free projects Archive

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

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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!

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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

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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!

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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

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Are you looking for a way to make ornaments that look sophisticated, use your stash threads but that can be finished quickly? Look no further than 14-count plastic canvas and the wealth of quilt designs. This Spoolies Plastic Canvas Needlepoint Quilt Ornament is a perfect introduction to this much-overlooked material and to the wealth of great quilt designs. It’s part of the Plastic Canvas Blog Hop. My grandmother was a seamstress and I remember loving all the wooden spools of brightly colored thread at her home. This quilt reminds me of her. It’s based on a free quilt pattern from Humble Bee Buzzings. I lightened both the spool ends and the background. 14-count plastic canvas is easily found at most craft shops. It comes in 8.5 x 11 inch sheets usually in white and clear. Either can be used although clear works slightly better for the front and white for

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This month’s Learn-A-Stitch Owl features stitches from the book Stitch Ins & Outs for the body. Although the stitches are designed for buildings, as you can see you can use them for so much more. Tomorrow find my Plastic Canvas Blog Hop project. In this post I used: Pebbly Perle Baroque Silk The Thread Gatherer Silken Perle Belle Soie Lorikeet Watercolours Trace the outline of the owl onto your canvas. Remember that the owls and the tip of the top triangle are represented by dots and transfer them as well. From the middle dot, draw two diagonal lines to make the top triangle. Head Stitch the triangle in the top center of the head in Encroached Gobelin below. This stitch is columns of Continental with open canvas between them. Add the eyes using brads. Mine were bought at Michael’s awhile ago. These are about 3/4″ in diameter and came in

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You’ll have to wait until May 15 to see my project, but in the meantime take a look at these wonder plastic canvas projects provide by a number of different designers. THe idea was developed and coordinated by my friend Diane of CraftPod. She’s long been a fan of using plastic canvas in ways that are beyond the usual design. I’ve featured many of them on this blog (click on the category plastic canvas under techniques to find them. You can visit her blog post to get the complete list of designers, days when the projects go up, and links to the blogs

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Originally posted 2010-11-28 07:21:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Even though I’ve lived in California for more than 30 years, I miss the color of the Fall Leaves. I am happy about every little bit of color on our hills (California oaks don’t change colors) and I’m kept reasonably sane because grape vines change beautifully. At this time of year I’m missing the leaves and am wanting to stitch some. Originally I used stencils for my outlines, but it’s even easier to use printed outlines like these ones from Tricia-Rennea (found through a post by Denise on Craft Gossip). To use these for needlepoint. Enlarge the original drawing to the size you like. Print more or make copies if needed. Draw a shape on paper to be the size of your finished needlepoint and arrange the leaves inside it. When you like the arrangement tape the leaves down. Using a

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This ornament is based on Christmas quilts which have large trees made up of triangular patches of many different kinds of green fabric. A trunk of brown is added along with white and red borders. The green threads should be mostly solid or variegated with only slight changes in color. Tweeded threads add interest while not changing color. This ornament works up very quickly and makes an unusual decoration for the tree. To make the ornament you will need: 1 card Rainbow Gallery Backgrounds “Natural Silk” (BG1) 5 different green threads from your stash 1 shade brown yarn in a matte color 1 skein red variegated yarn 18 mesh canvas canvas 4″ x 6″ Begin about 1.5″ from the left side of the canvas. Following the ornament picture for color choice, make the bottom row of triangles. All the triangles are five stitches; the smallest size below. Once the bottom

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Originally posted 2009-06-21 06:36:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Remember our stash-busting needlepoint challenge this month? I wanted to bring you up-to-date on my progress and plans. I decided I wanted it to look like stained glass, so I’m using one of my favorite colors of Kreinik, Gunmetal (025HL) for the outline. I love the way it looks like the lead in stained glass. I’m about 2/3′s done with the outline and have finished off one spool of the metallic. It will probably use all of the second spool. My original plan was to use just scrap threads in many colors, but my DH told me he liked the smaller pool of colors in the original chart. So I’ve changed my thinking. I had already pulled out violets, blue-violets, and grays for another project, so I’m going to use that restricted palette. I also looked at the chart, it uses

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The bright colors and bold graphics of the Sixties is the inspiration for this delightful pillow from Ziva Needlepoint. It’s easy to stitch in one simple stitch — Brick Stitch. Even better, the post with the design has some great information about this era and its iconic art. Get it all here

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Originally posted 2010-02-08 07:39:32. Republished by Blog Post PromoterOver the weekend Denise at Craft Gossip published a post of free needlepoint designs. You know I’m crazy about her round-ups of free projects, which she publishes often. Usually needlepoint charts are listed among the other charts, so this is a rare opportunity to indulge in the wonderful talent and generosity out there. There are also lots of whole stitch cross stitch charts (which can be stitched as is in needlepoint). I’m particularly fond of the mosaic motif in the previous post. But there are tons of great ideas in that post (A is for Apple, that great rooster) and in the Valentine’s motifs, she’s been posting all week. If you’re in need of a little pick-me-up, especially in light of the recent snow storm, take a look and give yourself a present. In fact, I’m going off to print a bunch

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Personal Plaids, often called birthday plaids, use a name for the stripe sequence in one direction and a date for the sequence in the other direction. Why not use this technique to create a birthday plaid for the United States? To create a great design that could be a lovely boxtop, I added initials and put the whole thing into an outline of the US. Add a simple gold T Stitch background and you have a delightful project. To create this design you will need: 18-mesh mono white needlepoint canvas 9″ x 11″ 1 skein each your choice of thread in red, white and blue (I used Silk & Ivory) 1 spool Tapestry (#12) gold metallic thread 1 spool Fine (#8) gold metallic thread Pigma Micron (extra Fine tip) marker to trace outline gold marker suitable for fabric to trace letters Step-by-step Instructions Trace the outline (click to see full

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Originally posted 2008-11-03 15:57:41. Republished by Blog Post PromoterJudy Harper has published another delightful Four-way Bargello ornament on her FREEIBIES, Etc. blog. I love this style of ornament. It’s very similar to the Four-way ornament I did of hers last year and blogged about here. The finished ornament is stitched in traditional Christmas colors, but look through the post, the one in progress is stitched in a pretty combination of pink and violet. Here’s how to change the colors: This design uses four shades in various threads. You have a neutral background color – white here a metallic accent – gold the main color – red, two threads the accent color – green Let’s do a color based on an overdye. Use that as your accent thread. Most overdyes have an main color and 1-3 accents. Pick the one of them you like best as your main color. Then lighten

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