project

There are several new accessories that debuted at TNNA. Probably the hit of the show was Pischke Pillows. from the makers of the the popular Pischke Pockets. Using ten-mesh canvas with your choice of three designs, the kit comes with the same sturdy fabrics as the totes, grosgrain ribbon, and threads. The pillows are made amazingly easily and the three designs will work in almost any setting, even outdoors.

Rainbow Gallery has brought out new acrylic laying tools. Each is a unique design. The laying tool is a BLT with an acrylic handle and removable cover.

DMC has a lovely “designer” accessory collection with storage for your project, stitch bows, and a needle holder in a matching print.

Krienik has add four new Stitch-A-Pen kits including three hearts designs and a wedding pen.

Tuitto showed and interesting line of luggage and cases. They are soft, with tons of pockets, four wheels, and a PVC frame on either side. They use an ergonomic design and were very popular among shopowners. They come in up to 12 colors (depending on the piece).

Lee Needle Arts has an iPad case. They have also expanded the bags that can use the removable inserts. Bags with BR and now, I think, BG inserts can use the removable inserts. Anne Brinkley has brought back those lovely porcelain and crystal boxes. I have some of them I stitched ages ago and I’m excited about being able to get more.

Do you have tons of thread hanging around? Is lots of it in uncut skeins? Then you’l love Clover’s new Basket Frames. Available in two sizes in three shapes, they are cardboard frames that make your basket sturdy. Wrap your thread or ribbon around the frame. Then you can add embellishments if you like. These are great because they are much easier to do than traditional baskets and because they allow you to use soft threads and ribbons to make a great basket.

BagSmith has decorated wooden tubes that contain six needles. Several types of needles and design styles are available.

Two great new books are coming out. June McKnight’s new book is called Bling, Glitz, and Glamour for Needlepoint. It’s dedicated to embellishments and, from the models, it looks great. Sharon G’s second book will be out in the spring. It’s dedicated to borders and has over 20.

Free Embroidery Patterns

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-10-23 06:52:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

With the renewed interest in free embroidery (embroidery on a on-counted ground or fabric), you can find lots of pretty cool free patterns intended to transfer onto a piece of fabric.

But you can just as easily transfer them onto apiece of needlepoint canvas and use them as a line-drawing for your needlepoint.

Today we are going to talk about what to look for when you want to do this and tomorrow we will begin a step-by-step tutorial on how to go from a free pattern on the Web to a finished needlepoint.

When you look at embroidery transfer designs, what you see are the lines of the design which will be covered with stitching. Most free embroidery of this type relies on the fabric to covey the design and so they have lots of open spaces.

This is good for us as needlepointers because we will fill those areas up with stitches.
Tip #1 Look for designs with open areas which aren’t filled with lots of lines to be covered.

But (isn’t there always a but), in free embroidery other details, like facial expression are conveyed with lines and other details as well.

Here is where you have a problem. When you embroider on cloth you can stick a stitch anywhere, it can be any angle, it can stop or start anyplace. But with needlepoint you are stuck with the grid. The bigger the wholes, the fewer details you can convey. So a design with too many little details will lose them when changed to needlepoint.

It’s like looking at a scene through a screen as opposed to through a window. With the screen you can see everything, yes, but you lose detail. Needlepoint canvas is the screen.

In conclusion I thought today I would share with you some free embroidery sites where you can download new and vintage embroidery patterns.

If you want to play along with the tutorial, check back tomorrow to see the Arts & Crafts design I picked from this site. But you can pick one which suits your style and your mood and stitch away.

Check the designs out at these sites:
Embroidery Patterns – This Flickr album has many charming designs, many looking like children’s book illustrations.
TipNut – has a listing of all kinds of embroidery projects. Click on the link to find the particular project and then look through the article to find the pattern. Many of these are vintage and vintage style.
Meggiecat – has links to lots of great vintage patterns.
Needle n’Thread – Scroll down past the text ads to find many lovely patterns, often in traditional, Victorian, and Arts & Crafts styles.
Doe-c-doe – Every Thursday she showcases vintage embroidery and embroidery patterns. I’ve found lots of good things here.
Vintage Transfer Designs – Lots of great retro and vintage transfers.
Antique Pattern Library – This site is harder to use. It’s a list of vintage embroidery publiations available to download on the Web.

I’m sure you will find something to suit your fancy here. We’ll start the project tomorrow!

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Free Embroidery Patterns

Marble Waves – New Colors & Kit

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2008-09-17 06:47:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Su has a second post on Marble Waves up. It’s in a lovely soft colorway of green and eggplant. It also has a tiered border which sets off the piece nicely. This combination of colors will soon be available as kits from Su.

