religious needlepoint Archive

Originally posted 2009-12-14 17:44:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter While Judaism has a long tradition of fine needlework, it’s not often I find great Judaic patterns available free on the Web. Thanks two Denise over at Craft Gossip for writing about this wonderful Torah scroll in its case on Craft Stew. I can see it made fancy by using two shades of gold metallic for the edges, Very Velvet in a textured stitch for the scroll case, and maybe Whipped Chain Stitch for the letters. Such a delightful piece!

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Peachtree Presbyterian is a church in Atlanta. Seventeen stitchers got together to stitch this charming 23-piece needlepoint nativity, seen here. A lovely article from the Atlanta Constitution and available here tells the story behind this lovely and enduring legacy to the church. The pieces use 58 different stitches, 20 kinds of threads, and 129 colors. Not only is it a gift to the church, it was part of an initiative to raise money for My Sister’s House, a transitional home for homeless women and children. It took about eight months to stitch, with many of the stitchers meeting together to stitch twice a month. It was completed in 2010 and has a display that includes a stable made of wood from the Holy Land. This is such a lovely project and a real testament to the faith of the stitchers. My thanks to my friend William Swords for letting me

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Originally posted 2009-08-12 07:27:02. Republished by Blog Post Promoter October 11 is the feast of St. Clare, who is the patron saint of needlework. There are patrons for many, many things, so you shouldn’t be surprised that needlework has its own patron. If you don’t know much about St. Clare, she was the daughter of a noble family in Asissi and a friend of St. Francis. She was called to the life of the Franciscans and became the first Franciscan nun. It’s because of her that the order is commonly called “Poor Clares.” She is the patron of needlework because she was a fine embroiderer and her convent made vestments and liturgical pieces for the Franciscans. Clare is also the patron of television, because of this charming story. She was sick and in bed on Christmas Eve and so unable to attend Midnight Mass. She saw the entire Mass, as

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Galina Tregubov makes stunning embroidered icons in Split Stitch using only DMC #5 perle cotton. The tradition of writing icons in the Orthodox Churches is a long (Yes, you “write” an icon, you don’t “paint” or even “stitch” it). It’s said that the oldest icon of all was painted by St. Luke. It’s of the Virgin Mary. The look of a particular icon is copied exactly and is passed down through the generations. These icons are found in churches and homes. What makes Galina’s icons unusual is that they are the traditional images you will see elsewher but they are done entirely in thread. I astonished at how lovely they are, especially when you consider they are done with the thread as it comes out of the skein. On her site she has a lovely slide show of her work. If you want to learn more about her technique (which

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Originally posted 2008-06-23 17:40:06. Republished by Blog Post PromoterDoing needlepoint to adorn a church is a dream for many needleworkers. Many people will seek out churches with needlepoint kneelers to see them and countless other stitchers volunteer their time to make these lovely works of faith, skill, and art. Designing Women has just published a delightful guide that is a starting point for anyone considering making religious needlepoint. Keeping the Faith is a spiral-bound book that not helps you plan and execute your project, but includes charts for 50 different Christian symbols to get you started. The book starts with a chapter on how to use the book, then it continues through all the steps of the church project, from forming the committee to cleaning and storing the finished items. While many books on church needlework focus almost completely on kneelers,, Keeping the Faith looks at a wider assortment of

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In thinking about threads, there are some pretty clear preferences. Some people love silk, some won’t touch it. Some people only want to use threads that are single-strand, others like the flexibility that comes from having threads you can adjust. And then some people are like me, they just love threads. At TNNA, Planet Earth introduced additional colors to their variegated 6-ply silk. The 6-ply silk is a great thread because it is dyed to match the single-ply silk, but allows you to use it on more types of grounds. (A great tip when you have matching threads like this is to use one or more strands of 6-ply to bulk up single-ply when it’s just a little bit thin on coverage). I’ve used the solid 6-ply in the past, but this was my first chance to use the variegated. I was delightfully surprised by it. The colors are different

