gifts Archive

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

Read More...

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!

Read More...

Originally posted 2009-11-23 07:01:57. Republished by Blog Post PromoterAbout a month before Christmas is not the best time to start thinking about making Christmas gifts. But, judging from my email, many of you are procrastinators, just like me. I went into my usual panic (even though I’m in remarkably good shape at the moment) and got thinking about what to look for to make needlepoint into gifts. In no particular order, here are some ideas: needlepoint bookends Get a set of inexpensive metal bookends and some 14 mesh plastic canvas. Stitch the canvas to be about 1″ bigger than the bookend on the sides and top. Make two of these. Cut two more pieces the same size, but don’t stitch them. Spray paint the bookends another color if desired. Stitch one stitched and one unstitched piece of canvas together and slip the bookend in. Photo Albums Look for albums with

Read More...

Originally posted 2010-11-07 07:29:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Do you have some rounds of needlepoint sitting around stitched but not made into anything? One idea I’ve thought about often is using them to make pincushions. On the craft blog, Creations by Kara, there are great instructions on using an old tunafish can to make a pincushion (pictured above). As you can see she used fabric for the top, but needlepoint would work just as nicely. The critical thing here is the size of the needlepoint (a 9.5″ circle), including 1/2″ of unstitched canvas. Put your gathering stitches 1/4″ inch from the edge and use a REALLY strong thread like heavy linen or perle cotton. Otherwise the instructions should be followed. You could also do this with smaller cans, like small cat food cans to make a group of dainty pieces. They will also make great gifts for sewing friends!

Read More...

Originally posted 2010-03-30 08:41:57. Republished by Blog Post Promoter William Morris had a famous saying about not having anything in your life that you did not know to be useful or thought was beautiful. I have also long thought that there is plenty of room in life for the useful things to be beautiful as well. That’s why I want to point out to you several great ways to add beauty (in the form of needlepoint to your life. First off, and pictured above is this lovely laser-cut alder wood heart pictured here, available on Etsy. One thing I love about this is that the wood is so lovely, it becomes the background to the needlepoint. I learned about it from Denise over at Craft Gossip. But there are so many other wonderful products that have punched grids to embellish with your stitching. AMH Designs has several stupendous items with

Read More...

Originally posted 2008-12-23 06:17:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Has this ever happened to you? The canvas for the perfect gift hasn’t come in yet. Or you are still stitching and the Christmas finishing deadline was back in the Fall. Not that this hasn’t happened many times before to me, but last year I actually had a good idea for what to do about it. Yes, I’ve wrapped up and given the unfinished canvas, but somehow that never seems special enough. And I feel guilty exposing my work in progress to others. Last year, very close to Christmas I found this delightful Botswana angel from Painted Pony. My DH and I love the Number One Ladies Detective Agency books and he has wanted to visit Botswana for decades. So I thought this would be perfect for him and ordered it right away. But what to do, it couldn’t get her

Read More...

Originally posted 2008-12-24 06:04:29. Republished by Blog Post PromoterIt’s Christmas Eve. If you’re lucky you have your shopping done. If you’re unlucky you still have some people who need gifts. Why not give them something special? Give them the gift of your time and the gift of a craft which is relaxing, creative, and always fascinating — give them the gift of needlepoint! I have a friend who took up needlepoint over the summer, but you could do the same thing as a gift. Put together in a box or project bag a card announcing the gift of a first project and needlepoint lessons, a package of needles, a threader, and some scissors. Then after Christmas, and from your stash, you pick out a canvas, threads, and stretcher bars. If more threads need to be bought, buy them together. Use this piece to teach her needlepoint. My friend is going

Read More...

Wouldn’t you love to have a couple of easy, unique needlepoint projects in your back pocket that you could make as special gifts? Wouldn’t it make you happy if you could finish them yourself and make each one perfect for the receiver? You can with these two delightful Initial Needlepoint Gifts. In this two-lesson mini-class you’ll learn everything you need to create both the Initial Ornament and the Big Initial Boxtop, including how to finish them. This email class will teach you: how to enlarge a letter for needlepoint how to transfer it to canvas how to create a great design and background how to pick an alphabet suitable for needlepoint how to finish an ornament and boxtop This class is an email class beginning May 5, 2013. Because it arrives in your mail, you can take it at your own pace. Because you pick the threads and colors, it’s

Read More...

