Originally posted 2011-04-22 07:39:26. Republished by Blog Post PromoterNeedle Nook of La Jolla is creating a video library for needlepoint and the first entry is fantastic. David McCaskill shows how to use a laying tool. If you’ve never had a chance to see David in person watch this to get a look at his delightful personality. I learned to use a laying from David many years ago when he lived in northern California, so I highly recommend this
Today’s post is a guest post from Brenda Stimpson of Needlepoint for Fun. For you Sunday eye candy & stash enhancement, go visit their sale page. They have fantastic vacation-inspired needlepoint on sale at 10% off. I’m spending my time drooling. ********* Planning which decorative stitches to place where on a needlepoint canvas can be daunting. There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to stitch selection, and although experience will guide you, much of the artistry involved remains trial and error, even for the experts (which we do not consider ourselves among, I might add). But, here are some tips that I find useful when deciding how to add decorative stitches to a canvas: When in doubt, use a Tent Stitch. Remember, you don’t need to cover the entire canvas in decorative stitches and some areas are very tricky to fill, especially if they are irregular in
The second book in the Art & Needlepoint series is now available on Amazon. The title says “beginner” but any stitcher will delight in these wonderful ideas for stitching anything you find in a landscape: fields, trees, hills, water, skies, and more. Not too toot my own horn, but this is the book on stitching landscapes I’d want to have by my side. Every single stitch or technique is easy to do. Every single technique is something that you’ll be so glad you learned. I like the ideas here so much that I realized that I have four landscapes sitting in my queue needing immediate attention, four more slightly further out, and who knows how many more in my stash. Every single one of them will be using the ideas in this book. In addition two of the canvases from the book will be subjects of cyberclasses with Art Needlepoint
Originally posted 2011-02-22 07:47:54. Republished by Blog Post PromoterDo you love Bargello? Are you looking for a source of new Bargello Needlepoint designs and quick projects? Do you want explore different threads for Bargello and try new color combinations? Are you intrigued to fill templates using Bargello? Look no further, beginning April 1, 2011, I will be launching Little Bargello Treasures, a monthly Bargello Club. The first of each month club members will receive: 13 or 18 mesh deluxe mono canvas with template outlined new Bargello pattern with color picture of the model color picture of the model stitching tips and supplemental information All this for only $7.50 per month when shipped to US addresses (if you are outside the US, contact me to get pricing). This club is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and you’ll be so delighted with the possibilities for quick and
Compensation, or the process of fitting partial stitches into edges and corners of your needlepoint, is often confusing. That’s true even of experienced stitchers. Compensation can range from easy to difficult depending on the stitch (oblique is harder than diagonal) and the shape of the area (curves are harder than straight lines). But, unless we plan on having exposed canvas, we’ll need to compensate on every canvas. Joni Stevenson has written a blog post about compensating diagonal stitches along a straight edge. It’s wonderfully detailed and has tons of her large clear diagrams that show you exactly what you need to know to compensate these common stitches. If compensation confuses you, this in-depth tutorial is ideal
Originally posted 2009-08-15 07:36:28. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe weekly email from a local school says that you are the best recommendation for the school. That holds true for needlepoint as well, you are the best recommendation for needlepoint there is. By wearing needlepoint shoes, carrying a bag or wallet with needlepoint on it, or stitching in public are all ways to spread the word. So once you have them interested, what can you do? I have a free email course for beginners, Right from the Beginning. People can sign up and get the course sent to them in 7 weekly lessons. It teaches several stitches, has two projects and helps people with picking their first painted canvas. If they want to try as stitch guide, sign up for the mailing list on the Napa Needlepoint home page and you will get directed to a free stitch guide. You can
Originally posted 2009-12-18 07:10:02. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe days after Christmas are often doldrums for needlepointers. You’ve gotten all your Christmas projects done. You didn’t get any needlepoint for Christmas, and you are too tired to start something new. Why not look forward to the new year by planning some year-long projects. About.com has announced two. Here’s what they say about them. The first series is the Flavor of the Month Club and is based on ice cream on a stick. At the beginning of each month, a pattern will be posted featuring a design based on the following month (so you’ll be working a month ahead). This series will start December 1st with the “flavor” for January. At the end of the year, you’ll have 12 nifty ice creams on sticks that can be displayed in a bucket. This will really be a fun series! The second series
