon size I had decided on. I already had plenty of embroidery floss, so used DMC Variegated floss 4215 that ranged from a mid-blue color to light purple and back. I used three strands of thread in the needle, but I think with such a heavyweight crochet cotton in the doily, I might have gone up a bit on that. I did find out some of the doily makers' 'oops' moments, but just went with the flow. I didn't even have an embroidery plan when I started out, but when I got to the end I decided it needed a little bit of something else, so I added French knots around the edges of the doily. For my first attempt at this with no instructions, I think it came out pretty well. What do you think?

 I'm calling this hexagon, Hexagon Sampler quilt #1. I'm working on #2 which is smaller hexagons that I'm sewing into three rounds and will applique it onto the backing. Since I discovered that hexagons are actually easy to make, I been making a lot of them with no final use for them in mind, so I was happy that I was able to find pre-made hexagons in the size and prints that I wanted. I'll be posting it when finished, although I don't give myself deadlines any more. The nice thing is I got the desire to make a larger project off embroidering on doilies out of my system and so can move onto other ideas that I have in my head thanks to Pinterest.

My take on all of this is if you want to do something, break it into small pieces and work on it little by little. Since I have started working on this project, I have gotten more ideas and am looking forward to trying them out.                   

Kaleidoscope Stitching for Hand Embroidery

I have always liked the images that Kaleidoscope made when looking through the tube. I especially have liked the special effects that quilters can make with the Kaleidoscope blocks. I'm not sure why I have never made a Kaleidoscope quilt. But then after my last Remicade IV day I popped into my local Barnes & Noble for my 'treat' and saw and looked through the different craft magazines to see which ones would come home with me while I rested for the rest of the day. My Remicade day takes the starch out of me. Anyhow I picked up the current copy of Stitch magazine, Issue 91 Oct.-Nov. and saw this stitch in it and had to have the magazine!

I used a variegated embroidery floss to make the design. For those with eagle eyes, yes I did make a couple boo-boos. Ever since I got bi-focals I have had a few problems with counting spaces on Aida cloth. I love how the design comes out. The article showed the many different ways that you can change the whole look of the stitch by just your use of floss colors and whether you use variegated floss or not.

This is one thing I do like about this magazine is the clear instructions and diagrams, plus samples to help you learn how to make the different stitches. It also has projects to make, and different techniques to get your stitching repertoire increased. I have finally broken down and gotten a subscription by way of Amazon. There are two different Stitch magazines being published that I know of with the name Stitch. This one comes form the UK the other has sewing, quilting, stitching projects from Interweave. I wouldn't mind have a subscription of that one either. It is very hard to find a magazine that focuses on other types of embroidery other than counted cross stitch, so I have been happy to pick it up when I can. Depending on how my hands feel, I can't do a lot of hand embroidery or quilt piecing for that matter, but it is nice to get new ideas to try.

Spring Floral Monogram Embroidery Designs

With the snow we already got--in less that a week!!--and so many machine embroidery sites promoting lots of Christmas designs currently, it was such a nice surprise to see this Spring Floral Monogram - ABC available for FREE at Hatched in Africa. Now the hard part, remembering to check the site on Tuesdays and Fridays until the set is complete. The whole set will be free as long as you pick it up within the three days after being posted.

Chicken Scratch Embroidery

One of the things that I like most about Pinterest is that we are literally bookmarking items that we might want to see and study later. So last night I clicked on my Hand Embroidery board on my Pinterest page. Earlier I had pinned a Chicken Scratch embroidery picture and since it was a bit different than I had ever seen before, it was this picture that I wanted to follow and learn more about this newer concept.

I have done chicken scratch embroidery in the past, but was very happily surprised at other's genius with changing what they were doing, whether with the design itself or the colors and weights of threads or a combination of all. When clicking on the photo, it took me to PinTangle where there were lots of new and different combinations for doing chicken scratch, and also lots of links to see what others are doing. And of course, the embroiders are doing more than chicken scratch so you get lots of ideas on other types of embroidery as well. PinTangle had bunches of other links to other embroiders and by the time an hour was up, I had barely 'scratched' the surface of all the information that was there on the different pages. The great thing is, with just that one photo that I have posted for all to see and be inspired, I also have all that is needed to find more information about the latest in chicken scratch embroidery. As needle workers, we have no reason to ever be without an idea of something to make, since if we can't bring up a creative thought on our own, thousands of others that have come before have done so!

One of the nicest things about embroidery is that at the most basic, it is an inexpensive way to create something beautiful and to embellish clothing or other projects. My re-interest in chicken scratch was brought out by a tiny little booklet that I got for a dime at the thrift store that had chicken scratch as well as ways to use rick rack with embroidery floss in ways I had never seen before. On one of the links, I found several samples of rick rack in combination with chicken scratch and it was amazing how lovely the designed looked and how inexpensive it was to accomplish, assuming you live near a great thrift store that I have bought lots of rick rack from.

