Are you ready to do some shape-cutting and embossing with the Big Shot Sizzix? This black and girly pink machine is awesome and is certainly multi-talented. Not only is it easy to use, but there are so many beautiful dies and other tools to help you create a one of a kind creation.
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Big Shot Sizzix
Originally posted 2008-11-12 04:58:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Santa Fe Needlepoint by Lorene Salt
In fact I kept thinking about it. It was one of Lorene’s pieces for her Master Craftsman from the Embroiderers Association of Canada. It’s an adaptation anyone can do and so I asked her to share it with you.
This is what she says about the piece:
For this project I was told to cut a piece of black construction paper into various shapes. I was then supposed to glue it onto white paper as if it were an exploding diagram.
Once I had a design that I was happy with, I glued the black pieces on to the white paper. I then traced the design onto canvas. I then picked a colour scheme that I liked, in this case oranges and turquoises. I then started filling in the different areas with different stitches and threads.
From the picture you can see that the black paper pieces I stitched in the oranges and the thin turquoise parts are where the white paper showed through.
When finished, I stitched around the entire piece in black so that is framed the work inside.
She calls the piece Santa Fe, after the color scheme.
There are so many things I like about this piece. I love the color scheme (it’s one of my favorites) and I think she’s done a great job of using overdyed threads in a way that looks natural and not over the top.
I also love that her choice of stitches reinforces the shape of the areas. The ones which are sharply pointed have stitches which emphasize that fact. For example, the Random Rhodes which run diagonally all across the piece look like a river of stars to me. And the rhythmic Bargello really shows off that space.
When it comes to the turquoise area, the negative space of the design, they are packed with texture too. It would have been so easy to just pick a single stitch and use it everywhere, but the design would have been diminished that was. This additional texture makes you want to look at it and explore.
One last point, I’ve talked about Mary Shipp’s rule of 1-3-5 when doing needlepoint so that it looks balanced. One element, in this case the stitches, should predominate. A second element, in this case the colors, should have a middle amount. There are only two colors, but it looks like 20 stitches (by my count). The final element, in this case texture, should be severely limited. I think Lorene used only one or two kinds of thread. The coral is silk and the turquoise is either silk or cotton floss.
The cut paper technique is one often found in art books, and I have often wondered about it. Here you can see how something anyone can do can be taken to make wonderful needlepoint.
Thanks Lorene, for sharing!
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Adapting Randomly Cut Paper to Needlepoint
I often stitch at night while we watch TV. Sometimes my DH doesn’t like the light on, so off goes the light and thus my stitching ends for the evening.
But not now. With the Beam N Read LED Light, I can stitch without any other lights and see my needlepoint just fine.
I tested both the 3 and 6 light sizes. They run on AA batteries (included with the 3 light size but not with the 6) and hang around your neck with a webbing strap.
I found that while the 3 light size was just fine when using the unfiltered light, the 6 light size was far too bright when unfiltered; brighter than the regular light I use.
The lights come with filters as well. The 3 light comes with a dark pink filter for night vision. I found that it worked well, making things nicely clear at night. While the colors of my needlework were not true, the contrast was good.
The 6 light comes with two different filters, shown in the picture, one red and one yellow. I loved the yellow filter. When I used it, my DH didn’t even know that I had a light on and I could stitch in comfort.
I didn’t like the red filter much at all, I felt as if it left things too dark for the kind of fine details needlepoint requires.
The 6 light also comes with a magnifier which I didn’t try.
he only fault I could find was in the strap. One side came undone almost immediately. I tried rethreading, and even tying it on, but nothing works for more than a few minutes. As a result, I just rest it on my chest.
These lights, in either size, will be great additions to your needlepoint tool kit.
Please note: These lights were provided to me by the manifacturer for review purposes.
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Beam N Read LED Light – Product Review
How often have you thought to yourself that the standard colors of canvas just aren’t what you need? Of course, you could color the canvas yourself, but that’s lots of work and, like me, you might not be that good at it.
These canvases are painted so that the background is colored, so you are free to stitch them lightly or not at all. There are 30 colors available and they come in two standard cuts, 10 and 20 inch squares. Needlepoint designers can order other sizes, so you will find designers, such as Leigh using them for their designs, often in special colors.
