quilts 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 2009-06-29 06:35:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Log cabins in various forms are one of the most popular quilt patterns. I’ve used the often in my own design work, but I hadn’t thought of them as the basis for finishing. Log cabin quilts are based on a central block, usually small, but it doesn’t have to be, with strips of fabric, increasing in length, swirling around it. Why not use a small piece of needlepoint as that central block. We love to stitch smaller items and this way, if you have a fabric stash as well, you can choose your other fabrics from them. Whip Up has a great post about making a Log Cabin pillow. The instructions are detailed and easy to modify for needlepoint. The foundation block which inspires the piece isn’t a bit of fabric, it’s the needlepoint. Follow her instructions for picking fabrics, cutting

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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 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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Recently I bought this glorious canvas from Doolittle Stitchery on Etsy. I fell in love with it and will be doing it as a project to use up my stash. You can, and I often do, stitch projects like this by picking random threads. However the time you spend planning a Scrap Bag Needlepoint, especially if it is large, can result in a better looking project. The most effective planning comes in thread selection. Once you decide some things about threads, many other things fall into place. The goal will be, as always, a balanced needlepoint. To get this the elements of color, thread, and stitch need to be in balance. One has to have lots of variety; it’s your large aspect. One needs to have only a few choices; it’s your small, or unifying aspect. The other needs to be in the middle. Color is clearly the large aspect.

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Originally posted 2010-03-09 07:15:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Making the transition from stitching your first needlepoint sampler to doing canvases can be a hard one. The projects should be good-looking, appealing enough that even an experienced stitcher will want to stitch them. They should be small, so that the stitcher has a sense of accomplishment when it’s done. And they should always increase the stitcher’s needlepoint knowledge. Why is this important? Think about two different crafts, beading has been very successful at moving beginners to more complex projects, knitting has been less successful at this. With beading, people make that first necklace, bracelet, or pair of earrings and makes a bunch more. When ready for the next step there are many websites, more complex beads and lots of tutorials to let you make something lovely that is just a little bit harder but uses material you have used and

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Originally posted 2010-01-27 07:01:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Did you know that sapphires are just about the only gem that comes in every color of the rainbow? From pink, to violet-blues, my upcoming ebook celebrates my favorite gem. The book uses my poplar patchwork heart and gives you over 60 stitches you can mix and match to make your own unique project. All the stitches in the book are new and can be done using a single color of thread. The pictured hearts add in a few stitches from the first heart sampler ebook for spice. You also got a sneak peek at the orange sapphire in my review of black metallic canvas. Five hearts are included, along with tables showing you the stitches used. In addition the book has detailed information about creating a monochromatic color scheme, more and an expanded description of threads. As a bonus, there

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Originally posted 2008-11-05 05:45:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter I told you there was another one, complete with chart (below). It was hiding in one of the smaller piles on my desk. I was celebrating the start of CyberPointers by cleaning the desk off (cheap thrills I know but seeing the desk surface is so nice) and, literally, it fell out. The design is a four block leaf quilt made from Mosaics in one of my favorite Watercolours, Camoflage. I love it’s more subtle but still Christmasy colors. I used Watercolours in Natural for the background and a knitting yarn from my scrap bag for the red. I also love the more complex border. I punched it up by making the corners, Smyrna Crosses in the green. I think if I were to stitch it again I’d use two Watercolours for the leaves, alternating the color used for each leaf.

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Originally posted 2008-08-11 18:51:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter I finally got around to getting this project in gear. I cut the canvas this morning. Based on Barbara’s block size, it’s about 9″ square on 18 mesh and a little over 11″ square on 14 mesh. I’m using 18 mesh. I was going to use Silk & Ivory, but decided on using Gloriana’s Lorikeet,a simply stunning wool, because it’s hand-dyed, so has a lovely variation in color. Because it has nine strands in a bundle, it’s versatile as well. I want this to work with our beach glass + coral color palette for the new house, so I went with aqua for colors 1 & 2 (they will also be 7 & 8). I picked corals for colors 3-5 and a very dark gray for the neutral. The colors are: 1 & 7: Jewel Turquoise Pastel (020W1) 2 & 8:

