jewelry Archive

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

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Originally posted 2010-06-16 07:35:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Finishing Items I am just crazy about this chic self-finishing clutch from Timeless Totes. This is their first self-finished item. It comes in four colors (red, burgundy, blue and black). Lee’s Needle Arts has added leather Kindle covers to their self-finishing line. There are also new photo boxes and albums. I’m excited about the albums, because, although sometimes you can find albums that have openings deep enough to hold needlepoint, most of the time the albums you find won’t work Threads Crescent Colors has added new shades to both their perle cottons and silks. Valdani has added pure silk perle to their line-up of threads. This is great because silk perle is a wonderful thread to use. Rainbow Gallery has new colors in Very Velvet, Silk Lamé, Fuzzy Stuff, and Wispers, along with new colors in some other threads. They have

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Get a jump on fashionable dressing for Spring. Orna’s needlepoint jewelry graced several outfits on runway collection for spring 2013 from Donna Karan and others. The picture here is just one of the outfits accessorized with here necklaces, brooches, and bracelets. There’s lots more on Orna’s recent blog post. The folks watching the show may think the pieces will be out about the same time as the clothes, but we know a secret. You can buy kits for these same pieces in Orna’s Etsy shop right now. Make them and have them ready to wear for spring

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This lovely bracelet is one of Orna’s new wearble needlepoint kits, available in her Etsy shop. There are bracelets, brooches, and earrings, some in several color schemes and the prices are great. The kits include instructions, canvas, threads, embellishments and everything you need to finish the item. Best of all, they are very affordable. As Orna notes in her description, “The price is perfect for a stocking stuffer as is, or as a beautiful piece of jewelry that you make for a friend or for yourself.” You still have time to make one for holiday giving

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Needlepoint, especially vintage looking designs, has attracted the attention of the high fashion world. Several designers, including Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino, had pieces in their fall collections that were, or were inspired by needlepoint. Doc Marten’s has a pair of needlepoint-covered boots. I now see needlepoint pop up often in fashion magazines as something on editors’ radars. If it’s in high-end fashion now, there is a real possibility that it will trickle down to the masses within a couple of years. In the meantime we can be in the forefront of fashion. Do you have some vintage needlepoint? Do you have needlepoint waiting to be finished? Here are some ideas of what can be done. Take two rectangular or square pieces the same size, sew them together, line them and add fringe and a heavy chain strap. You’ve got a fashionable bag. Turn a belt canvas into trim at

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Originally posted 2007-02-22 06:51:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Imagine a sleekly elegant pendant hanging from a sterling choker or leather cord. Sound good? Now imagine that pendant being made from needlepoint. Sound too good to be true? It was until late last year, when FAS-Stitch came on the scene. They sell stunning needlepoint pendants, frame, earring, and cufflinks, put into a brushed aluminum frames. You can buy these pieces from FAS-Stitch in one of three ways: 1. Finishing only: You buy your own canvas and buy the finishing from them. Once your piece is stitched, put it into the postage-paid envelope and send it to them. Two weeks later your finished piece is returned in a lovely gift box. 2. Finishing and kit: This has the finishing with a computer-printed canvas and threads for stitching it. These kits also include a second outlined canvas. The finishing for the first

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The 2014 EGA National Seminar will be held in Pheonix and the Pacific Southwestern Region is sponsoring it. As a find-raiser for Seminar they have created this lovely set of six charms honoring “Legends of Needlework.” Each charm shows a bit of stitching typical of each legend’s designs. Chottie Alderson, Jean Hilton, Gay Ann Rogers, Carol Algie Higginbotham, Jacqueline Enthoven, and Margaret Fleming are all honored. You can see each charm and get details about the set here. The charms are $8 each or you can buy the entire set in a decorative tin for $48. You can use this form for ordering

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Originally posted 2010-03-15 07:51:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Recently I came across Les Jardins de Vie in Etsy. Jessica, the artist behind these lovely pieces, is a talented stitcher in Northern California. I was enchanted by her work (you can see some of it in the pictures) and I love her wonderful and creative ideas for using needlepoint. I hope you will too. How did you start doing needlepoint? I am a self-taught needlepointer. My first needlepoint was at the age of 15 and it was a kit found at a local craft store in New York City. The design was of a pear printed on #10-mesh canvas with yarn included. The finished piece had major stitching flaws but it didn’t stop me from buying another kit and finally progressing to a painted canvas and improving my stitches. As the years progressed and my skill and sense of style

