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!     

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....