Compensation, or the process of fitting partial stitches into edges and corners of your needlepoint, is often confusing. That’s true even of experienced stitchers. Compensation can range from easy to difficult depending on the stitch (oblique is harder than diagonal) and the shape of the area (curves are harder than straight lines). But, unless we plan on having exposed canvas, we’ll need to compensate on every canvas. Joni Stevenson has written a blog post about compensating diagonal stitches along a straight edge. It’s wonderfully detailed and has tons of her large clear diagrams that show you exactly what you need to know to compensate these common stitches. If compensation confuses you, this in-depth tutorial is ideal
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Originally posted 2008-12-21 06:22:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Is your husband like mine, unwilling to enter a needlepoint shop on his own? Today’s needlepoint gift is the perfect solution. He will get to shop in a store he’ll love and you will get some great project bags. The store is Cabela’s and the bag (pictured above) is the Wet Essentials Bag. It can be found in the camping section. Three sizes are available, large (10×8), extra-large (12×10) and XXL (15×12). The mesh on the outside makes them impervious to scissors and needles. The zipper will hold your stuff in the bag. They have a clamp in the side so you can attach them to things like your table or floor stand and the gusset bottom makes for easy expansion. I love my bags and the price (under $10 for the largest size) is great. I’m so glad me friend
Snap Trays are all the rage these days for storage, ort containers, and bead containers but did you know that you can make your own? The advantage here is that you can use fabrics in your stash and create it so it just the look and size you want. I found some wonderful internet resources to do just this. My Little Mochi has a tutorial to make a round snap tray using a plate a a pattern. Noodlehead’s tutorial makes three sizes of rectangular trays. The book Fabric One-yard Wonders has a snap travel tray as part of a set called “Jet Set.” A New Zealand company, Zippy Designs, has patterns for several in different sizes with different kinds of hand-quilting on them. Their pattern includes a template for the perfect placement of snaps. Craftsy has a free snap tray pattern as well. In the comments there was a good
Originally posted 2008-09-08 05:54:04. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe first of my eBooks to be published (out late this month) will be a collection of 50 quilt blocks charted for either cross stitch or needlepoint. The blocks are charted simply and range in size from 15×15 to 24×24. You can stitch them just as they are or substitute other stitches for each square of the chart. To inspire your creativity and to show you just how flexible these blocks can be, I let the modelstitchers loose on them, giving them no instruction, no colors, and asking them to do what they liked. One of them, Jan Sprague, just posted two of her blocks on her blog. They are really cool. The top one, Alaska Homestead, is pretty much stitched as charted, with one Tent Stitch per square on the chart. I just love the way she used overdyes on this.
Scrappy Squares Needlepoint Quilt is a quilt portrait needlepoint. I love patchwork and quilts but don’t have the sewing ability to make them. Therefore, using quilts as my inspiration I turn them into needlepoint. Many of my free projects on this blog, as well as ebooks and club projects draw on this rich store of boldly graphic designs. This design is based on squares that are multiples of each other. That’s easy to do in needlepoint with Box Stitches. A Mosaic Stitch is twice the size of a Tent Stitch. A Scotch Stitch over 4 threads is twice the size if a Mosaic Stitch. A bigger Scotch (or in this case a Mosaic in a Diagonal Gobelin border) is twice the size of the first Scotch. Knowing this you can mix and match squares to create a lively design. This quilt uses all solid colors. If you chose to use
Originally posted 2009-08-15 07:36:28. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe weekly email from a local school says that you are the best recommendation for the school. That holds true for needlepoint as well, you are the best recommendation for needlepoint there is. By wearing needlepoint shoes, carrying a bag or wallet with needlepoint on it, or stitching in public are all ways to spread the word. So once you have them interested, what can you do? I have a free email course for beginners, Right from the Beginning. People can sign up and get the course sent to them in 7 weekly lessons. It teaches several stitches, has two projects and helps people with picking their first painted canvas. If they want to try as stitch guide, sign up for the mailing list on the Napa Needlepoint home page and you will get directed to a free stitch guide. You can
Are you looking to save money on your embellishments? Look no further than your local bead store or, my favorite, Fire Mountain Gems on-line. Using jewelry and bead supplies in needlepoint is a great way to add interest easily. The disadvantage of buying this way is that often you get more than you need. You can solve this by sharing the items with your friends. The advantage is that you will save lots of money. I’ve stayed loyal to Fire Mountain for years because they offer Mix & Match Discounts so you get bulk pricing by buying many things, not just many of one thing. A recent catalog from them got my creative juices flowing so I want to share some items you might consider for embellishments. Remember that when looking a bead catalogs, most of the time pictures are actual size and sizes are in millimeters. Frosted Acrylic Flowers
Originally posted 2011-05-10 07:21:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter This charming whole stitch African Animals Sampler of was Friday’s Freebie from DMC. The picture shows its stitched on 14 count Aida, but it would be wonderful stitched on needlepoint canvas. Stitch it in a single color in a hand-dyed thread for a great rustic look. Even better, pick out a lovely color of canvas (maybe one of the hand-dyed or Nature’s Palette painted ones) and then stitch it in a darker or brighter hand-dye in the same color. Don’t want to do a sampler? Consider repeating the animals as a wide border, or even stitching the animals singly as ornaments. Thanks to DMC for providing this to us!
