Cool Craft Sites

Originally posted 2004-01-17 08:37:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I’ve been home almost a week and my brain is still spinning from all the wonderful things I saw at Market. Your shops are sure to be full of the most fun things to stitch.

The vendors I spoke with all agree that this was one of their best markets in years and it was certainly one of the biggest Winter Markets TNNA has had. There were new vendors, with bigger booths and the attendance from shops had grown by over 40%. The space was
large so it never seemed crowded and I was excited by what I saw.

This issue will talk about painted canvases, threads, accessories, finishing ideas, and finally will have a section on trends.

First a very short update on From Mountain to Molehill (last issue). I got a great email from Pamela Gardner, the author of the book who wanted me to let you know that there is a new website devoted to the book, and that she has a direct email for orders and questions, fmtmneedleworks@att.net. I just bought my two skeins of Watercolours to do the overdyed threads version and once I get caught up from market I’m spending some quality time in my LNS buying the threads and starting this delightful project!

PAINTED CANVAS

Stylish accessories continue to be popular. Beau Geste has some great striped bags which are available as either a complete kit or as a canvas with stitch guide. Boots Bailey had an innovative bag design, a large needlepointed initial set into a leather tote. The cut out in the tote is the same shape as the letter. These bags were sophisticated, chic and very unusual. Pease on Earth s now making some great small bags.

Jane Nichols has made some entirely needlepoint totes. The projects include a front, a back and a needlepointed gusset. They are several styles, including a stitcher’s bag. The company also makes a stitcher brick cover.

Shoes are also big news. The most innovative idea I saw here were sandal kits from Birds of a Feather. These kits include Gucci-style sandal bottoms, the painted canvases for the tops, finishing instructions and the tacks needed to attach the needlepoint to the sandals. All packaged in a clear durable tote.

The Point of It All had really cool glasses or cell phone cases. The cases were large enough for virtually all cell phones and glasses with two pockets and charming embellishments and fabric. Prices include finishing for the cases.

There were also some great designs for Christmas. Susan Roberts has a magnificent Nutcracker tree skirt while Decorations continues to add to their collection of tree skirts with a snowman one. They also have some other great ornament ideas including temari balls, paisley tussie-mussie shapes and a Catherine the Great stocking (to go with last year’s Peter the Great). Beau Geste had a stocking cuff which had ornaments on it. It’s for a very large stocking and is easy to stitch.

A Collection of Designs also had a stocking cuff with a heel and toe to match and applique to the stocking. Strictly Christmas also had great stocking cuffs. Nan Hempel’s distinctive line has expended with new angel and Santa stockings in her Renaissance colors.

For ornaments, Shelly has the most inventive idea –flip-flops with embellishments and ribbon for the tops. I was ready to buy every one. The Princess & Me has added some great Judaic ornaments to their line as well as several other great new ornaments. Beau Geste will have this year’s limited edition Christopher Radko snowmen as canvas or canvas/ornament combinations.

Kathy Schenkel has a great pyramidal pine tree which fits onto a stand. You stitch the base and add buttons (included with canvas) or other embellishments. She has also added sports figure and some adorable animals to her line of mini-socks. My two favorites were the armadillos, the stockings were cute and the little stuffed armadillos to die for. She has also expanded her new line of tiny (1″) cubes and added bead bits to finish them off. Each of the 60-70 bead bits is unique.

Denise de Rusha has expanded her popular cookie line (finished they look like real cookies). A Collection of Designs has a line of tropical fish ornaments. The fish are decorated with Santa hats, Christmas lights, ornaments and more. This set is a playful way to decorate a tree. In Good Company has added a line of ornament-sized mini-birdhouses. They are adorable and easy to finish.

Associated Talents makes absolutely delightful small letter canvases. They have added a Christmas version. These squares are available either with an assortment of backgrounds, each unique to its letter or a standard holly background. Rosalie Peters is introducing needlepoint amulet bags. The designs are delightful and are a fresh way to finish small needlepoint projects.

dede’s Needleworks has a magnificent Advent stocking. The large background stocking has 25 little stockings decorating it. This would make a wonderful project. Tapestry Tent has modernized Longstitch with a series of line-drawn canvases which are meant to be done in Longstitch. The designs are very inventive.

Maggie Co. has more of her whimsical designs, this time a series of small designs by Lisa Krause. They include luggage, shopping, a martini, a teacup and several more. I thought the canvases by themselves were great, but there’s more. Made into tiny pillows, they become seat pads for these adorable folk art chairs. The back to each chair is a different character. Jennifer Pudney has added hand-painted canvas to their line. These provide Jennifer’s distinctive look on a larger scale.

Beau Geste has also expanded their goldwork line, by having Chinese characters done to look like goldwork using Padded Satin Stitch (great if you don’t want to work with real metal). The designs are on colored canvas backgrounds and take the average stitcher about four hours to complete. They come with a stitch guide of three open backgrounds. Framed they are very dramatic and look as if they took forever to do.

