Dyed Fiber Embroidery Thread (and Bubblegum Sampler) Giveaway!

One of my favorite things about the subscription programs, is that every so often, I am lucky enough to partner with other small companies to offer subscribers samples of beautiful threads.  Last year, when the first subscription program was just starting, I reached out to Kathy Leever, the maker behind the beautiful threads at Dyed Fiber, and asked if she would be interested in including a small sample of her hand dyed tencel threads at some point in the first year.  Not only did she, but she reached out again to me this year to include threads in March's envelopes.

I can tell you from first hand experience that these threads are a joy to work with.  I love variegated threads so much,  if for no other reason than the fact that their changing colors keep me motivated to stitch longer.  I've long been stitching with Perle Cotton, particularly DMC, but  until I found Kathy's shop, I had never heard of Tencel Perle.  In Kathy's words, it is as soft as silk, but as strong as polyester.  Her threads are hand dyed in her Texas studio, and no two skeins are alike.

I used a combination of Kathy's threads and solid colored DMC threads in my version of the Bubblegum Sampler (which is the first in the Colorburst Subscription), and I love the way the two combined.

Along with the samples that Kathy sent along for subscribers, Kathy sent me eight full sized skeins of Tencel Perle to give away!  I'm sweeting the deal with a copy of Bubblegum (pictured above).    There are a few ways to enter to win- feel free to enter one or all ways to up your chances!  

• Leave a comment.
• Visit the Dyedfiber Shop and tell me what color you'd pick.
• Post one of the photos in this post to pinterest and leave a link.
• Post a photo of one of your samplers in progress (esepcially if you used Kathy's threads- we want to see!) to the Flickr group.

I'll pick two winners at Random next Monday, April 28th.  Winners will receive four hand dyed skins of Dyedfiber Tencel Perle and one Bubblegum Sampler.  Please make sure to include your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you!   

 *This giveaway is now CLOSED*

Dreary Days and Sunshine Sampler!

Everyday around 4:30 I look up and panic a little.  My brain registers the time as approximately 7:30, and I have to remind myself everyday that it's not even dinner time yet.  Living on the easternmost part of the eastern time zone is a bummer at this time of year. There is not a lot of daylight.  On top of that, we've been having some very November like weather these past few days.  Both weekend days started out rainy and windy and damp.  

All that is to say that I am excited for the happy accident that finds this sampler touching down in the shop this month, instead of last summer, which the schedule had planned for it.

My friends, writing a book is hard (and fun!) work, and the best laid plans in the studio have often gotten pushed aside for one deadline or another this year.  The post book to-do list is getting pretty epic.

I was excited, one morning last summer, to get an e-mail from a Canadian thread dyer by the name of Lorraine Stobie, who was interested in including her threads in my Subscription mailings.   Yes! I said (those went out Friday- Thanks, Lorraine!) and I also proposed another collaboration.  Sitting next to me on my studio table that day was this newest sampler, hot off the presses and glowing bright yellow, just like her jewel colored threads.  What if we both embroidered our own version of the sampler using her threads?  She agreed, and we exchanged packages.  I was thrilled to get a pile of her threads and spend time day dreaming about how I was going to embroider it.  And then.....and then.....I got knee deep into writing a book.

Flash forward to two weeks ago when I was teaching at Penland and Lorraine sent me these photos of her finished sampler.  What a beauty!  I love the way her threads look on the sampler, and I was thrilled that she allowed me to publish them here and in the shop.

One day I cannot wait to have time to spend a sunny Sunday stitching this design.  It calls for a tea party- with lemon curd tartlets and black currant tea and champagne punch, don't you think?

I can't wait to see what versions the rest of you come up with.   Please, please, please keep me posted.  Thank you so much....

Weaving Stitches Sampler....

Good morning!  I mailed out this month's sampler on Friday, those of you who live on the east coast might already have them in your hands.  Weaving stitches are what's on tap this month.  Many of these are great candidates for stitching with thick threads, ribbons, or even yarns.

This month the subscriber's envelopes also contain a sample of thread from Canadian thread dyer Les Designs.  This hand dyed perle cotton is so beautiful and comes in a few different weights.  I'll be holding a giveaway of it here on the blog on Friday (along with a brand new sampler!)  Stay tuned.

