cute

Some fun reading for you for a Monday morning.

First off, two delightful interviews of needlepoint designers. The Scarlet Thread has an interview of Debbie Rowley of DebBee’s Designs. Then The Point of It All has an interview of Barbara Bergsten.

At the recent St. Charles market, several designers introduced new canvases. Melissa Shirley has added Debbie Mumm‘s popular designs to her line. Leigh Designs has put out the drop-dead elegant Ladies of the Night Collection. Barbara Bergsten has blogged about her new designs. Gail Hendrix has shown off several of her cute Halloween designs, with embellishments included on her Squigeeland blog.

And if you feel like stitching, take a look at Riitenhouse Needlepoint’s newest stitch of the week, Plaited Square, a delightful stitch.

The recent hot weather in California has left me too tired to do much stitching, so I’m going off to read.

Adorable Thread Bobbins to Print Yourself

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint,tools

Normally I don’t wind my threads on bobbins (too many threads, not enough time), but if I did I would snap up these simply adorable thread bobbins from Wild Olive.

Can’t you just imagine the threads thinking about all the wonderful stitching they get to be a part of?

The pattern is free to download from her blog.

As an aside, you may remember Wild Olive from our free nativity post, those outlines were hers.

As another aside, if you like things in this cute style, it’s called Kawaii (Japanese word for cute) and there is a blog, Must Have Cute, that showcases things in this style.

Plastic Canvas iPod Case – Make it Today, Use it Tomorrow

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

From Family Fun magazine’s website comes this cute holder for an iPod or other MP3 player.

It’s made using mostly exposed plastic canvas and a bit of stitching.

You could easily make it in an afternoon.

Read the original here:
Plastic Canvas iPod Case – Make it Today, Use it Tomorrow

Silk Ribbon Embroidery for Flowers

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

happy heart spring bunny needlepoint, stitch guide by janet perry

Silk ribbon can add so much to your needlepoint, I love it couched to give the look of real ribbons or streamers. I like to make bows from it for packages. I even like it just done in Basketweave, I think it has a very different texture.

But silk ribbon really shines when you use it for flowers and leaves, as I did in this cute bunny from Happy Heart (stitch guide available from them directly).

Jane Wood has put up a marvelous, illustrated tutorial on how to make a round flower from silk ribbons. It’s one of the best I’ve seen on any type of needlework.

silk ribbon embroidery japanese ribbon stitch

This stitch, Japanese Ribbon Stitch, is the basis for this wonderful tutorial. Jane shows you in detail how to use this simple stitch to build up a flower.

The great thing about this stitch is how versatile it is. The look can change as you change the size of the ribbons (think of 2mm silk ribbon to do a spider mum), and the size of the loop (tight loops get you pointed petals, looser loops get petals with texture at the ends). You are in total control.

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See the article here:
Silk Ribbon Embroidery for Flowers