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Most of the time we stitch by ourselves or in small groups. But nothing is as much fun as attending a seminar or stitching retreat with lots of other stitchers. Not only do you have the fun of learning and stitching, you get inspired by the exhibits and can stock up on wonderful books and stitchy things at the shops.

There are four big events I want to tell you about.
First is the National Academy of Needlearts Assembly, held each Spring in Kansas City. It happened this year March 3-9, but you can read about what was offered and make plans to attend. NAN certifies teachers and so one of the highlights of the assembly is the chance to see outstanding needlework of all kinds.

EGA’s National Seminar is in early September and will be held in San Francisco (my home town) this year. EGA covers more than needlepoint and among the classes I saw stumpwork classes by Jan Nichols and crewel by Phillipa Turnbull.

ANG’s Seminar is in early October this year, in Columbus, Ohio. I always enjoy going to Seminar, not the least because I can marvel at amazing needlepoint in the Exhibit and at the Auction. Both ANG and EGA move the locations of their seminars each year, so that they are convenient for stitchers all over the country.

Then, next January is Callaway Garden’s Stitcher’s Retreat. It’s from the 9-19 at Callway in Georgia. It’s one of the most prestigious needlework events and many great teachers attend. The schedule for the 2011 retreat is now available.

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Black and White Canvas – Product Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

needlepoint mini patchwork star on black and white zweigart canvas, designed by janet perry

black & white canvas in action

As I stitched this little quilt block on Zweigart’s black and white canvas one word kept coming to mind — hard.

This canvas is tweeded. One direction has black threads, the other white. While the individual threads are the same as mono canvas, the woven effect is not and therein lies the problem. As you an see from the picture the white threads are more prominent.

While that is not a bad thing for the finished effect it makes stitching and counting extremely difficult. I felt as if the holes in the canvas “melted” into the white threads. And, although I counted threads and the stitches are correct, much of the time I felt as if my stitches were not true.

Add to this the problem that you can’t put a dark cloth or a light cloth under it to see and you have a canvas not for the faint of heart.

Even so, the finished effect is wonderful, so I would seek out painted canvases thaat use it as the background.

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Black and White Canvas – Product Review

My Life in Bargello

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

bargello needlepoint cupcake designed by janet perry

bargello needlepoint cupcake from 2009

In 2007 at the time Bargello Revisited came out, I went on a Virtual Blog Tour, visiting different blogs. My friend Pierrette asked me to visit her blog to talk about Bargello. That blog has been replaced by Pierrette’s My Stitching Gallery, which shows of her lovely needlework. Below is the article slightly revised.

My love affair with Bargello probably started in about 1971 with a book. The book was Elsa Williams’ Bargello. I found it at my local needlepoint store. I was entranced by the lovely shading and the wonderful patterns. I bought it and immediately started to study.

Back in those days, I hadn’t really done much needlepoint, so this was completely new. The book had pictures of the finished needlepoint, but no charts, and the yarn colors didn’t match the Paternayan my shop carried. But I loved it, so I bought several shades in the same color family, some canvas and I started to decipher the patterns.

It only took one and I became hooked. Almost immediately I decided to make covers for our dining room chairs (I was 14). My dad made a frame, my mom and I picked out thread colors (rust, dark green, and ivory) and I picked patterns from the book. I didn’t get very far as chair covers are big, really big. It’s a dream project to this day.

The next Bargello pieces I remember were a pair of evening purses in shades of turquoise I made while I was in college. Doing needlepoint kept me sane in the intense environment of St John’s College. I was about the only student who needlepointed, endearing me to the older women there.

rust and turquoise Elsa Williams bargello

This pillow, a not very well counted version of an Elsa Williams pattern, was made around that time. If you look closely, you will see the count is off and not all the diamonds are even, but 30 years later, I still love the colors.

I also became fascinated by the idea of a solid color Bargello as a background. Being self-taught is not always a good thing as you don’t know when something is hard. So my first attempt at this was a Hungarianpoint pattern and I didn’t know how to count it properly. I still have the piece and it pains me to look at it.

monochromatic bargello using several different threads

Shortly after I got married, I started to branch out in my Bargello, making the pillow you see here. I became fascinated to use different threads, which was revolutionary in needlepoint in the early 80’s. This one is of another classic pattern.

op art bargello

I explored the idea of making what I call Op Art Bargello (there’s a pattern like this in the book) where there are only a few lines of color against a solid background. I still love the graphic impact of these designs. This project from Bargello Revisited is my latest Op Art Bargello.

