dogs Archive

Originally posted 2010-02-22 07:39:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Stitching a painted canvas looks so easy. The colors are picked out for you and all you need to do is add threads and stitches — so why is it that so often we are not happy with the results? Since I discovered painted canvas (in the early 80′s) I’ve stitched hundreds of them, I even dream about canvases, threads, and stitches. As a result I’ve figured out some guidelines for stitching them which make it easier to do. First, I think about threads. Your canvas gives you color, but not texture. And for any given color a number of threads exist in different textures. For me, I try to pick a thread with a texture similar to what the object is in real life. For example snow, should be a white or clear sparkly thread. My favorite for this (and

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Originally posted 2010-07-06 06:28:53. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThere’s no doubt about it, stitchers love stitch guides. Our appetite for them is almost insatiable. Talk to any designer and they will tell you shopowners ask about stitch guides all the time. If a designer has none, they wonder why not. If a designer has some, they want more. And we, as stitchers want them and want them at an affordable price. Today marks the opening of my new on-line shop, Needlepoint Stitch Guides. Here you will find stitch guides for many popular designers, available both as PDFs (for you to print) or as printed guides). You can order directly from the shop and have your guides as soon as the same day. Talk about immediate stitchy gratification. It’s the largest on-line shop dedicated to needlepoint stitch guides and related products. There’s lots more to the site. You’ll find reference information

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Originally posted 2009-08-08 07:43:16. Republished by Blog Post PromoterElle Decoration magazine has a delightful stencil of a poodle designed by Conrad Botes (from South Africa) available as a free download on their site. The link is at the top of the right column. So of it’s a stencil, why am I telling you about it on a needlepoint blog? It’s a great shape, and a wonderful size. When I saw the silhouettes in circles on his daughter’s wall (in the accompanying post), I immediately thought they would make wonderful needlepoint pieces. So print the poodle, outline it on canvas and draw a big circle around it. Pick two threads, colors, and stitches you like and make a great modern piece

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Originally posted 2007-08-26 10:20:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter One of my vacation projects is working on the model for this, one of my new stitch guides. It’s from Cat’s Cradle and is adapted from some artwork. I love Jack Russell terriers, but they are way too energetic for me. So now I get to have one virtually. One of my favorite things about the real life dogs is their incredibly smooth coat. I’m using Burmilana and Basketweave to get that effect. It will be enhanced by the textured background. I think he will be totally cool

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I am always so happy at TNNA to go to Kathy Schenkel’s and Melissa Shirley’s booths. They are always full to bursting with great new ideas and canvases I just drool over. I love Kathy’s bone-shaped ornaments for dogs and this year she has a delightful new set. These are “Things Dogs Do,” all done in a clever, easy-to-stitch style. She also has mini-socks and ornament rounds for a number of different colleges and universities that aren’t just the usual logo style, often they have iconic buildings or other symbols of the campus. She also has new dog and people tote bags and new North Woods designs. There are two new Christmas series, a nativity and a stars of Christmas, people associated with Christmas in stars. A very clever idea is her animal alphabet, available both as a panel and as individual letters. The animals are creatively posed in and

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Originally posted 2007-04-20 17:57:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter I just love rendering plaids into needlepoint. Needlepoint can make exact replicas of any plaid. Tartans are just about the best. My latest stitch guide is this little Scottie from Cat’s Cradle. This makes an absolutley perfect introduction to needlepoint plaids for stitchers at any level. First off, it’s on large canvas. Second, the plaid is a very simple one. Third, the thread is easy to use. Finally, the directions are clear and the charts are in color. The process for stitching a plaid is not unlike the process for weaving a plaid. The vertical lines are stitched (every other stitch) in the pattern of the plaid (which is properly called a sett for tartans), then, following the sett again, the horizontal lines are stitched. The plaid emerges from the process. I know it well, have stitched many plaids, but I

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If you are nuts about the look of Victorian Berlinwork and Elizabeth Bradley kits, you also probably can’t get enough of them. But often there are obstacles in the way of doing them often. The first obstacle is size, those pieces are BIG and sometimes you want something small and fast. The second obstacle is price. The kits are expensive and often you want something you can stitch from stash. Star, a great needlepointer and art historian living in Italy loves them too and has come up with her own original designs, inspired by Berlinwork charts. There are nine of them, designed to be stitched together into a pillow top. You could also make them individually as ornaments. To day and for the next two weeks, we’ll write about the charts. I love them because they are so small and have such character. The colors on the charts are bright,

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If you like the picture above, then you like Charley Harper. He’s the iconic artist who drew the picture and his work is wonderfully adaptable to needlepoint. This is a section of the cover he draw for The Golden Book of Biology, a book I got when it first came out and still own. It is full of the most marvelous illustrations and made me a fan for life. This week there had been lots of talk about his designs in needlepoint because Purl Bee in New York has a small selection of his designs available as kits. Their post has some wonderful background on Harper and also talks about how wonderful needlepoint is. I’m delighted that one of my favorite artists) and needlepoint are getting this exposure. The Charley Harper canvases that are available from Purl Bee and from other shops, are licensed by Susan Treglown Designs. This company

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