I am always so happy at TNNA to go to Kathy Schenkel’s and Melissa Shirley’s booths. They are always full to bursting with great new ideas and canvases I just drool over.

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

Read the original post:
New Canvases from Kathy Schenkel and Melissa Shirley

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

Excerpt from:
Exploring the Painted Stitch Canvas

Originally posted 2007-01-22 17:39:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

View original post here:
On Older Canvas

The really simple answer to this is yes. Anything that has holes drilled in it in a regular grid-like pattern can be the ground for needlepoint.

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.

Here is the original post:
If it’s Perforated, Can I Stitch on it?

Originally posted 2006-02-18 14:51:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

Continue reading here:
Merry Easter Eggs – 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?

See the article here:
Threads & Shading Class Starts February 15

There are several new accessories that debuted at TNNA. Probably the hit of the show was Pischke Pillows. from the makers of the the popular Pischke Pockets. Using ten-mesh canvas with your choice of three designs, the kit comes with the same sturdy fabrics as the totes, grosgrain ribbon, and threads. The pillows are made amazingly easily and the three designs will work in almost any setting, even outdoors.

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

Read more here:
More New from TNNA

Sometimes as a stitcher I am frustrated. It seems as if my favorite designer goes away. But, happily, there are companies who pick up these old favorites and continue to make them available.

Gail of GailVail is retiring. While the fate of many of her designs is unclear, Needledeeva is picking up her Navajo rug designs. These pieces are stitch painted adaptations of traditional rugs and each has the name of the rug design on it. They come in many sizes, as do the rugs themselves. Stitched in wool, the traditional fiber for rugs, they make great accents. Even better they are MUCH cheaper than even an ornament-sized rug (about $100 at a local museum shop).

Painted Pony has added Needle Graphics to their line. Along with adding Squigee to the line, CBK has a great new series of whale and heart shapes filled with different painted fabric-like patterns.

Treglown has added Kooler Design Studios to their line. In addition they have a great series of slightly shorter belts that can be finished as purse straps for their two stylish leather bags. I’m crazy about the two Charley Harper ones of course.

My favorite distribution news comes from Pishke Pockets. They now distribute Elizabeth Bradley as well as Kirk & Hamilton. Elizabeth Bradley has a new take on her traditional designs with both single flowers and shells on lighter backgrounds, updating this traditional style for more modern interiors.

Kirk & Hamilton has some really clever designs. I loved their three full-size stockings, cupcakes, roosters, and penguins, all with some ornament rounds to match. They also had a clever series of mini-socks with animals seen from the back gazing at the Christmas star.

Danji has added a new artist as well, Ann Winn. She has some lovely figures including a triangular snow queen, a mermaid, and a striking seahorse. Barbara Russell has added licensed designs based on pieces from the Woodmere Museum of Art in Philadelphia.

Canvas Connection is now distributing all of Designing Women’s canvases. Best of all the wonderful crosses are now available on 18 as well as 13 mesh. I can’t wait to make a bunch more for my tree.

Probably my favorite thing at the entire show was Boots Bailey’s magnificent five-piece nativity. My husband, who saw it Friday night, just raved about it. And he’s right. Gorgeously painted and based on biblical era clothing, they are exquisite. To stitch and own them would be a real treasure.

One final note: You may wonder why I don’t have pictures or links in my show reports. There are no links because often the designers don’t update their sites until well after the show. If I can’t show you what is new, I don’t link. Although many people take pictures with their phones, I’m a disaster at that. Since cameras aren’t allowed on the show floor, my posts are illustration free during TNNA.

Related posts:

1. New Canvases at TNNA (Winter 2011)
2. Painted Canvases at TNNA – Part 1
3. More New Canvases from TNNA
4. Great Canvases a TNNA
5. Thread News from TNNA

More:
Distribution News from TNNA and More New Canvases

There is always so much more great stuff at TNNA that I can’t cover everything. Here’s more stuff I loved.

Tapestry Fair has some lovely geishas that have a great concept. They are seen from the back. The clothing is line drawn, so you can pick your own stitches, colors and threads, but the heads are painted. A cool basis for creativity. There are three single geishas and a piece with six.

A Collection of Designs has new mini-socks, snowmen, ornaments and, my favorite, elaborate crosses. Jean Smith had an absolutely amazing large (4 feet square) of a single flower, plus many delightful coasters that are smaller versions of her popular flowers and vegetables. These are great for giving you an assortment of her work.

At Elizabeth Turner there was a delightful Noah’s Ark mini-sock, stocking, and mitten, all with plenty of opportunity for embellishments and fancy stitching. They also had a great set of coasters with fancy purses on them as well as glasses cases with many purses as well. Sew Much Fun had another charming variation for those who don’t go in for stockings, oven mitts in large and mini sizes. There were three designs in each size with my favorite being Piece, Hope, Love with cake on the mini and pie on the large.

Birds of a Feather had delightful owls, nativity figures in their whimsical style as individual ornaments, and three sampler designed by artist Nancy Davis. They also had a delightfully different “Hunting Wild Boar” canvas. Cooper Oaks had small pieces of Susan Wallace Barnes artwork in ornament rounds and small (6″ square) pictures.

Looking at the beachy theme of those canvases, my favorite beach pieces were from j.child. They had extremely clever beach stockings, ornaments, and mini socks in lots of designs. Probably my favorites were the beachy ornaments stocking and the mini sock with bright Christmas lights along a driftwood fence.

I simply adored the resin boxes at Amanda Lawford. There were a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. To go along with them were clever canvases. Stitch the canvas and pop it into the box for a fast, unique gift. There I also saw a set of wonderful bird silhouettes that came with thread lists and embellishments. There is a cardinal, chickadee, dove, and blue jay.

