Needle Delights released new charted needlepoint projects at the TNNA Market earlier this month. I worked on one of their charming pieces while I was visiting my mom a couple of weeks ago, and they are absolutely delightful. They are great projects for stitchers at any level, full of fun colors and charming stitches. Tuscan Midnight, pictured above, a 12″ square piece stitched entirely in Watercolours (10 colors) with a metallic accent. There are also alternate colorways. There is also a glorious rainbow mystery pattern called Amazing Color. Since there are folks who are stitching it as a mystery, I’m not putting in a picture, but it’s bright and bold and has all the colors in the rainbow in a delightful geometric pattern. It’s stitched in Threadworx overdyed Vineyard Silks, but you can also stitch it in floss. It reminds me of Color Delights Rainbow, which I loved so much
Monthly Archive:: September 2010
Originally posted 2009-04-01 08:46:25. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe winner of the March giveaway is Paula, who left a comment on the post and learned about us from one of my “must read” blogs, Craft Gossip. I have to stitch a ton of Bargello this month. And while normally I don’t have problems with color schemes, I’d love to showcase some different things. I’m going to be trying to make (and finish) a Bargello every few days and I want your help. This month’s thread giveaway has a theme, color schemes. In your comment I’d like you to tell me a color scheme. It can be one you use all the time, one you’d like to use on a project, or one you saw someplace and filed away. Make a comment on this post with your color scheme and one commenter will be picked at the end of the month
Originally posted 2007-12-04 09:27:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter This has to be one of my all-time favorite Bargello patterns. It’s so classic. I made it as the top for a needlepoint footstool ages ago, and I’m just now using it again for a set of Bargello coasters for the new Bargello book. The wool is absobant for the coaasters and the pattern is so timeless. I love the way the “flame” sits at the bottom of each diamond. In order to det up the flames, you’ll notice that the diamonds don’t meet at the tips, but just a little bit down each side. The color combination here is a classic one, red and green, but in order to keep the colors from fighting I added white for a transition. I’m about half an hour away from finishing the project but it’s so fun, I’m thinking about doing another one
On Friday I got together with my friends Candy and Jody to stitch. It wasn’t completely selfish, we are all three in CyberPointers and we are also all three working on the piece the chapter is doing for ANG’s 40th anniversary in 2012. Jody and Candy live in Sacramento and I live in Vallejo. We picked the town of Dixon as being halfway between and figured no one would bother us at Starbucks if we bought some drinks. We came prepared with canvases, threads, tools, and stitch books. We had bought drinks. But what surprised and delighted me was the number of people who stopped by and asked about what we were doing. I stitch in public alot, but I’ve never had so many people come by. This got me thinking about how you can make the most of your stitching in public. 1. Stitch in a small group if
Originally posted 2003-05-09 06:54:59. Republished by Blog Post PromoterI love Fancy Carole’s designs, they always make me smile. Carole’s designs are always charming and they stitch up like a dream. One of the best things about them is that they leave space wide open for creativity. If you are new to needlepoint or want to make your first painted canvas, they can be stitched simply. If you’re an experienced stitcher and want to go crazy with threads and stitches, this is the place to do it. I’ve got a great 3-D Christmas tree of Carole’s which is trimmed with all kinds of threads, a garland (made from a Rainbow Gallery thread) and packages with real bows underneath. But then another of my favorites is a simple frame which I used as a way to try out Ribbon Floss when it first came out. Another great thing about Carole’s designs is
Cathy Connolley is a self-taught artist from the UK. Her art is fanciful with lots of fine lines and charming detail. She also does lovely and colorful Tent Stitch needlepoint. Her needlepoint gallery (one of her pieces is pictured above) is on her website. You can also learn more about her art by following the links at the top of the page. She also blogs about her own work and the work that influences her at One Pink Goose
Originally posted 2009-04-30 06:58:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Isn’t she just too cute? She’s one of a series of needlepoint mini-socks based on quilt designs I did in 2001 for a friend’s children. Recently I was asked about her and so I wanted to share the directions with you. Sunbonnet Sue is no spring chicken. This applique quilt pattern has been around since the 1930′s, showing her cheerful profile on all kinds of quilts doing all kinds of activities. I have seen her hanging laundry, gardening, shopping and chatting with friends. This mini-sock used the basic Sunbonnet Sue design with a textured background. Sue always wears a bonnet and an apron which provide the stitcher with some nice opportunities to show off stitches. In this design her apron is done in a Tent Stitch version of gingham and her bonnet is done in Dotted Swiss stitch which looks like