I was working on doing my own Marble Waves, but gave it up last night in total frustration. I don’t read charts very well (an eye problem makes it hard to count), I’m in a state of total exhaustion from getting the house ready (it went on the market yesterday, you can see it here) an I had had an immensely frustrating day, pretty much from start to finish. So when my corners wouldn’t match and I realized it was going to be a parallelogram instead of a square, I gave up.

But I love it so much I’m going to stitch it again and do it right this time.

Visit link:
Marble Waves – New Colors & Kit

ANG SOTM Update

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

ang 2012 stitch of the month, january, stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

The picture here is of my first patch in the 2012 Stitch of the Month (SOTM) from ANG. I am using all stash threads in my favorite color, Teal. Throughout the year I’ll be sharing my progress with you.

I’m committed to being thrifty in my needlepoint purchases, so I try to use what I have on hand. I love this because it means I need to exercise my creativity and make something my own. I always find inspiration in how using scarce resources can make something beautiful by thinking of my beloved Amish and scrap bag quilts. In these quilts using what is on hand makes quilts of great beauty.

While I don’t aspire to those heights, I do want my needlepoint to be beautiful as well as thrifty.

Starting from the teal threads I pulled from my stash I did some other things to make changes.

Since I didn’t have any opal canvas, I made a unique canvas of my own. Using a natural sponge and Martha Stewart Pearl Craft Paint in Jet Stream, I sponge painted the entire piece of canvas. This will create a textured light teal background that is, easy to do and very interesting.

A teal heart will look odd, so I turned it into a rectangle. But I kept the small heart on the inside and I may even make it the focal point by stitching it in another color. The new shape meant I had to extend lines. It also meant that the shapes near the bottom of the heart were too large, so I added some additional lines. Those spaces will most likely have SOTM‘s from previous years in them.

The first area is stitched. I used Dragonfly Lotus Panda Threads, a hand-dyed and hand-spun silk/wool blend. It isn’t super shiny like Panache, but I love it’s subtle look. The color is Teal Shadow.

Watch for more next month. If you are stitching this project, check out the ANG Yahoo group, they are assembling information about the different thread and color combinations.

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ANG SOTM Update

Dyed and Gone to Heaven – Caron Collection Web Site Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-05-26 06:40:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Have you been to the Caron Collection site, Dyed and Gone to Heaven lately?

No?

Then go visit this superb, redesigned site. I am so completely impressed with its style I can’t recommend it enough.

The Caron Collection really embraced the possibilities of the Internet when they first did their site more than 10 years ago. It has tons of information, galleries, profiles, and free patterns of the finest quality.

But it wasn’t easy to navigate and often I found myself wondering where certain information could be found.

The new site showcases the information and products in a newspaper-like format. There are stories, with links, pointing you to new, larger, and greatly improved on-line color cards. The latest designer profile is summarized with a column and free projects as well as new products are showcased.

Across the top are buttons to the various parts of the site. These include information about products, each of the major divisions of information and two types of retail outlets. One is a shop locator for brick and mortar shops. The other is a list of mail order and on-line sources for those who do not have a convenient shop close by.

The free patterns have new larger pictures as well, so it’s very easy to find the project you want. There is a gallery of work by many talented people. And clicking on archives gets you to a nicely organizes text list of what it available.

You may only think of The Caron Collection when you think of threads, but the other areas of their line are now easy to find. Click on hand painted canvases to get a gallery page of the pieces, each listed with a thumbnail, name, and dimensions. Click on designs to learn about booklets. (There are several there I’ve been seeking.)

And if you can’t find what you are looking for, there is a search box, which uses Google to search this site (or the Web) to find what you need. The results come back in the familiar Google format so they are easy to use.

I’m so impressed and so happy, this is going to be a favorite stop.

Continue reading here:
Dyed and Gone to Heaven – Caron Collection Web Site Review

Stitch Journal from Thread Candy Studio – Product Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Thread Candy Studio debuted a purse-sized stitch journal last month. Each page is about 5�4 making it small enough to carry around. That’s its strength, but also one of its weaknesses. For those with large handwriting many of the pages and lines are too small to record information.

The book attempts to be a place to hold lots of useful information for stitchers of all kinds. The first section is project notes with a lined page and a table page for about 12 projects. The table has columns for stitch, effect thread, and thread size. A dozen stitches can be recorded. This is plenty for most small to medium projects.

After this there is a wish list section with pages divided into need and wish list. Having this in the same place as other inventories and plans makes it easy to keep track of what’s needed. At the end of this section there are sever pages without labels that can be ised for additional notes or lists.