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Originally posted 2010-04-01 07:59:39. Republished by Blog Post PromoterOne of the things that excites me most about needlepoint is all the creative new ways designers are finding to use needlepoint. Looking at the new products in this column you will see some new 3-D products in both painted canvas and charted needlepoint, new canvases, kits and charts, as well as other exciting new products. Needlepoint in Three Dimensions I was blown away by two products I just learned about. The Needle’s Notion has a 3-D cake done as charted needlepoint. “Carrot Cake” is built around a papier mache box and is white with textured stitches, geometric motifs, carrots, and rabbits. Put it on a lovely cake stand to make a wonderful centerpiece. CBK Needlepoint Collections has marvelous 3-D lighthouses designed by Sukey Designs. They come in two sizes. The large is 12″ and the small is 6″. All four pieces

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Thanks to my daughter who found a post about Allene LaSpina’s charming needlepoint pins on design sponge, I want to show you some lovely needlepoint eye candy today. Her line of embroidered pins is called Urbahnika. She says it “is a line of hand embroidered brooches created by Allene La Spina & inspired by my Colombian roots & the fashion and architecture of NYC.” You can see them in her Etsy shop Stitched on perforated metal and stitched mostly in Four-way Continental, the pins cover a wide vareity of patterns, including Bargello-like zigzags, traditional fabric patterns, plaids, geometrics, and lots more. Going to her shop gets you, currently, two pages of her pieces. Click on any item and you’ll see super-sized pictures. She also accepts custom orders. I wish I had a life that could use several of these, but they woulds be wasted on the cats

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Orna Willis has just opened a Clearance section in her on-line shop. There you wikll find project packs, some rare or discontinued,kits, a few painted canvases, and lots of stunning thread packs such as the one pictured here

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Originally posted 2008-11-15 07:43:28. Republished by Blog Post PromoterIf, like me, you’re a fan of Judy Harper’s delightful needlepoint designs you will already know that she is a wizard at adapting other kinds of fiber arts and materials to needlepoint. Her current post on her FREEBIES, Etc. blog looks at turning lace into needlepoint. She shows us several different interpretations of lace and explains how to make them. The top one is dramatic on black canvas and stitched in three colors. Happily for us when she shows us how to do it, the design is easy to see on white canvas. It’s designed to be a border design, perhaps for a bracelet, following the instructions in this post of hers. I really love the second piece an unstitched mini-sock with an elaborate lace top in gold. The final example shows you how to use lace as a border by turning

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Originally posted 2007-02-04 07:26:45. Republished by Blog Post PromoterI suppose you could say I’m clearly a child of the 70′s. I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA when the Steelers were great. As a result, I love football. I got married in 1980 in the SF Bay Area and so I got to watch a second great football dynasty (the 49er’s) in the 80′s. These days I don’t follow football all that much, but I do look forward to the SuperBowl and to the opportunity to stitch. It being Sunday, I’m going to start working on these amazing needlepoint pendants from FAS-stitch. They are new and have an elegant, modern brushed aluminum frame. You buy the kit, or the finishing service at your LNS, stitch and send it back. The one I’m doing is based on a Mondrian painting and is 1.5″ square. I’ll post a picture of it tomorrow and

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Dolci is the name of Orna’s new cyberclass. Dolci also means “sweet” in Italian. As you can see from the picture, the needlepoint beads you make in this 10 week class are as sweet as their name. Here’s what Orna has to say about it: Join us for Dolci: a foray into the tiny, the delicate, the delectable! This 10 week class will guide you through the all of the steps needed to create these beautiful bead designs by Orna Willis. Learn how to stitch and assemble the first 8 beads in the new series from Adorn. Beginning with the needle, Orna will walk you through complicated combination stitches on congress cloth and show you tricks and tips for getting your technique perfect. Following the stitching segment she will continue with myriad ways to finish your beads, including wire wrapping techniques, how to use jewelry findings, and ideas on how

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Originally posted 2010-06-11 07:31:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Are you looking for something fashionable, in any colors you like, and made of needlepoint as a gift or for something for yourself? How about these charming little geometric pendants? You use scraps of embroidery floss and 10 mesh plastic canvas. The shape can be rectangular, square, or diamond-shaped. The pattern can be any geometric you like. Once complete embellish it with buttons or other items, add a jump ring and string it onto a necklace. And your done! Sister Diane of CraftyPod developed this design and shares it with us in this tutorial, including detailed finishing instructions

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