Sampler Subscription Updates & Naming Contest

This week, I'm mailing out samplers to all of the subscribers.  If you are in the Stitch of the Month club, you'll get the couching sampler- which comes with thick knitting yarns this month.  I'm including two colors of yarns for everyone- but there's room for more on your sampler.  If you're a knitter, you'll have no trouble at all.  If not, you probably know a knitter.  OR, you can use embroidery floss that has not been separated, or size 3 perle cotton, or ribbons, or a bit of an unraveled sweater.  Couching is so flexible.

The biggest news in the Stitch of the Month club is that I've created Stitch specific Pinterest boards with stitch diagrams, inspiration, and instagram photos of your samplers for each month.  You can find all of them here, and a link to this month's couching board here.  Follow along - I'm adding new pins every single day.  If you've got a pin that you think would be a great addition to the boards, send me a Pinterest message or shoot me an email.

If you are in the Colorburst Club, you'll get this new design:

I stitched my version with a combination of DMC size 8 Perle Cotton, and Valdani Size 8 Perle cotton (which is a little thinner than DMC's)  I used running stitch, backstitch and chain stitch, and I stitched mine from the jury duty waiting room.

This sampler is yet to be named: what would you call it?  Leave a comment below with your suggestions, and if yours is used, I'll sign you up for a three month subscription (or extend your existing subscription.)

I am working on the next twelve month's of Colorbursts- they will be ALL NEW, so if you subscribed for a year at the beginning, you can renew and keep on getting new samplers every month.

As always, thank you so much to all the subscribers out there.  I love making samplers for you.

Colorbursts and Satin Stitches- Packed and Ready!

Your subscriptions (almost two hundred!)  packed up and ready to go!  

Colorburst Seeds in Progress

My version, stitched with Dyed Fiber threads

My Mom's version, stitched with DMC floss.   

Flower thread for everyone!

Hello there!  Long time no talk! If you are following me on instagram, you know that I was in California for a week or two at the end of July, teaching at A Verb for Keeping Warm, and kicking around the bay area with my good friends.   I paid a visit to Creativebug, ate at my favorite restaurant, and shivered because I failed to pack properly and once again did not anticipate the coldness that is San Francisco in August.  Whoops.

Since I got back I've been slowly chipping away at packing up this month's orders.  It's a great month!  Both Colorburst and Stitch of the Month subscribers get a free skein of Flower Thread, as well as a color chart and a free cross stitch pattern from the same company.  Have you stitched with this stuff before?  It is an un-mercerized cotton that makes a beautiful thin line on your fabric.  I think you're really going to like it.  

Believe it or not I am headed back to California tomorrow for a wedding, so orders are shipping out TODAY! A little earlier than usual.  Enjoy!     

Chain Chain Chain!

Through somewhat of a coincidence, both of this month's subscriptions focus on chain stitches.  The Stitch of the Month sampler explores a few variations on this simple stitch, and the Colorburst subscription has circles of chain around the border.  Of course, with that one, you could choose NOT to do that part as chain stitch.  They could be filled-in ovals of satin stitch, or tiny little bunches of french knots, or tiny back stitches, or, or, or.....

You can see my mom's version up top (along with a few other upcoming colorbursts out on her clothesline in Michigan), and my (yet to be finished version) in my messy studio in Brooklyn.

This version (below) of the Chain Stitch Sampler is from Sherie on Instagram.   I am amazed (AMAZED!) at how many of you have stitched the text onto these samplers.  It looks so good!

Finally- Thank you to everyone who ordered samplers and subscriptions during our annual summer sale.  There are lots of new subscribers in the mix now (welcome!)  

Stitch of the Month Subscriptions shipped out this morning.  Colorburst Subscriptions will mail out tomorrow (I had to print more after that summer sale added a ton of new stitchers!).

Get your needles ready- and send me your pictures!  #dropclothsamplers

Stitch Sampler of the Month: Running Stitches

This month, we're focusing on Running Stitches.  This stitch is so easy, and it is probably the first stitch you learned when you were learning to sew, or quilt, or embroider.  It looks ok on it's own in a straight line, but my favorite way to use it is to make dense rows of it, over and over again to create a beautiful background pattern (as in the darning stitch, above).   To know me is to know that to me, more is more, so of course, I love to use the running stitch in the densest way possible.

How about you? Did you stitch this one last year?  I would love to see your version!  Please leave a comment with a link to your photograph!

The First Color-Burst: Bubblegum!

I spent this morning packing up subscriptions and getting them ready to head out to you*.  I can't wait to see how everyone is going to embroider this first design, which I'm calling bubblegum.   I thought it would be fun to show you some in progress photographs of this one, although if you follow me on instagram, you've probably seen some of these.  I've gotta tell you, this one was so much fun to stitch...

