Haaaaappy Friday!

As we get closer and closer to Christmas, we’re running out of Stitcher’s Christmas installments. I’ll be sad when this yearly pre-Christmas party is over – I love reading the comments!

For today’s gifts – there are two of them – we’re going to go to those traditional Christmas colors of red and green. That’s right! Lisa at The French Needle has put together two sumptuous packages of embroidery supplies, one red and one green. These are perfect for stash enhancing for any embroiderer who likes to mix things up with fibers, fabrics, and threads – and if you happen to be a crazy quilter, I think you’d be seventh heaven with the selections!

I’ll also announce the winners of Monday’s crewel wool collections from Renaissance Dyeing at the end of today’s article, so read on!

Red & Green Everything! Today’s give-away features everything you need, materials-wise, to enjoy some seriously fun creativity with fabric and threads.

Each collection includes an assortment of hand-dyed velvets, French linens, Au Ver a Soie silk chenille, ribbon, and pearls, and some sparkly Tonkin thread – one collection in reds and the other in greens.

The French Needle is a small hand embroidery business offering a wide selection of hand-picked needlework goods – from fabrics and threads to kits to books to tools and accessories – many of which are imported from France.

Lisa has gone to great lengths to include lots of surface embroidery offerings in her unique stock of supplies. She carries beginner through advanced kits from a variety of designers worldwide, including names like Bluebird Embroidery Co (Helen Richman), Lorna Bateman, Nicola Jarvis, Maison Noel, Rouge du Rain, and others.

And aside from kits, you’ll find some really fabulous thread collections to work with. French Needle offers, for example, Au Ver a Soie’s metallics in color collections. I used several of the metallics in the blues collection on my snowflakes.

One of my favorite things that Lisa has started carrying lately is a collection of novelty buttons – tiny buttons that are perfect for adding a pictorial touch to embroidery projects (like ornaments and the like), quilts, clothing, and so forth. They’re lots of fun!

If you haven’t enjoyed the pleasure of browsing through The French Needle website, I highly recommend a good meander! It’s a great place to find unexpected, beautiful needlework projects and supplies!

Ready for the give-away?

Give-Away Guidelines

If you’d like to enter today’s Stitcher’s Christmas, just follow these guidelines:

1. Leave a comment on the comment form below. If you’re not sure how to get to the comment form, click on this link – it will take you straight there. Your comment must be left on the website on today’s article, not on any other article. Comments submitted via email are not eligible and I am not able to reply to them due to time constraints. Please do not comment as a reply to another comment. Replies are not counted.

2. Be sure that your comment has a name on it that is recognizable as yours. You might include a last name, nickname, or the place you live.

The reason I particularly mention this one is that it reduces confusion when the winner is announced. It’s always hard to disappoint people if they mistake the name for their own!

3. Make certain your email address on the comment form is entered correctly, so that I can email you if you win. Leave the “website” line of the comment form empty. Do Not leave your personal contact information in the comment box itself. In other words, don’t sign your comment with your email address or your mailing address! That’s just an invitation for spam.

4. In your comment, answer the following question:

What’s your favorite Christmas color combination and how have you used it (or how do you imagine using it, if you haven’t yet) in your own Christmas preparations? Do you go with the more traditional red-green, white-gold, red-white, or what? Maybe you’re more of a turquoise-red, a frosty-blue, a blue-gold, or a silver-white? Or maybe you go all out with lime-pinks, burgundy-pines, or purple-greens? Or maybe you go with a jolly mix! I’d love to hear your take on Christmas colors and how you use them!

5. Leave your comment before 5:00 AM central time (Kansas, USA) next Friday, December 27th. The winners will be randomly drawn that morning and will be announced in the blog article that day.

So go forth and comment, and in 2020, maybe you’ll be playing with some luscious additions to your needlework stash!

The give-aways for A Stitcher’s Christmas are open to everyone, but please be aware that, if you are subject to customs or duty fees, they are your responsibility.

Crewel Wool Winners

Here are the winners for Monday’s installment of A Stitcher’s Christmas, featuring the Elizabethan range of crewel wools from Renaissance Dyeing: Jan Yousuf and Heather D from Ontario.
I’ll drop you an email, ladies! You’ll love stitching with these buttery-smooth, gorgeous crewel wools!

Coming up next week, look for installment #10 of A Stitcher’s Christmas, which includes a full range of a Very Favorite Thread, so if you’re a thread lover (um… ? who isn’t?), keep an eye out for that on Monday!

Then, I have a little something for you for Christmas. I’ve gone a step further with the Eye-Spy (similar to this one at Thanksgiving), and I’ve added a little extra something special, just for the fun of it!

We’ll wrap up a Stitcher’s Christmas a week from today with the final winners announced.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend and that you get a chance to spend some quiet time relaxing with your needle and thread!