Why, hello and a happy Monday to you! I hope you survived the weekend and got a heap of stitching done!

I managed a little bit of stitching and a lotta-bit of planning this past weekend. Things like measuring. Preparing to shift furniture. Getting ready to install shelving. It was all just way too exciting for words.

Today, I’ve got a few goodies for you. Ready?

Let’s start with some fun news, especially if you like needlework accessories. Remember the pin keep I showed you last week, made by Cathe at Needle in a Haystack, using one of my kaleidoscope designs?

Well, she’s expanding that design into a really nice accessory set that includes the pin keep, a thread keep, and a needle keep.

While I haven’t actually held the latter two in my hands yet, I’m certain they are just as lovely and made with just as much care and attention to detail. She’s selling these under Needle ‘n Thread Accessories on the Haystack website.

As each accessory is designed, she’ll be adding it to the offerings. If you are interested in them, you can purchase the available ones now. I think it will be an expanding line of pretty, useful, and affordable needlework accessories. Plus, I do get a little cut, since the designs are mine. It’s a fun collaboration and always an honor to work with Cathe!

Haute Couture Rose – the Valentino

If you’re looking for something to dabble with that’s a little different, you might enjoy looking into the Valentino Rose.

The London Embroidery School is offering a free online class for this rose that is used in haute couture sewing and embellishment. It’s called the Valentino rose, and it’s a fascinating (and free!) online offering.

Somehow, the process reminds me of a combination between ribbon embroidery (which it’s not – it’s made from small pieces of fabric), cake decorating, and small hand-sewing and finishing of the type that I enjoy doing. The results are really pretty, and the rose element would be a lovely thing to add to dimensional embroidered pieces.

Miniature Needlepainted Landscapes Class

Finally, I’ve drawn a couple winners for Tanja Berlin’s needlepainted miniature landscapes class!

You can read more about the class here on Tanja’s website. It’s a great way to add some new techniques to your stitching repertoire (or brush up on techniques), plus the project is small and manageable.

The randomly drawn winners – Kat Law and Connie Greaves – are receiving a nice package from Tanja: the kit, stretcher bars, everything needed for the class, plus the online class. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the class, ladies!

What’s Next?

You know everything’s not just sunshine and stitchery on the Needle ‘n Thread end of things, right? Sometimes, real labor has to kick in!

At some point this week, I’ll have some more sets of the ready-to-stitch towels available – especially the Spring Variety set that I released here. It is proving popular! Keep an eye out, if you’re waiting for them! I’ve also got some of the Festive Fall sets queued up to prep, along with a limited amount of the other design sets, too.

And now, I’m off to measure some walls and move some cabinets and get all industrial. I’ll share the “functional” improvements to the studio down the road a bit, once I get everything in and situated. Just in case you might be picturing something other than the reality of my world, my studio is not some kind of Pinterest Wonderland of Trendy Style and Exquisitely Coordinated Organizational Furnishings, where everything is white and sunny and festooned and all that kind of stuff. That all sounds and looks great on Pinterest, but it’s not necessarily the most functional situation when you need affordable, easy access storage in a restrictive space. Think: Industrial looking shelves, and you will probably have a better idea of how things stand on this end. Shocking, I know.

I’m still plugging away on the voided monogram collection with the floral heart – I need to troubleshoot the finishing on that heart today, as things didn’t go as expected with it! I promise to share the finish as soon as I conquer it!

Hope you’re still hanging in there and that the week is off to a good start for you!