I stitched the dots in the center with vintage silk button twist (or is it button hole twist? I can never keep the two straight), and the outside lines with a combination of Valdani perle cotton, and Dyedfiber hand dyed perle Tencel*.  

 Check out this version that my mom stitched! I love how it looks completely different by using chain stitch instead of backstitch.  Great job, mom!  Speaking of other versions, everyone that came to The Makerie got a Color Burst in their goody bag- if you got this one, post a link in the comments when you start working on it so we can all see how you're doing it!

*PS- Stay tuned next week for a chance to win a collection of Dyed Fiber threads!

PSS- Due to the printing taking a little longer than I thought, I'll be sending samplers out tomorrow and Friday, which means that if you want to get in on the fun this month, there is still time!  

Introducing: Color Burst Embroidery Subscriptions!

It started with the Makerie.  I was invited to teach a workshop there this year, and I started sketching up ideas.  One day last summer when I was sitting in my studio wondering about what to teach in Colorado, I stared straight ahead of me at a wall of patches that I had collected.  The patch class I’m teaching a week from Saturday was born, and so was a nagging feeling that patches could keep going in other ways in the studio.

It also started with a text message from my friend Jackie earlier this year,  it was a photo of a drawing that she was making.  It was a beautiful drawing, but it gave me a little twinge of jealousy. My new year’s, (monthly, weekly, daily) resolution, had been to  start drawing again after a long break, and I wasn’t.   Then Jackie and I talked on the phone and she said something that really stuck with me about her own drawings.  “I realized that they didn’t need to be a big deal, I could just draw in a notebook for fun”  Yeah!  Immediately I started doodling, just for fun, for no big deal.

We started sending each other photos of what we were working on, and I started amassing a huge collection of drawings on my studio wall.  Some of them were pretty bad, but some of them I liked a lot.  One day while I was painting in the studio it clicked- this collection of drawings could become a new series of samplers, and their small size led me to think that maybe this series could be dreamed up as a collection of patches.  So, after many iterations, and more than a few flopped designs and prints, I am so happy to bring you this new collection.  With many thanks to my good friend in California for getting the ball rolling……

Introducing: Color Burst Sampler Subscription!  From lots and lots of pen and ink and gouache drawings came this collection of twelve samplers, each handmade by me in my Brooklyn studio and printed for you to stitch. Subscriptions are now available in three, six, and twelve increments. I hope you'll join the fun!

This collection is making its debut as the follow up to last year’s popular  Stitch Sampler Subscription.  Each design is hand drawn and painted by me in my Brooklyn studio using pen and ink and gouache.  Not all designs make it to the printing process, but twelve did!  These small samplers started out life as patches, but I quickly realized that they have a lot more potential.  Will yours be the center of a quilt block, a coaster, a collection of patches, the beginning of a pieced pillow?  I can’t wait to see what everyone does…..

Each month, I'll mail you a brand new sampler, available only to subscribers, based on a unique drawing.  Each three to five inch sampler fits perfectly into a five inch hoop, and can easily be completed in a month's time- just in time for the next one to arrive!   These small embroidery samplers make the perfect on the go project.

Samplers will ship on the 15th of each month starting April 15th (order by the 10th to be included in the current month). The designs are available only to subscribers (they cannot be purchased individually)

The design size ranges from 3-5" round, and the fabric they are printed on is approximately 5-7" square, 100% Cotton.  

Each month I’ll tell what threads and stitches I used on the blog. I can’t wait to see how you stitch yours!

February Sampler of the Month- Blanket Stitches!

By now I hope many of you have this month's sampler in your hands.  I had a great time painting all the envelopes with hearts this month for Valentine's Day.  It's one of my favorite holidays.  I love all things pink and red, and the smell of the drug store candy aisle sends me over the top.  This year I sent a big heart full of candy to my mom in Michigan; Godiva's, which always make me think of childhood visits to Chicago, her letting me pick out just one, the sea shell with the hazelnut center.  My favorite.

February's sampler of the month is Blanket Stitches, and since this stitch is often used for applique, I included an iron on heart applique with each envelope.  They are backed with Heat n' Bond, so you can iron them onto anything you like.  Each heart is cut out of a Paisley Sampler.   

Here's one of my favorite's from last year, this one by Deborah Davey.  I found it in the Flickr pool, but it sure looks like it started out life in the instagram world......

Deborah Davey's Rainbow Version.....

PS- As of today 2-18-14, there are several of this month's sampler left, so if you'd like to join the fun, it's not too late to start right away!  Here's a link to the six month....

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.

