Another Great Pre-Holiday Giveaway!

I'm suspecting most of you that read this blog came here because you knit. I guess I could be wrong - but I'll never know, will I?

When I was a kid, my mother taught me how to embroider. My sisters and I spent hours stitching up kits she would buy for us at the local needlework store. I became so enamoured with embroidery - especially crewelwork - that it became one of my favorite hobbies.


A while back, my mother found this quilt in her attic that I made back then. Those were the days of the hey day of Holly Hobbie and the Bicentennial. Mom brought it the last time she came to visit. Wow - the memories came rushing back. All those hours watching the NY Mets ball games stitching! I had a lot of good friends who also liked to sew, embroider, and quilt and we spent so many happy hours gossiping and sewing. We certainly weren't the most popular girls in the school but that didn't matter to us. We had our own kind of fun.

It was those fond memories that prompted me to write Kids' Embroidery. It was published in 2004 by STC Craft and became part of their children's craft series (the other kids craft books are about crochet and weaving). I wanted to write a book that would pass on the craft of embroidery to children living in the 21st century. I loved writing it so much - figuring out the projects that kids would like to make. During the summer of 2002, I taught a bunch of boys and girls in my town how to stitch at the local library. We did both needlepoint and embroidery. It was wonderful to see how each child learned, what projects they liked, and how much age really had nothing to do with each kids' skills. Some kids caught on fast, others slow, and some just didn't catch on at all. Later, some of those kids posed for photos in the book.

I had such fun with Kids' Embroidery that I decided to write a second stitching book called Colorful Stitchery. I conceptualized this book as stitching book for modern do-it-yourselfers who perhaps hadn't learned how to stitch when they were kids. It features 65 creative and colorful projects for the home. I had such a blast coming up with ideas and stitching them. The photography for Colorful Stitchery was done here in my home. My hand-painted walls were a perfect backdrop for all the handstitched pillows, blankets, and kitchen goods.

This week's Giveaway is a goodie. We'll see how many of you knitters sign up to win this one!

I'm giving away a copy of both Kids' Embroidery and Colorful Stitchery to one lucky person. I'll also enclose some cotton embroidery floss and crewel wool. There will also be a selection of dish towels, felt, and fabric to stitch on, some needles, and plastic needlepoint canvas. It's enough to get you and your son or daughter, grandkids, or little friends going on learning how to stitch. What a nice thing to do over the Christmas/New Year's vacation.

I'm also including a set of my floral still life and sunflower postcards to serve as inspiration for the lucky winner's embroidery designs.


Good luck! The winner again will be drawn on Friday at noon. To enter, leave a note in the comments section. If you have a moment, let me know if you already know how to embroider or if you are a newbie eager to learn.

Let us pray for peace in the New Year!