learning

mondrian, piet amaryllis for technique needlepoint class, traught by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

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:

padding
textured stitches
outlining
pattern darning
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.

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

Needlepoint for Kids’ Rooms

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-04-14 07:26:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Recently my daughter had an entry on her blog about buying art for kids’ rooms as a baby present. She’s right, having lovely art to look at is a wonderful thing for children. But we can go that one better, we can make lovely art for kids’ rooms.

This charming design from ABS is a good case in point. The designer, Anne Stradel, both designed and stitched it, so I can’t take any credit there. I only put her stuff onto paper. But I love it.

It has that vintage children’s book color and look which is one of my favorites. And it uses simple stitches and a few additional techniques to create something really special. I love the dimension which comes from adding the grass over the stitched pond. The sky is a very simple shaded Basketweave which adds so much. And I’m crazy about the way the ducks are stitched and it’s so easy. You stitch them first all in Basketweave using floss. Then over that, using a single strand of a silk/wool blend, you make random stitches in different lengths following the way the real feathers would look. It’s so easy to do.

There are so many wonderful designs out there for kids, from charming to colorful. You could even do one yourself by adapting a picture from a favorite book. I think maybe I’ll get to work on showing you how to do that yourself with a step-by-step class.

In the meantime, do like that poster from the 70′s said “Expose yourself to art” and do the same for your kids.

Needlepoint Learning for Kids from Orna

Link:
Needlepoint for Kids’ Rooms

What Color Should that Stitch Be?

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2007-08-08 06:22:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

You know that sinking feeling, the intersection on the hand-painted canvas is more than one color. You don’t know how to decide what color to stitch.

I call deciding this making an “executive decision” in needlepoint. I thought about what the process was for deciding and came up with some guidelines. Although beginners struggle with this issue, it can come up in just about any canvas which is not completely stitch-painted.

If one color covers more of the intersection than the other, stitch it in that color.

If it’s pretty much half and half, then you could do either. To help you choose, you can see if any of these apply:

1. Is it colored in both foreground and background colors? Choose the foreground color.

2. Is it the only intersection which has that color (no intersections with that color around it)? Choose the isolated color because it’s supposed to be a dot of that color.

3. Is it colored a light color and a dark color? Darker colors recede, so picking the darker color will probably make the two areas look more balanced.

4. I one color part of a line? Follow the line on the canvas to see how it will look if this intersection is stitched in that color. I’ve had it happen sometimes when stitching the color of the line instead of the other color made the line look bad.

Sometimes you choose wrong, everyone does. If this happens, don’t be afraid to pull the stitch out and use the other color.

Continue reading here:
What Color Should that Stitch Be?

Harvest PotPourri – LAS Mini-sock

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

needlepoint stitch sampler mini-sock, learn a stitch, designed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Whenever I see this mini-sock it makes me think of the brilliant yellow color of the Gingko trees in autumn. The Watercolours shade I used is Woodland and I emphasized the yellow.

Other threads used include: Grandeur, Very Velvet, Holographic Fyrewerks, Panache, and Sprinkes.

I used yet another outline (I wish I had kept it), but you can use either of the ones we have used before (here and here).

Area 1: This area is stitched in Triple Rice. It’s a large Rice STitch, made in Holographic Fryewerks, that is crossed three times, in kind of a Scotch using Very Velvet. Using two highly contrasting threads for this stitch really highlights its construction.

triple rice stitch for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Area 2: This area is stitched in a simple laidwork pattern, Taggert. This kind of stitch really highlights a lovely thread. Begin by making long stitches the length of the area in every hole. Once this is done you are ready to make the diagonal stitches (I used Grandeur) that cross the area. Make one in every eighth hole in both diagonal directions. Once this is done make an Upright Cross at each intersection to tie everything down.

taggert laidwork stitch for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Please note that the diagram does not how the laid stitches (first step) for clarity.