Cross Stitch Sampler

In a week that has been up and down and all over the place in the weather department, it is finally back to fall weather.  I sent out all the September subscriptions today and yesterday.  If you are a subscriber, it's time to get your needles threaded!  This month the collection is cross stitches, and this month's sampler (like all the monthly samplers) was stitched by my mom.  Check out her amazing ric-rac border.  I will have more to say about cross-stitches next week.

I'm feeling so grateful this week to all the people that have helped me out in one way or another with my business, etc. this year.  Most especially my mom and Angela, who leaves tonight to go back to her hat business in Chicago.  With her help this week in the studio, I got more done than I thought would be humanly possible.  She is amazing; the fastest embroiderer, the most skilled seamstress, the funniest Italian I have ever met.  It will be a sad morning on Monday to head back to the studio without her.

I hope you all have an excellent fall weekend.  Is it time for donuts and cider yet?  Soon.........

PS- I've got a handful of extra samplers this month.  Fall is a great time to start embroidering!   Here's a link to purchase.  

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....

Small town joys and big city woes........

I've been spending this afternoon packing up this month's edition of subscription samplers, and  I've been missing the women that helped me last month so much.  My mom and two of her friends spent an evening cutting, folding, ironing, wrapping, stickering and licking envelopes with me to get all those samplers out the door and to the post office last month.  Talk about generous..... I've been all by my lonesome self today, and while I genuinely like what I'm doing, it is a bit lonesome, and boy o boy does it take a lot longer with one instead of four.  Thank you, Mom!  Thank you, Mom's friends!

The people that were helping me stuff envelopes in Michigan last month were not the only thing that made packing up all those subscriptions last month so effortless.  The postoffice in the town where my family lives is a real treat as well.  A tiny little post office with the world's friendliest postmaster is right across the street from where I grew up, and the postmaster, Fred, happens to also be a good family friend.  Those of you who live in small towns might not appreciate the joy I feel going to this particular post, while New Yorkers and other city dwellers will acknowledge the lack of bullet proof glass separating postmaster from customer, and the genuine smile on Fred's face.  He actually asks how I am every time I go in there!   It's the little things in life, you know?

PS-------Today is the last day to enter the Color Wheel and Thread giveaway.  Enter here!  

PSS-------Big news!  Creativebug has been nominated for a Webby award!  Vote here......

Subscriptions are in the mail!

I took a bag of eighty subscriptions to the post office yesterday.  Stand by your mailboxes, and get your needles ready!  Here is a little preview....

Sampler Love.....

I was so excited last night when I popped over to the Flickr Sampler of the Month Group and found these two pictures from Grace Anna.  I absolutely love the way she worked up this first sampler.  Those teeny tiny neat little stitches on the text?  Amazing!  Grace Anna, amazing embroiderer that she is, is also a knitwear designer.  Check out her fabulous designs here.

I would LOVE to see what the rest of you are doing....please do post pictures of your works in progress.  And please, if your backside is not as neat and tidy as Grace Anna's, take heart.  Mine isn't either.  Check out this post for more about that.

Upcoming Events......and more about mail!

Join me and a few other Creativebug instructors this weekend at the New York Public Library for Crafternoon!  We'll be hand embroidering handkerchiefs and swapping love stories.  I hope you can come to this free event!   Reservations are recommended, and you can RSVP here.

I've also got an embroidery workshop coming up at my favorite Upper East Side sewing shop, Pins and Needles.  If you've never been to this beautiful store, you're in for a treat.  Please join me on the 21st to learn six new stitches.  I've got a more advanced workshop coming up the 28th if you've conquered the basics and want to learn more about image transfers.   Sign up and learn more here.

I've been spending a lot of late nights the last few days making cards and sorting through vintage postcards and stationary, picking out just the right ones for my long list of Month of Mail pen pals.  It's so much fun!  I don't think it would be too late to join, even if you only send a few notes out this month.  It feels so good to send a little love by post.   My friend Bonnie is hosting a related giveaway on her blog.  Enter here to win a sweet care package.  

One more thing.....if you are not so big on sending mail, but LOVE getting mail.....you have until February 10th to sign up fo the Sampler of the Month Club.  This month's orders have got Valentine's Day written all over them.  Click here to get mail from me once a month for the rest of the year......

Get your needles threaded!

Subscriptions to both near and far went in the mailbox today and I can't wait for you all to receive them!  As you begin working, please check out the brand new flickr group I created just for you.  It thrills me to know that people as near as Queens and as far as Sweden are working on these this month, and I would LOVE to see what you come up with.  Thanks so much for being a part of the club......

Happy New Year, and a deadline.......

