I love Kathy’s bone-shaped ornaments for dogs and this year she has a delightful new set. These are “Things Dogs Do,” all done in a clever, easy-to-stitch style.

She also has mini-socks and ornament rounds for a number of different colleges and universities that aren’t just the usual logo style, often they have iconic buildings or other symbols of the campus.

She also has new dog and people tote bags and new North Woods designs. There are two new Christmas series, a nativity and a stars of Christmas, people associated with Christmas in stars.

A very clever idea is her animal alphabet, available both as a panel and as individual letters. The animals are creatively posed in and around the letters. An unusual ornament series would be to do a name or initials this way.

As always Melissa Shirley has tons of new stuff, so I’ll only hit the highlights.

If you like her pears, but have been wishing for designs that were less geometric, you’ll love her new series that has a different fruit in each pear. With gold backgrounds and fruits and blossoms vining up each shape, they are both elegant and timeless. There are 10 in the series.

She has expanded the selection of her popular crackers with a Thanksgiving series, a new Halloween series that features some of her vintage Halloween characters, pink or gold Christmas crackers, and a set of Christmas toy crackers. There is also a new series of candy canes, mostly stripes, in a modern palette of red, white, green, and light green.

Her newest series is 3-D needlepoint cupcakes. Each design is in two parts, a top and the sides. There are designs for Christmas and Valentine’s.

If you have been collecting Christmas canvases in particular colors, there are conical CHristmas trees in fabric-like patterns in both green and gold. Her acorns have been very popular and a set of Christmas acorns has been added. Her banners have been expanded with a series of pumpkins for Halloween.

There is lots of new stuff from her licensed designers. My favorite of these was Debbie Mumm’s “Trick or Treaters,” a haunted house background with twelve Halloween figures. Three of these are animals,a cat, a raccoon, and some mice, dressed up for Halloween.

There are lots more new canvases including some great seashore and insect pillow designs, and lots of new Christmas stockings. THere’s plenty to love and stitch here.

Related posts:

1. New Canvases from Melissa Shirley & Jelly Bean Stock
2. Kathy Schenkel – Designer Profile
3. Melissa Shirley Birds
4. Big Melissa Shirley Sale at The Needlepointer
5. Sneak Peek — Melissa Shirley Designs for Summer

Here’s her explanation of how she picked the colors
“I open the skein of Watercolors, etc. Tie one end to the tag so I always know what color it is (and dye lot if needed). Then wrap the thread around the tag until the tag is covered. Then I use that covered tag and search my stash to find colors to go with it. The rest is how you describe your process.

“I did two Jean Hilton designs this summer for our home. One started with Watercolors Rain Forest. I knew I wanted to pull out the olive green and rust as the main colors. Using the technique above, I could easily find the correct shade of each. The design used lots of specialty threads, most of which I didn’t have on hand. Off to Regal Rabbit with my covered tag and other threads I had already chosen. It takes time, but so worth the effort.”

The piece was done on vintage canvas, brown on green, to give it an antique feel.

As you can see from the picture above, it turned out great!

Related posts:

1. Color, Threads & Quilts – 2011 Needlepoint Club
2. Havana – This Week’s Color Experiment from Orna
3. Color Schemes – Quilt Block Two Ways
4. Fun Test about Color Discrimination
5. Color, Threads, and Quilts – 2011 Club

I was so excited when I found the vintage canvas on eBay awhile ago. I like it because the stitches are already painted on, much as the wonderful designs of Barbara Bergsten are.

This type of needlepoint has the pattern of the stitch already there on the canvas, you pick your threads and follow along.

In the bottom left corner, you can see a patch I’ve already stitched, in Jacquard. The green line was painted on the canvas, I stitched that first and then filled in the cream.

The patch above will be Framed Scotch, I’m stitching the Scotch Stitches now and the white lines that frame the squares will be in Continental.

For some of the patches here, the stitch to use is quite clear, for others I’ll need to make some choices.

But if you are a beginner, or just want to expand your repertoire of stitches, look at Barbara’s great designs. She’s endlessly inventive and her painted stitches are just perfect and a joy to stitch.

With Painted Stitch canvases and a good stitch dictionary, you’ll learn tons of new stitches quickly.

P.S. In future posts, you’ll see this piece again because I’m using it to test three new threads.

Related posts:

1. Painted Canvas Stitches
2. Stitching a Painted Canvas – Virtual Book Tour
3. How to Approach a Hand Painted Canvas Needlepoint
4. Using Hand-dyes and Overdyes on Painted Canvas
5. Using Overdyed and Hand-dyed Threads on Painted Canvas

My Sunday stitching project at the moment is an older canvas and I’m stitching it in hand. Working on it yesterday got me thinking about canvas.

High-quality canvas, like Zweigart mono, is made from 100% cotton. The stiffness of a new needlepoint canvas comes from sizing added to the canvas once it is woven. Sizing also makes canvas hard on threads because the stiff sizing wears out the thread more quickly than the smooth fabric alone.

