sneak peek

I am always so happy at TNNA to go to Kathy Schenkel’s and Melissa Shirley’s booths. They are always full to bursting with great new ideas and canvases I just drool over.

I love Kathy’s bone-shaped ornaments for dogs and this year she has a delightful new set. These are “Things Dogs Do,” all done in a clever, easy-to-stitch style.

She also has mini-socks and ornament rounds for a number of different colleges and universities that aren’t just the usual logo style, often they have iconic buildings or other symbols of the campus.

She also has new dog and people tote bags and new North Woods designs. There are two new Christmas series, a nativity and a stars of Christmas, people associated with Christmas in stars.

A very clever idea is her animal alphabet, available both as a panel and as individual letters. The animals are creatively posed in and around the letters. An unusual ornament series would be to do a name or initials this way.

As always Melissa Shirley has tons of new stuff, so I’ll only hit the highlights.

If you like her pears, but have been wishing for designs that were less geometric, you’ll love her new series that has a different fruit in each pear. With gold backgrounds and fruits and blossoms vining up each shape, they are both elegant and timeless. There are 10 in the series.

She has expanded the selection of her popular crackers with a Thanksgiving series, a new Halloween series that features some of her vintage Halloween characters, pink or gold Christmas crackers, and a set of Christmas toy crackers. There is also a new series of candy canes, mostly stripes, in a modern palette of red, white, green, and light green.

Her newest series is 3-D needlepoint cupcakes. Each design is in two parts, a top and the sides. There are designs for Christmas and Valentine’s.

If you have been collecting Christmas canvases in particular colors, there are conical CHristmas trees in fabric-like patterns in both green and gold. Her acorns have been very popular and a set of Christmas acorns has been added. Her banners have been expanded with a series of pumpkins for Halloween.

There is lots of new stuff from her licensed designers. My favorite of these was Debbie Mumm’s “Trick or Treaters,” a haunted house background with twelve Halloween figures. Three of these are animals,a cat, a raccoon, and some mice, dressed up for Halloween.

There are lots more new canvases including some great seashore and insect pillow designs, and lots of new Christmas stockings. THere’s plenty to love and stitch here.

Read the original post:
New Canvases from Kathy Schenkel and Melissa Shirley

What’s your Needlepoint Question? – Book Sneak Peek

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Books,Nuts About Needlepoint

How do I replace a missing needlepoint chairseat?

Can I use a embroidery hoop to stitch needlepoint?

What is the American equivalent of 7 HPI canvas?

These are just three of the questions I’ve been asked recently, mostly through this site’s contact form.

I’m collecting these (and many, many others) into a Needlepoint Question & Answer Book that will come out later this year.

It will certainly be an ebook, PDF, and app ebook, and it may be available as a printed book and on CD as well.

You can help me as well by sending me your best needlepoint question. It can be something you’ve often wondered about, something you don’t know how to do, something you want to find, or anything else related to needlepoint.

Use the contact form, add a comment, or just email me. Be sure to let me know it’s for the book.

If your question is selected as one of the 200 in the book, you will get a free electronic copy (PDF).

IN the case of two or more people sending in the same question, the earliest one wins.

More:
What’s your Needlepoint Question? – Book Sneak Peek

Color through the Ages Sneak Peek

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

needlepoint twinchie (2 inch square) using colors of ancient egypt, designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m.perry

Many of you have asked to see what the Twinchie projects for Color through the Ages will look like. This year’s needlepoint club is going to go beyond the traditional color schemes to look at color combinations that refer to a specific time, place, or object.

Through charted Twinchies (2″square needlepoint) based on quilt designs, club members will explore color schemes typical not just of ancient times, but of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Twentieth Century, along with others.

colors of ancient greece needlepoint twinchie designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

Pictured here are two of the completed Twinchies, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. I’ll post a couple more sneaks late this month. Both societies used similar color palettes based on minerals. In these packets you’ll learn about mineral colors, why “dirt” isn’t just one color, why blue is so prized, and more.

In each month’s packet you will get:

Extensive information about color and this color scheme
Information about the quilt block or setting
Charted Twinchie with thread list
Information, including stitching tips for three different threads

The club begins March 1, 2012 and registrations are open now. There are a number of different pricing options, depending on what you want.

Basic Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program. It is $7.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

Basic Subscription

Deluxe Package includes the PDFs of each month’s program as well as canvas and three thread samples of about 2 yards per month. It is $12.50 per month. Use the PayPal button below to register.

Deluxe Subscription

In addition if you make a single payment for either option (using the buttons below or pay via check (contact me for the address) you will receive a10% discount..

Annual Basic

Annual Deluxe

Please note that the Deluxe Package prices are for shipment to US addresses only. If you want this option and live outside the US, please contact me. All sales to California are subject to sales tax. If you are in California and choose the subscription, you will be invoiced for the sales tax separately.

Come join me on this journey of exploration.

Follow this link:
Color through the Ages Sneak Peek

Christmas Star Freebie

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Carol’s Counted Canvaswork has this simply delightful free pattern for a Christmas Star. It’s tiny 1.5″ square, so it will be really quick to stitch up.