If you surveyed 100 people at the ANG Seminar later this summer and asked them why they stitched, you’d get lots of answers. People would tell you about how it engages their creativity, how it relaxes them, how it’s a companion, how it’s a comfort. But one word you are unlikely to hear any of them say is “work.” Even people who make their living at needlepoint probably wouldn’t call it work, because we stitch because we love it not because we make a living at it. At those times when I’m overwhelmed with deadlines, the actual stitching isn’t work — it’s a joy. And it’s those same things you say it is. So how come book after book has in its instructions these words “Work the stitch . . .”? Take note, over and over again in books, magazines, and instructions you see “work.” You don’t see “make” very
Originally posted 2009-12-18 07:10:02. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe days after Christmas are often doldrums for needlepointers. You’ve gotten all your Christmas projects done. You didn’t get any needlepoint for Christmas, and you are too tired to start something new. Why not look forward to the new year by planning some year-long projects. About.com has announced two. Here’s what they say about them. The first series is the Flavor of the Month Club and is based on ice cream on a stick. At the beginning of each month, a pattern will be posted featuring a design based on the following month (so you’ll be working a month ahead). This series will start December 1st with the “flavor” for January. At the end of the year, you’ll have 12 nifty ice creams on sticks that can be displayed in a bucket. This will really be a fun series! The second series
I don’t know about you but often I’m frustrated when learning a stitch. Yes I can try it on a canvas but often the spaces are too small or too irregular for me to have a great feel for the stitch. Ideally I’d like something big but not too big, straight-sided, easy to finish, and useful. You probably feel the same way. As part of the Plastic Canvas Blog Hop, Pam at Gingerbread Snowflakes signed up for a project. Although this was the first time she had used PC, her project is a real winner — stitch sample coasters. She used yarn and 7-count plastic canvas and made six lovely coasters. But you could use smaller count canvas and your stash threads.If I was using 14-count I’d make my coasters 3″ square. In her blog post, she shows you step-by-step how to make these. I just love this idea!
Originally posted 2011-03-20 07:14:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Liz Morrow has added four new Bargello patterns to her site. Vegas Nights, delightful in reds, was blogged stitched by her, so you could follow her progress. White Noise, a monochrome project, features three different patterns. The first monochrome Bargello I did was white, so I’m excited to try this one. Hen & Chickens hasn’t been seen before and combines regular and diagonal Bargello with a lovely (and simple) shaded four-way background. Prickly Pear shows how great Bargello can be as a background when combined with the wonderful charted needlepoint cactus. All are available with a PayPal cart on the first page of her Bargello section. For an additional fee, you can also have them printed and mailed
For lovers of Bargello Needlepoint there can be nothing finer than new projects. That there are four lovely ones is even better. The four have two groups of small projects (crackers and hearts) and two larger projects, including the one on the cover of the most recent Needlepointers. Even better there is a charming free design of a fish. You can find them all on her Bargello & Needlepoint 2 page
Originally posted 2008-07-19 11:36:53. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe 70′s and 80′s had lots of not good fashion things in them, but one trend which wasn’t was the trend for geometrics and, in the 80′s, geometrics in neutral colors. This fashion trend is one which translated well into needlepoint. Even today you can find incredibly cool modern geometrics. I found a blog post yesterday about the needlepoint of Atlantan Sol Kent. He was unhappy with the needlepoint available at the time, so he designed his own. Go take a look, the patterns are geometrics of various kinds, but the color schemes are chic neutrals like camel and white, or brown, light blue, white, and light brown. I just love them. One of the comments said “I love his pillows, which is surprising, because I am definitely a flower needlepoint kind of girl.” I’m more and Arts & Crafts/bungalow kind of
“Garden of Delights” is the theme of the new crafts contest at Dover Books. Use Dover clip art, a Dover pattern,or be inspired by a Dover book & win $100 worth of Dover books. Winners appear in an upcoming catalog. The contest ends June 30,2013. The winning entry will be selected based on originality and technique by the Dover editors. Learn all about it here