First off, Squigee Designs, maker of simply wonderful painted canvases, as well as the popular cross stitch designer Shepherd’s Bush are now being distributed by Dream House Ventures. They have a whole new range of small whimsical canvases which will be seen for the first time at the June Market. Squigee joins their other well-known designers including Mindy, Bongo, and The Cricket Collection. River Silks has a charming new picture of pansies available as a kit using their lovely silk ribbons. Leigh Designs is introducing two stunning new collections One is her small ornaments, with eight in the collection, all based on Swedish themes. They are painted on 18 mesh Victorian Green canvas and are named for a past Swedish monarch. The second also has eight canvases and explores the colors and images of Mexican street festivals. Alice Vantrease has three lovely shorebirds done as centers with wide black on
Monthly Archive:: May 2009
While regular shapes, such as circles, squares, or rectangles, make lovely needlepoint, often we want to finish something which is irregular in shape. This could be as simple as the domed top of a stand-up, such as the Petei buffalo pictured above. Or it could be an irregular shape, such as this bouquet from Happy Hear Designs. We’re lucky, as stitchers, that so many canvases don’t have backgrounds, so we can finish them as we please. But there is a problem. Too often only stitching to the edge doesn’t leave the finisher enough room to make the design stand out. That’s when you need to add a thin (3-5 stitch) border of Basketweave. Stitching the entire background in Basketweave is often the most effective background of all as well. In a wonderful four part tutorial, Judy Harper discusses why to have a background of Basketweavme with several examples. These also
Christmas quilts are a fine tradition, warming children on that Night of Nights while they wait for the wonders of the morn. Pine tree quilts, such as the inspiration for this mini-sock, were a common kind of Christmas quilt. This pattern is designed to use your scraps of green thread. Every tree uses a different thread. Th design is unified by the same thread for all the trunks and by the old-fashioned oatmeal color for the background. Materials List 8″ x 10″ 18 mesh mono needlepoint canvas 1 card Rainbow Gallery Rainbow Tweed RT35 (brown) scraps of green thread of various kinds 1 skein oatmeal overdyed thread (background) Using the mini sock outline (click for full size pattern), trace the ornament onto the canvas. This is the chart for the pine trees (sorry it’s the biggest one I have). It’s made from Diagonal Gobelins over three threads. The slant of
Something I read recently got me thinking. The idea was that the best way to learn a craft was to teach the basics and then immediately give folks a chance to try it out. In other words, have them put some stitches into a cooperative project. It needs to be something large and divided into smaller sections as well so that many people working on small areas won’t matter as much. A piece which has a focal point and a background divided into squares or a large patchwork design is perfect. In my case, I want people to try out Bargello, so I’m designing a Bargello patchwork tote. It’s going to fit into this Stirling tote and each patch will be a different Bargello pattern. I’m planning on stitching either the outline or the first line of each patch. Then each person can take a few stitches to work on
Sundance recently published a pamphlet on using beads in needlepoint. They told me “We just love beads and how they can define an area of stitching.” This booklet was designed to answer the questions they get about using beads. Since beading is not one of my best things, I’m so happy to get this booklet. It’s simply delightful! It begins by explaining some information about beads that beaders know, but stitchers generally don’t know. This includes common sizes and information about finishes. The book then gets into the basic mechanics of stitching with beads. You’ll learn the kind of thread and needle to use, the correct size of needle to use, and how to prepare for stitching. There is detailed information with large, clear illustrations on the method to attach beads to canvas including four alternatives to Tent Stitch. Finally half the booklet has wonderful stitch ideas incorporating beads, all
The winner of the April giveaway is Hazel Geldeard. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. There is another giveaway for May. Just leave a comment telling me how you learned to needlepoint. One winner will be selected June 1 (or as soon as I recover from the Maker Faire) and will receive a copy of my book Needlepoint Trade Secrets