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Originally posted 2009-03-12 07:24:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Three more cats stitched on our stash project. One thing which is so fun about this project is that Patt slightly changes the colors from square to square. so this can really reflect what’s in your stash. For the dark violet, you could use the same thread throughout, or you could change it with every patch, either will look great. Since I really want to mix things up, I’m using different threads right now, but I’m sure most of them will reappear for other cats. The first cat is an unusual uneven check pattern of Mosaics (sxometime Cashmeres) and Tent Stitch. It;s not Mosaic Checker because the Tent Stitch areas are only one thread wide. The Mosaics line up in columns, as do the Tent Stitches, switching between the two colors. Every third row uses Cashmere instead of Mosaic. This patch

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Originally posted 2009-04-20 06:04:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter As my friend Debbie would remind me trianglepoint is so fun and so easy, and this quilt, which is on Material Obsession (look down a little way in the Be Content post) is a wonderful springboard for making a trianglepoint piece. What is Trianglepoint you ask? Trianglepoint is a technique developed by Sherlee Lantz in the 1970′s which uses straight stitches to make equilateral triangles. Quilters might also call these 60 degree triangles, because all the angles are 60 degrees. Unlike right triangles, these are not half a square or rectangle, so they aren’t as intuitive to make, but once you learn the basic technique, they are so fun. You can now make hexagons and put many of them together to make lager triangles and wide stripes. Sherlee wrote a book, Trianglepoint, about the technique, which can often be found in

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Originally posted 2009-09-22 07:43:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Looking for a way to learn some new stitches and to use up threads from your stash? My new ebook, Heart Sampler, is now available here and in my ebook store. Throughout the article you will see three of the hearts I’ve stitched using this plan. The book is $3 and can be ordered through PayPal. You will be sent the download link via email. The design is based on a classic quilt block. Working from an overdyed thread (I used silks), pick additional threads in those colors. Then mix and match the stitches for your own unique design. Each stitch is diagrammed and the ones that work best for the triangular blocks are noted. I’m planning some additional books of stitches using the same plan, probably late in

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Originally posted 2010-09-02 07:03:00. Republished by Blog Post PromoterI finally got around to counting up the votes for this (I’m a charter member of the procrastinator’s club) and the winner for a club theme for next year is stitches and quilt blocks. I’m excited because quilts always inspire me and this is such a wonderful way to learn new stitches. Best of all, with mostly square sides or true diagonals, compensation is really easy. It will also give us a wonderful way to explore colors through the projects. I’m going off to do some hard-core designing. And I also need to know your opinion for how you would like to see these packaged. There are three options, which I’ll list from most to least expensive. painted canvas – you will get a painted canvas in a specific color scheme. The lesson will tell you exactly the threads/colors to buy line-drawn

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Originally posted 2010-06-30 07:47:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Yesterday’s post with the basic eight-point star pattern reminded me how much fun these patterns can be. So today I wanted to share with you some of the variations I have made. Connecticut Star has narrower points with a fun checked border. It’s a classic in red, white-and blue, but this could be fun in all kinds of combos. Why not use paint chip suggestions as a start? National Star is another eight-point star variation. In this the points are checked but and the border is solid. I’m thinking about doing one inspired by the Maryland Flag, making both points and border checked.. Baby Star is a tiny version of the star, encased in a straight stitch border. Since it’s less than 30 stitches square this would be dainty even on larger mesh canvas. Star of LeMoyne was the first eight-pointed

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Originally posted 2009-10-24 07:41:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Talk about cross pollination, the idea for CyberPointers new book (now available to order as a download or CD) was to make needlepoint ornaments inspired by classic quilt blocks. This needlepoint quilt block inspired a quilt! Peg Dunayer designed this block. In the instructions she says “This pattern is a representation of the quilt pattern, Log Cabin. By using the same thread for the entire piece, an amazing effect is achieved: the overall appearance is that of a randomly pieced scrap quilt.” Her version of the block is pictured above. I stitched the second model of the block, using a different color of Watercolours and found the same thing. My version is pictured above. The interaction of the colors is both unplanned and very exciting. Peg thought so too and decided to make a quilt inspired by her needlepoint. She says

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