let’s get . . . Archive

Originally posted 2007-12-02 15:32:43. Republished by Blog Post PromoterI hope my previous two posts have gotten you excited about exploring the world of diaper patterns. As promised, I’ve searched the Web to bring together some additional resources about them. Diapers in Needlework (instruction) My friend, Judy Harper, loves diaper patterns and has a lovely post about them on her blog. Best of all it shows two wonderful designs. I have the egg one in my stash, but haven’t stitched it yet. On the ANG site, there is a two-part article on diaper patterns. Read Part 1 here. And Part 2 here. Ann Strite-Krutz has a wonderful sampler available to order for teaching you about diapers. Here are picutres of several stitchers work from an EGA class, Old Staffordshire, which showcases diaper patterns. Diapers in Other Media (inspriation) Artlandia has pictures of three diaper patterns. Google Books has the book Pattern

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Originally posted 2008-05-27 08:58:45. Republished by Blog Post PromoterMy husband is often fond of exclaiming “Isn’t the Internet wonderful?” Now people who know my background outside of stitching would find that ironic, as I’ve been on the Internet for more than 20 years. But, you know, he’s right, without the Internet how would we have access to all these wonderful instructional and inspirational videos about needlepoint. I was looking through YouTube last night and here is a summary (with links) of what I’ve found. If you’re looking to make hair, beards, or moustaches, you can’t do better than this excerpt from Amy Bunger’s how-to-videos. Expert Village has lots of how-to-videos and there a many for beginning needlepointers. This one covers tools and materials. There are also more advanced topics, such as Setting the mood with color. These are unscripted and are probably self-filmed so that the production values are not

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For all these years I’ve been doing needlepoint, I’ve always seen things that inspire me: great ideas, lovely needlepoint, cool techniques. And until recently I’ve kept these by making notebooks, lots and lots of notebooks. But there are several problems with them. They are not organized take up too much space new ones can be hard to find Pinterest acts as a wonderful virtual and organized notebook. I’m crazy about the site and I’m using it as a collected repository of needlepoint. On Pinterest, images are collected into boards that are of a subject. Because you determine the names of the boards, you can categorize them however you like. For example, I have a board called “cats” but another pinner (the term for users) has boards for tabby cats, white cats, black cats, and kittens. Most of my boards have to do with needlepoint and I’d like to share them

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Originally posted 2009-04-27 05:47:52. Republished by Blog Post PromoterI just realized that there are over 1800 posts on this blog and there is tons of fantastic information here, but that it can be very hard to find. So I’m going to be doing the mining for you. I’ll take a topic and write about it, linking to other posts on Nuts about Needlepoint which will give you even more information about the topic. Some of the topics we’ll cover include: backgrounds beginning needlepoint painted canvases color threads From time to time, I’ll be running more of these posts and will update the ones which are here. I’m adding a new category “Let’s get . . .” which will collect all of these posts. You will also find them in the relevant category. The first of these posts, on backgrounds, will run Wednesday

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Merry Christmas! I love CHristmas ornaments and stitch them all the time. Some of that love has been reflected in the projects I’ve done for this site. In case you are like me and want to start a new stitching project (although I’m most likely cooking not stitching), you might want to make one of these delightful little projects. Pine Trees Mini-sock Cookie Cutter Ornament Sunburst Mosaic Initial Ornament Turquoise Cross Try-a-Stitch Package Eight-point Stars Sunbonnet Sue Mini-sock Colonial Brick House, Part 1, Part 2 Besides these stand-alone projects, check out last year’s Learn-a-Stitch Mini-sock series, and the many Twinchy posts, there are lots more ornament ideas there

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With only about two weeks left before Christmas, no doubt slight panic is setting in as you think about all the things you wanted to make but haven’t finished. If you are really lucky, those things don’t need to be mailed. iIf you are really, REALLY lucky, they don’t have to be finished either. But if you are like me, you’re wringing your hands thinking about how you can get things done in time for Christmas. Since this happens to me every year, I thought i’d help out a bit by doing a round-up of some posts relating to self-finishing, easy finishing ideas, and finishing techniques. Many of these posts point to external websites for information. Self-finishing WhimZi Frames eBook Reader Cover Princely Collection Bookmark Self-finishing Bag Step by Step Tutorial Stitch a Gift Totes and Project Bags Self-finishing Clutch Patches n’Planks Boxes Easy Finishing Ideas Four Needlepoint Gift Tags

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Originally posted 2010-04-23 07:16:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Patchwork Quilts remain a rich source of inspiration of design in all kinds of media, needlepoint not the least. Every time I look at a quilt book, any quilt book, I find lots of ideas for new projects. And I’m not alone in this, many other needlepoint designers do as well. I thought on this sunny (at least here) spring Friday I’d share some of the many quilt-inspired posts and projects you can find here at Nuts about Needlepoint. First off, we have the Pyramid mini-sock post from earlier this week. Based on a traditional quilt block, Thousand Pyramids, and designed by me in about 2003, this design is one of a series of Scrap Bag Needlepoint ™ mini-socks. The Sunbonnet Sue mini-sock remains one of my favorites. Sunbonnet Sue has been so popular as a quilt pattern that there are