Area 3: This area has a stitch we’ve used before, Jacquard, but here the structure is highlighted by using two threads. I love this stitch because of it’s texture.
janquard stitch for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Area 4: The straight stitch in this area is Tamalpais. It has rounded shapes separated by connected diamonds. It’s a fast and easy stitch to do.

tamalpais stitch oval and diamond straight stitch for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Area 5: This stitch, Salinia, is a kind of check, although it doesn’t look like it. Begin by making a pattern of Smyrna Crosses in a check.

Once you have completed them, put five straight stitches in the open areas (two of these stitches will be in the same holes as the open sides of the crosses.

But, here’s the kicker, switch the direction of these stitches in every row, vertical in one row, horizontal in the next.

straight stitch check for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

I hope you have enjoyed this series. I’m going to be doing another LAS series, this time of stars starting in the Spring of 2012. Sometime early next year this series will be available as an ebook.

Read the original here:
Harvest PotPourri – LAS Mini-sock

Clippings – Holiday Weekend Edition

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Considering we went to friends on Thursday, so I didn’t have to cook, and that we didn’t go shopping, I’ve been pooped since Friday afternoon. I’m figuring it’s been all the household chores and organizing my DH and I did all week.

So today I have a clippings post with an assortment of intriguing and useful blog posts I came across over the weekend.

Threadworx Journal was immensely popular in its on-line version. Happily, Threadworx has decided to make each issue of the magazine available in a printed version. You can buy them each here. Each issue is $11.99. They use PayPal for the sales.

Finding ornament patterns that work for boys can be tough. But the Cross Stitch design Kell Smuthwaite of Kincavel Krosses has an adorable whole stitch Little Samurai chart available free on her site. These would make such cute ornaments.

I saw these bottle top ornaments on Craft Gossip (thanks Denise!) and was thinking they were made on soda bottle tops, so they wouldn’t work well for needlepoint. But when I looked at the tutorial, I found they were made from milk or juice bottle tops.

The instructions talk about fabric. But you can easily adapt them to needlepoint by stitching on Congress Cloth or by doing needlepoint on evenweave fabric. I love the look of these little guys. They would make such great little gifts.

Finding great mats for your needlepoint can be a real challenge. Often it’s easier (and more interesting) to find a fabric that sets off the stitching perfectly. But fabric does not a mat make. Thanks to Denise at Craft Gossip I discovered this great tutorial on how to make fabric-covered mats. While she suggests cotton, any light-weight fabric will work.

If you follow my thrifty needlepoint idea of stitching in standard frame sizes, you should be able to find mats with openings that size that fit standard frame sizes. Buy a fat quarter of a great fabric, the mat, and a frame you like and you have the makings of a completely unique gift.

On the BeStitched blog there is the start of a series on beginning and ending threads. This post covers Basketweave.

Many of my friends have stitched Maggie Lane’s Kimono using the little book published that collected more than 90 stitches in one place. And it is stunning indeed. I have the book, but haven’t gotten to it. John Waddell has updated the piece from its restrained ecru colors to a bright and bold collection. He will be offering the class through the Shining Needle Society next year. You can read about it in this post and sign up on the SNS Home Room. This may be enough to get me working on it at last.

See the rest here:
Clippings – Holiday Weekend Edition

Ribbon Flowers Videos from BeStitched

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

BeStitched has two new videos up, both on making ribbon flowers.

These make wonderful, dimensional additions to your needlepoint, that are lovely, easy, and unexpected.

Watch the first one here.

Watch the second one here.

More here:
Ribbon Flowers Videos from BeStitched

LAS Mini-Sock – Potpourri III

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

learn a stitch needlepoint mini-sock, designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

I made this mini-sock because I just love the shade of Watercolours used here, Blue Spruce. I like that combination of icy teal and pink, although this skein didn’t have much pink in it.

outline for crazy quilt needlepoint mini-sock sampler, developed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Click image to go to full-size template

You’ll notice that the patches on this mini-sock are different than the ones we have been using. There are six here, so use this outline (click for the full-size template). If you want to use the other outline, just leave out one of the patches.

Patch 1 – Double Straight Cross
double straight cross stitch for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry
This popular Cross Stitch gets lots of texture from using two very different threads: rayon and Very Velvet. Although both crosses are exactly the same, the different weights of the threads makes it look almost as if the rayon crosses are a grid over the bulkier velvet. It’s a neat effect.

