My stitching for Super Bowl Sunday was to start working on the Ladybug. I love ladybugs, always have (but then I’ve never lived in a place with major infestations of them. This one is the Two-spotted ladybug, but there are many other kinds, not all of them red.
The red is stitched in Criss-cross Hungarian, above, using Silk & Ivory. I find the rhythm of this stitch very comforting and I like that it stitches up fast.
The head and spots are stitched in Basketweave using black Silk & Ivory, but I wanted the spots to look very round. Round is a problem in needlepoint. Jessicas make things round, but have far more texture than I want here.
The solution is to use Whipped Backstitch, above. You can make the outline thick or thin and the wrapping turns everything into a nice round shape. Since I didn’t want the outline to be too obvious, I used Mandarin Floss for it. I’m trying to decide if I want to do the same thing for the gold dots once I get there.
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Blog Stitching — Needlepoint a Ladybug
Colonial houses, especially the ones of Colonial Williamsburg, are one of my favorite things. I grew up in a neo-colonial house (it looked like Mt. Vernon). I loved Williamsburg when I went there when I was 10. One of the things I love about Annapolis is all the charming colonial houses.
I’ve been asked recently about needlepointing houses, which poses some interesting problems. As a result I’m putting together a free project on stitching houses, our new Come Stitch with Me project.
Our project will have four houses on it, all colonials. One will be brick, one stone, and two wood. hey can be stitched as a set or individually as ornaments. We’ll got through the process together, talking about threads, stitches, and techniques for stitching windows, paths, grass, and roofs.
We’ll even spend a little bit of time “decorating” the houses for the holidays.
The class will start next Tuesday. I’m hoping to post a lesson every couple of weeks. At the end the project will be available as a free eProject to download after signing up for the mailing list.
To begin with assemble some materials for the project. You’ll need 18 mesh canvas, about 12″ square. You will also need to gather some threads. For roofs, you’ll need a matte, dark gray thread, Mandarin Floss would be good for this (M858 or M898). For glass panes, you’ll need dark gray and light blue this metallic (Kreinik #4, Treasure Braid Petite, or Sparkle Braid – Kreinik 025 & 014, Treasure Braid no gray & PB09, Sparkle Braid no gray & SK13 ). You can also use floss for this. For the frames of the windows, you’ll need white pearl cotton. For brick, pick an overdye in a brick color (Watercolours 164 or 217, Cinnabar or Chili For stone, and overdye in a stone color (Watercolours 246 or 247 – suede or dark suede, Threadworx 1118). The wood color is a bit harder, for this use floss and pick two colors you like from this Williamsburg palette. You can use threads from your stash for many of the details.
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Needlepointing Houses – Come Stitch with Me
