Nuts about Needlepoint » magazines

Four Needlepoint Gift Tags – Free Pattern

Janet Perry — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:51:07 +0000

Get these free gift tag patterns at My 365 magazine's site.

These four almost Twinchie (34 stitches square) quilt blocks are really quick to stitch and can be finished quickly to make simple ornaments or gift tags.

They are stitched in colors to compliment the overdyed canvas colors, but any scrap of mono canvas will do.

I just love the bright bold look.

The patterns for the quartet are free and can be found in My 365‘s holiday issue, out today. The beautiful magazine is on-line and free.

As a part of the issue, I’m participating in a giveaway of my books. Visit the site to learn how to enter.

BTW to turn any of these into a true Twinchie, just add a one row “binding” in Continental as a border.

UPDATE: I was told the issue was posting today (it isn’t up as of about 9:30 Pacific), but I would check back daily until it’s up. As of late Friday evening (12/2), the holiday issue is up.

Needlepoint Quilt Block Gift Tags – New Free Pattern

Janet Perry — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:33:11 +0000

Get these free gift tag patterns at My 365 magazine's site.

These four almost Twinchie (34 stitches square) quilt blocks are really quick to stitch and can be finished quickly to make simple ornaments or gift tags.

They are stitched in colors to compliment the overdyed canvas colors, but any scrap of mono canvas will do.

I just love the bright bold look.

The patterns for the quartet are free and can be found in My 365‘s holiday issue, out today. The beautiful magazine is on-line and free.

As a part of the issue, I’m participating in a giveaway of my books. Visit the site to learn how to enter.

BTW to turn any of these into a true Twinchie, just add a one row “binding” in Continental as a border.

Clippings – Holiday Weekend Edition

Janet Perry — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:43:24 +0000

Considering we went to friends on Thursday, so I didn’t have to cook, and that we didn’t go shopping, I’ve been pooped since Friday afternoon. I’m figuring it’s been all the household chores and organizing my DH and I did all week.

So today I have a clippings post with an assortment of intriguing and useful blog posts I came across over the weekend.

Threadworx Journal was immensely popular in its on-line version. Happily, Threadworx has decided to make each issue of the magazine available in a printed version. You can buy them each here. Each issue is $11.99. They use PayPal for the sales.

Finding ornament patterns that work for boys can be tough. But the Cross Stitch design Kell Smuthwaite of Kincavel Krosses has an adorable whole stitch Little Samurai chart available free on her site. These would make such cute ornaments.

I saw these bottle top ornaments on Craft Gossip (thanks Denise!) and was thinking they were made on soda bottle tops, so they wouldn’t work well for needlepoint. But when I looked at the tutorial, I found they were made from milk or juice bottle tops.

The instructions talk about fabric. But you can easily adapt them to needlepoint by stitching on Congress Cloth or by doing needlepoint on evenweave fabric. I love the look of these little guys. They would make such great little gifts.

Finding great mats for your needlepoint can be a real challenge. Often it’s easier (and more interesting) to find a fabric that sets off the stitching perfectly. But fabric does not a mat make. Thanks to Denise at Craft Gossip I discovered this great tutorial on how to make fabric-covered mats. While she suggests cotton, any light-weight fabric will work.

If you follow my thrifty needlepoint idea of stitching in standard frame sizes, you should be able to find mats with openings that size that fit standard frame sizes. Buy a fat quarter of a great fabric, the mat, and a frame you like and you have the makings of a completely unique gift.

On the BeStitched blog there is the start of a series on beginning and ending threads. This post covers Basketweave.

Many of my friends have stitched Maggie Lane’s Kimono using the little book published that collected more than 90 stitches in one place. And it is stunning indeed. I have the book, but haven’t gotten to it. John Waddell has updated the piece from its restrained ecru colors to a bright and bold collection. He will be offering the class through the Shining Needle Society next year. You can read about it in this post and sign up on the SNS Home Room. This may be enough to get me working on it at last.

DIY Needlepoint – Adler-inspired Bargello

Janet Perry — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:01:20 +0000

When I saw these charming Jonathon-Adler needlepointed flask in the December Allure, I know I had to use it as the basis of Bargello. Not only do I love the colors and it’s masculine feel, but I can’t afford the $98 price tag.

So bargello it is, and I’ve put the pattern below (click picture for full-size chart).

On to the colors. Depending on how you’ll be finishing it, go for a single type of thread in these colors: grey, brown, navy, light blue, white, aqua, olive, and yellow. If you like the rose one better, get rid of grey, aqua, and olive, and add taupe, light pink, pink, hot pink, and red. Follow the sequence of colors in the original.

I’m planning mine from wool and putting it into my new Lee’s tote. And, of course, I’m using the pink version using threads from my stash including High Cotton, Vineyard Merino, and three kinds of Ty-Di threads. All of these should wear well. I’m stitching it up right now and it will go into my Lee Needle Arts tote that has a removable area for needlepoint.

If you are looking for more Bargello (and Bargello-ish) inspiration, check out this post on Style Beat (the flask picture came from there).