Patch 2 – Flemish Bond
flemish bond stitch for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry
This straight stitch consists of different patterns in alternating rows. Every other row consists of groups of three Horizontal Gobelins over three threads. The other row consists of pairs of alternating horizontal
and Vertical Gobelins of different lengths. The horizontal stitches are over two threads while the vertical stitches are over three threads. It creates a complex pattern.

Although you can make this stitch by making all the horizontal stitches in one pass, followed by all the vertical stitches, I make it one row at a time.

Patch 3 – Linenfold
linenfold needlepoint stitch, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry
This stitch gets its name from a type of carved paneling popular in Tudor England. It’s alternating columns of Diagonal and Horizontal Gobelin. Although I have seen versions of this stitch with columns of many different widths, usually one column, using Horizontal Gobelin is significantly wider than the other column.

I always think of the wide columns as the linen and the narrow columns as the folds. Here it is stitched using Needlepoint, Inc. silk.

Patch 4 – Pavement Stitch
pavement stitch combination of mosaic, cashmere and scotch stitches for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry
This stitch is a combination of Mosaic, Cashmere, and Scorch stitches. I stitched it in three threads but it is equally lovely in one or two. Its name comes from the way it looks like fancy stamped pavement. The stitches are reversed in the mini-sock and are done in Kreinik metallic, rayon, and Very Velvet.

Patch 5 Arrowhead Scotch
arrowhead scotch stitch for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry
In this Scotch Stitch variation a line of Tent Stitches along two edges is done in a different thread, so that the main part of the Scotch looks like an arrow. I think the effect is more pronounced in some threads than others. Here, it’s just a nice pattern, stitched in Watercolours and Kreinik.

Patch 6 – Loire
loire parisian stitch variation, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m perry
This stitch is a variation of Double Parisian Stitch. Instead of alternating blocks of two long stitches and two short stitches. It alternates blocks sizes as well. This creates alternating rows of two long and one short, or one long and two short. The Frosty Rays used here kind of mutes the stitch pattern.

Follow this link:
LAS Mini-Sock – Potpourri III

Top 5 Preschool Creative Art Projects

in Craft Shopping

The child’s creative potential is evident early on in life — clay and colors provide the vehicle to express one’s inherent potential. In this regard, preschool creative art projects are designed to motivate and guide the child in the learning process though painting and clay molding.

Read the original here:
Top 5 Preschool Creative Art Projects

NAN Assembly Classes for 2012

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Classes,Nuts About Needlepoint

NAN (National Academy of Needlearts) has announced their schedule for their popular Assembly for 2012. Held annually at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, in 2012 it will be from February 29 until March 4.

Open to anyone, the Assembly features top flight teachers, a merchandise night, and two banquets. You can learn about it and register on NAN’s Assembly page.

Some of the teachers who are scheduled to be there include: Toni Gerdes, Carlene Hardwick, Shay Pendray, Marni Ritter, an Gail Sirna.

You can see a list of the 2 and 4 day classes here, but you can see pictures of the projects from all the classes in their ” target=”_blank”>Flickr pool.

Continued here:
NAN Assembly Classes for 2012

Learn How to Shade with ANY Thread

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Classes,Nuts About Needlepoint

Most people think the only way to create shaded needlepoint is to use stranded threads and a technique called needleblending.

But this just isn’t true.

You can create beautifully shaded needlepoint with any thread, using this innovative technique of single strand shading.

Ombre, the fiber art piece pictured above has tons of subtle shading between the colors. This piece, on a 14 mesh canvas from Art Needlepoint is the focus of my free class beginning Sept 1.

The piece is stitched using Anchor Tapestry wool. All you need to do to join the class is buy the kit.

Please note: If you are looking for the final Japanese pattern post, it is going to be delayed. Bingley, one of the kittens, fell off a dresser during the night on Sunday, landed wrong and broke his hip. Monday evening and yesterday we’ve been dealing with that, so I’m kind of behind. He’s going to require surgery and is current;y in a puppy crate (so he won’t try to climb) in my studio.

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