I kept exploring ideas like single color Bargello using different threads, making a lovely Bargello scallop shell (my Mom and DD have my versions of this one) and an all-white pillow. I also kept reading every book on Bargello I could find, getting them from the library over and over again.

In the 90’s my life got extremely busy with kids, big house, a nanny, and a high-pressure job, so my needlepoint changed too. I started to look for small projects, which were easily portable and fast to make. That’s when I started doing the Bargello mini-socks. By my estimate I’ve made close to 40, every one different. I would find a pattern I liked in a book or magazine and I would buy some threads or raid the stash and make a mini-sock. The first ones I finished myself. Now I have them finished or they languish in my stash. Some of my favorites are in the book. Others I’ve given to friends.

hungarianpoint bargello mini-sock

Here are pictures of some mini-socks I did at the time the book came out. The first one, still unfinished, is a Hungarianpoint medallion design. I haven’t done this before and I made sort of a random outline and started to fill in. I’m not happy with it becauce the center doesn’t look good. I think I’m going to try it again working from the center out.

swag bargello needlepoint mini-sock

This one, which has the charted line below it, is a scallop pattern I call swag because it looks like swags in drapes. With this I’m also trying to break out of my color rut. Orchids are not my favorite colors, but I do like this. That’s a good thing about mini-socks, you can try colors here with no risk. You might not make an orchid pillow, but an orchid ornament is OK.

free bargello needlepoint chart, swag, from janet perry

swag bargello pattern

As a gift to you, here’s the line for this pattern. Thanks Pierrette for letting me republish it.

So what’s next? I like the idea of trying out color schemes in mini-socks, so I think I’m going to do a series based on the colors paint companies come up with for painting a room. I’m kind of intrigued by the idea of proportions in Bargello design, so I’m going to explore changing the proportions of the colors and see what happens. I’m going off to the paint store tomorrow to get some inspiration (I also need to find paint for several rooms in my house).

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My Life in Bargello

Quick Facts About the Best of the Best Embroidery Machines

by Craft Articles

in Craft Shopping

One of the most innovative machinery man ever created is the embroidery machine. It improve the time spent making embroidery pattern or design, making your job more efficient. As a hobbyist, you may have heard about Husqvarna Viking Designer 1 and Singer Quantum XL-6000.

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Quick Facts About the Best of the Best Embroidery Machines

5 Fun Winter Scrapbook Themes

by Craft Articles

in Scrapbooking

If you’ve taken lots of pictures throughout the winter, now’s the time to get them into scrapbooks before you forget the details and get too busy with spring. Here are five ideas for fun layouts for your winter pages.

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5 Fun Winter Scrapbook Themes

Beyond Babyhood – Scrapbooking the Toddler Years

by Craft Articles

in Scrapbooking

At times, just getting through the day to day of the toddler years is a big enough task. Here are some tips for photos you can try to take and journal, so that down the track when you do have the time, you will have a wonderful selection of photos and memories to scrap with.

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Beyond Babyhood – Scrapbooking the Toddler Years

Don’t Try This DIY Guide

by Craft Articles

in Scrapbooking

If you are a stay-at-home and the Martha Stewart type, then there are plenty of do-it-yourself crafts out there which can get you started on your do-it-yourself hobbies at home. Painting your walls, doing electrical plumbing or home repairs, or arts and crafts activities like scrapbooking are productive ways of making your time at home worthwhile, especially when the children are away from school. But some DIY are difficult to do.

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Don’t Try This DIY Guide

DMC Satin Floss – Thread Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

lee needle art mini kimono

Like many needlepointers, I shy away from rayon threads, especially stranded ones. In my experience they are too slippery to stay in needles and have so much static electricity in them that the strands don’t stay together. Even so, Rayon is the most shiny, non metallic thread and it’s wet look is perfect for many applications.

I stayed away from rayon, but the newer rayon threads, both DMC Satin Floss and Rainbow Gallery’s Panache, are making me change my mind. This time to test the thread I used Satin Floss for the blue background in my leaf kimono (pictured).

The background is stitched in Basketweave, alternating Satin Floss with a blended needle of Satin and Mandarin Floss. I couldn’t be happier because the Satin Floss was easy to use and control. By wetting the floss slightly, it was easier to thread and the kinks came out. It is easy to strand as well.