There are four groups of colors: solid, custom, premium, and jewel.
The solid colors are an almost even color. You would almost think they were dyed, but turn the canvas over and you’ll see the white of unpainted canvas.
Custom colors are either a solid with flecks of a second color, or mottled shades if two or more colors (the picture above is on a custom canvas).
Premium canvases come in three colors; blue with sliver, red with gold, and harvest. The metal/color combinations are more edgy with the metallic looking as if it had bee splashed on.
There are twelve colors in the Jewel Collection, but I haven’t tried them yet.
In stitching these two ornaments, I found the canvas took a little getting used to. While the layer of paint is very thin, it is still there, making the canvas a bit stiff. You also need to think out, before you begin to stitch the placement of the design so that the canvas is used to its best advantage.
But I liked them and will be using them for some of the needlepoint club pieces coming in 2012.
You can see swatches of all the colors and order the canvas at Nature’s Palette website.
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Nature’s Palette Canvas – Product Review
Originally posted 2008-01-29 07:05:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
I’m not generally a one to have fits and fits about wanting tons of canvases. So much needlepoint has passed through my hands (I’ve been stitching since 1970 after all), that I almost never go nuts wanting more and more needlepoint.
But last week I visited the long page Melissa Shirley Designs has of their new canvases which debuted at TNNA earlier this month. There was so much great stuff I hardly know where to begin. You can see the whole page here, but I’ll have links to individual canvases throughout the article.
They are simple but I really loved the two sets of a dozen needlepoint “lollipops,” two for Halloween (here and here) and two for Christmas (here and here. If you’re a beginning stitcher, try a few of the geometrical designs, more experienced stitchers might want to go crazy with threads and embellishments on the pictoral ones.
I also loved the two canvases with black cats (here’s one of them) which looked like vintage Halloween decorations.
There are also two series of small canvases with a wonderful, but very stitchable Victorian look about them. There is a series of eight charming little girlswith either Jack o’Lanterns or pumpkins. There are also more than 30 new small Santas in a similar style, for everything from a stitching Santa (love his “handknit sweater”) to a traditional bishop to an unusual Asian Santa.
Melissa has become known for her needlepoint bracelets and headbands. This Winter many of her new designs have versions which include these. There is a lovely series with butterflies and a floral ornament. Another just has butterflies by themselves. There is also one with jewel-like beetles and several with shells. There are lots more, in all kinds of styles. All are available as bracelets or headbands.
Many of these coordinate with her larger, realistic canvases. So many of these are so glorious, it’s hard to single them out but here are some of my favorites. My youngest loves mushrooms and she would go nuts over these two canvases. There are also a set of magnificent whales which have the charming qualities of vintage folk art from New England which is so compelling. I also loved the three cat canvases, also in a vintage style. Licensed from Mary LakeThompson is a charming chickadee canvas which really captures the spirit of these little birds.
Melissa also has dress canvases, four in all. They come in two sizes and several styles. There are fantastic nutcrackers (also from Mary Lake-Thompson), new Christmas stockings in many styles, two glorious tree skirts (two choices for background color), and several wonderful folk art cats.
I could go on and on, but go take a look for yourself, I guarantee you’ll find something you want to stitch.
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All Those Lovely Canvases!
Besides the sky in my lighthouse, there is another interesting thing about this design. Except for the metallics and the black, the entire canvas was stitched using hadn-dyed and overdyed threads.
Many stitchers avoid using these threads for painted canvas, but I have come to prefer them. They have the advantage of combining shades so that the shading work is done for me when I pick the thread and stitch.
But they have the disadvantage of being loud, often combining more than one color (for the sky this was good,but for the lighthouse it would be bad).
Effective choice of thread color, stitch, and technique are key to making this work.
Begin by looking for your thread. Most of the time you will want colors that are shades of the same color. These can be very close (like the threads for the brick) or more varied (like the threads for the grass and trees). By picking semi-solid threads you will get realistic shading. Few things in nature are random combinations of different colors.
Once you have picked your threads, look at them in conjunction with the areas on your piece. Some things, like pavers on a patio or walk, can have great variation, but others, like a tree trunk or a brick wall do not. Use threads with more variation in areas that would have more variation.
