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There is always so much more great stuff at TNNA that I can’t cover everything. Here’s more stuff I loved.

Tapestry Fair has some lovely geishas that have a great concept. They are seen from the back. The clothing is line drawn, so you can pick your own stitches, colors and threads, but the heads are painted. A cool basis for creativity. There are three single geishas and a piece with six.

A Collection of Designs has new mini-socks, snowmen, ornaments and, my favorite, elaborate crosses. Jean Smith had an absolutely amazing large (4 feet square) of a single flower, plus many delightful coasters that are smaller versions of her popular flowers and vegetables. These are great for giving you an assortment of her work.

At Elizabeth Turner there was a delightful Noah’s Ark mini-sock, stocking, and mitten, all with plenty of opportunity for embellishments and fancy stitching. They also had a great set of coasters with fancy purses on them as well as glasses cases with many purses as well. Sew Much Fun had another charming variation for those who don’t go in for stockings, oven mitts in large and mini sizes. There were three designs in each size with my favorite being Piece, Hope, Love with cake on the mini and pie on the large.

Birds of a Feather had delightful owls, nativity figures in their whimsical style as individual ornaments, and three sampler designed by artist Nancy Davis. They also had a delightfully different “Hunting Wild Boar” canvas. Cooper Oaks had small pieces of Susan Wallace Barnes artwork in ornament rounds and small (6″ square) pictures.

Looking at the beachy theme of those canvases, my favorite beach pieces were from j.child. They had extremely clever beach stockings, ornaments, and mini socks in lots of designs. Probably my favorites were the beachy ornaments stocking and the mini sock with bright Christmas lights along a driftwood fence.

I simply adored the resin boxes at Amanda Lawford. There were a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. To go along with them were clever canvases. Stitch the canvas and pop it into the box for a fast, unique gift. There I also saw a set of wonderful bird silhouettes that came with thread lists and embellishments. There is a cardinal, chickadee, dove, and blue jay.

The Point of It All had a lovely wedding ensemble that was dainty and elegant. It included votive covers that can be done with your choice of initials, a small ring bearer’s pillow, a tiny brides bag and fairy tale shoes. Making any of these would be such a treat for a wedding. JulieMar & Friends has a new snowman collection and lots of new creative Halloween pieces.

DReam HOuse had several new designers including by Georg with lovely florals. They also had new Mindy pieces and some wonderful mid-century modern pieces, including one called Falling Leaves that has a great 50′s vibe. Needledeeva has a great series of nine Christmas trees of various kinds, each decorated and with a different shape. Vicky DeAngelis did the stitch guides.

Robbyn’s Nest has a lovely series of botanically correct roses as coasters or pillows, along with four new designers eggs (think Faberge), and a set of five colorful tropical frogs. Canvas Connection is back with new Talavera and Imari designs.

I loved the initially yours series of squares from new designer Canvas Art by Barbi. Each square is divided into rough quarters with a different font of the initial with a different color background on each. They each also have a letter embellishment on them. Barbi also makes a great series of needlepoint “postcards” with many colorful heart designs.

Associated Talents has a lovely set of semi-custom script monograms in squares. You can have up to three letters in the monograms and they are available with patterned or plain backgrounds, in several colors and with plain or elaborate borders. I loved them because the script monograms make such a strong and elegant design statement just on their own.

Labors of Love has added to their clip-on line with a new 12 days of Christmas series. The thing I like best about this is that the birds in this series are compatible in size with their other birds.

Tomorrow, news about distribution of some of your favorite designers, along with more canvases. Next Friday another TNNA article with a look at new stuff from two of my favorites, Kathy Schenkel and Melissa Shirley.

Go here to see the original:
Painted Canvas Goodies from TNNA

Anna Maria Horner Makes Needlepoint Kits

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

One of several new needlepoint kits designed by Anna Maria Horner

Anna Maria Horner has branched out into needlepoint kits. They are created in conjunction with Anchor UK and will be available later this year (no firm date or price yet).

If you are not familiar with her work, she is a multi=talented designer in needlework, sewing, and other crafts.

Horner plans to sell them in her shop.

Pictured is just one of four pieces she show off in a recent post on her blog.

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Anna Maria Horner Makes Needlepoint Kits

Taking Color Cues from Fashion

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Fashion,Nuts About Needlepoint

Cashmere stitch needlepoint based on Native American rug pattern, designed and stitched by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

My husband thinks I’m sort of weird because I love fashion magazines. One big reason I love them is that they often give me ideas for needlepoint.
One great thing is that you can use color combinations that they showcase to put together interesting combinations for needlepoint.