Following this is a thread section where you can inventory your threads. The first several pages have marked columns for thread name, color, size, need/have. The vast majority of pages have unmarked columns. While this is very useful, I can’t really see anyone but those with the smallest stashes using this for inventory, there just aren’t enough pages.

The next section, design, has pages printed with grids, so stitches can be recorded. These are big enough to sketch a stitch but not enough for a pattern of any size.

The final section is for your project diary with two pages for each project, including a blank lined page and an open area marked “notes” which looks like a good space for a picture.

While there is lots packed into this little book, my main complaint is that the size limits its usefulness. While some people will find the small pages difficult to write on, but the desire to include everything and the small size mean that it can only hold a limited amount of stuff.

But at under $8, you can probably afford multiples. The book comes with three choices of cover color and can be ordered directly from Thread Candy Studio.

Go here to see the original:
Stitch Journal from Thread Candy Studio – Product Review

2012 SOTM Colors – Reveal your Teal

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

teal needlepoint threads

Teal is, in clothing, a universally flattering color. In my family where we got from golden to ashy to ruddy to olive, it’s the only color we can all wear successfully.

It is also just about my favorite color and currently I am on a serious teal buying spree, getting a leather tote, tops, dresses, and just about anything else I can get me hands on.

But all this is besides the point. I’m going to make the ANG 2012 Stitch of the Month (anyone can follow and it’s free, check it out). The piece will be done in shades of one color in a variety of threads.

I want to use different color and I want to use all stash threads. I also didn’t want to use a color that is strongly associated with a cause, since I don’t know what the result will be (it’s a mystery project).

So I picked teal because I love it.

These are just the first threads I’ve pulled for the project. They include some metallic, Grandeur and Pebbly Perle, Waterlilies, a vareigated knitting yarn, Vineyard Merino, Silk & Ivory, Dragonfly Lotus Threads, and Planet Earth wool. I haven’t gone through all the drawers yet, so I know I will be adding more threads.

It’s way overkill but this gives me plenty for picking and choosing. I’m thinking I’m going to buy some teal paint and sponge paint white canvas for the background. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

BTW, teal also happens to be the color of our local hockey team, the Sharks, who used Reveal your Teal as a slogan one season.

Continue reading here:
2012 SOTM Colors – Reveal your Teal

Stitch your Stash around the World – Almost Done!

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-03-17 06:20:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

stitch your stash around the world needlepoint by barbara bergsten, stitched by janet m perry

I’m hoping by tomorrow morning I’ll be finished with this piece. But I wanted to share a completed corner.

If you remember, I made my center too big and so I had to add two more rows in the corners. Since I didn’t want to repeat stitches, I chose new ones. The aqua is Triple Diagonal Brick and the pale coral **.

Then I added corners in the two aquas with each block four Scotch Stitches.

The border sides are two rows of Diagonal Gobelin in two of the corals. I had planned to do the two darkest shades, but I don’t have enough of the middle shade. As a result I’m using the lightest and darkest shades.

Then I’m finishing with two rows of Continental in medium coral and charcoal.

The whole thing will be inset into a pillow and will go into my bedroom which is coral. My original plan was to use these colors extensively in the new house, but our downstairs is done in much more vintagey colors of soft bluish green, true green, and buttery yellow, so these colors REALLY won’t go. But my bedroom is coral faces both East and West and has a nice corner for reading with bookshelves (soon), a chair and a chaise, a vintage table and a Spanish style lamp. This will be a perfect addition.

Stitch Notebook – Product Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-07-28 07:00:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Little Shoppe Canvas Company has come up with a charming notebook to keep track of your project ideas. Unlike many other stitch diaries, this isn’t for the finished piece, but gives you a place to record your ideas for a work in progress or to be stitched.
Two pages are given to each project. The left page has lines for the project name and date, a listing of threads, and some notes. The right page has four areas of grid in two sizes for diagramming stitches. This is a feature not often seen in stitch notebooks and a useful tool. One thing I like to do with new stitches is draw them the way I would stitch them. This feature lets me do that easily.
Great product, available at your local shop.

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Stitch Notebook – Product Review

How to Build Up a Darning Pattern

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

I just love pattern darning. It creates such lovely flat look to your needlepoint that makes it just perfect for smooth or flat things. It also makes an outstanding background, as you can see from the picture here. (It’s from my Art Needlepoint class on this canvas.)

Another great thing about pattern darning is that it’s made from the most basic of stitches, the Running Stitch. And Mary Corbett shows us in this delightful post how a darning pattern is built from lines of Running Stitch, even if everything else about the project is wrong.

Just goes to show that even when you start out wrong the end result can be beautiful.

Thanks to Denise at Craft Gossip for pointing this out.