Raymond Crawford (one of my favorites) has some wonderful Halloween faces and an astonishingly beautiful series of zodiac signs. I looked at them and fell in love. The aquarius is blues, and aquas with lots of silver, The Cancer is a great red crab and I loved Leo’s face. He also has a line of “I’d rather be …” canvas with clever backgrounds. The variety of canvases names all kinds of activities — stitching, fishing golfing, and more.

Sundance Needleworks had more of Barbara Elmore’s canvases with the painted backgrounds. She also let me know that she is teaching classes on an unusual technique of painting the canvas and threads AFTER it is stitched. I saw several examples and the results are lovely. If you are looking for interesting programs for your guild, you should contact her. Barbara also has some delightful painted canvas watch bands. Sundance also had some great Southwestern canvases, including some great crosses, in very bright colors. The style was distinctive and, in their words, funky.

The Elizabeth Turner Collection has even more great bags, including some which are a riot of pattern. These clutch bags have one pattern on the flap, one on the back and front and one on the gusset. Our Faithful Friends is also a new company, but you may have seen their first design. it was the adorable Jack Russell terrier which was in Stitcher’s World last year. They have brought their charming style to a whole slew of dog and cat canvases. These animals have such character, really capturing the personality of the breed. Any purebred dog or cat breed can be rendered by this company.

Waller Street Designs (a new company) specializes in belts. I especially liked that several of his designs came on 13 mesh as well as 18 mesh. Rishfeld Designs (from Tapestry Tent), another new designer, has a realistic giraffe growth chart which is a real treasure. They also have many Judaic designs and some great small playing card an mahjongg tiles canvases.

Cooper Oaks has introduced a new artist, Christine, who has wonderful quilt designs. I feel in love with her Log Cabin Heart, a place for a riot of threads and stitches.

CHARTED NEEDLEPOINT

Tink Boord-Dill has come out with a book of
monograms which is fantastic. There are many alphabets and styles and each alphabet is rendered in several sizes, so they can be combined to make traditional or modern monograms.

Britstitch had a large collection of charted classic Berlinwork designs, mostly florals. This is a great way to try this technique since these designs can be hard to find.

Custom House has added lost of new designs rom Kick Back and Stitch and Finger Step Designs. These include butterflies, ladybugs, seasonal series of geometrics and more fish.

Judi & Co. is now distributing the popular Patchwork of Peace book. The Red Thread is coming out with a book of stitch guides for 12 of their tool totes, including the blue jeans tote which was popular at this year’s ANG exhibit.

If you like Pam Pabst’s angels, several of these designs are now also available as painted canvases. Art Stitch (http://www.art-stitch.com) also is making many of their popular Art Nouveau design as painted canvases including Chat Noir and the Rabbits Right and Left.

THREADS

The trend for new companies making threads is slowing down, but many of my favorite thread companies have expanded their lines and color selection.

Fiber Fanatic has a new thread, Cotton Candy, which is a cotton chenille. Lashes, an eyelash thread for needlepoint ia also new, as is Peach Fuzz, a soft fuzzy thread. They also are putting together colorways of coordinating colors in their five most popular threads, There are 39 colors currently with more on the way.

Ty-Di is introducing 8 new colors to their line. There are two wonderful greens, a bright red, lavender and a pale yellow.

The Caron Collection came out with new colors in Watercolours (24), Waterlilies (22) and Wildflowers (24). These are available in shops now. Colors include Lime Rickey (a strikingly bright lime green), Fraise du Bois (a pretty pink) and Molten Lava (an amazing bright red and orange color). They also extended their solid color shades of Impressions and Soie Crystal, with 27 new colors in many color families, including four new shades of bright yellow, six shades of olive green and more.

Kreinik has a new series of Fantasy Color metallics which will be available March 1st. There are twelve colors in the series and the base thread is black making for unusual effects. They threads will be available in #4, #12, and #16 braids. They also have 8 new shades of Silk Mori and Silk Serica in avocado green (four shades), icy blue (three shades) and a dark brown black.

River Silks is now making some of their colors in 13 mm silk ribbon. They have also added 32 new colors to their line. I saw several needlepoint pieces done in their silks and the look was fantastic. I’ll have an in-depth article about the ribbons and this company in the near future.

The Thread Gatherer has new colors in all their threads. New colors in silk/wool include Pharaoh’s Gold, English Ironstone and 6 more. There are fourteen new silk colors, including six which are “Year of the Thread” colors which will only be available for a limited time. There are six new Oriental Linen colors, two new Silken Chenilles colors, and additions to the linen, mohair, ribbon, and silken pear lines as well. Finally there are two new colors of Wild Hairs (including a Hog Wart Purple) and two Woolly Whites. All these colors can be seen on their website.

JL Walsh Silks has added several shades of green in two color families to their silk/wool line. This is their Silver Anniversary year and I have loved this thread since I first saw it, more than 20 years ago.