The Point of It All had a lovely wedding ensemble that was dainty and elegant. It included votive covers that can be done with your choice of initials, a small ring bearer’s pillow, a tiny brides bag and fairy tale shoes. Making any of these would be such a treat for a wedding. JulieMar & Friends has a new snowman collection and lots of new creative Halloween pieces.

DReam HOuse had several new designers including by Georg with lovely florals. They also had new Mindy pieces and some wonderful mid-century modern pieces, including one called Falling Leaves that has a great 50′s vibe. Needledeeva has a great series of nine Christmas trees of various kinds, each decorated and with a different shape. Vicky DeAngelis did the stitch guides.

Robbyn’s Nest has a lovely series of botanically correct roses as coasters or pillows, along with four new designers eggs (think Faberge), and a set of five colorful tropical frogs. Canvas Connection is back with new Talavera and Imari designs.

I loved the initially yours series of squares from new designer Canvas Art by Barbi. Each square is divided into rough quarters with a different font of the initial with a different color background on each. They each also have a letter embellishment on them. Barbi also makes a great series of needlepoint “postcards” with many colorful heart designs.

Associated Talents has a lovely set of semi-custom script monograms in squares. You can have up to three letters in the monograms and they are available with patterned or plain backgrounds, in several colors and with plain or elaborate borders. I loved them because the script monograms make such a strong and elegant design statement just on their own.

Labors of Love has added to their clip-on line with a new 12 days of Christmas series. The thing I like best about this is that the birds in this series are compatible in size with their other birds.

Tomorrow, news about distribution of some of your favorite designers, along with more canvases. Next Friday another TNNA article with a look at new stuff from two of my favorites, Kathy Schenkel and Melissa Shirley.

Related posts:

1. Painted Canvases at TNNA – Part 1
2. New Needlepoint Products – Hand-painted Canvas & Kits
3. Finishing Up at TNNA
4. More New Products from TNNA
5. Lee Needle Arts – Hand Painted Canvas Needlepoint & Accessories

Go here to see the original:
Painted Canvas Goodies from TNNA

As always there plenty to love at TNNA. Besides the trends I talked about on Wednesday, two other types of needlepoint are becoming more popular.

I was particularly excited by all the creative bookmarks I saw. Whimsy and grace had over 30 in all styles. Each of these came with a coordinating tassel. A new designer, Shivering Sheep had several delightful ones with Southwestern themes. Another designer, MAP Designs, had a whole bunch of canvases of Koeshi dolls, a type of Japanese doll. These dolls have round heads and straight bodies (no arms or legs). MAP’s Koeshis included dogs, cats. people and a bride and groom. They could be finished flat to be bookmarks or be done as stand-ups or easel-backed pieces.

Another type of needlepoint that’s becoming more popular is 3-D needlepoint, something that takes us beyond the pillow or ornament. Little Shoppe, a pioneer in 3-D needlepoint has made a new series of 3-D candles. There are two pieces, a top, shaped like a donut, and a rectangular side. Finished the rectangle becomes a pillar candle, while the round covers the top. In the hole place an LED tea light. There are seasonal and non-seasonal designs and many come with coordinating pillows.

Over at Sundance, Barbara Elmore has taken 3-D to a whimsical level with her sculptural pumpkin and Christmas Tree. They are constructed of stitched bands and are ekegant and unusual.

The showpiece of dede’s new canvases is her topiary tree, a tall skinny cone stitched entirely in shades of green. On it your place stitched butterflies, also 3-D withe their wings partially folded.

There were so many other delightful pieces, it will be hard to describe them all in these two posts. Rebecca Wood has stockings and ornaments featuring reindeer. Reindeer games shows the reindeer at play. Ruldoplh is featured in both a stocking and whole series of round ornaments that have him hiding out in various places. She also has a stunning smaller nativity and twoseries of monthly cakes. The three-layer cakes are banners and a series of smaller babycakes is two lay versions of the same designs.

Painted Pony has added some new destination angels and rounds including Vatican City and the Galapagos Islands. There are also some delightful charm angels, including a geisha and queen of hearts. She has also brought out a series of seven monthly themed dress forms. These have exquisite detail and are more complex in their painting than the angels and rounds.

A delightful series at Shivering Sheep is their custom critters collection. A clever scene illustrating phrases such as, wildebeest wanders willy-nilly, is able to be personalized with the name and phrase painted in pink or blue or to match Sherwin-Williams paints.

Sharon G has done some of her triptyches as single canvases. They are stunning large canvases. A new geometric of hers called Graphic Wave was stitched so beautifully and I’m excited that Sharon will make her stitch guide for this available. My favorite of hers was her Owl & Pussycat, one of my favorite children’s poems. It’s the best I’ve ever seen.

Waterweave had lots of lovely hearts, with many in blue, white, and yellow. They also had a great sheep that looks deceptively simple until you stitch it all in big wooly French Knots. Then it sings.

City Needlepoint (makers of the great City Silk thread) had a wonderful series of Chinese Zodiac designs. Each had the animal in black in Chinese cut-out style, and had the character for the animal behind it in a rich dark red. They also had many simple designs in 4″ square size that would be great beginners canvases.

More tomorrow and Sunday (new distributors on Sunday as well).

Related posts:

1. Great Canvases a TNNA
2. TNNA Round-Up, Part 1
3. TNNA Round-up Part 3
4. More New Canvases from TNNA
5. Why are Hand-Painted Canvases So Expensive?

Read the rest here:
Painted Canvases at TNNA – Part 1