DMC is making many of their threads in what I call floss equivalents. This means they are packaged in pull skeins and are six-stranded. You know if four strands of floss work on 18 mesh, four strands of rayon floss will work as well. This makes choosing different threads much easier for the stitcher.

The company also suggested the blending idea. Combining a shiny thread with a matte one made for interesting and subtle texture changes. It’s a technique I’m going to explore further.

These new rayons should be in every stitcher’s bag of tricks.

Note: This thread was provided to me free of charge as part of a designer pack, not for purposes of product review.

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DMC Satin Floss – Thread Review

Liz Morrow and Bargello Needlepoint – Designer Profile

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Design, Nuts About Needlepoint

Barbara's Ravine needlepoint bargello landscape by Liz Morrow

Barbara’s Ravine needlepoint designed by Liz Morrow

Liz Morrow has been one of my favorite designers since I started to read both Needlepoint News and NeedlePointers in the early 80’s. My notebooks of projects from magazines are filled with her projects. So I was delighted when she started to blog, at Lizart, and even happier when she opened the Lizart shop, and bought two charts right away. We talked this week about needlepoint and Bargello.

Here’s her interview, along with a selection of her Bargello pieces. To see a larger version of any piece, click on it. You can see lots more by visiting Liz’s blog. Detailed information about the designs follows the interview.

Thank you for the opportunity to do this interview. During the process I have thought a lot about needlepoint, past & present. What a revelation! I hope the readers will find my discoveries as interesting as I did!

Four-way needlepoint bargello by Liz Morrow

Four-way needlepoint bargello designed by Liz Morrow

I’ve loved your style since you first started designing, how would you say it has changed?

When I first started designing, back in the early 70’s (boy, that dates me doesn’t it?), I was mostly adapting from other art forms. For example, I would adapt a design from a Christmas card, an advertisement, a picture in a book. I did a whole book of designs (Classic Posters for Needlepoint, no longer in print) adapted from turn of the century posters. Then, of course, I discovered Bargello, which remains my first love today.

Now I think my designing is mostly Bargello. Over the years I “discovered” and “invented” quite a few Bargello techniques that are unusual, maybe even unique. I still love to play with Bargello. I guess that is how my style has changed; I concentrate a lot on Bargello. I still do needlepoint designs as well, and I still do adaptations. But I think the needlepoint designs I do now tend to be mostly geometrics & abstracts, and the adaptations I do now are often adapted to the point of becoming original designs.

Blue Mad Miters needlepoint bargello by liz morrow

Blue Mad Miters designed by Liz Morrow

You do some of the most inventive things with Bargello, they always inspire me. How do you come up with them?

Somewhere along the way, I discovered Bargello. Some of the first books I found on that subject were by Dorothy Kaestner and those inspired me greatly. Then I took a class in the early 80’s from a gentleman by the name of Don Mettler. His innovative techniques really inspired me and still do, although I don’t think Don is teaching anymore. Today I think the most inspiring Bargello designer is Joyce Petschek.

How do I come up with inventive things in Bargello? I don’t know if I can answer that! Usually ideas come to me as I am stitching. So one thing kind of leads to another. Sometimes I’ll see a picture and think, “Oh that would make a wonderful Bargello.” And well, I was a bookkeeper/accountant for more years than I want to count and you just can’t take that out of me! Math is math whether it is needlepoint or accounting!

Beatles' Songbook needlepoint bargello by Liz Morrow

Beatles’ Songbook needlepoint bargello designed by Liz Morrow

You have just opened a website with some of your designs for sale, what kinds of additional things can we expect and will you be making some of your older pieces available there?

I am just thrilled with the initial success of my website, www.lizartneedlepoint.com. I plan to offer a lot of Bargello designs, probably more Bargello than needlepoint. Many of the designs will be from my “stash”, where there is a wealth of material. I have tons of designs that have never been published. Some will need to be updated with today’s materials, and almost all of them have to be put into the computer to make nice charts (I used to do all that by hand!). Plus, many of them will have to be stitched, either because I no longer have the stitched piece or because it was never stitched in the first place. I will also be resurrecting some of the designs that have been published in needlework magazines in the past. I am planning to offer at least one, hopefully two, new patterns every month.

