Nuts about Needlepoint » ornaments

Laura Perin’s Mini-Mystery Mondays

Janet Perry — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:58:11 +0000

Since November Laura Perin has been sharing with us a simply delightful series of small mystery projects. They are delightful little explorations of color and thread.

The thing I like about them is that each is based on an overdyed thread. That makes them a great way to explore creating a color scheme from these popular threads.

I’m bogged down on the first one (don’t ask) but my [plan is to pick broken skeins of Watercolours from my stash that I wouldn’t normally use and then challenge myself to create a pretty scheme from them using only threads in my stash.

But you should try some yourself. They are great ways to try out Laura’s design and they will give you tastes of some techniques she uses extensively, such as Blackwork on canvas, complex borders, and multi-colored Rhodes Stitches.

Here’s a breakdown, with links, to each of the five (up through last week):

Mini Mystery #1

Mini Mystery #2

Mini Mystery #3

Mini Mystery #4

Mini Mystery #5

Part One

Make an Initial Ornament

Janet Perry — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:36:52 +0000

Originally posted 2010-12-03 07:23:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

It’s easy to make and finish a round initial ornament such as this one.

Begin by finding a Lee Needle Arts round luggage tag. You can also use their round ornament, but I like the many colors of the tag.

You will also need:

18 mesh mono canvas
pigma marker
overdyed thread
background thread
one thin & one thick metallic to coordinate or contrast with overdye
ribbon
letter enlarged to fit 2 3/4″ circle

Begin by finding your letter, there are lots of alphabet sites out there and many books of fonts. This A is from a book called illuminated initials. I enlarged it to fit the space.

Use the template and your pen to trace both the circle and the letter centered inside it.

Use your overdye to stitch the letter in a textured stitch. I used Staggered Mosaic.

Once this is stitched, pick another stitch for the background and stitch it in your background thread. I used T Stitch and cream matte #8 metallic.

Once the background is complete, you want to accent the letter
with Whipped Backstitch and the other two metallics. These colors do not have to match, mine didn’t.

Begin by making Backstitch all around the ornament with the thicker metallic. These stitches should go over two threads and be right along the edge of the letter. The metallic I used, Kreinik #12, is very close to the green of the overdye.

Once the backstitch is complete wrap it with the thin metallic, Sparkle Braid here. Bring your needle out under a backstitch and emerge on one side, bring the needle over the first stitch and under the second, re-emerging on the first side.

Continue to wrap like this, without your needle entering the canvas until the outline is wrapped.

To end a thread, bring your needle to the back as it goes under a stitch and start the new thread in the same hole.

Trim and insert into the tag. To make it an ornament, hang it with a ribbon. Tie a knot and then a bow over it in a thin but pretty ribbon making a loop. Thread the opposite end of the loop into the hole at the top of the tag. and pull it through a bit. Bring the bow end of the loop through the loop end and pull it tight. This is called a Lark’s Head Knot and is a perfect hanger for your charming ornament.

Free Christmas Ornament Patterns on this Site

Janet Perry — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:56:56 +0000

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.

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.

Decorate with Needlepoint in Unexpected Ways

Janet Perry — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:22:25 +0000

Today I’m spending the day decorating our main tree with my daughter (she got home last night and asked that we wait). The stockings are hung, the garlands and mini-socks are up, the small trees are up, and a box of ornaments has been sent to my youngest who is spending Christmas at her home Back East.

The picture here is last year’s tree but if you are like me, you have more ornaments than tree, so you need to look for other places to put them.

Here’s some ideas:

Do you have a collection of needlepoint that are stand-ups? Use a shelf, the top of a low bookshelf, or the top of a cabinet to display them. My small collection of needlepoint Christmas trees joins some bottle brush trees on our bar this year.

Do you have a pretty bowl or metal bucket? Nestle some needlepoint among pine cones or matching plain glass balls.

Any hook, drawer pull or door knob can hold an ornament. Make it even more special by grouping other seasonal items with it.

Another great idea is to use ornaments in place of (or in addition to) regular gift tags. it’s hard to see against this gaudy paper, but the dark violet ornament is the tag. The ribbon matches the ornament.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Laura Perin’s Mini Mystery #3 – Free Ornament Design

Janet Perry — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:06:52 +0000

I’m afraid I’m woefully behind on doing Laura’s three delightful mini ornaments. I haven’t even finished the first one yet.

But today and last Monday she has posted the instructions and charts for the last and smallest of the ornaments.

Part 1 is here. Part 2 can be found as today’s blog post.

She also has a lovely gallery of finished mystery #2 samplers on her blog.

Quaker-Inspired Ornament Design – Freebie from Kincavel Krosses

Janet Perry — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:30:42 +0000

Kell Smurthwaite of Kincavel Krosses has free designs that are often witty (like her seven deadly sins series I wrote about here) and always just lovely.