This totally amazing piece is done by American artist E Thor Carlson and is stitched in Padded Gobelin. Don’t you just love the twisting shapes and bright colors against the black. It’s just one of several fiber art pieces, including goldwork and cross stitch you can see on his site. He also has on his site pictures of many other works, including tapestry, sculpture, and illustration
Originally posted 2006-06-08 07:02:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter I just finished this coaster this morning and wanted to share it with you. It’s one of four by Raymond M. Crawford. The other ones say Sip! Gulp! and Slurp! I only have Slurp! left to do. Each one uses a different shape for its graphic elements and each stitch in each coaster is different. The stitch guide is going to be a ton of fun, with all these really cool stitches and effects. Slurp! which I’m just starting is all circles and will be challenging to do as making good circles in needlepoint is challenging. As a result I’m stitching the background first. I’ve been writing and writing but most of the guides I’m doing right now are a bit long, so I can’t cross things off my list. Oh well
According to this recent article in The Chicago Tribune, needlepoint, particularly pillows, is a new decorating trend. And I couldn’t be happier. Anyone who has been to my house knows that there are three things you can count on, besides good food — colorful walls, eclectic decorating, and needlepoint. While I’m not sure colorful walls are staging a big comeback, two hallmarks of the new decorating trends are eclectic style and needlepoint. Take that modern chair and mix it up with a very traditional needlepoint pillow. Or, do as I have done in my living room, pictured above. This very traditional wing chairs has a needlepoint pillow on it. But it’s needlepoint with a difference. Instead of the traditional florals you might expect, the pillow is bright, modern, and geometric. Some have been designed by me, some by others. But what’s key is the mixture of styles. Look around, how
A Canadian company, Treenway hand-dyes their lovely silks and ribbons on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. They make many different weights and types of silk yarn, ribbons in several widths, and some silk blend yarns. They also dye their yarns in a consistent color palette. Currently their are 100 hand-dyed colors, plus three special series of coordinated colors in several fibers. These are Canadiana with 30 colors, the Montano series, 74 colors designed with Judith Baker Montano, and the Gulf Island series with 17 colors. 20/2 Silk Noil is a slightly bumpy, matte silk thread, made from crushed cocoons. The fibers in this thread are shorter than most other silks, which is what causes the matte texture. It is the dark blue in the mask. While this thread is bumpy, it is also fine and gives light to normal coverage for Tent Stitch on 18 mesh canvas. It also
Originally posted 2008-09-21 07:33:36. Republished by Blog Post PromoterI have blogged a couple of times about Pierrette’s charming stitching of Anne Stradal‘s The Morning After. She recently put up a post showing her stitching of the companion piece, The Night Before. This design shows Mrs. Santa busily trying to finish up her last minute projects. It’s really interesting to read about the changes she has made and her plans. Check it out!
Focus on Finishing, a blog which mainly deals with how to finish cross stitch pieces, recently had a tutorial on how to make a simple pillow ornament. Thanks to Jane in Chilly Hollow for finding this. As is the case with most finishing, the process is the same, but for needlepoint you will have to tweak the materials. This is because needlepoint is both thicker and stiffer than cross stitch or embroidery on fabric. Remember this and you’ll do fine. Most importantly, you will need a heavy material for your backing fabric. While the ornament in the tutorial used a calico for the back, for needlepoint that won’t hold up. Pick something heavy. I’ve used upholstery and drapery fabrics, ultrasuede, wool, corduroy, velvet and upholstery silks. Second, if you have used open canvas anywhere in your design, you will need to line the needlepoint before finishing the ornament. The lining
Originally posted 2009-01-15 18:21:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter An enduring needlepoint problem is circles. While there are ways to make large ones, as seen in this post from Judy Harper and this article from ANG’s site, small circles defeat many stitchers. Jean Hilton developed a wonderful stitch for making circles called Jessica and now Orna Willis has helped us conquer them with a new How to on her site. This simple how to clearly shows the stitch. To change sizes, change the number of stitches on each side which will also change the length of the stitches. The circle is formed by the way the stitches cross each other and twist around. From this you get pretty raised circles
Originally posted 2009-05-27 05:56:53. Republished by Blog Post PromoterAs needlepointers, we don’t have to worry about this when we buy jand painted needlepoint canvas, the margins are already there. And often, when we work on a project, the designer has provided the correct canvas size for you. Unlike cross stitchers, our patterns don’t often have stitch counts on them, so if we need to figure out the size of canvas to cut, we need to work a bit. Here’s how to do it. You first need to figure out the size of the finished design. I generally only use rough counts here. Most charted pieces will have slightly darker lines every ten lines (sometimes every 5)/ I use those as my guidelines and count the tens, then add in the extra. Always count at the widest points in both directions. Write it down and repeat the process for the other