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Originally posted 2006-09-27 22:26:07. Republished by Blog Post PromoterHere are some great Internet resources on Bargello to get you started on exploring this great technique or doing a Bargello project. Cathy’s Bargello Page http://hal.ucr.edu/~cathy/barg/barg.html – an outstanding resource with an historical essay, lots of links, and, best of all, outstanding patterns and pictures of her work. Bargello Candle Stocking http://www.caron-net.com/dec98files/magdec.html – charming Bargello mini-sock featuring Caron Collection threads. Bargello Pine Trees Stocking http://www.caron-net.com/magfiles/magdecharts/magdec.html – charming Bargello mini-sock featuring Caron Collection threads. Steph’s Stitched Pieces http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/charts.htm – find links to pictures of several Bargello items here. Milano Evening Purse

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I hope you liked this free patterns month. There was lots of stitchy goodness here as well as plenty of inspiring patterns ands projects for you to stitch. Here’s a summary of what we saw: Turquoise Cross Pinwheel Quilt Block Pincushion Try-a-Stitch Package Think Pink (inside this article) Cross Stitch patterns to adapt Kreinik’s Free Patterns Star’s Berlinwork Cushion DMC’s Floral Tote Plan Ahead Independence Quilt Twinchie Caron’s Byzantine Ornament Scissors Case Mythbusters Quote Seize the Day Thread Bobbins Needlework Keeper If all these weren’t enough there are plenty of other ways to find posts about free patterns on Nuts about Needlepoint. The easiest way is to use the categories, found in the dark gray boxes at the top of every page. Every post that has a free pattern, mine or not, will be in the category, free patterns, found under design types. Come Stitch with Me (under Community) has

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Originally posted 2006-11-10 22:16:59. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThese days I seem to be thinking about alphabets alot. There are some fantastic resources on the Web for creating your own charted words, creating an alphabet, or just great charts. Here’s a round-up of my favorites: How to Chart your own Alphabet (http://www.lysator.liu.se/~offe/kors/tutorial/alphabet.html) This page has been around for a long time, but it gives the best instructions I’ve seen on how to chart your own alphabet. Celtic Cross Stitch (http://www.celticxstitch.ie/cgi-bin/stitches.cgi) has a free on-line chart generator which will take any word and produce a chart in a lovely Celtic alphabet. The charts of fort personal use only. Carnie’s Creations (http://www.freepatternsonline.com/xscharts/alphabets.htm) has over 40 alphabets, mostly small and simple, available on-line. There is even a Greek upper case alphabet for sorority and fraternity initials. Tink Boord-Dill’s Americana (http://www.tinkbd.com/Americana.htm) – My friend Tink has this lovely 18 stitch alphabet for free on

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Originally posted 2009-05-12 06:01:08. Republished by Blog Post PromoterMy studio is full of books. I think I buy every needlepoint book that comes out. I am always looking for “oldies but goodies” at guild auctions and library sales. I’m also one of those people who forget what books I have and so I buy them again. As a result, this site has lots of book reviews. This Let’s Get Post is a master list of the book reviews so far. Whenever I write a new review it will always be listed in the category “book reviews.” You can also find them easily that way. Bargello Books Bargello Christmas Medallions Best Bargello Book Creating Contemporary Bargello Project & Chart Books Folk Art Needlepoint The Needlepoint Belt Series Keeping the Faith Here Be Drolleries My Point Exactly Miniature Embroidered Patchwork Here Be Wyverns Exotic Textiles in Needlepoint From Molehill to Mountain Celtic

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Figuring out what to do about the background of a needlepoint piece is often perplexing. The design is so pretty on it’s white background. But stitch and suddenly something more is needed — a background. Some canvas come on colored or metallic canvas so a possible background is there. Some canvases have a painted background. But almost always you will need to stitch something. I have tried all kinds of different things for backgrounds from a pulled canvas background, to an all-metallic Giant Diagonal Mosaic. Some have worked well, some haven’t, but here are some of my favorite techniques for backgrounds. I’ve found several ways to think about what will work for a background before I make a stitch and discuss them in this post. Needlepoint Damask uses two threads with a slight contrast to make a background which is stitched entirely in Tent Stitch, but which has pattern in

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I promised you guys I would provide you with some resources for finishing. While I’m not terribly good at finishing myself, there are lots of places with information you can use to complete your own projects. There are lots of instructions for finishing available on-line. Anna Marie Winter has just made available her instructions for finishing ornaments on foam core (PDF format). On her Tips & Tricks page she has many other articles about finishing. Sandy Higgins has one of the best finishing books out there, Sandy’s Finishing Touches. Another good one is by Summer Louise Truswell. This one is particularly good if you do other types of stitching as well as needlepoint. Marcia Brown of The Binding Stitch has videos, courses, and supplies for finishing. This site, while designed for cross stitchers, has a wealth of useful articles, inclduing how to make twisted cord and tassels. Do you have

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