I’ve been looking at many Quaker-inspired designs that are good sizes for ornaments because these simple, geometric patterns make great needlepoint. But, at the moment, I don’t want to buy any since I’m trying HARD to use up stash not add to it.

That’s why I simply love Kell’s charming Quaker freebie ornament. You can get the chart here and it is free to make for your personal use,

Adapt this Button Sheep to Needlepoint

Janet Perry — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:38:37 +0000

When I saw this sheep in Craft Gossip (waving to Denise) I thought it was just too cute. I have a button jar that glares at me from a shelf above my desk, saying “Use me! Use me!”

So maybe this sheep is just the thing, the tutorial comes from the blog Lines across my Face and is here. But how do you adapt a piece like this to needlepoint? Here’s how:

Begin by assembling your materials: canvas, permanent pen, acrylic paint, buttons, black thread, assorted colors of thread, white thread, 4″ embroidery hoop.
If you don’t like the color of your canvas, change it using thinned down acrylic paints. Let dry. You can modify it some more by stitching T Stitch with a thin thread after the sheep is made.
Place the buttons in the center of the canvas to test their fit.
Sew on the buttons using different colors of embroidery floss or perle cotton. Pick bright colors.
Using your permanent marker draw the sheep’s face and legs. Let dry overnight.
Stitch the face and legs using your black thread. Add an eye and outline to the face using white thread. Stitch a nice thick outline using black thread around the buttons to define the sheep’s body.
Add the stitching to the background if needed. This should be a 4″ circle.
Center the hoop’s bottom on the needlepoint. Place the top hoop on and tighten. Trim the excess canvas from the back. Add a ribbon loop and hang.

One final note: If you wanted a picture instead of an ornaments, use a 4×6 frame and outline the rectangle with your permanent marker before coloring the background. When done, cut the canvas one thread beyond the outline, put into the frame and go. Remember to remove the glass because the buttons stick out from the canvas.

Trimming the Tree – Background Choice

Janet Perry — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:33:20 +0000

Originally posted 2010-12-09 07:13:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

As you can see by the picture, I’ve gotten the tree and the background done, so I’m ready to start trimming.

Background choice can make a big difference in the finished look of a design. Pick a stitch that fights with the focal point and you can distract your eyes from it or make the needlepoint look confused overall.

Pick the right stitch and it will emphasize the focal point, the way a good setting can make a jewel look better, or the way the perfect accessory can set off an outfit.

One of the things that struck me about the tree once it was stitched is how tall it is. I decided, based on that, that I needed a background stitch with a vertical direction.

Pattern direction is not the only factor in considering stitches, you must also think about the scale of the stitch. This has two aspects.

First you need to think about the overall size of the area you are stitching. There should always be at least three repeats of the stitch in your area. That’s enough for your eye to establish a pattern. Having a pattern is important for a background — it serves to bring the design together as a whole. If my finished size had been bigger, I could have picked a larger stitch. As it is there are few parts of this design that have fewer than three repeats.

The other aspect of scale has to do with compensation. Does your design have smooth edges, or does it move in and out alot, as my tree does? The rougher the edges are, the easier it will be to compensate if the stitch or stitch pattern is small.

Taking all these factors into account. I picked Diagonal Cashmere, giving me a vertical direction. This stitch can be made in many sizes. I made it as small as possible. The longest stitches go over two threads and there are three of them.

The result?

A background that enhances the height of the tree (which will help after it’s trimmed) but which was easy to compensate.

Now on to garlands and brads.

Poinsettia Quilt Block Ornament – Free Design

Janet Perry — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:13:50 +0000

This bold;y graphic ornament is loosely based on a quilt block. Using all straight stitches and surrounded by a border of Straight Gobelins and Continental, this is a quick to finish project for the holidays.

I stitched mine on 18 mesh canvas using Kreinik 1/16″ ribbon (gold), Planet Earth wool (white), Gumnuts wool (green), and two of the new High Cotton colors (reds).

I made some changes from the chart. It’s charted for red, green, and gold. I took the green triangles in the center of each side and made them dark red. This gives the blossom some depth.

click for full-size chart

The border has one round of Straight Gobelin over three (remember to miter the corners), followed by a single row of Continental in green.

Happy Holidays from Kreinik

Janet Perry — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:19:07 +0000

Kreinik has added new free projects for the holidays to their website.

There are eight days of Hanukkah projects, with four needlepoint porjects currently, and four CRoss Stitch projects coming next week.

Throughout the month, they will be adding 25 free Christmas projects using a variety of techniques and Kreinik products. The link takes you to a calender that has thumbnails of them all.

Tomorrow a new free ornament pattern by me, I’m charting it today.