Rainbow Gallery has come out with a petite size of Alpaca. This thread is made from 100% natural Alpaca and comes in 16 natural colors. They have added colors to Splendor (16), Frosty Rays (6), and Sparkle Rays Petite (8). There are 16 new gloss gloss and pearl colors in Petite Frosty Rays and 4 new pearl colors of Crystal Braid. Finally there are new colors in Treasure Braid Petite, Fyre Werks, Tiara and Very Velvet.

The new brown paper packages colors of Silk & Ivory are Toadstool, Truffle (additions to the fungus family) Grasshopper (a great grass green) and Guava (middle color between Bisque and Cayenne). There are lots more colors of Trio available and more coming in March. This thread has really taken off and there are 28 colors currently,
many outstanding for backgrounds.

After Elaine Warner’s sad death last fall, her company, Needle Necessities has been taken over by her daughter. They were at the show with some additions to their Floss Overdyed and Kreinik Overdyed lines. There are eight new floss colors, some pastel, some bright and a striking black/white combination named for Elaine. There are also eight new metallic colors, including the black/white combo.

FINISHING IDEAS

Voila! C’est Fini! has some very creative ideas for making belt canvases into something other than belts. Several of their sandal styles use two straps either crossed or in lines with a variety of heels. They also make a betl bag using several strips of belts sewn together. Belt canvases can also be finished by them as dog leashes, purse straps or the top trim on a tote.

Sudberry has new Cigar Box purses and some new Nantucket baskets. Romancing the Past has added several new finishes to their Treasure Bxoes. the boxes can now have additional decoration in the form of polka dots or of a scrubbed metallic finish.

Keep your Pants on has a fabric-lined tote bag with a space to insert one of their painted needlepoint canvases. Alice Peterson is making a large burlap bag which can have a needlepoint design appliqued to the front.

Shraon G was introducing a great way to finish bags, These bags, made by Cheryl’s Needlework Finishing are gorgeous with small pieces of needlepoint on the front which snap on (and so can change easily). The purses are fully lined evening bags and can be done in any color of Ultrasuede.

Needlepoint of Back Bay has a new line of leather accessories in delicious colors. The items, including a tote bag, coin purse, tri-fold wallet and wristlet, come in watermelon, french blue, kiwi, black and red. Lee Needle Arts has expanded their leather collection, adding a photo envelope, travel documents bag and more. They also showed off a great belt with grosgrain ribbon as the reverse side.

The Painted Canvas has a brass or antique silver belt buckle with an opening for needlepoint. They have several canvases just for this or a section of a belt design can be used. Julie Pishke has pillows which can have needlepoint inserted in them easily. They have deep pockets so the needlepoint won’t fall out and are in a wide range of bright and traditional prints. The cost is around $45 retail.

STITCHING ACCESSORIES

Amy Bunger is now distributing a wonderful line of plastic boxes for organizing. They come in many different sizes with either fixed or flexible dividers. Various depth accommodate everything from spools of Kreinik to Rainbow Gallery cards. A variety of nylon canvas carrying cases is also available.

Stitching Elegance is a new company which makes and distributes a variety of wonderful accessories. Tacky BOB Beading Boxes lets you store your beads on adhesive film in a clever closeable case. The Thread Straightener is two Lucite rods with non-stick areas in punchy pastels. Put a kinked thread over them and separate the pair — kinks disappear. The company also makes adorable traveling needlecases from mint tins (you can decorate the tops with your own needlework) and distributed the amazing glass laying tools.

TRENDS

Smaller needlepoint projects are still immensely popular and continue to be the core of most vendors lines. I think this popularity taps into several important tendencies. First, it lets people do needlepoint without spending too much money. Second, in lives which are already very busy, stitchers can find time to finish a small project. Third, it makes needlepoint very portable. Finally, when a project is small, it is easier to experiment, make mistakes and try things. A large expensive canvas which will be an heirloom is a harder place to try things. Right now, I’m helping a friend learn to shade on a small Jody Designs ornament. She will learn a new technique and finish a great ornament all at once.

Even so, larger projects are starting to show up once again. I saw lots of rugs, some quite expensive. Several vendors had wall hangings and large pillows. Shorebird Studio had coordinated sets of wall hangings, large pillows and small pillows which would be a
striking and outstanding focal point for a room. For stitchers investing time and effort into these pieces creates works of art which are unique.

Another welcome trend is that many companies which had not considered needlework as a market are coming into the business. Sunbelt Fastener makes purse handles in a staggering array of materials and styles. Since needlepoint purses are very popular, having more options means making a purse can be a unique statement and it becomes easier to find a handle to match the bag.

Other companies are adapting products from other markets for needlepoint. This increases our tools for organization and stitching. But this is a trend which is just starting out, expect to see more of this as needlepoint increases in popularity.Like many others in the needlepoint industry, I am really optimistic about the future. I think the challenge and creativity of needlepoint will be more attractive to new stitchers as they look for additional ways to do handwork.

And this will benefit us all!

The post TNNA Round-up January 2004 appeared first on Nuts about Needlepoint.

Read more here:
TNNA Round-up January 2004