Even if you have never tried your own design before you will learn how easy it is to create lovely personalized gifts in this Initial Needlepoint Mini-Class. In this two-lesson class you’ll create two gifts: the initial ornament and the super-size initial boxtop. You’ll learn: how to enlarge a letter for needlepoint how to transfer a design to needlepoint canvas how to pick an alphabet that works for monograms using Bargello needlepoint as a background using metallic effectively as a background self-finishing for boxtop or ornament Because the class is on-line, you don’t ned to travel to learn or even learn at the time the class is held. Nothing could be easier. The class begins May 5, 2013 and is only $20. This is an early bird discount. On April 4, 2013, the price goes up to $25. Use the PayPal button below to enroll now. If you would prefer

Read More...

As long as you have a box top or other item that will take needlepoint and a little time, you can make this charming Little Star Needlepoint Porcelain Box. Colored canvas together with some leftover bits of thread and about an hour of stitching gives you this charming gift. While the colors I suggest are for the rose box, you can pick a color of Impressions and two coordinating metallic colors on colored canvas to make a box which matches any place you want it to go. Not only do these type of boxes come in porcelain, you can also get them in crystal or exotic woods. Whenever you make one, people always comment on how wonderful they are. Materials Needed Caron Collection Impressions overdyed in Rose Quartz (about 5-6 strands) partial spool Kreinik #8 braid in 024HL (fuchsia) partial spool Kreinik #12 braid in 2094HL 18 HPI sage green

Read More...

This lovely project is Ziva Needlepoint’s tribute to Monet. This needlepoint scissors case free pattern features a cloisonne waterlily, stitched in Satin Stitch. It also includes French Knots and STem Stitch. On Ziva’s page for the design, you get information about the background of the design, Satin Stitch instructions, and all the instructions you need to make the project

Read More...

Originally posted 2010-12-11 07:53:36. Republished by Blog Post PromoterMy friend Jen Funk-Weber is currently showcasing a number of small projects that you can finish in time for Christmas giving. I’m delighted by this clever idea for making dangling needlepoint gift tags, she calls “Noodle Tags.” It’s a creative way to use up small pieces of canvas you’d normally throw away and to use threads from your stash. The linked tutorial has stitch diagrams and instructions as well as pictures of some other tags. Only have white canvas? You could color it with paint, a stamp pad, or fabric markers. Or, as one of her tags does, you could sew it to some colored felt or leave it white and use a bright thread. I simply love this idea for a clever little gift

Read More...

Originally posted 2008-12-17 18:37:25. Republished by Blog Post PromoterLess than 10 days until Christmas and you still need to make some gifts. You don’t want to give an unfinished canvas, you want something you can stitch and finish quickly. All about Stitching has a series of delightful projects you can stitch and finish in plenty of time. They’re called Stitch, Slip & Go. They consist of a hand-painted canvas, done on 12 mesh canvas, so it’s quick to stitch and a tote bag. Stitch the needlepoint, slip it into the pocket in the bag and sew the pocket shut. And, instantly, you have a wonderful project. Besides these canvases, you can make something even more quickly by using one of their 7 mesh canvases for the bag insert. These come packaged in kits with their own project bag. Great stuff, great gift

Read More...

Originally posted 2008-11-07 07:12:32. Republished by Blog Post PromoterAMH Designs has made a huge impact both in and outside the needlepoint world. Amy’s modern designs and inventive uses of needlepoint have been talked about everywhere. I just love her clean, modern style and the way she is making needlepoint easy for people who have thought they couldn’t needlepoint. She wrote to me recently about a new product — needlepoint iPod/phone cases. She said: “[They] are stitched on plastic canvas- which gives them a nice rigidity. And I use Paternayan wool thread (no acrylic junk) so they look really nice when they are all stitched up. People love them although many don’t want to take the time to make one themselves (at least that is what I am finding in New York where people seem not to have a lot of free time. Maybe with the economy going sour, they might

Read More...

Originally posted 2008-12-15 11:24:29. Republished by Blog Post PromoterLINK UPDATED 7/10/12I feel kind of like the wife who got a drill for Christmas by suggesting this as a gift. But on the other hand . . . How many times have I snagged thread on untaped canvas? How often am I frustrated because I can’t buy a roll of tape from my LNS or it isn’t open or I can’t get down there and end up using masking tape? So today’s suggestion for a lovely stocking stuffer is artist’s tape, otherwise known as “That White Tape” to put on the edges of your canvas. This tape is thicker and more solid than masking tape. Like masking tape it is “low tack” meaning it isn’t very sticky. But unlike masking tape, it won’t stain the canvas, nor will the adhesive flake off. It comes in many widths (I like 1″ best)

Read More...