Slipped Strips needlepoint bargello by liz morrow

Slipped Strips designed by Liz Morrow

You split your time between Reno and Las Vegas, what are the benefits and challenges of regularly stitching in two places?

Oh boy! I’m afraid it is mostly challenges! The benefits are having a terrific group of stitching friends in both places and having access to two wonderful needlework shops, Stitch in Time in Reno and Stitcher’s Paradise in Las Vegas.

The challenges are many. You end up with double stuff so you don’t have to haul as much back & forth. What you need is always in the other house! The project that you want to work on today — oops it’s in the other house! This year I have carried much of my thread & canvas stash with me. It is just too frustrating when you “know” it is in the other house. The hardest thing is that I have an extensive library in Reno and I just can’t take it back & forth. So I have duplicates of the 5-6 books I use the most.

Staggered Patterns needlepoint bargello by liz morrow

Staggered Patterns designed by Liz Morrow

What challenges do you see for needlepointers in the future and how might we meet them?

Well, the first challenge is to recover from this horrendous economic disaster! It is a huge challenge for all stitchers to find the funds to acquire the patterns and supplies they need/want. The cost of materials is so high now. I am trying to find lower cost threads to use for Bargello, for instance, but it isn’t easy. Needlepoint is NOT an inexpensive art/hobby! Of course, since I design counted work, I am naturally an advocate of counted designs, but you have to admit they are much less expensive to do.

Diagonals needlepoint bargello by liz morrow

Diagonals designed by Liz Morrow

Second, we must try to capture the attention and imagination of more young people and I think the various guilds can do a lot. I know it is hard to raise a family and make a living and keep up with an art or hobby, but some manage, so it must not be that hard. Having a creative outlet is very important to our mental health. We don’t want these arts to die off with us oldsters! It isn’t just getting children interested; we must attract people of all ages. I think the Cyber-groups will be of use for this. Sometimes I think we just sit in our comfy chairs and stitch away and aren’t very “public” about it. Even going to the frame shop helps to publicize what we do!

Third, we need more designs that appeal to a wider range of stitchers I think (hope) that some of my Bargello designs do that. Maybe we need some new designers who are younger people with a fresh outlook. Or maybe the designs are there but the stores don’t carry them. You go into many needlework shops and see the same old designs, or style of design, that was there 40 years ago! Of course, there are a lot of wonderful designs available, don’t get me wrong, but there are still a lot of the same-ol’, same-ol’. Designers get in a rut just like anybody else. We designers need to stretch too and not always play it safe!

Again, thanks Janet for the chance to air my views!

About the Designs

Barbara’s Ravine, which was on the cover of Needlepoint Now. It was was inspired by a photo from Liz’s sister-in-law of a ravine near her home in full wildflower bloom. I love the way it’s such a striking interpretation of the landscape.

Mad Miters is a technique Liz developed. I love the way she has mixed up so many shapes and made a monochromatic color scheme very exciting.

Beatle’s Songbook uses Mad Miters is a technique Liz developed. I am dying to learn how to do this as I want to make some for the people in my family.

The other pictures show off innovative Bargello techniques Liz has developed.

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Liz Morrow and Bargello Needlepoint – Designer Profile

AMH Designs iPod/phone Cases

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint, accessories

Originally posted 2008-11-07 07:12:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

AMH Designs has made a huge impact both in and outside the needlepoint world.

Amy’s modern designs and inventive uses of needlepoint have been talked about everywhere. I just love her clean, modern style and the way she is making needlepoint easy for people who have thought they couldn’t needlepoint.

She wrote to me recently about a new product — needlepoint iPod/phone cases. She said: “[They] are stitched on plastic canvas- which gives them a
nice rigidity. And I use Paternayan wool thread (no acrylic junk) so they
look really nice when they are all stitched up. People love them although
many don’t want to take the time to make one themselves (at least that is
what I am finding in New York where people seem not to have a lot of free
time. Maybe with the economy going sour, they might be spending more time at
home and doing more crafting!)”

I’m so excited about this. Because they are made from PC, you’ll be able to finish them yourself. And because they will be clean and modern and made from good thread, they will be a lovely gift.

I’d say go check it out.

As a side note, another neat thing about her is that you can find her products in places where you just wouldn’t expect to find needlepoint. For example, her needlepoint notebooks, which have a grid punched into the cover to hold a small needlepoint design is now available in some Urban Outfitters stores.

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AMH Designs iPod/phone Cases

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