janet-perry

wicked needlepoint stitch guide by Janet Perry

Get the stitch guide for this Raymond Crawford canvas

It sits there in your stash tempting you. On the wall at the LNS you couldn’t resist it. Now it’s home and you don’t know how to stitch it.

What you need is a stitch guide. But one isn’t available. Or it is too hard. Or it uses threads you don’t like. Or . . .

What you need is a custom stitch guide. One written just for you.

One that takes into account your tastes, your stitching level, and even your stash. Maybe you have some ideas about the canvas, maybe there is something you want to change but don’t know how.

That’s where my custom stitch guides come in. Written to the same high quality as my published guides, they have stitch diagrams, instructions, and materials list. I will even customize them to the threads carried by your LNS to make shopping easier.

Nothing beats a customized stitch guide. Through our email discussion, I learn about you and why you want to stitch this canvas. Together I will create for you the guide that will make the canvas everything you want it to be.

Even after 40 years of stitching, I am always delighted when the stitching I imagine looks better on the canvas. I want to share that delight with you by creating a guide for that special canvas.

You can begin the process by filling out the stitch guide enquiry form to get a free estimate for your canvas. Finished guides begin at $65.

If you’re stumped by only a section of the canvas, try my Quick Stitch Help Service, beginning at only $5. If a stitchy shot in the arm for perplexed needlepointers.

The rest is here:
Why a Custom Stitch Guide?

Medieval Mosaic – A Great Stitch

from Rittenhouse Needlepoint

A recent entry on Rittenhouse Needlepoint’s Stitch of the Week was Medieval Mosaic (pictured above). One of my favorite stitches. It took me a bit to get the hang of this stitch, but once I did it became one of my favorites.

tink boord-dill peach tile needlepoint stitch guide by Janet Perry

learn shading with multiple colors in this stitch guide

The stitch is made entirely from straight stitches, four long ones, followed by four short. The tricky thing is that they move in a zig-zag line. I finally figured it out when I isolated one column, stitched it and then moved to the next.

This gives the stitch a neat diagonal feeling, which I exploited for the border of this Tink Boord-Dill tile. Notice how the vertical and horizontal sides have a different feel.

Excerpt from:
Medieval Mosaic – A Great Stitch

Needlepoint Stitch Guides Now Available

Get the stitch guide for this Raymond Crawford canvas

You are probably a stitcher like while I often like the challenge of picking my own stitiches and threads, sometimes I want the relaxing pastime of stitching from a stitch guide.

melissa shirley needlepoint chocolates stitch guide by Janet Perry

Innovative and easy techniques for these popular canvases

This propelled me into writing my own stitch guides and continues to keep me designing. On the one hand I do custom stitch guides (click here to get started with one) that are comprehensive and affordable. They are customized to you and even to the shop you use. No one offers a better guide at a lower price.

learn shading with multiple colors in this stitch guide

I have long been thinking about a way to make the guides I’ve written available to a wider audience. I hear from many of you about your frustration with the lack of guides, your desire to have some help, and your love of the canvases you find.

chinese letters needlepoint stitch guide by Janet Perry

You can use this guide to stitch any canvas in this series and make up to 8 canvases

Today I’m preannouncing my new site, Needlepoint Stitch Guides, where you will be able to buy already created guides, order custom guides, and download free stitch guides. The pictures you see throughout the article are some of the guides available.

needledeeva nativity needlepoint stitch guide by Janet Perry

Make your own needlepoint nativity with this guide

Until the site is up, email me for the list of guides. And as a special bonus to you you can get 20% off already published guides, either as PDFs or in print, and 10% off any custom guide. This offer is good through June 30, 2010, just tell me you saw it here.

Read the original post:
Needlepoint Stitch Guides Now Available

Celebrate – Come Stitch with Me!

Originally posted 2008-08-14 06:32:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Recently I was at the Post Office and bought these Celebrate stamps. I thought they were so cute.

This inspired me to create this blog’s very first Come Stitch with Me project. The idea behind this project is that we will stitch it together, one square at a time. The colors and threads will be up to you, I’ll post instructions for each block about one every two weeks or so.

