Nuts about Needlepoint » religious needlepoint

Stitching Mary & Jesus in Needlepoint

Janet Perry — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:51:11 +0000

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 it has such a sense of calm. It hangs in my studio.

Birds of a Feather makes a charming Madonna. I also found this traditional Madonna ornament at Needlepointus.com. I have also often found Madonnas, vintage and new on eBay.

Finally, if you like counted canvas, look into this lovely Mother and Child from Cross-eyed Cricket. I just adore its combination of folk art and Byzantine embellishment.

New Canvases from Melissa Shirley & Jelly Bean Stock

Janet Perry — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:05:22 +0000

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 books. There are some shells in this color palette as well.

From Jelly Bean Stock there is an eclectic mix, arranged by month of release. There are several different tallit bags in different colors, all with a lovely restrained classes style. They also have several dog canvases, often with witty sayings or poses. I’m also very fond of the two baskets of pansies canvases, each in different colors (but I love pansies).

There is also plenty for the Halloween lover from trick or treat canvases, to a couple with a Bela Lugosi-style vampire.

Whatever your taste, you are sure to find something fun here.

Looking at Needlepoint Church Kneelers

Janet Perry — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 14:35:43 +0000

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, North Carolina) has lovely page where each stitcher describes his or her inspiration for the kneeler. Click on the “read more” link on any description to see a bigger picture of the kneeler. This is a fun set because, as is the case with many kneeler sets in the UK, they are varied in style.

I did a Flikr search on church kneelers and found many more, most from the UK where kneelers are more common. There is also a church kneeler group on Flikr.

There is also an older post about kneelers on this blog.

Free Torah Needlepoint Pattern

Janet Perry — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:18:27 +0000

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!

Sunday Stitching – Project Done

Janet Perry — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:10:06 +0000

Originally posted 2006-11-06 07:43:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

For 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. Then cut the threads to length. I just stuff ther cut threads back into the box (they don’t always fit well). Then when I’m working I take the whole shebang out of the box, so the threads can spread, and pull from the bundle.

Adorn your Church – Make Needlepoint Kneelers

Janet Perry — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:36:51 +0000

kneeler from Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas

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.”

Portion of altar rail kneeler from St, Paul's in Summit, MO

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.

stitcher with picture from her needlepoint kneeler from News Herald article

Recently St. Luke’s Epsicopal Church in Georgia completed their kneeler project and it was covered in the local paper. The current issue of Needlepoint Now has another wonderful story about a kneeler project.

Kneeler inspired by stained glass in St. Luke's Lutheran

St. Luke’s Lutheran, also in Georgia, has a delightful set of kneelers inspired by their stained glass windows. Noah’s ark is pictured above, but you should look at these lovely designs, created by Nancy Keating.

crowned vine needlepoint kneeler

If you are not feeling energetic enough to design your own kneelers, an English company, Jackson’s of Hebden Bridge, has kits for individual kneelers that include the printed canvas, wool, and the high density foam needed to finish them. The picture above is one of their finished kits.

Needlepoint Chi Ro kneeler from St. Mark's Methodist in Kansas City

If you are interested in making kneelers there are some wonderful books out there, mostly out of print. The New Church Kneeler Book, available used from Amazon is lovely. It’s got the information you need, and lots of pictures for inspiration. Designing Women has a lovely book out, Keeping the Faith, which has charts and lots of ideas of their own projects to beautify their church.

Needlepoint Kneeler Rose Window

The pictures throughout this post are from church kneeler projects throughout the country. Click on the pictures to go to the sites with more pictures of these lovely projects.

If you want to find out more, a great starting place is Bidwell Drake’s article on kneelers for the Episcopal Church’s National Altar Guild site. Drake is an expert in church embroidery and has written a wonderful little book on finishing and caring for these items.

Keeping the Faith – book review

Janet Perry — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:56:22 +0000

Originally posted 2008-06-23 17:40:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Doing 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 items. One chapter even covers different methods of display, including ornaments and wall hangings.
Before the charts, there is a small section of color pictures of completed projects, giving you even more inspiration.
The charts and projects take up the remainder of the book. For the small projects, a common set of symbols is used, making it really easy to make many of these pieces. They include 18 different crosses, doves, monograms, and other symbols. All are lovely and easy to stitch. There are three charted Ethiopian crosses, which in the original feature complex silver geometric patterns. Next come 6 Mission Style Crosses, also using a common set of symbols. I love these pieces, and think they would be lovely done in textured stitches. There are also angels, borders and even a sample chart which shows a symbol with a border.
Finally, there is a charming small stained glass window ornament that is designed specifically as a simple way to introduce needlepoint to new stitchers to prepare them to work on the project.
Practical, inspirational, and fun, this book will be a great start for any church or faith-based project.

Patron Saint of Needlework

Janet Perry — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:27:02 +0000

Yesterday (or today of you use the old Roman calendar) was 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 it was going on, played out for her on the wall of her room. It was a kind of supernatural television.

There is a simply wonderful cross stitch chart of St. Clare,using Ginnie Thompson’s Flower Thread, which is available in a special offer. I love this design and have stitched it twice.

Happy feast of St. Clare!