Nuts about Needlepoint » twinchy

Book of Hours Color Twinchy – Sneak Peek at New Color & Thread Club

Janet Perry — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:20:12 +0000

Going from the earth and mineral colors that predominated the palettes of Ancient Egypt and Greece, the High Middle Ages seem to burst in a world of color and light.

I have adored the bright, rich blues of medieval prayer books, or Books of Hours, since I first saw one in a reproduction in High School. A picture from Jean de Berry Book of Hours, it’s the monthly scene for June, is below.

illustration from medieval book of hours

Those colors are the inspiration for this Twinchy. It captures the bright colors with the blue and red, the lightness of the palette with the blue-violet, the slightly yellow white of vellum and parchment, and the gold that is so much a part of illuminated manuscripts.

It’s just one of the twelve color palettes I’ll be exploring in Color through the Ages my exciting new color and thread club beginning March 1, 2012.

Each month you’ll get the charted Twinchy (2″ square needlepoints) and lots of information on the palettes, color, and three threads in a PDF.

There are two subscription option, basic and deluxe. The basic subscription gets the monthly PDF only. The deluxe gets the PDF, canvas for the Twinchy, and samples of three threads.

Basic Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program. It is $7.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

Deluxe Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program as well as canvas and three thread samples of about 2 yards per month. It is $12.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

In addition if you make a single payment for either option (using the buttons below or pay via check (contact me for the address) you will receive a10% discount..

Please note that the Deluxe Package prices are for shipment to US addresses only. If you want this option and live outside the US, please contact me. All sales to California are subject to sales tax. If you are in California and choose the subscription, you will be invoiced for the sales tax separately.

Taking Color Cues from Fashion

Janet Perry — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:54:24 +0000

My husband thinks I’m sort of weird because I love fashion magazines. One big reason I love them is that they often give me ideas for needlepoint.
One great thing is that you can use color combinations that they showcase to put together interesting combinations for needlepoint.

Sometimes you are lucky and the magazine spells out a combination for you. For example, the combination of nude, light pink, minty green, and coral in Style Watch inspired the Twinchy freebie pictured here. It’d entirely made up of Cashmere stitches, charted below. (Instead of a complete chart, use the picture of the finished needlepoint to stitch it.)

A stunning malachite-grren sequined evening gown inspired me to stitch a malachite clutch in all metallics.

When looking to fashion for color inspiration there are three types of things that can inspire.

You can take you inspiration from an individual outfit. If you see an outfit that combines a bright yellow blouse with navy blue pants, look at the neutrals paired with it to create the start of a great piece.

You can take inspiration from the colors in a print. The prints do lots of the work for you. They always have a background color, which becomes your background. The figures in the print determine the other colors. You’ll get the best success from using these colors in similar proportions. You can do this by writing down the colors and then ranking them from most to least used. Note also where there are big gaps. (A future post will demonstrate how to do this).

You can also take inspiration from a color spread, as I did here. The spread took these colors and showed current clothes and accessories in this palette. Coral was most predominate, then light pink (some almost white), green came next appearing in one piece and as a print’s background. Nude was used the least, although both the light pinks and lightest corals were almost nudes.

While I love and often use the combination of deep coral and bright turquoise, this combination made me think about these colors in another way. The threads I used included three shades of Aurora silk perle (coral), Gentle Arts floss in porcelin (center pink), Kreink #12 in an unlabeled color (green), Elegance E844 and Neon Rays N40 (nudes), and a mix of Gentle Arts Cotton Candy and Crescent Colors Spun Sugar (outside pink).

And it’s all thanks to the fashion magazine.

2012 Needlepoint Club – Color through the Ages

Janet Perry — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:34:36 +0000

Color can be so evocative of a time or a place. Think of the combination of deep ultramarine blue, gold, linen white and rusty red. Ancient Egypt, right?

Or what about the terra cotta, black, and golden yellow of Greek pots?

This year’s needlepoint club, Color through the Ages, is going to go beyond the traditional color schemes to look at color combinations that refer to a specific time, place, or object.

Through charted Twinchies (2″square needlepoint) based on quilt designs, club members will explore color schemes typical not just of ancient times, but of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Twentieth Century, along with others.

Each month you’ll get a PDF instruction packet with the chart, information about the color scheme and something about color of the time, and information about three different threads.

A continuation of 2011′s popular Color, Thread, and Quilts Club, you’ll have a chance to expend and extend your knowledge with these delightful little pieces.

The club begins March 1, 2012 and registrations are open now. There are a number of different pricing options, depending on what you want.