Checking to see what books Amazon might have on the topic, I only found a couple as well as some design booklets. This first one I put on my wish list as it looks like something I would like to study.

Hand Embroidery

Sunday night I was able to finished embroidering this pillowcase which shows 2 bluebirds in a nest. The design came from some old Workbasket magazines that I had gotten at a yard sale long ago that I took all the embroidery transfers out. So a vintage embroidery design that was stitched in 2014!

My husband took the photo and did the photo manipulation so it looks a bit brighter than it really is and the one detail that I was most proud of doesn't show up very well. I had managed by manipulating the colors of embroidery floss to make the tree branch rounded looking by doing dark on the edges and building up to a lighter brown on the top and it gave the optical illusion of a round branch. I used both DMC embroidery floss and DMC pearl cotton in the design.

I enjoyed trying out some different techniques and stitches on this pillowcase. Since they will probably never be used at the same time, with the other pillowcase that I already have stamped I will be using some more different stitches and techniques. I just bought this book Embroidered Embellished which has some interesting different embroidery stitches and ways to use them so I will be using it for inspiration.

Hexagons in the Hoop

Since making my BOM blocks that featured hexagons, I have been fascinated with them. Up to then they always looked to be just so much hard work. Then I made my first one and couldn't stop. Just ran into something a few minutes ago, that for those of you that would like the hexagon style but not the by hand work, here is a site that sells a make a hexagon in a hoop machine embroidery designs.

 



There are 15 components to the design, and several different pack components with different prices. Currently the whole pack is on sale for $23.95 until 1-24-14. They are also reversible. Looks very simple and lovely especially if you take the time to coordinate your colors and prints. The middle portion has different decorative designs while the outer petals have different line designs.

For those that would prefer to make hexagons the old fashioned way, check out my Pinterest board for Quilting -- Hexagons for some great ideas. Or you can check out one of these books on making hexagons that are on my Amazon wish list. If you have any of these books, which would you recommend? I especially am interest in making hexagons with embroidery in the middle. If you know of a good instruction book for that, PLEASE let me know!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a great New Year. This was a really simple Christmas for us. got to see my son Ron and his lovely wife Savannah (he won the jackpot with her!) and our other son Steve. Savannah made us a nice meal since I wasn't up to it. I've been having a rather rough time with a new med>bad reaction>get off new med on top of everything else. Then we opened our presents.

So glad for the internet as I was able to get most gifts on line and it looked like others did too. I feel like I made out like a bandit although probably not a lot by many people's standards but our family stays simple. I got three needlework books as gifts as well as was given a book on Ohio quilts. Steve who tapes Restaurant Impossible and brings it over to watch with us also gave me a cookbook by Robert Irwin. Hubby who has seen how I love the show Call the Midwife, gave me three Kindle books of the series. Other than a DVD, all I got for Christmas was BOOKS and more BOOKS! Yeah. They will keep me busy for at least a week or two. Two of the books are on the history of embroidery (hand) in the 18th and also the 19th centuries. Lots of pictures so you can really follow along with the exquisite work shown, read and learn to improve your own embroidery.

The really big news I'm hoping for those that read my blogs is that we have been able to get whole house WiFi so hubby and I don't have to take turns with the one computer connected to the satellite, now the laptop is as well so I have more time to write and post blog entries much more frequently than in the past. I've been spending this past year trying to improve my quilting/piecing techniques by following a Block of the Month class on Craftys. I haven't quite finished my blocks and still have three to go. I'm 'cheating' on my second Drunkards Path block as I hated the regular technique. If it works out, I will post instructions and pictures here.

Anyone else get some amazing needlework books that they want to recommend? Let me know so I can get it on my wishlist!

My Favorite Embroidery Books

Not only was I able to buy some embroidery floss as stated in my post yesterday, I was also able to get two more all purpose embroidery books. Why does someone need more than one? Well why not. Also since I review books I look at them in regards to completeness and which one might be the best to reccommend. In this instance, if you have the money, buy all three. If you don't have the money and are a new embroiderer and just learning stitches, then I recommend The Embroiderer's Handbook. It contains several photos of how to make the different stitches and so whould be easier to learn from. The other two books, (my new ones) are Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Needlework and Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches. Both these books would be a good choice although they do have their differences. Donna's book has a lot of embroidery history, a large bibliography of other embroidery works, several lovely projects and a stitch index. Mary's book has a bit more detail when it comes to the stitches and also something I didn't see in the other books. Her books have what they call composite band stitches. This is the same as what machine embroiderer's call stitch stacking or building. They show combinations of the different stitches that are used to make fancy bands which either can take some of the thinking off of you or inspire you to try bigger and better stitch bands. Each of these books are unique and would be good references for you.