If you’re new to needlepoint, this will be a great way to learn 12 new stitches and techniques. If you have been stitching for a long time, it will be a great way to try out new color combinations and threads.

This post has the basic materials list and instructions for marking the canvas.

Next week I’ll post the first block.

To make this project you will need:

10 x 12 piece 14 mesh mono canvas
2 skeins lettering color of your choice (I’m using black Kreinik & Silk & Ivory) – if you like you can use different colors as is the case with the stamp
3-7 different background threads in the color palette of your choice
2 accent threads
1 metallic (for the star)

Using a non-xylene or dye-based permanent marker, make a grid on the canvas of 2 inch (28 threads) squares. There should be 4 rows of 3 squares.

Once you have marked the squares, make a mark at the center hole of each square as a reference.

Now mount the canvas and wait for the first block.

I’m planning an analogous color palette of peach, pink, a pale red-violet, often suffused with gold. I have done a few pieces in these colors and I love them. Once we get the new house (keep praying), my studio is going to be peachy-pink, black and white, so I’m going to put it in there.

The parts of this project will all be listed a the end of each section and all will be found under “Come Stitch with Me” in the category list. When the project is finished, it will also be available from Napa Needlepoint or your LNS as an eProject.
Here’s a rundown of the sampler so far:

Read the original here:
Celebrate – Come Stitch with Me!

Special Hurt Books Sale

in Books,Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-08-28 07:30:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Any one in the book business can tell you that sometimes books get returned because they are hurt in shipment. Usually this happens to covers and it has happened to me.

I have seven copies of Bargello Revisited which have slightly damaged covers. The insides are fine and the covers only damaged enough so a distributor won’t take them.

So I’d like to pass the savings along to you. Until they are gone, you can buy these books from me for a 20% discount of your price (this discount also holds good for shops). I will autograph the copies as well.

This is a great opportunity to pick up this fun book at a wonderful price.

Shipping domestically adds $2.50 to the price and I have to charge sales tax in California. I will accept PayPal only for these orders unless you are a shop.

When they are gone, they are gone, so get your copy quickly. If you are interested, please email me at napaneedlepoint @ gmail.com (remember to remove the spaces).

Follow this link:
Special Hurt Books Sale

Bargello – It Begins with a Line – Virtual Book Tour Stop

in Books,Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-06-13 06:33:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Today I’m visiting Kim’s wonderful blog, Kal’s Creations.

Types of Bargello, my topic, is one which has shaped much of my thinking about Bargello over the years.

I don’t know when I figured it out, but many different Bargello creations can be made as you vary a simple zig-zag line in various ways.

This post describes some of them and shows examples from Bargello Revisited for them.

It sounds a little strange, but truly Bargello begins with a line. What you do with it is up to you.

Come Stitch with Me – Celebrate “E” Block

Originally posted 2008-09-02 07:07:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Here’s the center block for the top, a big bold lower case e. The alphabet charted below, is Computer 24 from Tink’s Alphabets Tantalizing and Terrific.

Computer24 by Tink Boord-Dill, used with permission

The background, below, is Criss-Cross Hungarian with Crosses stitched using a limited edition silk called Brazilian Boa from The Thread Gatherer. Make all the Hungarians first, using 6 strands, Then go back and using only three strands, make the little Cross Stitches. This will distribute the colors nicely.

Diagram of Criss-Cross Hungarian with Crosses

One last note about using limited edition or discontinued colors. If you are planning a large project using them, by more than you think you will need, you may not be able to find them. If you don’t have a project in mind, pick up a skein or two to use for small projects and as accents. I positively adore this color with the flashes of bright among the vivid greens, but I won’t even find more, so I hoard it and only use it for small things like this, so it will last.

Here’s a rundown of the sampler so far:

Continued here:
Come Stitch with Me – Celebrate “E” Block

Scrap Bag Cats – Part 1

in Nuts About Needlepoint,Pets

Originally posted 2009-02-25 07:45:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

scrap bag cats stash needlepoint by Janet Perry from Patt and Lee canvas

Time to get started on the cats. I want to have some consistency in this stash project, so I’m using the same thread for the border. and narrow dividing line between the rows of cats. A second thread will be used throughout for the background.