Magazine Alert & Needlepoint Gift Ideas

Janet Perry — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:57:09 +0000

Originally posted 2008-11-23 03:56:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I love December issues of magazines, they always have such cool things, cleverly disguised as gift ideas.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about AMH’s kits to make needlepoint iPod cases. One is pictured in the December issue of Lucky magazine. It’s the section of the Gift Guide called Anglomania and has a Union Jack on it. The price is $25.

The December issue of Elle has a great needlepoint coin purse from Jonathan Adler. It’s round and zippered and has a dollar sign on the front. It’s shown in two color combinations, black and white and pale pink and orange. The price is $28.

Speaking of gifts — are you looking for a neat, inexpensive tool tote for your needlepoint? I was in Wal-mart this week and saw, in their school supplies section, a pencil pouch which came in a couple of Pucci-style prints. The colors really popped. They were about 6-8 inches long and had a zipper on the top and, I think, a little loop for a hanger. I loved them and at under $4, they are a great deal.

Pixel Stitching – Magazine Alert

Janet Perry — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:40:45 +0000

Originally posted 2008-05-20 03:20:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I don’t know if you read Craft magazine, but you should. It’s a quarterly magazine about making stuff which is fresh, fun, and endlessly creative.

I always find exciting, interesting, and inspiring projects, artists, and ideas in it.

I want recommend the current issue to you especially. You’ll know it, it’s one the newsstands now and has a pair of Converse high tops with knitted tops on them on the cover.

I often get questions about how to convert a picture into needlepoint and often wonder how to do this so it looks good and look like needlepoint, not a needlepoint of a picture.

The current issue of Craft has a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this using Photoshop. The example takes a photo of a pigeon in flight, shows you pictures throughout the process and has a photo of the resulting whole stitch counted cross stitch piece.

Since it’s whole stitch, there is no reason why it couldn’t be needlepoint.

There are a couple of points I’d like to bring up about the process, one in the magazine, one not.

First off, the magazine urges you to pick a picture with the right amount of clarity and detail. The more small fussy details the source photo has, the more the end result will be fussy and cease to look like needlepoint and more like a bad imitation of a photo. I think this is the main reason why needlepoint conversions of people’s faces always look bad to me. A face has lots of detail and lots of color changes. So you always have a scaling problem when you convert them to needlepoint (I discussed this type of problem in an earlier post).

Second, and the article doesn’t cover this, pixel stitching only works when you can step back far enough to have the pixels blend with your eye. This is why pixels work in printing artwork in the first place. If you’ve ever wondered about it, look at a newspaper photo close up, you can see the dots. Step back and you see the pictures. Applying this to needlepoint. I think pixel shading only works when the mesh size of the canvas is fairly small. I pretty much would only do this on 14 or 18 mesh.

But I loved the process and one of these days I’m going to try it for myself.

Thread Candy Studio – Product Review

Janet Perry — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:47:37 +0000

Thread Candy Studio is not a magazine, back in library school it’s what we would call a serial publication. It has significantly more content than a magazine, and comes out from time to time, often at regular intervals, but sometimes not.

Think of it as a book in parts.

TCS is something unique in the world of needlepoint. Through the issues you’ll get stitch guides, technique information and project ideas. These are mostly for needlepoint, but there are other crafts covered as well.

The first section of the magazine, Art Candy, emphasizes designs (through many line drawings) and inventive stitching techniques. This time the theme was sheep and two lovely ides for stitching them are shown with many photos to illustrate. I can’t wait to try them.

The next section, Sprinkles, is sub-titled adorn & embellish. The technique here is candied fruit and uses fruit slice buttons and glitter glue to create a great candy effect. I love the way that this idea is given in such detail and integrates the button into the needlepoint in a subtle and inventive way with the glitter glue. Following this is a one-page tutorial on creating a crystal-embellished holiday bulb. This is the first of an on-going series.

Create Candy is the largest section and is devoted to projects and tutorials. Although you may not be buying the canvases for these projects, I think you’ll love the creative and unexpected ideas for stitching your projects found here. In this issue you’ll find a great way to stitch candy sticks (I’m thinking of adapting it to tree trunks), beading as accents, as well as a ton of stitch suggestions and stitching ideas (I love the different sky ideas). So in this section you have project ideas, stitch guides, and quick projects all combined together. There is also a project using felt.

Another section has finishing and display ideas, large clear stitch diagrams, and a needlepoint or felt “paper doll,” Candy Girl, who promises to have outfits in every issue.

Thread Candy Studio is available in two types of bindings, I bought the spiral-bound, and can be ordered as single issues or as a subscription. On the home page, click to go to the shopping cart to order. Many people have complained about the price and the fact that it is missing on their home page. Yes, it’s expensive, but it is also full of ideas that will take your needlepoint to the next level, so it’s worth the price. The subscription price is high, so I suggest buying single issues, that what I’m doing. I think the absence of price information on their site is a big fault, but, I am told, they are working on a new improved web site.

Like any serial publication, or even TV series, the first issue is not all that we hope it will be. But I think TCS has great possibilities for changing what we do in needlepoint.

There are plenty of great topics planned for coverage in future issues including finishing, embellishment, and more installments in their projects series. Just last week they announced that subscribers will get their upcoming special issue free. Single copies can be ordered beginning in August.