Lacis- Berkeley....

I went to Lacis today.   Have you been there? I had not been in a few years.  They have an incredible selection of embroidery thread, among other things.  I love looking at the endless array of linens, silks, rayons, wools, and cottons.  I've never seen so much in one place.  

Where do you go to buy specialty threads?  Do you have a recommendation?

July Sampler of the Month: Chain Stitches

Hello there.....  As you might know, each month I send out a different thematic sampler to subscribers.  This month, I decided to put an end to the paper newsletter that I had been including in each order.  It seemed like a lot of paper, and  I wanted to be able to include links, photos, and in general a lot more information than I could include in the small page that I had been printing. So, welcome to the new newsletter!

This month, we're working on chain stitches.   The sampler includes a few different varieties, including the two color, or checkered chain stitch.   That one takes a long time, but I think the color change is worth it.  You could even get fancy and make it a three color stitch!

I spent fifteen years doing the chain stitch one way, only to be inspired by this tutorial to try it out a little differently.  It changed me!  I think you'll like it.

If you've been a subscriber since (at least) last month, you will have had a chance to try out the Flower Thread that went out with everyone's samplers in June.  I love this thin cotton thread, and I'm excited that I've got a pack of four colors to send to one blog reader.  Subscribers have multiple ways to enter, but even non-subscribers are eligible.  To enter, leave a comment here, and/or post a photo of any one of your monthly samplers as a work in progress (or a finished product if you're speedy) on either flickr, pinterest, or instagram.  Be sure to leave each one as a separate comment with a link so we can see your work.   Use the hashtag #dropclothsamplers so we can find it easily elsewhere.   

I'll leave the contest open until July 25th to give everybody time to get organized with photos and instagrams.  

PS- If you're reading this and wanting to join in the fun, I've got a few extra samplers this month.  In general the cutoff date to get the current month's sampler is the fifteenth of the month, but I'll happily mail out chain stitch samplers this month (while they last) to new subscribers.  

****I am a little behind the times- Sherrie- you're the winner!  I'm e-mailing you now....

The Girl Scout Motto............

Lately things have gotten really busy in the studio, with a long list of projects that I'm excited to tell you about someday.  When I'm up to my eyebrows in things to do, I find myself wishing for an assistant.  When I had co-op studio assistants back in Chicago, one of the most helpful things they did was thread needles and wind bobbins.  Of course, they also helped tremendously with other things, but these small menial tasks were the ones I've been wishing for help with these days.  In the absence of Angela and Jocelyn, I've been doing it myself.  Trying my best to Be Prepared for the next day by spending a little time at the end of each day threading needles.  Winding two bobbins when I need one so that there will be one later.  It's the little things in life.

What do you do to help yourself out?  Do you have any special tips that you'd share for keeping things tidy in your studio/life?

Thread + Sampler = Giveaway!

If you are a Sampler Subscriber, you probably know by now how beautiful Dyedfibers threads are.  In a season of color popping up everywhere, these threads are leading the parade.    Everybody got a sample of these beautiful, color saturated Tencel perle threads in the subscription mailings last month. My mom stitched her sample using them, and I love the shiny smooth quality of the stitches.   Maybe some of you have used them too?  Show them off in the Flickr group!

Kathy aka DyedFiber, has generously agreed to giveaway a collection of four skeins to one lucky commenter.  I'm throwing in one of the new Color Wheel samplers too, since they seem to be a perfect match.

I asked Kathy how she got started dyeing these beautiful embroidery threads.....
"I began dyeing fabric to use in the Quilt Journal Project.  It was a natural progression to try and dye perle cotton along with the fabric so I would have embroidery thread that would coordinate with the fabric to use for embellishment.  Dyeing the little skeins of thread is more fun than dyeing fabric, it's a lot of color in a little bit of fiber and I just love it!" 

To enter to win four skeins of tencel perle thread and one Color Wheel Sampler, leave a comment here letting me know what your favorite color is.  Want to up your chances?  Leave another separate comment linking to your work in progress Dropcloth sampler on the Dropcloth Flickr Group. Still more?  Pin one of the pictures from this post and leave a link to your Pinterest board in a separate comment.   