Sometimes you are lucky and the magazine spells out a combination for you. For example, the combination of nude, light pink, minty green, and coral in Style Watch inspired the Twinchy freebie pictured here. It’d entirely made up of Cashmere stitches, charted below. (Instead of a complete chart, use the picture of the finished needlepoint to stitch it.)

cashmere stitch for needlepoint, diagrammed by needlepoint expert janet m. perry

A stunning malachite-grren sequined evening gown inspired me to stitch a malachite clutch in all metallics.

When looking to fashion for color inspiration there are three types of things that can inspire.

You can take you inspiration from an individual outfit. If you see an outfit that combines a bright yellow blouse with navy blue pants, look at the neutrals paired with it to create the start of a great piece.

You can take inspiration from the colors in a print. The prints do lots of the work for you. They always have a background color, which becomes your background. The figures in the print determine the other colors. You’ll get the best success from using these colors in similar proportions. You can do this by writing down the colors and then ranking them from most to least used. Note also where there are big gaps. (A future post will demonstrate how to do this).

You can also take inspiration from a color spread, as I did here. The spread took these colors and showed current clothes and accessories in this palette. Coral was most predominate, then light pink (some almost white), green came next appearing in one piece and as a print’s background. Nude was used the least, although both the light pinks and lightest corals were almost nudes.

While I love and often use the combination of deep coral and bright turquoise, this combination made me think about these colors in another way. The threads I used included three shades of Aurora silk perle (coral), Gentle Arts floss in porcelin (center pink), Kreink #12 in an unlabeled color (green), Elegance E844 and Neon Rays N40 (nudes), and a mix of Gentle Arts Cotton Candy and Crescent Colors Spun Sugar (outside pink).

And it’s all thanks to the fashion magazine.

The rest is here:
Taking Color Cues from Fashion

Backgrounds: The Finishing Touch – book review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2003-09-19 06:38:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

BACKGROUNDS: THE FINISHING TOUCH by Ann Strite-Kurz

The choice of a background which is both appropriate for the design and beautiful is a decision which often perplexes stitchers. But all stitchers agree that the right choice can really make the design.

Ann Strite-Kurz’s teaching projects project packs and stitching are well known for their wonderful open backgrounds. No matter what the design, you will find innovative open backgrounds enhancing her work.

In this book Ann has taken canvases (of her own and by many others) and used them as the basis for a book about open background techniques. It is comprehensive and dense with information.

The first chapter opens with a short history of needlepoint and then has what I think of as the heart of the book. Well over 100 canvases are pictured and the backgrounds are analyzed. Each design is pictured in black and white in the book and then in color on the accompanying CD. A second picture of a detail section of the background is also on the CD. Each canvas is analyzed and information is given about how the background was developed or why it is an appropriate choice. In the section Ann classifies the different types of backgrounds into classes such as mat backgrounds, painted backgrounds or partial backgrounds.

Following this chapter are six chapters of techniques which show you how to do many of the techniques seen in the pictured canvases. The second chapter covers planning and execution of open backgrounds including detailed suggestions for starting and stopping threads so they won’t show and how to plan a background to work with the design.

The remaining chapters are all devoted to specific techniques. In each chapter there is an explanation on how to work the technique (if needed) and then the patterns are discussed. Anyone who has read Ann’s previous books knows how thorough her diagrams and explanations are, and this book is no exception. For example, Pattern 11, Diamond Outlines in Tied Oblong Crosses has a large diagram of the over all pattern, a detailed explanation of the pattern and when to use it (it is a large scale pattern with oblique stitches, so it needs to be planned carefully). then there is another explanation with diagrams of how to stitch the pattern. The section ends with some suggestions (accompanied by diagrams) on how to make the pattern more dense.

Because the book is packed densely with information it is a book to be savored and read over and over again. Pick a canvas, page through the CD to find ideas, then through the book to find a background you like, everything you need to know to make these open patterns an asset to your canvas is there.

We are so lucky to have Ann and her wonderful way of analyzing patterns available to us.

Read this article:
Backgrounds: The Finishing Touch – book review

Planning – the First Step in Organizing

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Although you don’t need to plan before you organize your stash, you’ll be happier if you spend some quality time thinking before sorting and storing.