And you can stitch it in so many different colors.

What a delightful little piece.

See her post for the charts and instructions.

View post:
Christmas Star Freebie

Christmas Ornaments Class

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

vintage wooden christmas ornament rendered in needlepoint from Art Needlepoint, stitched & class by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

As you probably know, I love Christmas ornaments and among my favorites are vintage ones made from wood.

Doreen at Art Needlepoint scored some lovely ones last year and has reproduced them on needlepoint canvas. One of the three that feature children, Angel of Love, is pictured here.

These three ornaments are the focus of my upcoming free class with Art Needlepoint, beginning Oct 1. These charming designs really come to life with stitches and threads.

I just love the result.

In the class, not only will you make these three great ornaments, you’ll also learn wonderful stitches and techniques you can apply to other canvases, including:

Three ways to stitch hair
How to Make “knitted” items look realistic
Textured options to Tent Stitch to make even small areas distinctive
How to Make an ornament easy to finish

The class is complementary with the purchase of the class kit. To sign up, visit the kit page at Art Needlepoint.

Read more here:
Christmas Ornaments Class

White in Metallics

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Lee Needle Arts needlepoint kimono using City Needlework Silk stitched by needlepoint expert Janet M. Perry

It used to be that if you wanted white in Kreinik metallics you used 032. That color, while white, has lots of translucent threads in it, so it tends to be rather sparkly and has flecks of other colors.

A better, more clear white is 100 or, even better, 100HL. 100 is more sparkly than 100HL which has served me well as a flat white until now.

Earlier this year Kreinik introduced 5760. It is even whiter than 100. It still has some metallic flash, but is a very pure white.

In the kimono pictured here 5760 is used for all the white except for half the stitches in the flower center. The remaining stitches there use 032. The difference is subtle, but there. 5760 is a very bright white with a solid look. It attracts attention. 032 is more subtle and more translucent, probably because it picks up some of the surrounding color.

Nimble Needle in a recent post shows you 032 and 5760 side-by-side so you can see the difference in whites.

If you have been looking for the perfect thread for snow, here it is.

Link:
White in Metallics

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.

Wicked? – Sneak Peek

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Halloween,Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2007-11-15 15:15:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

This is my current project, another great Raymond Crawford design. One thing I like about this design is the clean and very modern graphics.

We wanted so real contrast in extures between the two witches. This was achieved, as you can see, by picking radically different textures for the threads.

The white witch is stitched in Fyre Werks, a very sparkly thread. The wicked witch is stitched using Petite Very Velvet, about as matte a thread a you can get.

I think the combination is very effective.

Velour threads of any kind are so fun to use for needlepoint. They are matte, but not lifeless. The other thing I love about them is the way many stitches “disappear” when stitched with this thread.

The first time I used one, it was for a background. I was on an extended business trip and needed something to stitch. I picked a set of fruit coasters and wanted them to look as if they were on cloth. The shopowner sold me a velour.

I couldn’t believe the result, the background, done in Basketweave, looks just like fabric.

The black Very Velvet here has the same effect. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but it’s stitched in Woven Plait, a stitch with a strong texture, although small.

With this thread you get only a slight and unrecognizable texture. I’m so excited I can’t wait to stitch!

Original post:
Wicked? – Sneak Peek

Kelly’s Stumpwork Sampler

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

I am envious and anxious to stitch my own all at once!

Isn’t this stumpwork sampler that my friend Kelly Clark is stitching amazing?

As you can read in her first blog post about the project, Kelly was reading about stumpwork techniques and noticed all the books had pieces stitched in free embroidery on linen.

She thought, “Why can’t you do this on canvas?”

It’s something I’ve thought often, especially about Jane Nichols lovely stumpwork bugs, but haven’t done a blessed thing about.

But Kelly did and the results are lovely. Go over to her post and take a good look at the sampler. Not only is there the wonderful rooster, but there are examples of so many different types of stumpwork, from silk ribbon embroidery to thread-covered wire.

I hope when she’s done she turns this into either a stitch guide or a cyberclass!

Originally posted here:
Kelly’s Stumpwork Sampler

Halloween & Mask

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Halloween,Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2006-04-21 07:49:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I was able to get some more of the mask done, but I’m most excited about the work I got done on the Stitch Maps for Needledeeva’s small Halloween figures (http://www.needledeeva.com). They are just too adorable, little kids in Halloween costumes. The batch I’m working on are the 0460 series and I just finished the draft of the books on the Bitchy Witchies ( 0417, 0421, 0423, 0424, and 0426-0428).

This morning I am working on the guide for Pumpkin Boy and he will be great. I’m just about done with Frank and I think Kool Kat is next. They all have lots of texture, different threads and stitches, even though the designs are small.

The other thing on my agenda this morning is to clean off my desk, which has piles of books on it. Ialso have a meeting this morning and need to be looking at designes for the next step in my EGA Master Craftsman in Color. It requires the same design done three different ways showing different kinds of contrast, so I need to find a suitable design to play with.

Link:
Halloween & Mask

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