You can see this by looking at the grass and the trees. The grass is closer and has more variety. Because the trees are on the other side of the river, the colors are darker and more muted with less variety. The piece would look odd if the threads were reversed.
Pick a stitch that suits the item and the area. Stitches have texture and, just by themselves introduce texture. You can use this to enhance your threads. The process is the same as choosing stitches using solid threads, but these threads will reinforce that shading.
Finally your technique will make a difference. Look at the grass and trees again. Both are Tent Stitch but they look very different. The grass was stitched in Continental in horizontal lines. The trees were stitched in clumping a technique where small groups of stitches are made (tomorrow we’ll have a how-to about this technique).
The thing I love best about these threads is that the end result is always a bit of a surprise and, almost always, better than I thought it would be.
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Using Hand-dyes and Overdyes on Painted Canvas
Originally posted 2009-04-30 06:58:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Recently I was asked about her and so I wanted to share the directions with you.
Sunbonnet Sue is no spring chicken. This applique quilt pattern has been around since the 1930′s, showing her cheerful profile on all kinds of quilts doing all kinds of activities. I have seen her hanging laundry, gardening, shopping and chatting with friends. This mini-sock used the basic Sunbonnet Sue design with a textured background.
Sue always wears a bonnet and an apron which provide the stitcher with some nice opportunities to show off stitches. In this design her apron is done in a Tent Stitch version of gingham and her bonnet is done in Dotted Swiss stitch which looks like a polka dot fabric.
18 mesh mono canvas 8 x 10 inches
1 skein each Anchor floss in:
flesh
white (for gingham and dots)
color family A (dark, medium and light tones)
accent color B (for bonnet)
black
1 ball #8 pearl cotton in color to match canvas
Use four strands of floss throughout for stitching.
Start by stitching her hand using four strands of floss and Basketweave. Now stitch her boot with four strands of the black floss.
Now fill in with white skipping every other row. Once you have stitched the white, then fill in the remaining stitches with the medium floss.
I’m going to be looking for more of these projects and will be featuring them from time to time.
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Sunbonnet Sue Needlepoint Mini-sock
Denise over at Craft Gossip is the most wonderful source of alerts for free patterns for all kinds of needlework. Over the weekend she posted lots of great free cross stitch patterns. There were three I want to single out for you to give you some ideas of new things to look for when looking for needlepoint.
I was really struck by the peacefulness of the seascape pictured above from French site, Les grilles de Thiarlou. Just using whole stitches and a variety of colors, you get a real sense of movement in the sea. That’s an idea you could bring to other needlepoint easily. Think how cool a background or sky could be if you used a similar method.
Mondrian-inspired design from Cross Me Not
Piet Mondrian’s graphic design is so iconic, it’s inspired all kinds of things. But it’s also an amazing basis for a cool needlepoint. Those large areas of bright colors are a perfect place to try new stitches. This pattern is from Cross Me Not. It’s small, but stitch the black lines and then fill in the blocks with different stitches.
You could also use the outline as the basis for trying different color schemes. While this wouldn’t be like Mondrian’s paintings, the simplicity of the design would be a simply wonderful way to try different colors combinations.
Cat from Blog di Gloria
Last we have this little cat in silhouette from Blog di Gloria. Silhouettes are popular subjects for free cross stitches charts and are also often found in filet crochet charts. The make wonderful needlepoint, both when stitched in color on white canvas or in white on colored canvas. I like to keep the background on these unstitched and then add color or glitz by using bright or metallic paper or fabric behind the canvas. That gives the background some depth and adds another color.
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Free Pattern Alert – Interesting Cross Stitch to Adapt
Originally posted 2009-01-31 06:57:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
The charts or drawings for all the Twinchies along with notes for stitching appear after the pictures.
The feathers are Lazy Daisy stitches and are added last.
Colors in Pueblo pottery and Kachina masks are made from clays and powdered rocks found in the area. This makes for a lovely palette which is surprisingly wide.
Indian pots are not thrown on a potter’s wheel but are hand built using the coil method. Once built they are smoothed and painted with different clays mixed with water (called slips). After firing, they can also be polished using rocks.
I just love the variety of this pottery and it is well worth exploring. I can’t wait until I can get my collection out again.
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Southwestern Twinchy Gallery