Borders & Dividing Lines

I’m using dark brown Paternayan Persian Wool from my stash, but Silk & Ivory or Vineyard Silk would also be nice. A very dark brown overdye, such as Gloriana’s Lorikeet, could also work.

You should stitch the inside border and the horizontal lines dividing the rows of cats before beginning to stitch the cats. Because the canvas is printed by computer, this will make sure you have the lines perfectly straight.

The inside border is stitched in Reverse Diagonal Gobelin over three threads. Find the lines which are most commonly the border and begin to stitch there. In general, the printing should not vary more than a thread or so.

You don’t have to stitch all of the borders right yet, Just stitch the top and start the sides of the inner border. This will be enough to stitch the first row of cats.

ruffle stitch for needlepoint, alternating oblique continental

The lines between the rows of cats are stitched in Ruffle StitchThis stitch is a line of Alternating Oblique Gobelins. It only goes over one thread & creates a nice rhythm. Here I think it looks a little bit like a ruffle.

The Cats

With the cats, I’m trying to use different, and mostly matte threads, and lots of different stitches. I’m going to try to make each cat different, but I may not always succeed. Stitch diagrams are found following the description of each cat.

needlepoint cat stitched in diagonal mosaic and smyrna cross

The first cat is stitched with scattered Smyrna Crosses using Rainbow Linen. These are stitched first. The background is Diagonal Mosaic, which compensates easily around the crosses.

needlepoint cat stitched in trellis and woven cross

The second cat has Woven Cross accents stitched in Pebbly Perle. Remember when making this stitch to tuck the fourth side under the first to get the woven effect. Around them the background is stitched in Trellis Cross Variation using two strands of JL Walsh silk/wool. The diagonal Trellis was stitched first and the Upright Crosses in the centers were them added.
trellis cross stitch for needlepoint variation

trellis cross stitch for needlepoint variation

The single lines in this cat are stitched in Contunental using Petite Frosty Rays. The three line pale pink areas between them are stitched in Reverse Diagonal Gobelin, the same stitch as used in the border, using Silk & Ivory.

One final note about the background. It’s important to have some consistency in a needlepoint piece. This piece will get it from the uniform borders and from using the same thread throughout the background, all stitched in Tent & Reverse Tent.

Follow the entire series and stitch along!

Read the original post:
Scrap Bag Cats – Part 1

Quilt Block Coasters with Stitch Guides

quilt block coaster

Making the transition from stitching your first needlepoint sampler to doing canvases can be a hard one. The projects should be good-looking, appealing enough that even an experienced stitcher will want to stitch them. They should be small, so that the stitcher ha a sense of accomplishment when it’s done. And they should always increase the stitcher’s needlepoint knowledge.

Why is this important? Think about two different crafts, beading has been very successful at moving beginners to more complex projects, knitting has been less successful at this. With beading, people make that first necklace, bracelet, or pair of earrings and makes a bunch more. When ready for the next step there are many websites, more complex beads and lots of tutorials to let you make something lovely that is just a little bit harder but uses material you have used and capitalizes on techniques you already know.

Knitting on the other hand, has a problem and I’m a perfect example of this. Many people learned to knit and made scarves, lots of scarves. Great, I started, I made a project, had a sense of accomplishment, and bought yarn. What now? While there are a limited number of next step projects, they don’t fit my life. The other next steps, don’t appeal. Afghans are too large and vests are too hard. I’m not alone in this and many people never progressed from beginning knitter to knitter.

The coaster pictured above is one of four (in two sets of two) I’ve designed for Art Needlepoint. Each is stitched in perle cotton, so they are easy to do (no plying required. Each showcases different stitches that you will be able to use on other canvases. And the stitch guide is written for beginners, with lots of advice and helpful tips. They come as complete kits with everything you need but the stretcher bars.

The clean style of the quilt blocks and the fun texture of the needlepoint combine to make this a winning combination. Go to Art Needlepoint to buy.