Let me tell you a secret. I simply love needlepoint. It takes all my will power not to buy every canvas I see even though I can’t finish what’s already in my stash. The reason is simple, I can’t help but start to plan a canvas whenever I see one, writing stitch guides in my mind. I’m lucky because I write stitch guides but for too many of use stitchers we’re tied to guides that are either expensive, inadequate, or not to our tastes. You probably think the alternative is to commission a stitch guide, possibly with a cost running into hundreds of dollars. And if you already own the canvas and maybe even the threads even your options for this are limited. You could summon your bravery and plunge into creating your own guide. But there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to find out how the professionals do it,
Originally posted 2009-08-12 19:53:32. Republished by Blog Post PromoterThe next lesson on Long & Short Stitch is now available. It covers shading triangles. That may not sound exciting, but think about flower petals, often they are triangles with a rounded top. This lesson has detailed instructions and some simply stunning examples of shading. If you want to create realistically shaded flowers, this is the best technique to use
Bold or subtle, colorful or neutral, with this notebook class you’ll be seeing stripes. The upcoming 25 stitches class begins June 1, 2013 and focuses on these surprising useful stitches. In the class you’ll have a chance to try out stripes large and small. Some of these stitches are small enough to add distinction to even the smallest area, while others make great backgrounds for larger pieces. Plus you’ll learn about creating your own striped patterns, how stripes can solve dyelot problems, and tons of tips for using these stitches in your needlepoint. All for only $25 (sign up with button near the end of this post). Because this is a notebook class you can stitch it your way, using your scraps of canvas and leftover threads.ecause this is an email class you can take it on your time, when it works for you and your schedule. You can sign
I’m working on a project and decided I’d try some new stitches fro Stitch INs & OUTs. Two in fact. The first one went very well, it was easy to stitch and if I hadn’t been diverted by watching Mad Men on OnDemand there would have been no mistakes. But then I started the other stitch. I studied the diagram carefully and started near the top of the area. I screwed up on the second unit and had to cut it out. The second time I started I managed to stitch two rows. They looked fine. The start of the third row looked fine too, but soon I ran into trouble. The accent stitches, done in a second color, were lined up incorrectly, so I knew the main units were placed wrong. I had suspected it because this unit isn’t supposed to end the same way for every row. I
Originally posted 2002-10-12 14:33:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter The EGA Master Craftsman program is designed to recognize excellence in needleart by people in techniques of in general principles as they apply to needlework. Each program has six steps, each exploring different aspects of the technique or topic. Several years ago I signed up for two of the EGA Master Craftsman certification — Design and Color. The cost is minimal to sign up — $10 for each step and you have two years to submit your first step before you need to reregister. Once the first step is passed you can take up to five years for each subsequent step. I have learned so much from these programs and because Color and Designs are not technique programs, you can work in any needlework medium you like. The work needs to be neat and competent, but not perfect for them. The
Sandy Arthur has given us the most delightful gift. And we’ll learn lots from it too. Based on a program she has given in the past to various groups. she’s created a stitch notebook program. Best of all it’s free! On her blog she has the notebook sampler page to download. It has the basic information to create the notebook plus a template page you can use for each stitch you learn. There is a Yahoo group for those who want to follow the series plus get additional information. Sandy hopes to post new stitches each Wednesday. I’m so excited about this. Sandy has given us some additional posts showing some of the pages from her own notebook and given us tips on organizing material for your notebook. Thank you Sandy!
Wouldn’t you love to have a couple of easy, unique needlepoint projects in your back pocket that you could make as special gifts? Wouldn’t it make you happy if you could finish them yourself and make each one perfect for the receiver? You can with these two delightful Initial Needlepoint Gifts. In this two-lesson mini-class you’ll learn everything you need to create both the Initial Ornament and the Big Initial Boxtop, including how to finish them. This email class will teach you: how to enlarge a letter for needlepoint how to transfer it to canvas how to create a great design and background how to pick an alphabet suitable for needlepoint how to finish an ornament and boxtop This class is an email class beginning May 5, 2013. Because it arrives in your mail, you can take it at your own pace. Because you pick the threads and colors, it’s
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