Happy New Year everybody!  This year, the holidays felt more welcome than ever.  I had a very busy December, and relished almost every minute of my break.   It felt so good to bake cookies and lounge around, to indulge in this fabulous cocktail, and to catch up on last season's Downton Abbey.   Things are slowly getting back to normal around here, with the rogue cocktail and bits of Babka left over from New Year's Eve popping up now and then.   I mean, it would be too bad to say goodbye altogether to the merriment, no?

In the spirit of the new year, I'm in the midst of a big reorganization in the studio.  It's too much of a horrible mess right now to show you a picture, so I'll show you this... the in process view of this year's first sampler.  Thank You so much to everyone who has subscribed!  I am starting to address your envelopes this weekend, and can't believe just how many of you there are!   If you are still thinking of Subscribing, and would like to start out your year with Couching, the deadline to order is January 10th.        The first samplers will mail out on January 15th.  

I hope you all are having a great start to this year.  I feel really hopeful and good about it.  There's lots in store, and so many exciting possibilities.   It's cold here for the first time since 2011, and I'm amazed how much that has changed my outlook on life.  It feels so good to have cold cheeks!   I'm looking forward to more drawing, more eating, and more embroidery.  See you soon!

See you in Soho......

Tomorrow, I'll be in Soho, making art in the window space at Etsy's Pop-Up Holiday Shop.  I spent a long time going around in circles about what exactly I would do there, and came up with a plan I think will look great.  It will be a portrait of Mary Oliver, and a take off on this sampler.  Part of executing that plan involved going to Purl Soho and buying a giant pile of beautiful prints, which was so far my favorite part.   Isn't pattern fun?

If you're in New York, and inclined to come by and say hello, please do!  I'd love to see you.  Beware that you might find yourself with a needle and thread in hand, suddenly wrapped up in stitching.  I will put you to work!  Pack a thimble!  (PS- if you really do want to help, come after lunch when the glue will be dry)

Stay tuned to my instagram feed (or facebook) for updates throughout the day tomorrow.  You can find me as dropcloth in both places....

On a different note- Thank you!  Thank you thank you to all of you who have signed up for Sampler Subscriptions, and thank you for those of you who are signing up for Thursday's giveaway!  If you haven't thrown your name into the hate, please do!  You've got two more days, and if you've already signed up, remember, that there are three ways to do so!  Add a pinterest re-pin or a link to your work in progress on Flickr to up your chances!  Katy and I will draw a name Thursday night.  Good luck!  That's a lot of exclamation points!  Can you tell I am excited?

Announcing Subscriptions.....and a big giveaway!

When teaching workshops large and small, one question that I get asked a lot is "what's your favorite stitch?"  Although in a lot of the workshops I teach I often introduce an array of fancy stitches, I must admit that in my own artwork, my favorite stitches tend to be three simple ones- the back stitch, the french knot, and more recently, couching.  I am, like most people, susceptible to ruts.  The back stitch has always been my favorite.

Somewhere along the line of this year's workshops, I thought it would be fun to introduce a challenge- a routine-busting plan to help me and everybody else break out of their stitch ruts and try some new ones.  From that idea and from a particularly helpful phone call with my friend Jill*, the idea for an Embroidery Subscription was born.  I've spent the last month or so (including some very windy days in the midst of a Hurricane) drawing a series of samplers. Each one highlights a different family of stitches, starting with these first two- the Filling Stitches and Couching Stitches, stitched on our Thanksgiving road trip.  Special thanks to Katy for driving so that I could embroider, and special thanks to my mom for finishing the first one  when my hands couldn't stitch any longer!

Subscriptions are now available in 3, 6 or 12 month increments, and will begin mailing out on the fifteenth of each month, starting in January.   You can begin a subscription at any time. Each five inch sampler fits perfectly in a five inch hoop, and can easily be finished within a month's time, just in the nickle of time for the next one to arrive!  At the end of the year, you will have stitched the vast majority of your average embroidery how-to book.

These subscriptions are of course available as gifts, please make a note in checkout and I will send a handwritten card (with your note if you leave me one) letting the recipient know who it's from....

I've got lots of exciting ideas in store for these subscriptions, and I can't wait to see how you all complete them.  To a year of new stitches...........

Now for the fun part!  I have teamed up with Creativebug to offer one lucky reader a combination Sampler Subscription and Creativebug Subscription.  You'll win a month of instruction and three months of samplers, delivered right to your inbox and front door!    There are three ways to enter to win....

This Contest is now closed- but you can still use the discount Holiday2012 for 10% off everything, including Subscriptions, in the shop.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/dropcloth

I can't wait to see what you're working on, and I can't wait to spend a year exploring new ways of mark making with you.  If you're so inclined, please do enter all three ways!  


*If you are excited about the idea of a subscription but are more of a knitter than an embroiderer, please do check out Jill's amazing hand dyed yarn subscriptions....I'm no knitter but her colors are dreamy....