First, think about what you have to store. Is it UFO’s, canvases, threads, books, or just about everything. Write down the board categories and not if you already have storage for them.

For example thread is the main thing I need to store, which is fine, But much of my thread lives in a seed cabinet and two chunks of card catalogue, which may not be so fine. They take up a ton of space and any organizing I need to do has to take that into account.

Second, think about the space you have. Is it big or small? Does it share space with other things? Does it have furniture in it? What lighting does it have? Is there hidden storage space anywhere?

Finally, think about how often you use the things in your stash. Do you start projects often? Are you mainly working on your UFOs? Do you need to get to blank canvas often? Do you mostly work on small projects so long stretcher bars can live far away?

Now that you know what you have, how you use it and what space you have for it, you can start thinking about how you will use your space. Do you sit in a particular space? What needs to be near it to make stitching easier? Do you do your work at a desk? What needs to be close by? Do you have a door you can close?

Once you have thought, write down what you have discovered and write down what you like and hate about your space.

When I set up my studio I knew it would need to be a guest room, so I bought a daybed, but not the one I wanted that had storage. But I found that I hated pulling out the bins.

Re arranging our house last winter allowed me to move that daybed to another room and to get a daybed with storage. The drawers make me more organized and I am MUCH happier.

A final word of advice. You won’t get it right the first time, but with each reorganization, you’ll get closer to a space that functions for you. By planning you’ll know what is good, what needs to be changed and where there is untapped potential.

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Planning – the First Step in Organizing

The Joy of Needlepoint & Having Handmade in your home

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Last week Marni Jameson of the Orlando Sentinel posted this lovely article about needlepoint.

Go read it, I’ll wait.

She said some wonderful things that really spoke to my heart, but I want to talk about one of her recommendations: “For every high-tech gadget in your home, have a low-tech one.”

Maybe it’s more a product of upbringing, but this is something I do. My mom’s an artist (and I have more of her watercolors than anyone else), my grandmother was a seamstress, knitter, and inveterate crafter (I still have ornaments she made 40 years ago). My mother-in-law, though not an artist, had many artists as friends and students and she bought their work. An then I needlepoint.

Throughout my house there are paintings, sculptures, needlepoint, hand-thrown pottery, and lots of other low-tech. I simply love the mark of people’s hands and talents on the things they make.

Sitting here at my desk, I can see needlepoint pictures I made, two folk art wooden cat sculptures, a hand-made Servite rosary, a hand-carved onyx elephant, a blown-glass paperweight made by my son, a painted Mom from my daughter when she was in Kindergarten, and a wooden box made by my grandfather. Oh and the high-tech stuff of computer, printer, iPod, cellphone, & external hard drive.

Clearly one for one is nowhere near enough for me. But if you don’t do it already start there.

We don’t often think when we stitch something and give it away what affect it will have on the giver, but having the beautiful and hand-made all around us gives us a connection to others, the ones who designed it, made it, and gave it, through that most human of things — touch.

Continued here:
The Joy of Needlepoint & Having Handmade in your home

Reflections on Efficiency and Decorating

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

Originally posted 2009-04-23 06:12:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Today they are going to put hardwood in the room across the hall from my studio, so I’m mostly sitting and stitching at the other end of the house and hoping it will be cool enough that I can open the windows to get rid of the glue smell.

But this is also giving me some time to reflect. I watch What Not to Wear quite often and I am always surprised and delighted by how changing your clothes can change your attitude.

I’m living proof that changing your decorating can do that too.

Since I moved to California in 1980, until last fall, my stash (threads, books & canvas) has never all been in the same room. Sometimes it’s been close, but never all there and all accessible.

Thanks to my DH moving his office back home and our moving to a new house, I now have it all here in one place.

Before the Move, this was how a project went.

Get an idea.

Go to the Internet for inspiration because books are upstairs at the other end of the house.

Pull threads from what’s downstairs (too lazy to go upstairs for new unless necessary( meaning same old color palettes and rooting through tote bags of thread.

Move stuff in closet to get to canvas bin and find crumpled canvas about the right size.

Root around under chaise in bedroom for stretcher bars and through desk for thumbtacks.

Start stitching.

For almost 30 years, with only some variation, I’ve worked that way.

Now it’s all in one room and my work has changed. Because the inspirational and technique books are right here, I use them, adding new stitches to my repertoire all the time. Because the threads are right here, I try new combinations, both of color and of thread. I liked that fuchsia, teal, and hot pink I’m using for Tony’s kimono, but I wouldn’t have used it in the past because it would have been too hard to pull the colors.

But with everything here, it’s easy and I can explore.

I’m even finishing pieces, something I didn’t do because that’s here too.

Sometimes you just don’t know how much better things can be until you are forced to change.

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Reflections on Efficiency and Decorating

Creating Fonts for a Scrapbook Project

in Scrapbooking

When you start working on a scrapbook project, you typically gather all the materials that you’ll need beforehand. When you have a scrapbooking kit ready, this makes your work all the more easier. Almost all of the scrapbook kits being sold nowadays contain all the items that you’d need: background paper (or themed paper, if you bought a kit that’s specifically made for a theme), a scrapbook album, adhesives, as well as embellishments like ribbons, brads, buttons, stickers, and rub-ons. A visit to your local crafts shop or maybe to your favorite online scrapbooking store will provide you with a wide selection of kits for your convenience.

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Creating Fonts for a Scrapbook Project

9 Facts Every Scrapbooker Should Know About Protecting Their Scrapbooking Materials and Memorabilia

in Scrapbooking

Every scrapbooker should learn how to protect their scrapbooking materials and memorabilia properly. Knowing how to choose and use acid-free papers is only the first step. Aside from using acid-free and lignin-free paper, there are several more ways in which you can protect your precious work from being destroyed or ruined for many, many years. If you learn the best ways to preserve your work and apply this knowledge meticulously, your scrapbooks (and all of the photos and items inside) will be enjoyed by your family and friends for generations to come.

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9 Facts Every Scrapbooker Should Know About Protecting Their Scrapbooking Materials and Memorabilia

Using eBay to Search for Vintage Needlepoint

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

I get questions all the time in my mailbox asking me to identify a vintage piece of needlepoint.

Usually it’s because someone did the piece, loved it, and would like to do something similar. Quite often, I can identify the designer (I’ve been stitching over 40 years) but the work is no longer published or the designer is long gone.

The best an most consistent source I’ve found for older pieces is ebay and you can use their saved searches tool to narrow down your search to exactly what you want. And get email notices when something is there so you don’t waste time looking.

Here’s how to do it:

Go to ebay and then the crafts category
Under crafts, pick needlecraft & yarn and click on it
This goes to a huge listing (over 350,000 recently), but in the left column, you’ll see needlepoint & plastic canvas, click on that
This takes you to a large, but more manageable listing. Now it’s time to refine your search.
You want to do this here because many people list things in the wrong category, for example a canvas in patterns. Since many searchers will only look in the “right” category, you can get some good bargains this way
Put the designer you want into the search box. Here are some tips for making this search better

Click on advanced next to the search box and use the advanced functions.
Use the designers last name only. We may always call her “Jane Doe,” but many people listing on eBay don’t know needlepoint, so “Doe” will find you better hits.
If it’s a painted canvas designer, use the name painted on the canvas. If that is the company, use that.
Advanced search has an option to find “any of the words.” You can use this option to find hits with two options for the company name, for example.
Use the next box down, to remove things you don’t want. For example if you don’t want plastic canvas you might put plastic and Pc here to exclude them.
There are more option in the advanced search, but I always ask for 200 items to be displayed on the page. Rarely, when looking for needlepoint, are there this many hits, so everything gets displayed on one page.

Once you have your search refined, click search.
The results will be displayed (or not). In either case, next to the number of hits is a link that says “save search.” This is the payoff. Click it.
The search is saved to My eBay, so you’ll need to sign in.
A pop-up window shows up on the search result page asking you to name the search and asking if you want email notification. Give it a name an ask for emails.

You’re done. The search can be found in my ebay under saved searches listed in alphabetical order.

The first email you get will have the results of the search you just did. But after that if an item is listed that meets your search you’ll get an email. First it tells you how many items (nice to know so you know how many you got. Then it lists all or some (depending on how many) of the items, with name, price at the time of the email, how many bids, and a link to the listing. For needlepoint things I rarely get more than ten and usually only one or two.

I look at the item description and if it looks good, I click on the listing to see a picture. I have several canvases that are no longer produced that I look for consistently. I’ve found many of them on eBay by using this technique.

I like it because it keeps me from wasting time and spending too much money buying random things on eBay.

See the article here:
Using eBay to Search for Vintage Needlepoint

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