Sizing is removed from canvas is several ways. If you thoroughly wet the canvas, you notice it’s a bit sticky — that’s the sizing. Wet it and wring it out a couple more times and the sizing is removed.

As you stitch the canvas, your needle moves the canvas back and forth – this will eventually break down the sizing. Folding the canvas also does this along the fold.

Finally the sizing disappears as the canvas gets old.

In my case, the canvas was folded (and I know better) and it is three years old. So it’s very soft. I’m still crumpling it up in hand, so I don’t mind too much, but if you have an old canvas and want stiffness, your only solution is to stretch it on a frame. Stretching and the tension it brings will put stiffness back into the canvas. I would go further and say just use Evertite bars because you will need to adjust the tension more often with an older canvas.

Related posts:

1. Canvas Clips – Product Review
2. Print Needlepoint Canvas on your Inkjet Printer
3. Stretching Old Canvas
4. Longstitch – Making an Older Technique New
5. Deciphering Needlepoint Canvas

Think of these grounds as being like perforated paper or plastic canvas but made of a different material.

However, the size of the grid (think of it as being like mesh-size) will determine how “rustic” it looks. Bigger grids will make more rustic designs, so pick your pattern accordingly.

You also need to be sure to pick a thread or yarn that will cover well. This may mean that you’ll need to use bulky or even super bulky knitting yarns to get the right look.

It opens up a whole new world of possible needlepoint, but there are some things to remember.

• Most of these materials are quite rigid, so they may be harder to hold.
• Rarely do they have large margins, so you need to adjust your thinking and be ready to manipulate your needle differentlyt
• If you can see straight through the hole with no barrier, you can use a blunt needle, but if you can’t (for example if a purse is lined), you will need to use a chenille needle which is a sharp-ended tapestry needle.

Here are some examples of stitching done on these kinds of grounds. In pieces ready-made for stitching, look at AMH Designs with their notebooks and key fobs, leese designs iPhone4 case, or, over on Etsy, this kit for a wooden square necklace. If you want to be more adveturous, look to products with hole drilled in them and then stitch on it. Some creative ideas include this cross-stitched Fossil bag, or this contemporary lamp. Other grid-like grounds you could use for needlepoint include nylon screens, pegboard, or some kind of metal mesh.

Look around you, there are plenty of grids to embellish!

Correction: In Saturday’s column I stated that Pischke Pockets distributed Elizabeth Bradley and Kirk & Hamilton. This is incorrect, although they are all located in the same building, they are different companies and distributed independently of each other. My apologies for any confusion this caused.

No related posts.

Carolyn Hedge Baird. 2004.

Whimsical and bursting with ideas, Carolyn Hedge Baird has written a book of stitch ideas
which covers much more than just Easter Eggs. It contains “ideas for borders and stripes,
backgrounds, details, threads, finishing, and displaying your needlepoint eggs!”

The book can roughly be divided into four sections; introduction, stitch suggestions, stitch
dictionary and additional techniques. Each section is packed with ideas.

The introduction is short and includes an introduction (and a great story about the Easter
Raccoon (who now lives at my house, I think), an introduction, some thoughts about
needlepointing, and a wonderful set of outlines of Easter eggs (for designing your own).

The second section is called Easter Needlepoint. It is divided by types of objects (straw
hats, bunnies, etc.) and lists stitch and thread suggestions for all parts of the object.
Needing to stitch some dots? This section includes suggestions for evenly spaced dots,
random dots, dots over 4 threads, and dotted areas. Along with some stitch diagrams,
there are list of stitches for all these areas, as well as hints and comments. Blank pages
and graph paper are included throughout this section to record your own choices.

The largest section of the book is the stitch dictionary. It is divided into sections including
tiny and small stitches, backgrounds, stitches for details, laid fillings and more. The
sections begin with a listing of stitches in them and then each stitch is diagrammed, and
many have additional information. In the tiny stitches section, for example, she has a great
description of Chottie’s Plaid. Once again idea, blank pages, graph paper and clip art are
interspersed throughout the section.

Specialized techniques, finishing and display information make up the last section of the
book. This included information which often is not seen in needlepoint books with
sections on silk ribbon embroidery, wired ribbon, and beading as well as finishing and
display information.

I love this book and find myself turning to it often for ideas, but I would add a small word
of caution. For people who have difficulty reading or who don’t like densely packed
information on a page, Baird’s style could be difficult. Her typeface can be hard to read
(especially in small sizes) and with clip art, text and diagrams on a page, it can be difficult
for some people to see what is most important.

But these are small problems with a book which is joyous, fun and full of ideas, even if you
never stitch and Easter Egg.

