Newest Colorburst Embroidery: September...

A few months ago, Weeks Dye Works sent some threads to me to experiment with*   After much admiring, I finally got to work with them this month for the latest Colorburst Sampler:  **Rows of Rainbows**.  

I first used their hand dyed quilting thread in my BERNINA to cover some of the thin lines (see above pictures) and then used their size 8 hand dyed perle cotton for the rest of the stitches (running stitch, couching, and a little back stitch).  The pink yarn couched down around the border is a rogue knitting wool from my editor, Melanie.   

I'm so curious to see if any of you will use your machines on this sampler or others. The straight stitch makes such a beautiful line! My machine also does a sort of double straight stitch which (surprise!) is twice as thick and twice as nice.   You may want to slow your machine's speed down a bit (easy peasy on the BERNINA) when sewing on something so specific.  It helped me quite a bit.  I also recommend a stiff embroidery stabilizer on the backside to keep your fabric from bunching up.  I get mine here.   Try a little sample fabric first to get your speed and stitch length adjusted to your liking.  

These shipped out yesterday (so did the Stitch of the Month *Cross Stitch* Samplers), complete with Circus and Harvey Milk stamps.  The USPS stamp designers are really making me happy these days.  Can't wait to see what else is in store!

*this is all in an effort to select threads to send to YOU, dear subscribers.  Soon, soon.  

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!     

Instagram Tagging Giveaway!

Hello!  If you are a subscriber, you probably already know about this little contest.  If not, now's your chance! Through the end of June 2014, tag your samplers on instagram with #dropclothsamplers.  I'll pick one winner to receive four beautiful skeins of Cottage Garden Threads, pictured here.  You can tag as many photos as you like.

I've been busy embroidering some of the upcoming Colorburst Subscription samplers- I can't wait to share more of them with you all! Here's a finished one and a little sneak peek of what's to come:

PS- What do you think I should name that finished sampler?  Leave your ideas in the comments, and if I use yours I'll send along a little token of my appreciation.....

Colorburst Plaid!

This month's Colorburst sampler is an embroidered plaid.   I stitched mine entirely by hand, with a combination of backstitch and couching.   The drawing for this one was inspired by the plaid sections in one of my all time favorite books.  That book and its hundreds of pages of design inspiration have been the seeds of so many things in the studio over the years.  Lately though, I have been really in to the plaids, and to laying down color after color in perpendicular lines.  It's such an easy way to build up a lot of great texture.   I'd like to work this one again in machine stitches, hoping one of you does the same so I can see the results!  

 This month I stitched my version of the Colorburst sampler onto a bit of linen and turned it into a little zippered case with the help of my new BERNINA.   I'm curious to hear what you all are doing with your samplers.  Are you making quilts, adding them to garments, using them as patches on a bag?  Leave a comment below to let us know, or better yet post a photo on instagram, and tag it with #dropclothsamplers.  Thanks!

By the way, check out all this beautiful thread!  This month subscribers to both Colorburst and Sampler of the Month got a few strands of this beautiful hand dyed cotton floss from Cottage Garden Threads in Australia.  The etsy shop Braidwood Heritage Crafts carries it, but you could win three full skeins of your own just by tagging the samplers you're working on with #dropclothsamplers on instagram.  I can't WAIT to see what you're up  to.  Thanks!

PS- More plaids are available if you'd like to start your subscription before the end of this month- threads included!

Winners Winners, Chicken Dinners!

Thank you so much to everyone that commented and pinned last week! I am happy to report that I've picked two winners via random.org, numbers  84 and 16.  I just e-mailed you two- can't wait to mail out your winnings!  And, for the first time ever, I chose those winners without having to painstakingly count by hand!  Hooray for google giving me a little help with html code- and hooray for numbered comments! My life just improved a little!

A few of you asked about the scissors in the photos. Aren't they cool?  They were a gift from a student of mine at Arrowmont a few summers ago- an artist who you'd probably love named Suzanne Andersen.  When I received them they still had the price tag, which was old and tattered and illegible attached, and they were wicked sharp.  I've since used them A LOT, and they aren't quite so sharp, but still my favorite pair.  I'm hoping the knife sharpening truck comes to Gowanus and parks outside the studio (fat chance) so I can get them sharpened.    Anyway, I found a similar pair on etsy.   Here's another on e-bay.  What about you, do you have a fancy pair of vintage scissors?  Share a link or description in the (numbered!) comments.

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*