Basic Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program. It is $7.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

In addition if you make a single payment for either option (using the buttons below or pay via check (contact me for the address) you will receive a10% discount..

Come join me on this journey of exploration.

Visit Craft Stylish

Janet Perry — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:01:34 +0000

Originally posted 2008-07-04 07:26:47. Republished by Blog Post PromoterCraft Stylish is a new magazine from the publisher of Threads (a superb sewing magazine) which has a clever, unstuffy approach to crafts of all kinds. It’s a brand new magazine (the first issue is on newsstands now). I’m so excited that one of their editors singled out the Twinchy Challange. I hope you’re working on yours. Happy Fourth of July! Related posts: Christmas Ornaments from Just Cross Stitch – review A Needle Pulling Thread – Magazine Review Pixel Stitching – Magazine Alert Craft Gossip Feature Quilt Barns — a Computer Chair Visit Related posts:

January Twinchy Challenge – The Great Southwest

Janet Perry — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:22:08 +0000

Originally posted 2009-01-01 06:04:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I’m crazy about the American Southwest. The magnificent scenery, the colors, the Native American art of all kinds, the wonderful history of it all.

It continually inspires me in so many ways.

This month it can inspire you as well, with the Twinchy Challenge. Your design could be as simple as the one pictured above, a petrogplyph (rock painting) on a “painted” background, similar to many of the rocks you see in Arizona and New Mexico.

The Twinchy at the top of this post is one from November’s gallery. Check out that post for complete instructions on how to make this Twinchy yourself.

It could be based on a Zuni fetish, Navajo jewelry, those wonderful Native American pots, the Grand Canyon. There’s so much to choose.

Have fun with this one!

Make an Inchie Gift Tag

Janet Perry — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 14:22:43 +0000

Inchies are so much fun. Annet from the blog Fat Quarter, used scraps to make this adorable Inchie. You can read about how she did it in her blog post, but here’s a summary for doing this with needlepoint:

Make sure you use mono canvas, so you can make fringe on the ends.

Mark out a one inch square on your canvas by counting threads.

Use leftover threads to stitch a design in your square. The finishing will be easiest if the Inchie is either solidly stitched or has a line of solid stitching along the edge.

Cut the canvas 1/4 – 1/2 inch bigger than the Inchie all around. (This will determine the length of the fringe.)

Cut a piece of colored card stock slightly bigger than your cut canvas. If you want to punch a hole in one corner of the card and add a ribbon (making the tag another gift).

Use either Kreinik’s Red Tape, double-sided tape, or glue dots to attach the stitched part of the Inchie to the card. Be sure to center it.

Unravel the unworked margins of the canvas to make the fringe.

If your card stock is colored, you can always glue a piece of white paper to the reverse for the writing.

Thanks t Denise from Craft Gossip for pointing this out.

Since I’ve been thinking about an Inchie project, I think I’ll do this to make a stock of gift tags.

September Twinchy Challenge – Food & Drink

Janet Perry — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:49:37 +0000

Originally posted 2008-09-01 06:23:16. Republished by Blog Post PromoterAround here, Napa Valley, September is the height of The Crush. This means that the whole Valley takes on a strange, busy air. It’s the hardest work for the vintners as they are harvesting the grapes and making the wine. It’s the busiest time of year for the restaurants and inns because of all the people who come to see what’s happening. Locals mostly work too hard and hope for rain. This month’s theme reflects Napa’s obsession with food and wine. So have at it. Stitch your favorite food, make a non-alocoholic needlepoint cocktail, or make a warming bowl of soup. No Twinchy for me yet, but with my best friend from high school and her DH coming to town tomorrow, I’ll have plenty of inspiration in the next few days! Related posts: September Twinchy Challenge Gallery Twinchy — Monthly Needlepoint Challenge Letter Twinchy Challenge Results November Twinchy Challenge — Adaptation August Twinchy Challenge – Quilt Blocks Related posts:

Quilts as a Source of Inspiration

Janet Perry — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:55:15 +0000

Originally posted 2010-04-23 07:16:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

A skein of background thread & your stash is all you need for this project

Patchwork Quilts remain a rich source of inspiration of design in all kinds of media, needlepoint not the least. Every time I look at a quilt book, any quilt book, I find lots of ideas for new projects. And I’m not alone in this, many other needlepoint designers do as well. I thought on this sunny (at least here) spring Friday I’d share some of the many quilt-inspired posts and projects you can find here at Nuts about Needlepoint.

First off, we have the Pyramid mini-sock post from earlier this week. Based on a traditional quilt block, Thousand Pyramids, and designed by me in about 2003, this design is one of a series of Scrap Bag Needlepoint ™ mini-socks.