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I love Designing Women’s Canvases and have stitched many over the years. My favorites are their crosses which come in such a wide selection of styles. Recently Canvas Connection took over their line of canvases. Happily the have an extensive website and have a whole section of it devoted to the Designing Women canvases. Go to their home page and click on “Designing Women” to see 17 pages of designs. Each collection of canvases is grouped together, with a thumbnail (not clickable) and the design number. Each collection also has the size and mesh listed. On collections spanning multiple pages, this information is on each page. While the pictures aren’t large, they are clear. On a few of the pages, you’ll find pictures of finished items. Navigation through the collection is only through the page number links at the top of every page. There is no index of which designs

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Originally posted 2009-08-14 07:08:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter Awhile ago a friend asked me about religious cross stitch. This got me thinking about religious needlepoint, more specifically the timeless image of Mary and Jesus, the Madonna and Child. So I went on an internet search for needlepoint Madonnas and found several. Designing Women has a charming small icon-like Madonna. They don’t have a website, but my friend Jane stitched it awhile ago and the link is to her finished one Jane and I have also both stitched Designs by Petei’s Our Lady of Guadelupe. Mine is the picture at the top of this post. The link is to Petei’s page that has it Sundance Designs has many canvases that will work as Madonnas. In their De Grazia line, there are many charming ones. Their are also several Tish canvases that will work as Madonnas. I like this one because

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Two designers of hand-painted canvas needlepoint have pages up with their newest designs. I’m particularly delighted with the new Melissa Shirley designs because the have such an integrated (and lovely fall palette. There is a series of Christmas crackers in gold and white that I wouldn’t just get out for Christmas, along with another series of Halloween crackers. For Debbie Mumm lovers, there is a trick or treat series from her in several sizes that includes a fantastic Halloween house. In the style of her many Victorian and Edwardian figures, there is a Series of Fairy Tale Witches. And adding to her whimsical flowers there are some canvases in great Halloween colors. She has also added many canvases to her Seaside series, including three new starfish. But what I like best in this series is the fish. The colors are just what you would find in old color plates in

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Making needlepoint kneelers for your church is a lovely project, not only beautiful, but one that can get the parish deeply involved. On this lovely summer Sunday, let’s take an Internet tour of a few churches with kneeler projects. Click on the church name for the photos. Grace Cathedral, the Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco, has a Flikr slideshow of their kneelers. Of particular interest, but not religious, are the kneelers of California wildlife. These could inspire other projects. Holy Trinity in Connecticut has a page showing the centers of their kneelers with a nice description of each symbol’s significance. Church of the Redeemer in Pennsylvania, has a lovely long Communion kneeler with close-up pictures of each. St. James in Virginia has a charming set of kneelers with simple bold designs in bright colors. The white backgrounds are a nice change from the more traditional darker colors. All Souls Cathedral(Asheville,

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Originally posted 2006-11-06 07:43:49. Republished by Blog Post PromoterFor a real change yesterday I waitched football most of the day and stitched. It was a wonderful, relaxing change. As a result, I finished the Petei Our Lady of Guadelupe, as you can see. I love the wonderful changes in texture which come from the different threads. The cloak, which is stitched with Fluer de Paris’ Velour Fine Mesh, is particularly nice, if I do say so myself. Which reminds me, velour threads which come in little boxes can be a serious pain to use, they tend to tangle. You can minimize this pretty easily by cutting the thread before you start to stitch. Initially, when you buy it, the thread is wound in a fairly tight circle. Open this up, either by completely or partially unwinding it, and fold it over itself until you get a stitching length you like.

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One of the things I loved best about my trip to England in 1998 was visiting churches and seeing all the lovely needlepoint kneelers. Kneelers is the term for the padded cushions or individual hassocks you use to protect your knees in church. If you don’t have kneelers and kneel on the floor, you get “chapel knees.” In England, and increasingly in the US churches do kneeler projects as a way to adorn the sanctuary. These projects involve the parish community and often interested stitchers outside the parish. Sometimes they are done for a special occasion sometimes not. The needlepoint might be only for the kneelers at the altar rail, just in the sanctuary, or for every kneeler in the church. They might have a theme, or they might only have something similar along the edges, I’ve seen all kinds. Recently St. Luke’s Epsicopal Church in Georgia completed their kneeler

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