The last two borders in the needlepoint reproduction of the Bath Mosaic are mainly Tent Stitch. Each will be shown as a straight border and then as the corner. The first border is all Tent Stitches in all three colors. Remember: blue squares – blue Needlepoint Inc 325, red squares – terra cotta Splendor S925, green squares – gray Splendor S920, black squares – dark blue Needlepoint Inc 928 (only on outside border corners. Begin the border 3 threads from the previous border. This border does not have a special corner. The corner chart, above, shows the placement of the border in relation to the previous border. Click image to get full size chart. The outside border has a Backstitched edge and has an interlaced pattern using all three main colors. The border is three threads from the previous border. This border has different corners, which sets off this delightful
Monthly Archive:: August 2009
This delightful book from Finger Step Designs (distributed by Custom House) is such as treasure. The idea behind the book, and the samplers you create from it, is to make a diamond-shaped box, and through the borders and stitches you choose, create a unique needlepoint piece. The idea is compelling and endlessly creative. Susan Jones, the designer, came up with the idea, when she needed to stitch a purse, which is pictured at the beginning of the book. She took a box, 12 threads square, and turned it 45 degrees to make a diamond. Then on the diamond-shaped grid, she filled it with different patterns. Every stitch or stitch grouping in the book fits inside the box. To these grids you can add borders, outlines, centers, and placeholders. You can group them to make patterns. And, just like blackwork, you can shade them by adding new elements to a stitch.
Jenny Hart, of Sublime Stitching, has a new book coming out and in preparation for it has a tutorial about blending two colors of floss at her publisher’s site. The technique, needle blending, is useful for shading, when you can’t find the right shade or just tom give your needlepoint an interesting effect. The first time I did it was for these pansies, because there was no floss in the color I needed. Jenny does embroidery on cloth, but the process is the same for needlepoint. In her pictures she uses two wildly different colors, so you can see clearly how the process works, but most of the time, you will use closely related shades (pictured above). You can even blend together a solid thread with an overdye, as I did in this fall canvas. It’s easy to do and will add such richness to your stitching, even just Basketweave
Yesterday I started work on the second Native American-inspired needlepoint designs. This one I’m calling my health needlepoint. It’s focal point is the Zuni fetish of a Medicine Bear (pictured above), my favorite. The Medicine Bear represents powerful healing to the Zuni. It’s always in this rounded form, and usually has the arrow and often has a small offering of feathers or stones attached at the top. While this is a popular fetish, my favorite carver of medicine bears is Stuart Quandalacy, I think his stuff is stunning. Anyway back to the needlepoint. The design is going to fit into a Stirling leather tool tote which is in my stash. A medicine bear in a shade of Impressions that reminds my of a type of Agate with a turquoise arrow will be in the lower right corner. I’m thinking of stitching it in an Offset Scotch to mimic the striations
When you are making a needlepoint rug, such as this one (a current project). You need to think before you stitch. Will it be hanging on the wall or be underfoot. This has implications not only for the thread (yesterday’s post), but also for the stitches you use. If your rug will hang on the wall you have no worries about stitches. But if it will live on the floor, your stitches need to hold up to heavy use. This means NO stitches going over more than three threads. Longer stitches will snag. Any stitch in the Mosaic family, such as Offset Mosaic, above, will work. So will shorter versions of Scotch and Cashmere. Cross stithes aren’t great choices unless they are quite small because they are layered and can snag more easily. Stick to cross stitches over 2 threads at most. But what do you do when the stitch
Two new products are available in the Napa Needlepoint store. In the ebooks section, you will find the 2009 Stitch Annual and the Haida Feather Tote (pictured above). The Stitch Annual is much more than your usual Stitch of the Month offering, there are 12 chapters, each with a stitch or technique that include the base stitch and variations. In addition to the charted stitches, you will also learn about how and where to use them and more ideas for your own variations. In all more than 30 stitches are covered in the Annual. Haida Feather Tote is a bold design based on the Native American art of the Pacific Northwest. The bold white, black and red design is fun to stitch. This is the first eProject from Napa Needlepoint, a new breakthrough in needlepoint patterns. Instead of having to pay for printed projects, eProjects are delivered to you electronically,
The winner of the July Contest is Carmen whose favorite project has been a saying she made when she was a teenager. The runners up were Tracy (set of teatowels), Shelly (pansies on pillowcases), Deanna (Father Christmas stocking), Betsy (sampler of her own design), Kim R (butterfly sampler). August’s postings will have a theme which will show up in occasional posts. The theme is rugs (miniature ones count as well). In the comments, let me know if you have ever stitched a rug, whether you want to make one, and any tips you might have for stitching them. Throughout the month I will be posting about my own rug stitching project, a rug from Art Needlepoint. Remember US addresses only for the contest