Please note: Comments are open to everyone- each person can enter up to three times (see rules above).  Contest will end on Tuesday, April 9th at midnight, and I will choose a winner at random the next morning and announce it here on the blog.  Make sure your EMAIL is included in the comment so that if you win I can be in touch with you!

Thread Collector

Remember when my mom came to Chicago to help me pack and spent an entire weekend organizing my thread?   All that thread had never looked nicer, but geez, it certainly isn't in that state of organization here in New York.   However, I do still have bits and pieces of organization, like these two sets of thread, one a gift from a student at Squam, and the other a gift from my friend Cal.   They look so good all neat and tidy, it might take a while to break the spell and use them....

Have a great weekend everybody!

Perle Cotton FOUND!

Just in time to get going on the new samplers that you all seem to be ordering (Thank You!) a student of mine from Squam, Bonnie, e-mailed to let me know that Herrschner's has all their size 8 perle cotton on sale.  So many students at Squam told me that it was impossible to find this stuff at their local stores, so hooray for an accessible online source!

Of course, in NYC, I'm partial to Daytona Trimming, but if you don't happen to live in the big apple, it looks like Herrschner's has got all the colors!  Thanks, Bonnie!

Threading Needles

In getting ready for any workshop, or just a long day of work, I like to pre-thread lots and lots of needles. I think it's a great way to start the day.  Threading needles is mindless, grounding work;  a sort of a meditation, and it certainly comes in handy when I'm in the middle of a project or a demonstration and don't have to stop to reload.    If I'm working in the studio, I arrange them all by color in pincushions, but if I'm traveling, like I am in a week or two up to Squam, I keep all my needles tidy in a needlebook. 

If you're coming up to Squam to take one of my workshops, make sure you thread up your collection.  If you're without a case, just stick them in a piece of folded up paper.

For those of you coming to the post-Squam sale, perhaps I'll interest you in a handmade needle case a la my studio- they are all made from hand screen-printed fabric with 100% wool felt to keep your needles rust free.  A vintage button seals each one up.   If there are any left post squam I'll pop these up in the shop when the new samplers go up.

Color

After showing Mera's work yesterday, I can't help but keep on talking about color.   I'm excited about bright, intense, oversaturated, fluorescent colors these days.  Hot pink, hot yellow, hot green, maybe even hot purple....yes please, and lots of them.   

The drawings I've been making are reflective of this palette, but as I unpacked my thread last month I noticed a big gap.  I bet some of you are thinking, with all that thread how could I not have hot fuschia?

But I didn't (I swear!).  So, living only a half hour's train ride from the garment district, I headed out to 38th street last week to do some browsing shopping.

I've got to say that really, I love New York.   Where else is there a street filled with little shops that specialize in thread?   If you're headed to the city soon, I recommend checking out this short list (there are many more on the same street and nearby, so wander!)  1.) Pacific Trimmings, 2.) Panda Trading, and 3.) Daytona Trimming, (you might have heard me blabber on about this place before.)     What about you?  Where do you go for threads wherever you are?

How did you do that?

I thought I'd take a minute this morning to answer some questions that have been popping up in the comments.  A lot of people have asked what kind of thread I use.  The answer is a lot of different kinds, but mostly DMC Pearl Cotton, which in packing for NYC,  I've realized that I have squirreled away in every corner of our apartment.  It's suprisingly difficult to find (which perhaps explains why I buy it when I do happen to see it and thus the squirrelling) but in NYC, Daytona Trimming Company sells all the colors, including all the variegated varieties.

I like #8 the best, but I use other weights occasionally.  I prefer the pearl cotton over six strand floss because it doesn't tangle, and it's got a nice sheen, and it comes already organized in a handy little ball.  I also really love Valdani Pearl Cotton, but it's a lot more expensive, and I'm not so sold on it's wash fastness.  It is, however, beyond beautiful and the variegated keeps me interested.  Purl Soho carries their entire range of colors.  By the way, the new Purl location in Soho is amazing- they actually carry lots and lots of dreamy embroidery threads that I pine over whenever I stop in.

I also wanted to share with you this amazing online resource for video stitch tutorials:

Do you know about it?  It's so useful!  If you don't get the stitch the first time around, hit play again and watch it until you can do it with your eyes closed.  For hundreds of stitch directions, this is a great resource.