Related posts:

1. Backgrounds & Such – book review
2. Book Review — The Needlepoint Belt Series
3. SuZy’s Lite Stitches – book review
4. Backgrounds: The Finishing Touch – book review
5. Spooky Stitches- Book Review

Isn’t this Amaryllis by Piet Mondrian striking?

It’s so simple, so modern, but in such bright colors.

And it’s the canvas for my next class for Art Needlepoint, starting February 15, 2012. Suitable for beginners, it has a taste of many different techniques including:

1. padding
2. textured stitches
3. outlining
4. pattern darning
5. shadow stitching

YOu’ll learn these techniques and more and use three different types of thread with your purchase of the complete kit. My classes for Art Needlepoint are free with the purchase of the kit.

Best of all, those purchasing the kit for purposes of this class get a special discount.

Learning one or two techniques in a class is unusual, and here you’ll learn several in an email class so you can stitch in your comfy chair, in your PJs, and at your own pace.

Remember the class starts February 15, 2012, so order your kit today.

Related posts:

1. Does Shading with Needleblending Confuse You? Learn with my Upcoming Class!
2. Christmas Ornaments Class
3. Needle Nook of La Jolla Lauches Video Needlepoint Class
4. The Stitch Starts Here – Book Review
5. Want to Learn how to Stitch Faces?

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

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.

Related posts:

1. Superbowl Stitching
2. Stitching the Inexpensive Kit
3. Give the Gift of Stitching – 12 Days of Needlepoint Gifts
4. Chirstmas Stitching
5. New Needlepoint in June 2011

Rainbow Gallery has brought out new acrylic laying tools. Each is a unique design. The laying tool is a BLT with an acrylic handle and removable cover.

DMC has a lovely “designer” accessory collection with storage for your project, stitch bows, and a needle holder in a matching print.

Krienik has add four new Stitch-A-Pen kits including three hearts designs and a wedding pen.

Tuitto showed and interesting line of luggage and cases. They are soft, with tons of pockets, four wheels, and a PVC frame on either side. They use an ergonomic design and were very popular among shopowners. They come in up to 12 colors (depending on the piece).

Lee Needle Arts has an iPad case. They have also expanded the bags that can use the removable inserts. Bags with BR and now, I think, BG inserts can use the removable inserts. Anne Brinkley has brought back those lovely porcelain and crystal boxes. I have some of them I stitched ages ago and I’m excited about being able to get more.

Do you have tons of thread hanging around? Is lots of it in uncut skeins? Then you’l love Clover’s new Basket Frames. Available in two sizes in three shapes, they are cardboard frames that make your basket sturdy. Wrap your thread or ribbon around the frame. Then you can add embellishments if you like. These are great because they are much easier to do than traditional baskets and because they allow you to use soft threads and ribbons to make a great basket.

BagSmith has decorated wooden tubes that contain six needles. Several types of needles and design styles are available.

Two great new books are coming out. June McKnight’s new book is called Bling, Glitz, and Glamour for Needlepoint. It’s dedicated to embellishments and, from the models, it looks great. Sharon G’s second book will be out in the spring. It’s dedicated to borders and has over 20.

Related posts:

1. TNNA Round-Up, Part 1
2. Finishing Up at TNNA
3. Painted Canvases at TNNA – Part 1
4. TNNA Round-up Part 3
5. More New Products from TNNA

I’m late in getting you the details of new colors in Silk & Ivory and Trio from brown paper packages. As you can see from the picture above, it was worth it.

The four colors on the left are four new shades in their wonderful series of “almost whites.” Petal is the palest of the Pink Cocktail family. Glacier is the extremely pale blue, and is lighter than Blue Yonder, another wonderful “almost white.” Posie, is the extremely pale violet is lighter than Phlox, a light-filled pale violet. Pearl, the final color in this group, is the lightest member of what I call the “Luxury Seafood” family of salmon, shrimp, crab, and lobster. This is my favorite color family of these threads and I’m so excited.

Why should you be excited about these colors? Just as decorators have a bazillion shades of white picking the correct extremely pale color for your background can do wonders. Just a hint of color can complement or amplify the colors in your piece. Your eyes might look at them and say “white,” but what you will think is “how wonderful that piece looks!” And all because you used an almost white for the background.

The color on the left came out earlier in the years. They are straw a pale yellow, and three new members of the “heavy metal” family, from light to dark, pewter, smoky quartz, and onyx. The other color in this family is pearl gray, one of their earliest colors.

With 224 colors in the line now, available in both threads, most of the color families now have five shades, and there are several with more. If you like Silk & Ivory for Bargello, this is wonderful news. If you haven’t tried it for Bargello, do it for your next project, it’s my favorite thread for this technique.

Related posts:

1. New Colors in Silk
2. Updating Colors on a Vintage Canvas
3. New Colors in Gumnuts
4. New Colors in Bella Lusso, Silk & Ivory and Planet Earth
5. Conjoined Creations Soy Silk – Thread Review