The Sunbonnet Sue mini-sock remains one of my favorites. Sunbonnet Sue has been so popular as a quilt pattern that there are whole web sites devoted to her and her friends. If you wanted to you could use these blocks as inspiration for a whole series of needlepoint designs.

The Pines Trees mini-sock is based on a lovely tradition, that of the Christmas quilt. These quilts, often having pine trees as a motif, are used only during the Christmas season. I like this pattern better than many other Christmas quilts because it’s quiet beauty fits in so many places.

The Sunburst Mosaic Pattern is also based on a quilt pattern, this one called Sunburst. It’s related to the lovely (and easy to vary) Log Cabin quilt patterns.

If you are looking for larger needlepoint projects, consider my Mod Sampler. Based on a charming sampler quilt and done in a mod palette of red, pink, orange, and yellow, this design is a great one to learn new stitches and to practice stitching with silk. The projects in in three parts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. You can see some wonderful and colorful interpretations of this quilt in the Flickr group for the quiltalong

Another three-part project based on a quilt is Winter Stars. A Scrap Bag Needlepoint ™ project, this design uses a monochrome palette of blues, blue-violets, white, light blue, and gray. It uses Genny’s Scotch in an eight-pointed star pattern for the blocks and has a variety of unusual borders. You can get all three parts on Nuts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Quilt Blocks have also inspired several tiwnchies, that have patterns on the site including Stepping Stones, Independence, and Christmas Leaves (pictured above).

There are also some quilt-inspired patterns I’ve designed on other sites. This leaf block is available from my friend Kristen’s site Craft Leftovers.

Along with these many free patterns, several of my ebooks are based on quilts, including Maple Leaf Rag, Attic Windows, the heart samplers, and 50 Patchwork Patterns. All if these are available in my on-line store.

Gallery of Inchies

Janet Perry — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:56:28 +0000

QR code Inchie stitched by Liz of Dragonfly Lotus Designs

Liz, of hand-dyed thread/yarn maker Dragonfly Lotus Designs, has decided to do one Inchie a day (1″ square pieces) for a year until her 30th birthday.

In the process she’s blogging about them on her blog, The Daily Inchie. Lots of them are needlepoint (often featuring her own threads), others are free embroidery and others are cross stitch.

My favorite, so far, is the one pictured here. It’s a cross stitch of a QR code, available from Subversive Cross Stitch as a PDF, of a way to describe one of THOSE kinds of days.

This is a fantastic blog to follow and a really great idea (I
m going to have to try it).

December Twinchy Gallery

Janet Perry — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:34:16 +0000

Originally posted 2008-12-31 06:18:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

This Twinchy is of ornaments hanging on a tree. I made a stocking of it with much larger ornaments, all in blackwork on dyed canvas, but I wanted something simpler, easier, and faster.

It uses another technique to make differently colored areas. I began by using a quarter to trace out the ornament shapes, making sure they overlapped. Then I stitched in background in Encroached Gobelin using Gumnuts Blossoms. The soft shading of this wool allows the ornaments to stand out.

Each ornament is stitched in a different Blackwork pattern (pictured above). You can click on the picture to get a full size chart for all four. All but the pink and blue one are stitched in Kreinik metallic. The remaining one is stitched in an Anchor peal with metallic from my scrap bag.

Once the ornaments were stitched I felt it looked a bit abstract. So, for a finishing touch I stitched some bunches of random Diagonal Gobelins to be the bunches of pine needles, covering the edges of the ornaments. This was the perfect touch, making the whole thing look life-like.

This first Twinchy is called Snowflakes and it uses an easy overstitching technique to do Blackwork on needlepoint canvas. I began by coloring the background blue (or you could use blue canvas but I didn’t have any). Then I stitched T Stitch over the entire area using one strand of Impressions.
Over this, using white (100HL) Kreinik metallic, I made snowflakes in Blackwork. None are centered and they overlap. The charts for the snowflakes will be available around Jan 12, once I get the manual I need unpacked.

Last, but not least, is this unassuming Twinchy. It will be finished with a wired ribbon bow and will look like a real package.

I divided the Twinchy into quadrants and stitched a ribbon down the center. Notice how the ribbon “overlaps” to look realistic. The rest of the Twinchy is stitched in Jacquard using Very Velvet for the Byzantine and metallic for the Tent Stitches.

This is a really simple Twinchy to do, just use any stitch and thread combination you like.

These three Twinchies give you lots of ways to exercise your creativity.