A Needle Pulling Thread – Magazine Review

Janet Perry — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:20:00 +0000

A Needle Pulling Thread is a quarterly magazine covering all needlearts published in Canada. It’s one of the best needlework magazines I’ve ever see — beautifully produced, well-written, tons of articles of all kinds, and with simply fantastic projects.

I have the Spring 2011 issue and I’m getting a subscription so I don’t miss out on more of them. The issue had projects in knitting, free embroidery, and mixed media, along with a needlepoint project and several projects that can be applied to needlepoint.

The needlepoint was a stunning and ambitious trianglepoint project based on an oriental rug. The rug hooking project, Three Sheep, could easily be done as needlepoint. Probably my favorite piece in the whole magazine was the pottery pincushions; I”m thinking of ways to adapt this delightful idea to needlepoint.

On top of the projects there are more articles on all aspects of needlework including some on techniques, trends, and historical needlework. I went crazy for the articles on the grain elevator project by a rug hooking guild (great inspiration for needlepoint) and on Pysanky Beaded Eggs (I need to get some of these). And there are also some multi-part articles exploring techniques in more depth. This issue the were on a free embroidery doll, Swedish weaving, and Peyote Stitch in beading.

Not only is there an almost mind-boggling amount of information, the production of the magazine is great. It’s printed on matte, not glossy paper, making it feel good in your hands. The pictures are clear and large enough to show detail. Many projects have stp-by-step photos. The charts and line drawings are large and clear. There aren’t tons of ads.

The magazine is under $9 and I’ve seen it on several newsstands (I don’t get to needlework shops much, but I’m sure many carry it). You can also find out about it on their website, www.aneedlepullingthread.com.

I’m in love and can’t wait for the next issue.

Publishing a Needlepoint Magazine

Janet Perry — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:45:48 +0000

Originally posted 2009-06-08 04:41:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I’ve been thinking about this often in the past week. Publishing a magazine is hard, and often thankless work. Not only do you have to deal with printers (who often miss deadlines with new accounts) and the Post Office (many of whom have no idea how to deal with mailing magazines), you have many other worries as well.

You have to balance advertising and editorial space. It isn’t as simple as running this article or that ad in addition to what you have, magazines come in whole pages ands the pages must be filled on both sides. So you don’t add a single ad, you add two or three, and you add most of two pages of articles. What if you don’t have enough stuff for two pages? Something gets cut.

You have to balance the needs of your readers with the capabilities of printing. Stitchers want and buy hand painted canvas needlepoint, overwhelmingly. But they don’t work too well on the page. So the author needs to translate it into something which will. One approach is to do what Cross Stitch & Needlework does, turn it into a chart. That’s what their readers want and expect. Another approach is to turn the canvas into a line drawing, which I have also seen. A third approach, which Needlepoint Now has taken in the current magazine is to include the stitch guide and let you buy the canvas.

I like this the best, the canvas can be more complicated and it is likely to give me some good ideas I can use elsewhere.

You have to balance the needs of stitchers at many levels, encouraging the beginners, but not alienating experienced stitchers. You need to excite new and younger stitchers, but not make aging baby boomers (the main needlepointers) feel left out.

You have to find your voice and make it distinct. Publishing a magazine is not publishing a blog, it isn’t there every day and even so many blogs take years to find a voice. It’s one of the hardest things to do.

You have to encourage new contributors and keep the old ones. People like continuity and many buy a magazine for one or two authors. Lose them, for whatever reason, and people might look elsewhere.

I’ve got to say I am tremendously impressed with what Elizabeth has done in one issue of Needlepoint Now. I thought the magazine had gotten tired and stale of late and had dropped my charter subscription. Several other stitchers I know had done the same. Talking to Elizabeth and looking at the current issue, I think she’s made a remarkable start. She has several columnists continuing and has added some new ones with new voices. She has continued series which were ongoing and she has added coverage of what stitchers buy most, painted canvases.

But no magazine is perfect. What would you like to see?

Spool Magazine – a new fiberarts quarterly

Janet Perry — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:39:21 +0000

Spool is a new and delightful quarterly magazine devoted to creating “good stuff.” I was intrigued by the idea when I read about it and the first issue doesn’t disappoint. Their goal is not to create heirloom projects or to provide complex rules, but to inspire “right now” stitching and to give you a jumping off place for your own creativity. Throughout the magazine there are charts (all whole stitch and usable for needlepoint) and line drawings, that you can use to make unique projects. The projects themselves cover a broad variety of needlearts including needlepoint, crewel, punch needle, knitting, and cross stitch, but most of the projects can easily be adapted to your favorite stitchery. There are lots of articles, and book reviews too. And a lovely charted adaptation of Manet’s The Fifer, which I saw three times over the summer at an Impressionist exhibit of paintings from the D’Orsay Museum. And, if you have some original designs, they are looking for contributors. Magazines like this are a great way to get started and share your original work. Check their website for details. In short, it’s great. Related posts: Canvas Quarterly A Needle Pulling Thread – Magazine Review Pixel [...] Related posts: