I finally got around to counting up the votes for this (I’m a charter member of the procrastinator’s club) and the winner for a club theme for next year is stitches and quilt blocks.
I’m excited because quilts always inspire me and this is such a wonderful way to learn new stitches. Best of all, with mostly square sides or true diagonals, compensation is really easy.
It will also give us a wonderful way to explore colors through the projects. I’m going off to do some hard-core designing. And I also need to know your opinion for how you would like to see these packaged. There are three options, which I’ll list from most to least expensive.
- painted canvas – you will get a painted canvas in a specific color scheme. The lesson will tell you exactly the threads/colors to buy
- line-drawn canvas – you will get line-drawn canvas so you can pick your own threads. Sometimes you will need to color parts of the canvas yourself.
- counted canvas – you will get a blank piece of canvas and a map that will tell you how big each patch in the design needs to be. You may draw it on the canvas or just count. Sometimes you will need to color parts of the canvas yourself.
I’m hoping to have more details, including prices, and a sign-up sheet by mid-October.
Lots of people also wanted to explore threads so there will be offerings along those lines as well. Several threads will be used in the monthly projects, there will be some cyberclasses and I’m also planning on putting together some thread exploration packs with threads, canvas, and a small project.
Related posts:
- Christmas Lights – 2010 Needlepoint Club
- Sneak Peek – Little Quilt Blocks eBook
- August Twinchy Challenge – Quilt Blocks
- Quilt Block Coasters with Stitch Guides
- What Color Should that Stitch Be?
Read the rest here:
Stitches & Quilt Blocks — Next Year’s Club
The actual tartan registry showing woven samples from The Scottish Registry of Tartans
There is talk going around the internet yet again, that it is illegal to chart Scottish tartans except for personal use. I have done extensive research and corresponded with the Official Tartan Registry in the UK about this.
Quite simply, this assertion in untrue except in limited cases.
Many tartans pre-date copyright restrictions and still others are old enough to have passed out of copyright into the public domain. This means, quite simply, that they can be used freely by anyone at any time for any purpose.
You might be asking yourself, what technically does this mean. Copyright was created as a way for authors to protect their work from unauthorized printing. It also has a definite lifetime. If something is older than that lifetime, for example a Jane Austen novel, it no longer is protected by copyright and anyone can print it. That’s when something goes into the public domain.
To see how this works in practice, think about the Royal Stewart tartan. You can find it (and this is just the first page of Google results) as a kilt, a tie, a leash, a dog bed, tennis shoes, and a hot water bottle cover. All this is perfectly legal, as would be a needlepoint interpretation of the same tartan, whether for sale or for personal use.
Some tartans, however, were created by specific companies or for specific purposes and are restricted in their use. This plaid, the Barbour tartan, is restricted. It says so clearly on the site and explains the limits on its use. It is used for the lining of jackets made by this company. If I wanted to make a needlepoint adaptation of this tartan, I would have to seek permission from the company, just as I would need to to adapt and sell needlepoint of an artist’s work.
But restricted tartans are in the minority. Any already-created or custom tartan you buy from Napa Needlepoint and my site, Needlepoint Plaids, can be sold.
It’s unfortunate that there is this misunderstanding of what is very clear.
Related posts:
- A Clarification on Tartans
- Announcing Needlepoint Plaids Site
- What Can I Do with a Plaid?
- Adapting Plaids to Needlepoint
- A Tartan Christmas
Visit link:
Tartans and Needlepoint – A Clarification
I hope you liked this free patterns month. There was lots of stitchy goodness here as well as plenty of inspiring patterns ands projects for you to stitch.
Here’s a summary of what we saw:
If all these weren’t enough there are plenty of other ways to find posts about free patterns on Nuts about Needlepoint. The easiest way is to use the categories, found in the dark gray boxes at the top of every page. Every post that has a free pattern, mine or not, will be in the category, free patterns, found under design types. Come Stitch with Me (under Community) has longer free projects.
You can also find free projects, along with lots of other stuff, under technique categories, beginners, charts, and specific design types.
Have fun stitching!
Related posts:
- Wonderful Resource for Free Patterns – About.com
- Needlepoint Patterns Free Directory Now Open
- Free Embroidery Patterns
- Lots of Free Needlepoint Patterns
- Charming Free Patterns from Two Sites
See original here:
Summary of Free Patterns
Originally posted 2006-07-16 22:09:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
I had this “A” canvas hanging around the stash for years and years. I think I bought it at a Guild Auction (a great place to get canvases and projects). I suspect it was part of a class, and judging by the drawing on the canvas, the flowers, leaves and such were supposed to be ribbon embroidery.
But I decided to make it as a quick present for my DD, who has a birthday coming up. And since the flowers were circles, I decided to make the whole thing Mary Englebreit-ish.
I use Spring II in Baby Alisha for the background, black Splendor for the outline (oblique continental) and threads from the scrap bag for everything else. I only took me about three hours total to do.
I’m getting a frame later this morning and framing it for her. I just love it!
Although it was Saturday, not Sunday, it’s been a stressful week, finishing needlepoint for people I love has made it easier. And it’s making my stash smaller.
Related posts:
- Making Samplers from Needlepoint Picture Frames
- Quick Continental Note
- When Only Continental Will Do
- Scrap Bag Cats – Part 1
- Twelve Step Program for Stitchers
Excerpt from:
“A” is for . . .
I love this free design of Star’s in so many ways. The saying, “Seize the day” in Latin, is one it is always good to remember. I love the look of the lettering and the cracked marble. The leaves on the lower left are Acanthus leaves.
Although Star explains in her post why she put them there. I also like them here because they remind me of the abundance of God’s grace and of creation. Here’s why. I used to live in a house with Acanthus planted all along the driveway. In northern California they grow very well. Being big and flashy they were a nice driveway plant. But they also attracted snails, seemingly billions of them. Now snails are also really common in Northern California and the bane of many gardeners.
But here I had my own personal snail traps. Except for the holes in the leaves, and with leaves that big who cares, it was such a perfect combination. I had lovely plants to look at, the snails had food, and we all were happy with God and His World.
So seize the day and do this needlepoint!
Related posts:
- Charming Free Geometric Needlepoint Pattern
- Free Pattern Alert – Scissors Case
- A Great Free Pattern
- Free Torah Needlepoint Pattern
- Free Pattern Alert – Interesting Cross Stitch to Adapt
Read more from the original source:
Free Pattern – Seize the Day
Originally posted 2009-01-12 22:38:57. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
You may have been wondering why you haven’t heard from me for a few days.
The simple answer is that I moved and it’s taken me until now to get my computer connected.
I did some posts in advance which took me through until Friday, thinking, silly me, that if I was moving on Tuesday surely I would be back in action by Saturday.
HA!
The new house didn’t close until Friday. No worries, even though I was living from a paper bag and at a hotel whose beds were harder than some floors, I could get to the web to check my email now and again.
We moved Friday and the cable guy came to hook up the Internet. On Friday night I tried to hook up the router but had no signal. That’s because the cable modem wasn’t hooked up to the network running through the walls.
My DS finally, through trial and error got it hooked up, but if this is the fastest speed we have a problem (that’s one of tomorrow’s issues).
So by Saturday night we had Internet connection and my computer was set up but the wireless thingy which makes my Mac work with a wireless router said there was no Internet.
Apparently that side of the studio is just too far, but the diagonally opposite corner is OK.
So that’s where I sit, with the computer set up on a folding table.
It could be worse. And since we’ll be painting in here and narrowing the doorway so I can get a door and close it on the mess, the fact that the nice desk my DH gave me is now an expensive thread storage unit is only a minor problem.
And did I mention the chandelier in the middle of the room?
This room was supposed to be the dining room and has a honking big light fixture in the middle of it, made of iron and only five feet from the ground. I bashed my head on it Saturday night so badly it still hurts there and have had to resort to putting two empty boxes in the middle of the room to keep away from it.
They are so decorative.
Back with some real posts tomorrow but I wanted to bring you up-to-date.
Related posts:
- Nautilus Shell & Technology Rant
- 1,2,3 It’s Easy! Balance in Needlepoint
- Reflections on Efficiency and Decorating
- Temporary Quarters
- Update for May 8
Follow this link:
Back in Action
Originally posted 2008-07-29 12:28:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Threads: Dinky Dyes has just released their first collection of silk ribbon. The ribbon comes in 4mm & 7mm widths in their 20 best-selling colors. Crescent Colours has added Garden Days colors to their line of floss, including ladybug, grasshopper, and Caterpillar. Dede’s Needleworks has introduced four new threads: FireFly a wired thread for couching (think 3-D), Glitzy, a super-shiny gold thread for 18 mesh or higher, Super-Twist,semi-twinkle in 67 colors, and Prisms, a clear opalescent. She will soon be distributing Treenway’s Fine Silk Cord in 100 colors.
Finishing: Have you ever thought about making a bellpull but hesitated because you didn’t like the hardware? Rosewood Manor has come out with lovely turned wool rods in 7 colors and two lengths (6 and 8 inches). They can also be ordered with cords. Designing Women has photo and scrapbook albums with oval or rectangle mounting boards.
Do you collect Longaberger baskets? Now you can create custom lids for them. They work with all types of needlework and come in 15 finishes as well as four crackle finishes. The package includes a template and a Magicpad for finishing which expends to s ½” pad when activated. Yarn Tree has a 16oz stainless steel travel mug with space for your stitching. Sudberry has added a letter box to their Nantucket basket line.
Canvases: Sekas & Co just keeps expanding their line of adorable painted canvas fobs. They are available on your choice of 1, 16 or 18 mesh. The new set of 6 has great summery designs, including a golf hole, a lighthouse, ice cream, and a sailboat. Finishing instructions are included. All about Stitching has a new set of critters, cartoony animals that hang by their tails. Each is dressed in a whimsical outfit. CBK Nedlepoint Collection has a line of license plates for “needleptr”s, for different states.
DeElda’s line of beginner kits now has 40 designs in it. Each is 4”x4”, on 10 mesh canvas and includes instructions, a needle, a threader, and Persian wool. Alice Vantrese has a great series of witty dog canvases, designed by Joy Schmetz for Designing Dogs. There are 9 dog designs and one cat in the series, all showing the animals stitching in various locations.
Elizabeth Bradley has a lovely new kit called Amaryllis. It is in the Botanical Series and has three a fiery orange-red blossoms. Voila has come out with a line of 4” x 7” cases on 14 mesh in their most popular designs. Blue Dogwood Designs has a collection of 12 ornaments in an ornament of the month series. Each comes with a stitch guide.
Related posts:
- New Needlepoint Products – November 2008
- New Needlepoint Products – August 2010
- New Needlepoint Products – April 2010
- New Needlepoint Products – August 2009
- New Products – June 2008
Link:
New Needlepoint Products (threads, finishing, canvases & more) – July 2008
